Digital Dealer - January 2019 - 15

IT'S IMPORTANT FOR A DEALERSHIP TO BE MORE
THAN JUST A PLACE WHERE CUSTOMERS GO TO BUY
A CAR AND GET AN OIL CHANGE."
communication and professionalism
so that when conflict does arise, that
one manager is comfortable going
to the other manager in a private
setting and agree to work things out.
When associates see their managers
are able to deal with a problem in a
professional way, I think that bleeds
over. Not only do the associates see it
but the customers see it as well.
From a general management
philosophy, if I surround myself with
people who are absolutely whipsmart, I can come up with a collective
mastermind group that's greater than
the sum of its parts. We can do really
great, amazing things when we work
in synergy.
By the same token, I also want to
grow my managers. Because if they
have career aspirations that exceed
their current position, I want to be
able to help them like I was helped.
Sort of like a football coach and
you see their coaching tree where
they have assistants who go on to
become head coaches. I take a lot
of satisfaction to be able to train
somebody up; because we do have 17
dealerships in our network, if there's
an opening at another store, I can help
somebody who is interested in moving
up and put them in a position where
they can get that next-level job.
DEALER MAGAZINE: I'd like to
turn to customer service. Performance
Lexus is an 18-time winner of
Lexus' highest honor for customer
satisfaction, the Elite of Lexus award.
What steps do you follow to help
create a positive customer experience?
DAN: For the last three years, we've
also been the number one Lexus
dealer in the state of Ohio, according
to DealerRater.com. Fostering the
environment and the culture to take
care of our guests is what earned us

this recognition. The principle that
best exemplifies our approach is the
Japanese word "Omotenashi." It
doesn't literally translate into English
but what it means, roughly, is the
giving of oneself in a service manner
without the expectation of anything
in return. This really comes from
a few years ago when we had the
opportunity to hold the Lexus national
dealer meeting in Tokyo. Some of
us experienced Omotenashi in the
Japanese culture.
We look to attract those people. Our
interview process, which sometimes
can be slow and laborious, from the
outside looking in, it's actually quite
purposeful. We want to find people
who really have that heart...people
that want to take care of customers.
You can be a great salesperson or
a great service advisor or a great
technician, but at the end of the day,
if you don't have the heart to want to
take care of the customer, you're not
going to be successful in this culture
and our store.
I can do a lot of things: I can teach
you our processes and our policies
and our procedures, but if you don't
have it in your heart, where you really
want to take care of somebody, it's
going to make it awfully hard, because
you can't fake that. You can't fake the
authenticity of really taking care of
somebody. You think of every great
customer experience you've had,
not necessarily automotive-related,
it could be in a restaurant, a retail
store, hospitality, those moments are
genuine.
I've been fortunate enough as we
grow to be able to find people who
want to do that. They're the ones - like
the Wow Fund I was speaking about
earlier - you set the ground rules, but
I don't tell the associates you can't do

this, or you can't do that. You figure
out a way to wow the customer, to
take care of the customer, and give
them an experience the likes of which
they've never had before. You can't
write that in a policy manual. You
can give them examples of what other
people have done with the Wow Fund
and let them run wild with their
imagination.
That goes back to what I was
talking about before where it
becomes fun. The job is stressful
enough, so why not inject an element
of fun into it while taking care of the
customers. The net effect of that is
winning the Elite of Lexus Award. I
know we have the team here that can
achieve that award every single year.
It's not as if we sit there and stare at
the metrics and run the dealership
based off of the Elite metrics. No, we
run the dealership based on taking
care of the customer and those types
of things happen. Take care of the
customer and the customer will take
care of you.
DEALER MAGAZINE: How
can dealerships add more value to
consumers?
DAN: The value proposition is
more important now than ever.
Disruptors are disrupting industries
everywhere, and car dealers are
no different. It's important for a
dealership to be more than just a
place where customers go to buy a
car and get an oil change. If that is
the only way a customer is thinking
of you, I think you're going to be out
of business.
But if you think of yourself as
part of a customer's life, you're
more than just the person who's
changing their oil. You're the person
who remembers what their kids'

D I G I TA L D E A L E R . C O M

Continued on pg. 16

JANUARY 2019

15
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Digital Dealer - January 2019

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