Digital Dealer - June 2019 - 23

WE'RE ALL IN THIS UNIQUE INDUSTRY THAT TIES
US TOGETHER, AND THAT CREATES COMMONALITY,
WHETHER YOU'RE A FEMALE OR A MALE."
Vicki Fabre, has been a strong leader
and role model. Because I grew up in
the business, it feels like family to me.
In dealer meetings, there may be
more men than women, but I've always
felt very connected to the people I've
met along the way. We're all in this
unique industry that ties us together,
and that creates commonality, whether
you're a female or a male. Running a
car dealership will always offer you a
challenging work environment and I
never find it boring.
I have three daughters. It's
important for me to be a woman dealer
principal because I want to be someone
my daughters can look up to. I'm a
woman in a career that is normally led
by men. One of the challenges-and
strengths-of being a female car dealer
is the ability to be able to multitask: being the role-model mom, the
community leader, and hands-on in the
dealership. Those are the challenges.
I'm not sure any of my daughters will
join the family business, but they will
have that opportunity. I want them to
believe if their mom can do it, they can
do it, too.
DEALER MAGAZINE: What is your
management philosophy... are you a
hands-on type or more of a delegator?
KELLY: Definitely a team approach.
I'm the kind of person who likes to put
a lot of thought into every decision. I
don't make any rash decisions. I like
to talk through opportunities before
making changes so I can see all the
consequences of those decisions ahead
of time. I am fortunate to have a great
group of department heads. I trust my
team to help me with the research part
of a decision. They know more on a
ground level about what's happening
than I do. I'm not a micro-manager at
all. I think it's important that people

have an opportunity to excel, so you let
them take that and run with it. When
an issue comes in, we tackle it together.
That's how I approach it.
DEALER MAGAZINE: What do you
look for when hiring new talent?
KELLY: We look for enthusiasm,
drive, passion. Certainly, a desired trait
is the willingness to learn. Someone
who is open-minded, trainable, and
coachable.
DEALER MAGAZINE: Let's stay
with training for the moment. What
kind of training do your employees
receive?
KELLY: We do a variety of training,
including all the factory training
programs. They provide lots of
opportunities for our employees to
go down and participate in specific
OEM training. Then we have daily
meetings, where we go over product
knowledge with my sales management
team. They go over product training,
delivery training, walk-around training
and so on. In the service area, we take
advantage of all the factory programs
out there. We're constantly sending
people to training programs.
DEALER MAGAZINE: How does
Capitol City Honda try to ensure every
customer has a positive experience?
KELLY: The customer experience
has a lot to do with creating a positive
work environment. We try to make
decisions that create great morale in
our employee team.
I have an app on my phone that
shows all of our reviews and customer
surveys that come through. A lot of
them say our employees were kind,
humble, helpful. And I think that all
starts with our employees being happy
within their work environment. I
think our employees take pride in the
dealership. We always make sure to

communicate to the employees that
they are the reason we are an awardwinning dealership. We make sure
they are acknowledged for doing a
great job or receiving positive customer
feedback.
We try to make it a fun work
environment, where people enjoy
working here, and I think that rubs off
on the customer. The result is good
customer experience. For instance,
we do a team bonding event during
the Christmas season where we get
together for a catered event. We make
blankets for charity. It's pretty simple.
We do a project together and have
dinner. All that gets donated to a local
homeless charity. We also do a lot of
team barbecues and in other ways try
to make the workplace an enjoyable
place to be.
DEALER MAGAZINE: In what ways
does the store give back to the local
community?
KELLY: We have an amazing
children's museum in Olympia. We
sponsor a lifetime display there. It's a
display where kids can interact with
vehicles. That was a big deal for us
and a donation we made over several
years. But that display will always be
there, and I love that we could be a
part of something that benefits the
kids in our community. The museum
relied on sponsors to fund the building
and development from the ground up.
The Hands-On Children's Museum
draws a lot of people and not just from
Olympia.
We typically write checks to over
60 organizations in a year: schools,
churches, sports teams, charities. I've
been involved with the Leukemia and
Lymphoma Society and help put on a
fundraiser for them. We also contribute

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

Continued on pg. 24

JUNE 2019

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