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February 3, 2014 by Mike Anderson Leave a Comment

Transmission Newsletter – vol. 8

Well 2014 is off and running and we have quite a few things going on right now that I would like to share with everyone.

New Product
First off, I don’t know if everyone has seen the news from Ford about the new 2015 F-150 and the 2015 Navigator, but I believe they are going to be great products for us. Since the new 2015 F-150 is going to have an aluminum body, we are going to have to acquire some more equipment for the Body Shops in order to be able to work on them. It will be interesting to see how all that unfolds in regards to ease of working on aluminum.

Construction & Updates
Our construction projects in St. Joe are underway now. The new Mitsubishi building is finished and Bob and the team are moving into that building the first weekend here in February and will operate from there until the Kia building remodel is finished. We are hoping that will be finished by June 1st. I believe that the finished product there will have a huge impact on sales volumes. The Ford remodel should be starting here in the next couple weeks as well and will be complete shortly after the Kia store is done with its remodel. The builder is planning on doing the work in phases at the Ford store so they don’t disrupt our business too much during this process. You will be able to go to AAGConnect.com and view pictures as the construction progresses.

On another exciting note in St. Joe, we just finalized our land swap agreement with Price Chopper (a large grocery store chain). They are buying the property next to us, tearing down the old movie theatre, and putting up a new store that will sit right next to the end of our strip center. They are telling me that they expect around 16,000 customers a day to come to the store so it should help our traffic tremendously I believe. Sounds like it takes roughly 12-18 months for that project to be completed and I am not sure when they will actually begin.

The final touches are being placed on the gas station in Lincoln (Andy’s Express) and we hope to start moving dirt sometime around the middle of February. We have decided to represent VP Racing Fuels as we feel that will add credibility concerning the quality of the fuel we will be selling. Also, for those of you that like the high-octane fuels, we will be able to get all of that. They were telling me that we have the ability to deliver 55 gallon drums to people’s homes if need be. That will be pretty handy for those that are into racing.

Keeping a Family Together
By the time you read this, we will have received 3 vehicle donations this year and our goal is to average at least 2 per month. This should allow us the opportunity to really impact people that are truly in need. For this reason, we applied for our dealer’s license for BPM Inc. (our non-profit) in order to avoid having to pay sales tax on these vehicles and have more money to fix them up so they are ready to roll. I’d like to share one of our most recent vehicle donation stories with you:

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Cynthia taking delivery of her new vehicle.

Turns out, because of vehicle problems, she was no longer able to consistently get her kids to school. If she couldn’t find a solution quickly, she would soon lose custody. Cornerstone Family Counseling caught wind of Cynthia’s story and reached out to BPM Inc. for help.

We were able to locate a van for her, but in a different way than ever before. After hearing Cynthia’s story, Bigler Motors actually ended up donating the vehicle to BPM Inc, and we presented her with the van at the Mazda store. Did you catch that? One of our competitors heard the story, caught the vision, and stepped into the situation to help put Cynthia on a better path. Two dealers on the same turf saw a person in need, recognized their own unique position to help, and set aside business as usual to impact a family in our community.

This Mission that we keep our doors open for; there’s something to it beyond the walls of Anderson. At its core is a belief that people and their stories are incredibly important. Valuing people and helping create better stories is bigger than us. It crosses the border between businesses and binds together like-minded people that want to build a better community. As our Mission impacts our Industry, it will more greatly impact our Community.

This all starts with the sum of the individual efforts made on a daily basis by every member of the Anderson Team. Everyone’s effort makes our growing impact possible, and truly changes the lives of people like Cynthia.

The Anderson Cultural Value of Vision means to look for ways to consistently value people. Cynthia’s story clearly shows this value at work in the people involved in providing a vehicle for her. We look forward to many more stories like this in the coming year. Check out the latest updates on AAGConnect.com.

Andy Award Nominations
We will soon be posting the 2014 Andy Award Nomination Forms. In addition to the final awards at the Christmas Party, we will be giving away monthly prizes for nominees during 2014. More details to come as we get this kicked off.

Thanks for all you do everyday!!

Mike Anderson

Mike's-Signature

January 3, 2014 by Mike Anderson Leave a Comment

Transmission Newsletter – vol. 7

I would like to start off by saying Happy New Year to everyone. I hope everyone had a great Christmas and New Year’s. 2014 should be a great year as I feel that we have a lot of great teams in each market that are working well together. I know that each department has goals for this coming year and I am confident that through everyone’s effort they will all be reached. Let’s get started with our first newsletter this year. I’d like to open with a quick look back at some of the stories that our 501c3, BPM Inc., helped to impact:

In 2013...
...you helped Joe support his two children
...you helped raise thousands of dollars to feed at risk children in all of our markets and abroad
...you helped Donna keep her job and support herself
...you helped Hannah support her 3 children
...you helped a woman who had been bedridden for 15 years get to the medical treatment that could change her life
...you helped value men & women that have faithfully served our country in the military
...you helped Elizabeth provide for her 3 girls
...you helped kids in treatment at the Ronald McDonald House
...you helped Echo Bell enrich the lives of 10 battered women with computer & life skills to help them support themselves
...you helped provide school supplies to at-risk children here and abroad
...you helped value the seniors in our communities in nursing homes
...you helped advocates who stand up for victims of child abuse
...you helped Mobiar with a vehicle to provide for his family
...you helped a mother rebuild her life and provide care for her special needs child
...you helped a teenager suffering from Lou Gehrig's disease get treatment
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2014 will be a very exciting year for us. We hope and have plans to actually double the amount of cars we donate, thereby doubling the amount of people we impact. I am deeply humbled, and at the same time very proud of what we are accomplishing together. Everyone’s contribution makes these stories possible.

Our People

I would like to start this section off by congratulating our first annual Andy award winners again, Sue Koch, Justin Drieling, Nathanael Ziegler, and Aaron Armstrong. What a great honor to be recognized by your peers as demonstrating our nine Cultuarl Values and living out the Mission. To recognize them for this achievement we flew to Chicago to spend the day touring downtown Chicago and Christmas shopping with the cash we gave them. As the day came to an end, one of the winners made a comment that I believe sums up our whole organization: “You know, one thing I have learned through all this is that I am part of a great team”. All I can say to that is “Amen”. I feel the same way. This is a perfect example of the Cultural Value of Team: working together as a Team made up of Teams.

The Andy Award Winners getting ready to depart.

Our Communities

We just had a great story take place around Christmas time at our Mazda store in Lincoln. There was a lady whose grandfather was a veteran and just passed away here not too long ago and he left her some money. She decided that she wanted to buy a car with that money so she came to our dealership to see what we had.

After visiting with our Sales rep here and hearing our Mission and what we are trying to do to impact people, she was so moved by the story that she decided she would donate her car. Since she was blessed with money given to her by her grandfather, she wanted to bless someone else with this gift. Not only that, she chose to buy her car from us over the local Subaru dealer, even though our competitor had a lower price, all because of our Mission. Since her grandfather was a veteran we told her that we would see to it that this car she donated would go to a veteran to honor her grandfather.

If you don’t think what you do matters, this story should prove that everything we are doing matters and you all make that happen everyday. Thanks to this salesperson (Eric Delaney) who shared this story with the customer and in turn impacted her and another veteran in need. We’ll be sharing more of this story with you as it continues to unfold.

Our World

Not a lot of news in this area right now. The majority of our focus currently is in the other three impact areas. We remain committed to this, and look forward to developing these initiatives in 2014.

At the Christmas party you saw the video where we shared our 10 Year Vision for the organization. Jump on AAGConnect.com if you haven’t gotten to see it yet. For this growth to occur it is very important that we grow leaders from within in order to step into these future leadership roles. We will continue to develop these emerging leaders and identify more within the organization as we continue on. Thanks for all you do and let’s have a great 2014.

Mike Anderson

November 4, 2013 by Mike Anderson Leave a Comment

Transmission Newsletter – vol. 6

It is hard to believe that this beautiful weather is coming to an end and snow is upon us soon. This is a good time of the year to reflect on the year’s accomplishments and to determine any things that you want to accomplish yet before 2013 comes to an end. As a company we have accomplished so much this year and have so many things going on. It really is hard to try and fit it all in a monthly newsletter. Here are just a few things that have been done or are being done currently.

Our People

The last week of October we kicked off our A.M.P. (Automotive Mentoring Program) in Lincoln at the Ford store. You can read the blog post about it on aagconnect.com. This is a great example of our techs living out the Cultural Value of Development (helping people reach their full potential by encouraging and coaching character and strengths). Speaking of aagconnect.com, Ryan Stoner just completed a total remodel of the site and it is now accessible through your mobile phone. This is the site that we will be posting company news and updates as well as Top Gun awards every month. If you still have no clue what aagconnect.com is, ask your people resource person in your store to help you get logged in or show you how. Improved communication is one of our main goals and this is one avenue for us to do that more effectively.

Some of our Service Team involved with AMP getting to meet the kids they will be mentoring for the first time.

Another tool we are working on to improve communication is a text message alert system. This will allow us to notify our people quickly in the event that a company-wide announcement needs to be made. In order to do this, we will create an online signup form for you to input your mobile number. Signup will be voluntary, but encouraged. We promise not to over-text you! You’ll hear more about this soon.

Our Communities

The Lincoln market kicked off an event the last week in October to help raise money for Team Jack. They are donating money for every car sold during a few week timeframe to fight brain cancer. For those who don’t know who Jack is, he was featured on ESPN when he ran for a touchdown at the Huskers’ spring game. Too bad he didn’t play for us against Minnesota since we needed a few more touchdowns at that game. You can read more about this event on aagconnect.com.

Our Mitsubishi building in St. Joe is going up and seems to be on track with completion prior to year-end. The architects are finalizing the details of the Kia and Ford remodel in St. Joe and we hope to send it out to bid here in November with construction starting sometime in December, weather permitting. I’m hoping to have the Convenience Store project under construction starting January as well and in Grand Island we are still trying to work with Ford on the details of the Ford remodel there. Hopefully we can agree on things here shortly.

Construction beginning on the Mitsubishi Showroom in St. Joseph

Our Industry

On a positive note, if you are in the market for a used vehicle now is the time to start considering making a purchase. Auction prices have been falling and we are seeing some great buys out there. Normally this does not last so we are looking at increasing our used vehicle inventories in the different markets. This should impact all departments on a positive note here in the 4th quarter.

On the new vehicle front 2013 has been a decent year with sales volumes. Currently, the market Share numbers for the top 3 manufactures in each of our markets are:

Lincoln, NE	St. Joseph, MO	Grand Island, NE
Chevy 14%	Ford 23%	Chevy 16%
Ford 13%	Chevy 20%	Ford 15%
Honda 13%	Toyota 11%	Toyota 10%

Obviously our goal is to make Ford #1 in each of our markets and I believe we have the teams to make that happen. We recently changed our CRM tool for all stores in order to help our sales teams become more productive with the customer database and try to improve our overall sales pace for each store. On the fixed ops side we brought in our department leaders for a 1 day conference and challenged them to think about how we can grow each department 30% in the coming months. There were a lot of great ideas shared and I am optimistic that everyone involved will make those numbers a reality.

Our World

Things on this front are a little bit quiet right now. As a company, we believe in the importance of all four of our Impact Areas (People, Community, Industry, World). Having real impact in this fourth area requires a unique level of planning and commitment, and we don’t take that lightly. Because of that, we are taking deliberate steps at a slower pace to make sure the initiatives we create are in line with our Mission and have maximum effect. Look for more communication about these initiatives in 2014.

October 2, 2013 by Mike Anderson Leave a Comment

Transmission Newsletter – vol. 5

I want to start this off by saying sorry for not getting this out last month, but between factory meetings, dealer meetings, and construction projects I was not able to spend much time writing this. I will try and make sure going forward that does not happen again. With that said, let’s get right into things.

Our People

There are some great stories coming from the markets in regards to recent car care clinics that were done in St. Joe and Lincoln. The focus of both clinics was on veterans and people in need and I know that everyone involved in receiving this gift is very appreciative. In Lincoln the vets even came back and brought t-shirts for the techs. Grand Island is planning on doing their first Car Care Clinic here in October. Stories on that will follow in future editions. “Working to together as a team of teams” and using their strengths, our technicians and volunteers are living our Anderson Value of TEAM when they help those less fortunate in our communities.”

I want to thank all the techs and everyone else involved in finalizing these Andy awards for our upcoming Christmas party. Those techs involved in leading out on this are Jerry Jelinek, Scott Weber, Mark Andersen, Eric Edwards, Michael Sparks, Brian Stump, Steven Lantis, and Bryan Meinders. Thanks guys for all your work on this. Your EFFECTIVE LEADERSHIP is helping to “inspire people about the common cause of our Mission”.

Our Communities

There are quite a few impact stories going on in the different communities. One impact area that Mike Heller is working on with some of the tech’s in the Lincoln market is an Automotive Mentoring Program (AMP) where we are partnering with a local outreach organization that deals with troubled youth or kids that don’t have much direction in life. We’re partnering with The Bay (local skatepark in Lincoln) to pilot a mentoring program that matches kids with our techs. Youths with an interest in auto maintenance will shadow our techs on the job, starting them on a career path that aligns with their interests and gifts. The first round of this kicks off next month. There is exciting momentum with this, including interest from Lincoln Public Schools to give the program some more legs. Our hope would be to create a program that we can roll out company-wide. By “promoting the interests and well being of others”, those involved are modeling the Anderson value of HUMILITY.

One other great thing that happened just recently in St. Joe was we had our first vehicle donated in over 2 years to BPM. Our plan is to ensure it is safe and in good working order so we could provide to a needy family in the St Joe area. Great job to the sales team there. By “listening and responding with care to create relationships we can rely on” you made this possible. Another great example of an Anderson Value…TRUST.

St. Joe also just wrapped up their 3rd annual Charity Classic Car Truck & Bike show. This event is in benefit of the local chapter of the Dream Factory. “You cultivated the mindset that all people matter” and lived the Anderson Value of MOTIVATION. Nice work!

St. Joe BPM Committee posing with the winner of the Most Creative Motorcycle and with representatives from the Dream Factory. Left to right: Alice Stepanek – BPM, Max Harden – Winner, Billy Payne – BPM, Doug Groce – BPM, Kathy Stanton – BPM, Terry – Dream Factory, Logan Hazzard – Dream Factory recipient

Our Industry

A lot has happened over the last month-and-a-half. Construction has begun at the Mitsubishi Dealership in St. Joe. and we’re looking to have that completed before year end. We have finalized our Kia and Ford plans for the remodels in St. Joe and have hired an architect who is currently working on putting those plans into construction documents to send out to bid. I am hoping that we can have those finalized and a builder chosen before year-end. Our goal is to start Kia and have that under way as quick as possible, following up with the Ford project soon after. Our goal would be to have Kia done by the Spring at the latest and Ford done sometime during the Fall of next year. Ford visited our Grand Island store in September and has come up with some great ideas on how we can add a delivery bay and another service drive to the location. We are still working on those plans but plan on doing something to upgrade the facility next year also.

The gas station project in Lincoln is still moving along. Last time I mentioned we were going to put in a Maid Rite franchise, but since then we have decided to not do a franchise and just put in a drive thru for any item that you could find in the C-Store. This idea should make it easier for parents with small kids, handicapped people, elderly, or just lazy people like myself that don’t want to run into the store but would rather get it in a drive thru. I’m pretty excited about that idea.

Our World

With all the exciting things going on close to home, we are also committed to providing help to people in need that live elsewhere. With recent flooding in Colorado, several have expressed a desire to do something to provide relief. One of the biggest immediate needs is for everyday home supplies, and we’ve organized a drive to gather and deliver these items to the people that need them in Colorado. Check out the post on AAGConnect for how to help out with that. There have also been individuals that have expressed an interest in being a part of quick response teams that can go provide rapid aid in the event of a disaster. This is a great idea that we want to support, and we are currently working to draw up some guidelines for how these teams can form and function.

We are also looking at opportunities to help out beyond our borders. We are taking a careful look at select places internationally that we can meaningfully contribute to by sending a team of people to serve. More specifics will come as we continue to explore these options.

Thanks for reading this and thanks for all you do for the company. On a side note, on October 1st, the health care exchanges will be opening up. I would encourage each one of you to go to healthcare.gov and begin looking at your options. If you have any questions about this, we’re here to help. Please send us an email at healthcare@andersonautogroup.com. Right now there is still a lot to for us to learn from a company standpoint, but I encourage you to understand it yourself to ensure you pick the options that will be the most cost effective for you and your family.

-Mike

August 1, 2013 by Mike Anderson Leave a Comment

Transmission Newsletter – vol. 4

Hard to believe that summer is almost over and kids are headed back to school. Seems like the older I get, the faster time flies. I am sure that many of you have felt the same way as we navigate through life. Before I get started here I wanted to make sure that everyone has seen the new organizational information that we sent out in July. If not, you can go to this post and look at it. Well, let’s get started here.

Our People

Previously I mentioned Fahri Govori’s situation, a North Store sales advisor in the Lincoln market that was told he had days to live. Fahri Govori passed away on July 22nd at the age of only 34. He was a sales advisor at our North Lincoln location who left behind a wife and 2 kids. I know many of you worked with us to help him and his family financially through this last year as he underwent cancer treatments and was unable to work. If anyone would like to contribute personally to help his family, you can write a check to BPM and send to the South Lincoln location, we’ll collect those funds and present them to his wife.

On a more positive note I wanted to recognize Chad Sabatka. Many of you know, Chad is the developer of all our websites and has recently taken on the management of our entire e-commerce efforts. Chad has also been recently published in “Dealership Innovation Magazine” a national magazine. The article touts our digital efforts being at the forefront for web technology in our industry. We also have the stats to back it up with our websites and more specifically our mobile websites. Way to go Chad! What an outstanding honor that is. If you want to read the article you can find it beginning on page 36 using this link.

Our Communities

We just recently finished a car clinic in Lincoln and as I am writing this St. Joe is getting ready for theirs on August 1^st. Go here to see pictures.

It’s really great to see all the techs use their talents to help the less fortunate in our communities. When I visit with those that are impacted by these events they just cannot believe that a car dealership would actually be doing something like this to help them. I want to say thanks to all those that make this happen; you are truly living our values and making a difference in peoples’ lives. On another note, we are currently partnering with a local outreach organization to test pilot an automotive mentoring program that will give at-risk youth better direction and support in their lives. I will share more about this in future newsletters as our goal is to expand it to all our markets once we work out the details.

Transportation is a core need for people, and we’re uniquely positioned as an auto dealership to help meet this need in a very direct way. Seeing this happen for the people in our community that need it most has been tremendous. It has also been an amazing thing to watch our Service and Quicklane teams band together and step up to the task of serving our veterans. These guys and gals are volunteering of their own time (after putting in a full day’s work), and without them it wouldn’t be possible. A huge thanks to them all for making it happen! Thanks for making a difference!

Our Industry

Well it is official. In St. Joe, all the stores will be undergoing renovations and/ or new construction. We are currently finalizing plans for the Ford store’s remodel as well as the Kia store’s remodel. Construction will also be starting shortly on the new Mitsubishi building finishing up by the end of the year. I anticipate all the projects being complete towards the end of 2014. Our Convenience Store project in Lincoln is now in full swing. We’ve hired an architect and are currently working on the plans. The Convenience Store business will be called “Andy’s Express”. We are going to go with a retro theme to the station and have decided on including a fast food chain called “Maid-Rite” They have a retro look as well along with really good food. They are not located anywhere in Nebraska as of yet. If you get time you can go to their website and check them out. We are in the process of also looking in to renovating the Grand Island Ford store so more to come on that down the road.

Our World

We have now established BPM teams in each market to work on not only opportunities we have locally but around the world. If you would like to get involved or have questions on that you can e-mail Mike Heller at mheller@andersonautogroup.com or just grab him next time you see him in your store. There is currently some work going on in regards to trying to organize a missions trip mid January next year. More to come as we work out the details on that trip.

As always, I really appreciate everything you do for the company. It takes great people to make a company great and we have great people in all areas of this company. Thanks for reading and congrats to those that responded to my last newsletter.

Now let’s have a great August!

-Mike

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