New construction at the St. Joe Mitsubishi store is well underway. These beams started going up about ten days ago and we’re still on track for completion by December! For those of you outside of St. Joe, this new building is going up on the same lot as our Kia Store there and is just down the road from the Ford store. Once complete, we’ll have two separate showrooms on site; one for Kia and one for Mitsubishi.
Blog
Top Gun October 2013
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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.
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.
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.
2013 Andy Award Nomination
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November Cruise Contest
Goal
Each department has been given a daily goal, gross profit in all areas except for daily sales in Parts Departments. The contest will run for the month of November and is offered as an incentive to focus our efforts on maximizing the productivity of our people.
Objectives were based on current year performance in the area measured and each store has been given a goal of increasing their average by 20%. Click the green link below to see each department’s objectives.
Award
There will be a total of five awards, one for each Department represented on the chart above. The Leader with the highest percentage improvement from objective will be awarded the trip.
The trip is a 5-day cruise in the Western Carribean, visiting Ocho Rios, Jamaica and the Grand Cayman Islands. The Leader and a guest will be flown to Miami and spend five days in splendor.
The trip is scheduled for late February of 2014.
Click the green links below to see leaderboards with the latest numbers for each department. These spreadsheets will be updated daily, so check back often. You can access this page by clicking the green button on the “Announcements” section of the homepage or by using the search bar with the term “contest”.
Best of luck.
Leaderboards
Halloween 2013
You guys sure know how to pull off a good costume. Extra points for the group impersonations of Bob Fausset and Dan Zach.
Happy Service Customers in St. Joe
We received a great letter from a very satisfied service customer in St. Joe. When your camping trip is cut short by a $3,200 repair on your Excursion, it’s pretty hard to walk away feeling good about that. So hats off to the St. Joe Service Team for treating these customers so well and making their ordeal as pleasant as possible. Way to go team! Here’s the letter that the customer sent:
Dear Sir/Madam:
I am embarrassed that it has taken me this long to write and tell you how pleased my wife and I were by the service of folks in your organization. But, as the saying goes, “better late than never”.
We arrived after hours on August 20th and were met by, I believe, your sales manager. (I didn’t get his name.) He proceeded to help us set up our travel trailer behind your building. The next morning, we were taken under the wing of Mark Snyder, who arranged for a vehicle for us from Enterprise and one of your contract drivers and his wife (two very nice people) to tow our travel trailer to a nearby RV park. Mark also introduced me to the mechanic that was to do the work on our Excursion. Both he (Mark) and your mechanic (Terry) were pleasant, helpful, communicative, and informative.
Three days later we pulled out “almost” feeling good about the $3,200 repair bill.
Our thanks to all those involved and our congratulations to you for inspiring such a high degree of customer service in all your employees.
Sincerely,
Michael & Lois Doran
Team Jack
If you’ve followed Husker Football this last year (sorry Missouri people! :)) there’s probably no way you’ve missed the Story of Team Jack. 7-year old Jack Hoffman is a die hard Husker fan. He’s also been battling an aggressive form of pediatric brain cancer. After developing a relationship with Nebraska running back Rex Burkhead during 2011-12, Jack was invited by the University to participate in the Husker’s Spring Game in a pretty special way:
Jack’s story caught fire in the national media soon after, and he even got an audience with President Obama. As the spotlight turned to them, the Hoffman family felt compelled to use their momentum to help raise awareness of pediatric brain cancer. They started Team Jack Foundation shortly after with the following mission:
Funding = Research = Cure. The diseases that we as a society spend resources on, ultimately see improved treatments and survival rates. It is time that pediatric brain cancer becomes a member of that community.
The Ford Store in Lincoln is partnered with the Team Jack Foundation in a unique way for the next month. We’re donating $100 for every car sale and $20 for every test drive. We’re hoping for a great response to help out a great cause!
Top Gun September 2013
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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!
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
