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 1st. 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
