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4<br />

The Puget Sound Dealer<br />

Official Publication of the<br />

Puget Sound Automobile Dealers Association<br />

16101 Greenwood Avenue N Bldg 2100<br />

Seattle WA 98133<br />

Phone: 206 542-3551<br />

Fax: 206 542-7561<br />

Email: jim@<strong>psada</strong>.com<br />

www.<strong>psada</strong>.com<br />

President<br />

Mark Westlund<br />

Westlund Buick Pontiac GMC Truck, Seattle<br />

1st Vice President<br />

Wayland Scarff<br />

Scarff Motors, Auburn<br />

2rd Vice President<br />

Phil Bivens<br />

Auburn Chevrolet & Puyallup Chrysler<br />

3rd Vice President<br />

Craig Campbell<br />

Campbell Nelson Volkswagen, Edmonds<br />

Campbell Nelson Nissan, Edmonds<br />

Trustees<br />

Sue Byers<br />

Bob Byers Volvo, Seattle<br />

Jason Courter<br />

Honda Auto Center of Bellevue<br />

PSADA Staff<br />

James R. Hammond<br />

Executive Director<br />

Don Schultz<br />

Director of Education and Development<br />

Ron Olson<br />

A-YES State Manager<br />

Joyce Nichols<br />

Executive Assistant<br />

Linda Halverson<br />

Office Manager<br />

Susan Leonhardi<br />

Secretary<br />

Dawn Mylerberg<br />

Secretary<br />

For information on advertising in this<br />

publication contact Jim Aitkins<br />

Blue Water Publishers, LLC<br />

360.805.6474<br />

Inside<br />

this<br />

Issue<br />

A Message from the Editor<br />

The Words From Your Mouth<br />

One of the most impressive men I have ever met in<br />

my life was the late Stanley O. McNaughton, President of<br />

Pemco Insurance. Stan was indeed a great friend and mentor<br />

to me. Every morning Stan would walk through his<br />

entire company and say hello to his employees. You know,<br />

he knew them all by name. There were hundreds of them. And he knew things<br />

about their lives and interchanged conversations with them about things that<br />

were important to them. Certainly the return to Pemco was employees that<br />

knew that the man at the top cared about them and was sincere about it.<br />

We can all learn from Stan’s great example. He knew that words from his<br />

mouth could have great impacts on other people. He chose them wisely and<br />

used them to build up people. One of Stan’s greatest quotes is “Multiply your<br />

strength by the number of people around you. Make them look good, successful,<br />

and of value to others. You will never have to worry about your own success.”<br />

This philosophy is standard fare for many of our dealers. But, if you<br />

haven’t tried it, begin today. Walk through your dealership everyday. Learn<br />

about your people. Let them get to know you. Let them know that you personally<br />

value them “personally.” Let them know you care about their best interests<br />

and that you are sincere about it. You will find this daily activity exciting and<br />

rewarding. Dealers that do this already know how this builds loyalty and productivity.<br />

Love your people and remember the words from your mouth do have<br />

an impact on people around you.<br />

Jim Hammond<br />

Executive Director<br />

7 Message from the President - Mark Westlund<br />

8 Termination Checklist<br />

10 Pete Calkins - Exciting! Experienced!<br />

11 Growth and Expansion at the Professional Automotive Training Center<br />

13 Developing and Retaining Loyal Customers<br />

14 Steve Klein: The Gift of Giving<br />

18 Creating an Energy-Efficient Dealership<br />

21 The Entitlement Generation - Strategies for Hiring Generation WHY<br />

22 The Old Rules Don’t Apply!<br />

25 The Best of NADA 2007<br />

29 Coffee Break<br />

32 Meet Your PSADA Team


Message from the President<br />

Mark Westlund<br />

Westlund Buick Pontiac GMC Truck<br />

Phase II...Here We Go!<br />

Back in 1977 when my dad, Warren Westlund, was president of the dealers association<br />

the first seeds of the Professional Automotive Training Center (PATC) were planted.<br />

Those were exciting days as the dealers looked forward to growing their own technicians.<br />

Most certainly their hopes and dreams came true greater and larger than they<br />

ever expected. Today the PATC is recognized nationally as the cutting edge of automotive<br />

technical training in the nation. It’s hard to believe that so many years have passed<br />

since my dad has been president. Now I am president and I have the honor of being part<br />

of this great project and its next exciting step forward.<br />

I am proud to announce that we expect to break ground on Phase II of the PATC<br />

this November which will expand the present facility by 24,000 square feet. The expansion<br />

couldn’t come sooner. The demand for admission to the PATC’s manufacturer-specific<br />

programs is immense – well beyond its present capacity. The expansion will more<br />

than double our ability to train new techs for our stores. It will also help us provide<br />

more training space for the auto manufacturers who train up to 10,000 techs a year at<br />

the PATC. Plus, it creates more opportunities for us to accept into our manufacturerspecific<br />

programs the hundreds of AYES students that will be coming our way out of<br />

high schools over the next several years. The PATC is very good news for all dealers.<br />

We are fortunate to have it right in our own backyard.<br />

7


8<br />

Termination<br />

Checklist<br />

By Thao Tiedt<br />

Ryan, Swanson & Cleveland<br />

Before terminating an employee, review this checklist<br />

to see if you have your ducks in a row. While employment<br />

in Washington is at-will, you cannot terminate an employee<br />

for an illegal reason, such as discrimination, or in retaliation<br />

for the employee having exercised a legal right, such<br />

as reporting a safety violation or filing a workers’ compensation<br />

claim. In order to avoid discrimination claims, it is<br />

important to be consistent in how you treat employees. If<br />

you answer no to a question on the checklist, it does not<br />

mean that you should continue employing the employee.<br />

However, you may want to consider the matter further or<br />

get legal advice.<br />

• Is the employee a member of a protected group (minority,<br />

pregnant, disabled, etc.)? If so, is the employee<br />

being treated the same as members of non-minority<br />

groups?<br />

• Remember, if the employee is separating due to illness<br />

or pregnancy, he or she may be entitled to family leave<br />

and it may not truly be a resignation.<br />

• Was the rule or policy the employee violated a published<br />

rule? How? Where? When? If the violation was<br />

not published, is it a serious enough matter that a reasonable<br />

person would agree that the employee should<br />

be terminated?<br />

• Did the employee ever receive a written copy of the<br />

policy? For example, in a handbook or employee orientation?<br />

Was the rule posted?<br />

• Have any other employees violated this rule or policy?<br />

If so, did they receive the same disciplinary action? If<br />

not, can you articulate a good reason why this employee<br />

is receiving harsher discipline? Some good reasons<br />

are because this was a repeat violation, the employee<br />

being terminated is a supervisor and therefore has to<br />

lead by example or that this employee has been troublesome<br />

for some time and this is just the last of a<br />

long line of issues.<br />

• If the decision to terminate is based on poor performance<br />

has the employee been given the opportunity to<br />

improve? Can you document your coaching sessions<br />

with this employee?<br />

• How long has the employee been employed? The<br />

longer a person has been employed, the more chances<br />

a jury thinks the employee should have to improve.<br />

• Have alternatives to discharge been considered (change<br />

of position, transfer, education)? However, demotions<br />

are seldom wise or work out.<br />

• Has the employee received warning, verbal or written,<br />

previously for violation of this rule? By whom? And<br />

was it documented? (All documentation of verbal and<br />

written warnings should be retained in the employee’s<br />

personnel file)<br />

• What was the employee’s prior disciplinary record?


• With whom will the employee be replaced? If the<br />

employee being terminated is over 40, is the replacement<br />

substantially younger?<br />

• Does the documentation in the personnel file support<br />

the termination?<br />

• Has the final decision to terminate been reviewed by<br />

Human Resources or legal counsel (if applicable) to<br />

ensure uniformity and consistency of treatment?<br />

• What considerations need to be made for compensation,<br />

i.e. additional pay for earned time off, 401K or retirement<br />

benefits, etc.?<br />

• Has payroll been contacted with this decision in order<br />

to adequately prepare final compensation? However, in<br />

Washington you do not have to give the terminated<br />

employee his or her final check at the time of termination.<br />

You can issue it on the next regular payday and<br />

mail it to the employee.<br />

The following are guidelines to follow during your<br />

final interview with the employee. First and foremost, cool<br />

down. Never discharge an employee without having gathered<br />

your wits. You want to have your best professional<br />

demeanor. Be sure you have made arrangements for another<br />

supervisor or witness to be with you during the termination<br />

meeting.<br />

• Tell the team member that he or she is being terminated<br />

within the first few minutes of the interview; do not<br />

drag the meeting out.<br />

• Explain the decision briefly and clearly.<br />

• Avoid counseling at this point; it should have already<br />

been done.<br />

• Explain fully the reasons for termination; give the true<br />

reasons and all reasons. What you tell the employee at<br />

the termination meeting will be what you have to testify<br />

to as your reasons if things go wrong.<br />

• Allow the employee an opportunity to have his or her<br />

say; pay close attention to what is said but do not argue<br />

with the team member in an effort to justify the decision.<br />

• Close quickly.<br />

• Only discuss the details of a termination with those who<br />

have a business need to know. Publicizing your feelings<br />

about the terminated employee to other employees<br />

could later come back to haunt you in a defamation<br />

case.<br />

□�<br />

If the decision to terminate<br />

is based on poor performance,<br />

has the employee<br />

been given the opportunity<br />

to improve? Can you document<br />

your coaching sessions<br />

with this employee?<br />

9


10<br />

Exciting! Experienced!<br />

By Mark Cutshall<br />

Pete Calkins remembers the first<br />

time he fell in love – with cars.<br />

“I had a Mattel Hot Wheels set<br />

when I was eight or nine years old. It<br />

was Smokey and the Bandit, and they<br />

had flashy stickers.”<br />

Several years later, a muscle car<br />

magazine caught his teenage eye.<br />

Then, he got behind the wheel of his<br />

first car, a Triumph Spitfire.<br />

Today, he’s driving another creation,<br />

a vehicle for men and women<br />

pursuing careers in the automotive<br />

repair industry. It’s called the<br />

Professional Automotive Training<br />

Center at Shoreline Community<br />

College. Last November, Pete became<br />

its new director of automotive education.<br />

He takes over a nationallyrespected<br />

program which, fueled by<br />

the leadership of Don Schultz, an<br />

impressive faculty, corporate support<br />

of General Motors, Toyota, Honda<br />

and Chrysler, and area-wide dealer<br />

involvement, has become the standard<br />

by which all other college-based automotive<br />

training programs are judged.<br />

“What impressed me about Pete is<br />

he understood what teaching and<br />

learning is all about,” says John<br />

Backes, Shoreline Community College<br />

Interim Vice President for Academic<br />

Affairs, who hired Pete. “He’s been<br />

where our students want to go. He<br />

knows what it takes to serve the dealers<br />

and the manufacturers. It’s hard to<br />

find all of these abilities in one person.<br />

With his breadth of teaching<br />

experience, administrative skills and<br />

practical industry experience, Pete is<br />

the right man for the job.”<br />

“Pete’s career path, natural abilities<br />

and achievements speak for themselves,”<br />

says PSADA<br />

Executive Director Jim Hammond.<br />

“He knows automotive education from<br />

the inside out. As an administrator and<br />

an experienced technician, his leadership,<br />

insights and ideas will take the<br />

PATC to the next level. Pete knows<br />

that guiding young adults into successful<br />

automotive careers has immediate<br />

payback for dealers financially.”<br />

What was the career opportunity<br />

that brought him to Shoreline<br />

Community College? After gaining a<br />

toe-hold in the industry at an<br />

Oldsmobile dealership in Denver, Pete<br />

discovered General Motors’ ASEP<br />

tech training program and decided “to<br />

make a living working on cars.” He<br />

honed his skills as a technician and<br />

gained experience in auto warranty<br />

service. Then, with a little encourage-<br />

ment from his wife, he landed a teaching<br />

job in electrical and engine performance<br />

at the Denver Automobile<br />

and Diesel College.<br />

While taking full-time classes at a<br />

local commuter college, Peter continued<br />

to teach – and then learned about<br />

a full-time teaching position at<br />

Arapahoe Community College in the<br />

Denver suburb of Littleton. Not only<br />

did he get the job, Pete accepted the<br />

school’s offer to be the department<br />

chairman.<br />

“As a faculty member, I was<br />

exposed to different teaching methods<br />

through two manufacturer programs:<br />

GM’s ASEP and DaimlerChrysler’s<br />

CAP. As an administrator, I developed<br />

class schedules, supervised faculty<br />

and was at the center of assessment<br />

and strategic planning,” he says.<br />

One of Pete’s success stories at<br />

Arapahoe came from the automotive<br />

students’ participation in SkillsUSA,<br />

previously known as VICA<br />

(Vocational and Industrial Clubs of<br />

America). The program gave students<br />

both technical know-how as well as<br />

the “soft skill” proficiency in resume<br />

writing, interviewing, on-the-job<br />

punctuality, appearance, team building<br />

and problem solving. At Arapahoe,


Pete helped students carry on the college’s<br />

tradition of winning SkillsUSA<br />

statewide skill-assessment competitions<br />

and representing Colorado at the<br />

national level. “I would like to develop<br />

and encourage the same kind of student<br />

achievement at Shoreline.”<br />

There was also a bit of serendipity<br />

at work. Three years ago, Pete met Don<br />

Schultz at a GM western region event<br />

in Burbank, California and at a<br />

Chrysler CAP conference in Auburn<br />

Hills, Michigan. The two swapped stories<br />

about their respective workplace<br />

schools.<br />

Pete recalls, “When Don told me<br />

what he was involved in at Shoreline,<br />

the PATC sounded too good to be true,<br />

particularly the relationship of the center<br />

to the college, the relationship of the<br />

college to the dealers, and the involvement<br />

and support of the PATC’s participating<br />

manufacturers.”<br />

Pete and Don’s conversations set<br />

the stage for an unusual invitation.<br />

“When Don told me he was retiring, he<br />

suggested I apply for the job. At the<br />

time I wasn’t quite ready,” says Pete<br />

who, last fall, topped a field of quality<br />

candidates.<br />

“My near-term goals are to help<br />

with the future expansion of the PATC<br />

facility. When you’re elbow to elbow<br />

like we are, you look forward to the day<br />

of the additional space. Long term, I’d<br />

like to bring in new manufacturers to<br />

the PATC. In GM, Toyota, Honda and<br />

Chrysler, we’ve got four quality factory<br />

partners, and of course we would like<br />

other auto makers to help more dealers<br />

grow their own technicians. “Up ahead,<br />

I’d like to partner directly with dealerships,<br />

including those who aren’t represented<br />

by our four current corporate<br />

brands.”<br />

Clearly, promising opportunities<br />

abound for dealers, manufacturers and<br />

students, alike. Now driving the educational<br />

work of the PATC, Pete Calkins<br />

has a firm grip on the wheel for the<br />

curves and straight-aways ahead. �<br />

Growth and Expansion<br />

at the<br />

Professional Automotive Training Center<br />

The Professional Automotive Training Center (PATC) at Shoreline<br />

Community College is the first manufacturer-specific training center of its<br />

kind in the United States. The first dealer-specific classes were offered at<br />

Shoreline in Fall of 1978. The design and plans that grew to be the PATC<br />

were based on the exact outline presented by NADA President Jack<br />

Pohanka in 1977 at a meeting held at Hilton Head, South Carolina. The<br />

PSADA/Shoreline plans adhered strictly to Pohanka’s ASE standards and<br />

manufacturer-specific training. Within a couple of years the Shoreline<br />

training program not only attracted the attention of General Motor, Toyota,<br />

American Honda, and DaimlerChrysler, it also caught the attention of colleges<br />

across the nation and governments around the world. Through the<br />

years more than 60 community colleges (frequently accompanied by their<br />

local dealers’ association executives), numerous municipalities and multiple<br />

foreign governments including Australia, New Zealand, Netherlands<br />

and two different delegations from China have visited the PATC.<br />

Needless to say, the success of the Center has been exceptional, and it<br />

is recognized as one of the cutting edge manufacturer-specific automotive<br />

colleges in America. Of course, along with the success comes growth. Not<br />

only does the PATC house some of the top manufacturer-specific programs<br />

in the country, it also provides training for 7,000 to 10,000 dealership<br />

employees each year. The need to expand the facility became very evident<br />

many years ago. Two years ago an active capital campaign was begun by<br />

PSADA to generate the funds necessary to expand the PATC. To date over<br />

$4 million has been collected from manufacturers, dealers, interested parties,<br />

PSADA and the State of Washington. Because fund raising has gone<br />

so well for this project, it is anticipated that the design and permitting<br />

process for construction should begin in November of 2007.<br />

Recently, the PATC faculty began meeting with the architects to<br />

start the design of the expansion of the PATC. The College has hired<br />

Group Mackenzie to design the expansion. Group Mackenzie has extensive<br />

experience with the auto industry; their firm designed the new<br />

Training Center for American Honda in Portland, Oregon, and also the<br />

new Honda Dealership in Wilsonville, Oregon. The PATC expansion project<br />

will be about 24,000 square feet and will include six training rooms for<br />

the automobile manufacturers. These rooms will be used by Toyota,<br />

DaimlerChrysler, Hyundai, Kia, Volvo and other auto manufacturers. This<br />

means the new car dealers in this region will be able to get their technician<br />

training at Shoreline instead of sending them out-of-state. There will also<br />

be additional training bays in the addition for the factory-specific technician<br />

training programs housed at Shoreline. These programs include<br />

Toyota T-TEN, General Motors ASEP, Honda PACT, DaimlerChrysler CAP<br />

and Volvo V-CATT. There will also be some additional classroom and<br />

office space on the second floor. �<br />

11


You see your product.<br />

We see your largest<br />

earning potential.<br />

At Clothier & Head, our services are designed to meet your needs, no matter where you are on the path to<br />

success. With the foresight gained from being up-to-date on trends, regulations, and issues facing the<br />

dealership industry, our team of advisors truly gain an accurate picture of each client’s financial and overall<br />

situation. At Clothier & Head we see the whole client, because we take a whole interest.<br />

Our Dealership Services Team provides a full array of services, including:<br />

Department Operations Consulting Tax Planning & Compliance<br />

Dealership Valuation Merger & Acquisition Support<br />

Sales & Use Tax Compliance Safeguarding Evaluation<br />

Internal Control Evaluation Succession & Estate Planning<br />

Financial Statement Audits, Fraud Examinations<br />

Reviews, and Compilations Cost Segregation<br />

For more information on Clothier & Head’s value-building services call Rick Rekdal, CPA or<br />

Mike Hopkins, CPA at 206.622.1326 or visit our website at www.clothierandhead.com.<br />

10<br />

70<br />

5<br />

15<br />

Certified Public Accountants<br />

and Business Advisors


Developing<br />

and<br />

Retaining<br />

Loyal Customers<br />

A satisfied customer will shop at<br />

any dealership that sells the new- or<br />

used-vehicle he or she wants, assuming<br />

approximate price parity and reasonably<br />

pleasant service. A loyal customer will<br />

buy only from you.<br />

Customer retention is arguably the<br />

single most important driver of your<br />

dealership’s value, and the key to growing<br />

your business. Retained customers<br />

return to your dealership each time they<br />

buy or lease vehicles; they won’t deal<br />

with anyone else. Retained customers<br />

talk to their families, their friends, and<br />

their colleagues about how well you<br />

treat them, and these people become<br />

your customers, too. All those customers<br />

together constitute a strong base of customers<br />

whose loyalty is worth millions—literally.<br />

Long before manufacturers required<br />

CSI surveys and “customer satisfaction”<br />

became a mantra, dealers were well<br />

aware of its importance. They measured<br />

customer satisfaction by the number of<br />

times their customers returned to buy<br />

vehicles, and/or brought their vehicles in<br />

for service, and/or referred prospects.<br />

Dealers knew their customers and stayed<br />

in touch with them because dealers<br />

understood the benefits of retaining their<br />

customer base.<br />

Today, dealerships keep in touch<br />

with their customers<br />

using a<br />

sophisticated<br />

business model<br />

supported by<br />

equally sophisticated<br />

technology.<br />

Customer<br />

Relationship<br />

Management<br />

(CRM) is a way<br />

of documenting, tracking, analyzing, and<br />

building upon each customer’s every<br />

contact with the dealership, regardless of<br />

the point or method of contact. A contact<br />

may happen in the form of a showroom<br />

visit, an incoming or outgoing<br />

telephone call, or any means of written<br />

communication (mail, fax, or the<br />

Internet, including e-mail). Over time,<br />

and with the input of each dealership<br />

employee who interacts with each customer,<br />

the dealership builds detailed,<br />

individualized customer portraits, which<br />

then provide the information needed to<br />

maximize sales opportunities and<br />

strengthen the ties between customers<br />

and dealership.<br />

Your dealership’s relationship with<br />

customers is what differentiates your<br />

store from all the other stores in your<br />

marketplace. You need to be extremely<br />

sophisticated about customers because<br />

you need them more than they need you.<br />

You need to earn their business. They<br />

need reasons more compelling than<br />

price, convenience, or product to give<br />

you their business. They’ll choose you if<br />

you provide the individualized customer<br />

service that the other stores don’t.<br />

They’ll be loyal to you if you take the<br />

steps to earn their loyalty. For customers,<br />

good service for loyalty is quid<br />

pro quo. For you, what you give comes<br />

back to you times ten:<br />

It costs ten times more to bring in a<br />

new customer than it does to retain an<br />

old one.<br />

This article is adapted from A Dealer<br />

Guide to Taking Charge of New-Vehicle<br />

Sales (SL35). For this and other helpful<br />

resources, visit NADA Management<br />

Education online at<br />

www.nada.org/mecatalog or call us at<br />

800-252-NADA, ext. 2.<br />

13


Adam Buchanan<br />

14


Steve Klein:<br />

The gift of giving<br />

By Mark Cutshall<br />

Do you remember the time when opportunity knocked?<br />

Steve Klein does. Almost 40 years ago, he was 17 years old and standing on<br />

the doorstep of a lifelong automotive career.<br />

“It was 1968 and the local Honda motorcycle dealership in Everett had gone<br />

bankrupt. So my older brother, Bill, and I decided to buy it. My dad, who owned<br />

the local Ford dealership, gave us his used car building next door.” Steve and<br />

Bill kick-started the business. Sales took off so much they soon built a new<br />

12,000-sq ft. building.<br />

Knock, knock.<br />

In the months and years that followed, opportunity arrived again, when Steve<br />

and his brother took on the franchise for Honda power equipment.<br />

“The motorcycle business was so seasonal, we needed a way to do year<br />

round business and to keep our employees year-round,” recalls Steve.<br />

Knock, knock. Steve, an accomplished downhill skier, saw the writing in the<br />

snow. The brothers opened Klein Honda Ski Haus in 1971, with a full line of<br />

alpine ski equipment.<br />

15


Adam Buchanan<br />

By the time Steve was ready to<br />

graduate from the University of Puget<br />

Sound, not one, but two more opportunities<br />

glided across his path. The first<br />

happened in the Spring of 1973. “Bill<br />

was going to run the store, and I was<br />

looking forward to graduate school. But<br />

then he decided he didn’t want to stay<br />

in the business, and my dad gave me a<br />

16<br />

choice: sell the company and take the<br />

profits, or you run it.<br />

“All I want,” I told him, “is the<br />

chance to run the company for one year.<br />

For Steve Klein, opportunity didn’t<br />

just knock, it swung open the door in a<br />

way he never imagined.<br />

“In 1974, Cliff, our motorcycle representative,<br />

was lured away by Honda’s<br />

car division. He came into the<br />

store one day and said, ‘Steve,<br />

you should look at a Honda car<br />

franchise. It would be advantageous<br />

to your business. Of<br />

course you’d need to pick up<br />

some more property.’”<br />

“So, I purchased the<br />

Standard Oil service station<br />

next to our current shop. Our<br />

franchise fee was $13,000. For<br />

that cost, Honda provided us<br />

special parts, special tools and<br />

an outdoor sign.”<br />

And with that, 23-year-old<br />

Steve Klein became the 132nd Honda auto dealer in the U.S.<br />

“I thought I knew everything.<br />

I thought I could walk<br />

on water. Yet, I soon realized I<br />

knew nothing. I had zippo<br />

experience. So I worked my<br />

fanny off. I read a lot. Most of<br />

all, I drew from three things<br />

my dad taught me growing up:<br />

be honest, work hard, and don’t<br />

be afraid to ask questions of<br />

people who’ve been down the<br />

road before you. I took these<br />

things to heart. I hired good<br />

people and paid them well. I<br />

learned that if you encourage<br />

and motivate them, they’ll raise<br />

the dealership to the top.”<br />

Which is exactly what<br />

happened. For Steve, professional<br />

and personal fulfillment was<br />

never an automatic transition. He had to<br />

learn to shift.<br />

A huge turning point for the dealership,<br />

he admits, came when he joined a<br />

“20 Group.” Three times a year, Steve<br />

joined 19 of his fellow Honda dealerprincipals<br />

for a NADA-sponsored


oundtable gathering. “Each of us was<br />

required to bring a successful idea that<br />

had worked in our respective business.<br />

Then we had to tell the group how we<br />

made it work. I came back home with<br />

some fantastic best practices that we’d<br />

implement in our own dealership. And I<br />

know others benefited from things that<br />

had worked in Everett.”<br />

In his 30 years with Honda, Steve<br />

has enjoyed three upgrades to build<br />

larger, expanded facilities. And as business<br />

has grown, Steve has discovered a<br />

principle that has touched his own life<br />

— the deep, personal satisfaction of<br />

giving back to others out of your own<br />

bounty.<br />

Steve’s generosity has touched the<br />

AYES automotive program at<br />

Marysville-Pilchuck High School where<br />

he has donated four above-ground<br />

hoists. Steve has supported the<br />

Professional Automotive Training<br />

Center at Shoreline Community College<br />

since day one and has donated to the<br />

PATC’s current capital expansion. He<br />

has helped build a new Snohomish<br />

County YMCA in Mukilteo and supported<br />

Cocoon House, a shelter for<br />

homeless teens in Everett.<br />

In the aftermath of September 11,<br />

Klein Honda set aside money for every<br />

vehicle sale, a pledge that resulted in a<br />

gift of $17,000 to the National Red<br />

Cross and a donation of $17,000 to the<br />

Snohomish County Red Cross.<br />

But there’s one particular cause<br />

that’s close to Steve’s heart. “In 1990, I<br />

went through a divorce and became a<br />

single parent. My daughter, Deonna,<br />

was in middle school, and son Rory was<br />

in elementary school. I didn’t want<br />

them to be home alone, so I made sure I<br />

was home every afternoon when they<br />

got out of school at 3:00 p.m.<br />

“Single parenting was a real awakening.<br />

I found out how difficult it is.”<br />

That appreciation deepened when Steve<br />

discovered there were single mothers<br />

enrolled at Everett Community College.<br />

“I visited the school and asked the leadership,<br />

‘How many single moms with<br />

children are enrolled because they want<br />

a better life for themselves and their<br />

children?’ The man said, ‘We have a<br />

ton.’”<br />

“I said, ‘In that case, I want to<br />

help.” He funded four scholarships each<br />

academic year. Seven years later, Steve<br />

has made a college education possible<br />

for 28 young women, some of whom<br />

have graduated in medical technology<br />

and nursing. He’s met a number of the<br />

women, their parents, grandparents and<br />

friends.<br />

“All they needed was just a little<br />

boost to get ahead in life.”<br />

During those five challenging years<br />

when it was just the three of us at<br />

home, Steve surely gave a boost of love,<br />

confidence, and hope to his son and<br />

daughter.<br />

Today, Deonna and Rory are working<br />

full time in the dealership. Deonna,<br />

now 25, directs customer relations and<br />

heads the Honda Excel program that<br />

strives to improve all phases of the<br />

dealership. Rory, 23, is IT manager and<br />

head of marketing.<br />

“At first, bringing them on was<br />

exhausting,” says Steve. “They were so<br />

full of questions: ‘Why do you do this?<br />

How come this? How come that?’ I’ve<br />

come to believe that the amount of time<br />

you invest at the beginning is directly<br />

proportionate to what you get back in<br />

the future. I see this in both of my children.<br />

They know the new and younger<br />

audiences we’re trying to reach. They<br />

bring new ideas and new knowledge of<br />

the latest technology our customers are<br />

using today.”<br />

Every morning, Steve walks<br />

through the dealership and greets each<br />

of his 80 employees. It’s just one of the<br />

many ways he chooses to extend himself<br />

to others. After all, he remembers<br />

when he had a staff of ten and how<br />

every little encouraging word meant a<br />

lot. It still does.<br />

Steve Klein knows that an act of<br />

generosity, an expression of service<br />

above self, can change the life of a high<br />

school automotive student, a single<br />

mom – perhaps even a fellow dealer.<br />

“If I could say one thing to my<br />

automotive peers, it’s this: I guarantee<br />

you, by donating your time and money<br />

to the wonderful causes you believe in,<br />

you will increase your visibility in the<br />

community. People will see you as more<br />

than an honorable dealer; they’ll see<br />

you as a deeply valued contributor in<br />

the community where you do business.<br />

People will see what you’re all about.<br />

They’ll see the things you care about<br />

and they’ll think, ‘With all that he or<br />

she is doing, maybe I should give back<br />

a little, too.’”<br />

Talk about an opportunity to extend<br />

your generosity to countless customers,<br />

colleagues and friends – for Steve<br />

Klein, it’s the gift that keeps on giving.<br />

�<br />

17


18<br />

One excellent way to learn about<br />

potential energy efficiency improvements<br />

is from industry peers. Such<br />

success stories can reveal details of<br />

the work, time, and investment<br />

involved and the improvements<br />

achieved.<br />

Evidence of the potential for dealership<br />

energy efficiency improvements<br />

is a Virginia Acura, Lexus and<br />

Chevrolet dealership, visited in conjunction<br />

with the development of an<br />

NADA guide referenced below. The<br />

sprawling automobile campus has<br />

three dealerships and a number of<br />

service buildings adding up to a quarter<br />

million square feet of space, not<br />

including an off-site collision repair<br />

center.<br />

The successes achieved at this<br />

facility were made possible due to the<br />

efforts of the dealership group’s facility<br />

manager, with the support of the<br />

dealer-owners. Many energy efficiency<br />

improvement opportunities have<br />

been taken advantage of, within the<br />

constraints of the franchisors’ design<br />

specifications. Various dealership personnel<br />

are involved in the improvements,<br />

as are several outside product<br />

and service providers, including lighting<br />

professionals. Some of the<br />

improvements include:<br />

Creating an<br />

• Building Shell—A<br />

master switch that<br />

shuts down the entire<br />

facility at closing,<br />

except for select security<br />

lighting.<br />

• Showrooms—Metal<br />

halide lamps in areas<br />

with high ceilings.<br />

• Parts/Service<br />

Areas—Suspended<br />

and looped compressedair-distribution<br />

systems.<br />

• Vehicle Washing/Detailing<br />

Areas—Greater than 50 percent<br />

water reclamation.<br />

• Dealership Lot/Building<br />

Exteriors—Exterior lighting<br />

incorporating photocells to reduce<br />

day burning.<br />

• Body Shop—T5HO lighting for<br />

the bodywork examination area.<br />

To achieve similar results consider<br />

contacting appropriate professionals<br />

to review or energy audit your facilities<br />

for potential energy savings.<br />

Many opportunities exist for costeffective<br />

energy efficiency upgrades at<br />

dealership facilities. In addition, even<br />

more fruitful opportunities exist for<br />

dealerships involved in new construction<br />

or major facility renovations.<br />

These opportunities will only become<br />

more numerous and attractive in the<br />

future as energy costs increase, and<br />

new technologies and strategies<br />

become available.<br />

This article was adapted from A<br />

Dealer Guide to Energy Star® Putting<br />

Energy into Profits (BM31). This<br />

guide can be ordered online at<br />

www.nada.org/mecatalog or by calling<br />

NADA at 800-252-NADA, ext. 2. For<br />

further information and assistance for<br />

your dealership, contact NADA or the<br />

ENERGY STAR ® Small Business<br />

Network at 1-888-STAR-YES or<br />

http://www.energystar.gov/smallbiz.


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The Entitlement<br />

By Eric Chester<br />

Perhaps you’ve seen the story that<br />

made its way into over 300 daily newspapers,<br />

the major television networks,<br />

and thousands of websites. It obviously<br />

hit a nerve with both managers and kidployees,<br />

as it set off a huge chain of<br />

blogs and scores of letters to the editor.<br />

The headline read, “The Young<br />

Labeled ‘Entitlement Generation.’” The<br />

story featured Evan, a 24-year-old radio<br />

sales rep, who revealed that the middleaged<br />

manager who interviewed him for<br />

his current job said during the interview<br />

that young employees arrive to the job<br />

displaying an attitude of ‘entitlement.’<br />

Evan’s reply? “Do we think we’re<br />

deserving if we’re going to go out there<br />

and bust our ass for you? Yes.”<br />

I, too, was interviewed and quoted<br />

in this particular article, but I never<br />

imagined that I’d be “debating” Evan a<br />

few days later live on a Fox News segment<br />

about younger workers and their<br />

entitlement mentality. I found it fascinating<br />

that the word ‘entitlement’ riled up<br />

so many emotions in so many people.<br />

Webster’s defines entitled as “qualified<br />

for by right according to law.” So,<br />

when it comes to a Gen Why entering<br />

the workforce, is ‘entitled’ a fitting term<br />

to describe their attitude?<br />

I guess it really depends on who’s<br />

doing the entering and who’s doing the<br />

describing. But the ‘entitled’ label raises<br />

two much larger questions that managers<br />

and execs everywhere are wrestling<br />

with.<br />

First, what would drive a young kidployee<br />

to act as if he/she is entitled to a<br />

job? (i.e. expecting rapid advancement,<br />

frequent raises, time off, special treatment,<br />

etc.)<br />

Answer — You would, too, if you<br />

had always been on the demand side of<br />

the employment equation. As difficult as<br />

it was for you and me to find our first<br />

job and our first career, the boom in the<br />

service sector over the past 15 years has<br />

meant that Gen Whys have always been<br />

able to find a job, quit it, and have<br />

another one the next day. Further, we are<br />

talking about children of workaholic<br />

“Boomer” parents who’ve worked over-<br />

time to provide an endless stream of<br />

brand name clothing, toys, and electronics,<br />

so they think they can apply their<br />

techno-savvy skills and “Apprentice”<br />

roadmap to get to the top and reap the<br />

payoff in much less time. (Just re-read<br />

Evan’s statement.) Besides, it’s tragically<br />

un-hip to come across as if you are a<br />

rookie seeking wisdom. Much cooler to<br />

play the part of a young aggressive<br />

“Donald” who’s got it all figured out.<br />

Secondly, how is a manager supposed<br />

to relate to or connect with a<br />

young kidployee that demonstrates an<br />

entitlement mentality?<br />

If you anticipate an entitlement mentality and understand<br />

the social conditions that created it, you won’t be thrown<br />

into a blind rage when they display that behavior.<br />

Answer — Expect it. If you<br />

anticipate an entitlement mentality and<br />

understand the social conditions that<br />

created it, you won’t be thrown into a<br />

blind rage when they display that<br />

behavior. Conversely, you’ll feel like you<br />

hit the lottery when you encounter a<br />

kidployee who is genuinely grateful for<br />

continued on page 36<br />

21


It’s been quite the ride lately for<br />

dealers in the market to change vendors<br />

or upgrade their current systems. If you<br />

haven’t been following the market, you<br />

need to know that things have changed<br />

drastically and the old rules just don’t<br />

apply any longer. Vendors are under<br />

tremendous pressure to provide their<br />

investors and stockholders a larger<br />

return on their investment. As a consequence,<br />

we’ve seen the largest market<br />

reorganization in thirty years! Unless<br />

dealers move to protect themselves,<br />

higher technology costs are very likely.<br />

Even if he can wade through confusion<br />

and figure out what he needs to<br />

buy, extended contracts, more restrictive<br />

terms and mandatory upgrades make it<br />

harder for a dealer to keep his options<br />

open and strike a deal that makes the<br />

most sense for his store. It’s harder than<br />

ever for a dealer to find the right technology<br />

at the right price and have it<br />

delivered under an acceptable, fair contract.<br />

Confusion is rampant and even the<br />

industry news reports seem contradictory.<br />

Depend on what your vendor rep tells<br />

you and you’ll probably find out that not<br />

even he knows what really happening!<br />

Or maybe he’s not telling you all the<br />

truth?<br />

Retaining a dealer’s business long<br />

term in the face of increased competition,<br />

new players and industry reorganization<br />

has become a staggering task for<br />

vendors. As a dealer, you simply can’t<br />

depend on what’s worked for you in the<br />

past. We’ve seen staggered leases for<br />

hardware and agreements for software<br />

22<br />

The Old Rules Don’t Apply!<br />

A few simple rules that will help dealers avoid costly mistakes<br />

when dealing with their DMS Computer Vendors<br />

parlayed into ten and, even twenty-year<br />

commitments for dealers who, in some<br />

cases, don’t know how it happened.<br />

Industry guru, Paul Gillrie (of The<br />

Paul Gillrie Institute) recommends a few<br />

simple rules that every dealer should<br />

follow:<br />

1. Do not authorize any of your<br />

employees to sign any agreement<br />

that may obligate your dealership in<br />

any way. Immediately inform your<br />

employees of this policy and follow<br />

up with your computer vendor via<br />

certified mail giving them the<br />

name(s) of anyone in your organization<br />

authorized by you to sign<br />

agreements. In most stores, only the<br />

dealer should be on that list.<br />

2. Make sure you have every agreement<br />

scrutinized by someone familiar<br />

with the current industry standards<br />

and practices. These agreements<br />

sometimes appear to say one<br />

thing when the actual intent is very<br />

different. Get help – don’t get surprised!<br />

3. Make sure all computer contracts<br />

are co-terminus contracts. That is<br />

that they all terminate on the same<br />

date.<br />

4. Begin contract negotiations for<br />

upgrades 18 to 24 months before<br />

the end of the current contract.<br />

Vendors love to run out the clock<br />

and thus gain the upper hand<br />

because a dealer fears that his system<br />

may be shut off. Month-tomonth<br />

contracts are no panacea.<br />

There are serious downsides, both<br />

in cost and leverage, with these<br />

seemingly innocuous situations.<br />

5. Main stream computer vendors have<br />

openly declared war on the third<br />

party providers. Third party vendors<br />

are tech companies that offer products<br />

that compete directly with similar<br />

products offered by DMS vendors.<br />

A few examples are companies<br />

that provide websites, networking,<br />

CRM and archiving. By<br />

restricting access to your data under<br />

the guise of security, vendors now<br />

seek to tell dealers which companies<br />

they can employ. Would it surprise<br />

you to know that this tactic<br />

steers you to companies that have a<br />

fiscal relationship with the DMS<br />

vendor. Remember, if a third party<br />

supplier pays a fee to your DMS,<br />

that charge will be one you will pay<br />

one way or another. Also, remember,<br />

it is not who owns the data, it is<br />

who controls the data.<br />

The Gillrie Institute has agreed to discuss<br />

these issues with PSADA Dealers at<br />

no charge and provide them with further<br />

guidance and information on implementing<br />

the correct defensive practices. They<br />

can be reached at 800-576-6959 and<br />

mention this newsletter.


The Best of NADA 2007<br />

By Jeff Forsberg<br />

Director Peterson Sullivan PLLC<br />

Las Vegas. Each time NADA makes a<br />

stop here, I resolve to limit my play at<br />

the tables, because accountants should<br />

know better. On the other hand, visiting<br />

Vegas gives me an opportunity to check<br />

on my “investment.” But the real action<br />

was at the exhibition hall and workshops,<br />

serving as a think-tank on best<br />

practices. My observations on NADA<br />

2007 follow if you were otherwise busy<br />

increasing your position in the casinos:<br />

Most Interesting DMS News<br />

Reynolds & Reynolds (“R&R”) occupied<br />

a mammoth booth aptly named “the<br />

battleship.” R&R added even more bulk<br />

following its recent marriage with UCS,<br />

hinting at its next slogan: “It’s your battleship….”<br />

R&R reps ventured it will<br />

continue to provide ERA support for ten<br />

years and beyond –as if it had a limited<br />

shelf life, leading one to speculate about<br />

its long-range development path. One<br />

possible scenario is that the post-UCS’<br />

“Power” offering will, in time, assimilate<br />

R&R’s ERA customers, presumably<br />

for a premium. Given the dynamic New<br />

World Order of DMS providers, your<br />

next DMS contract will be particularly<br />

consequential to your dealership.<br />

Paul Gillrie, the DMS consultant to<br />

dealers, fielded more than a few<br />

inquiries about Microsoft’s presence at<br />

NADA. A common refrain heard from<br />

dealers: “I’m going to wait for<br />

Microsoft.” That might be the pragmatic<br />

approach, but consider that a MS-branded<br />

DMS won’t be something you will<br />

pick up at Best Buy, which is another<br />

way of saying it won’t be inexpensive.<br />

And the release date will likely slide<br />

past year 2008. True, there are “secondtier”<br />

providers offering a DMS built on<br />

MS technology today (Quorum, PBS,<br />

and ACS, etc.). But these “second tier”<br />

providers all lack significant market<br />

penetration; fewer customers can mean<br />

limited feature sets, uneven factory support<br />

and a higher risk of an outright<br />

sale. Finally, I can’t recommend being a<br />

pilot dealer for new DMS software —<br />

just ask those intrepid dealers running<br />

the RGS system at the time R&R<br />

unplugged it. Don’t get me wrong: I<br />

think a MS-branded DMS is an exciting<br />

development and will give strong competition<br />

to “The Big Two” (i.e. ADP and<br />

R&R/UCS).<br />

continued on page 26<br />

25


Customer Relationship Management.<br />

Jim pressed dealers to either purchase a<br />

CRM product or make better utilization<br />

of what’s already in-house. Your database<br />

should also contain customers that<br />

predate the most recent two years. And<br />

pay attention to targeting the demographics<br />

of your best customers: baby<br />

boomers have impressive discretionary<br />

income. Finally, get statistical with<br />

measuring your ups and production on<br />

the showroom floor.<br />

Inventory Control. Turning inventory is<br />

more important than ever with current<br />

flooring rates. Remember, used vehicles<br />

depreciate 1.5% - 2% each month,<br />

unlike new vehicles that depreciate once<br />

a year. Making the right vehicle decisions<br />

of mix and valuation will prevent<br />

your used vehicles from aging past 60<br />

days.<br />

Personnel. Pay plans should function as<br />

job descriptions for your sales staff.<br />

Because pay drives specific behavior,<br />

ensure that your plans encourage what<br />

you want from your staff. Reinvent the<br />

culture of your sales staff so that “full<br />

price is a fair price.” Minimize sales<br />

26<br />

Best Speaker<br />

Jim Ziegler was firing on all nonhybrid<br />

cylinders, sporting a hat that<br />

read “Da Man” in case you needed<br />

an introduction. Jim presented five<br />

opportunity areas:<br />

staff turnover and the related costs of it:<br />

The #1 reason sales staff leave is spouse<br />

pressure over hours, so consider giving<br />

your sales personnel at least one weekend<br />

off per month.<br />

Marketing. Advertising dollars should<br />

return $10 for every $1 spent. If you<br />

can’t measure your marketing investment,<br />

don’t buy it. Update your website<br />

continued on page 30


Coffee Break<br />

That's A Fact Jack!<br />

� Potatoes have more chromosomes than humans do - 48 versus 46.<br />

� The potato chip was created out of spite. In 1853, when a customer at Moon's Lake House in Saratoga Springs, NY, complained that<br />

head chef George Crum's potatoes were soggy and not salty enough, Crum stomped back to the kitchen, thinly sliced some potatoes,<br />

fried them until they were golden, poured salt all over them, and dumped them in front of the picky customer.They became known<br />

as "Saratoga Chips" until Herman Lay, an enterprising young salesman, popularized the product throughout the country.<br />

� Mr. Potato Head was the first toy advertised on television.<br />

� Unlike other fruits, cranberries do not show their ripeness with color. Instead, they are sorted by bouncing: good cranberries bounce<br />

and bad ones don't.<br />

� The steam rising from a cup of coffee contains the same amount of antioxidants as three oranges.<br />

� Too much coffee can kill you. A lethal dose of caffeine for the average adult is somewhere around 10 grams, or the equivalent of<br />

drinking between 50 and 200 cups of coffee in rapid succession.<br />

� Pretzels originated in Northern Italy around A.D. 610. An Italian monk gave them out to children who learned their prayers. He called<br />

the strips of baked dough, folded to resemble arms crossing the breast, prestiolae - Latin for "little rewards."<br />

� The world's oldest surviving recipe is a formula for making beer. It was discovered outside Baghdad in 1850 on a 3,800-year-old<br />

Sumerian clay tablet.Two other tablets contain what are believed to be drinking songs.<br />

� There are roughly 144,000 mosquitoes for every human on earth.<br />

� Malaria mosquitoes are attracted to ripe Limburger cheese and smelly feet.The odor-protein given off by the cheese was found to be<br />

structurally similar to human feet.<br />

� Mosquito repellent doesn't repel mosquitoes; it blocks their sensors so they don't know you are there.<br />

� A fetus acquires fingerprints by the end of the first trimester.<br />

� Bookworms are actually beetles.They proliferate in libraries, where dust, dirt, heat, darkness, and poor ventilation are prevalent.The<br />

mature female lays her eggs on the edges of books or in the crevices of bookshelves, and when hatched the larvae burrow into the<br />

books.<br />

� Dr. Seuss wrote Green Eggs and Ham after his editor challenged him to produce a book using fewer than 50 different words.<br />

These interesting factoids come from That's A Fact Jack!, a new collection of utterly useless information by Harry Bright and Jakob<br />

Answer, MJF Books. You can find a personal copy of this great book at your favorite book store.<br />

29


The Best of NADA from page 26<br />

and engineer compelling reasons for<br />

your customers to bookmark it. Jim recommended<br />

“retro-advertising” that seeks<br />

to target your past customers –it should<br />

capture 20% of your ad budget.<br />

Training & Sales Processes. Constant<br />

training, testing, and re-training of sales<br />

staff is imperative and can be funded by<br />

your current ad budget. Have your staff<br />

role-play on handling customer objections<br />

by making it fun. And regularly<br />

quiz your sales staff on product knowledge,<br />

which Jim lamented as a continual<br />

problem. Finally, have a written showroom<br />

policy signed by your sales personnel,<br />

containing provisions for ethical<br />

standards and accountability.<br />

Alternative Desking Techniques<br />

Grant Cardone made a convincing argument<br />

for accelerating the sales process.<br />

Negotiating speed also impacts intangibles<br />

like customer satisfaction. See<br />

below for what happens to your gross<br />

30<br />

when you’re “playing pass” with the<br />

customer:<br />

Grant implored dealers to give customers<br />

more choices at the beginning of<br />

the sales process. Consider modifying<br />

the traditional “four square” with one<br />

that features multiple down payments<br />

and terms, including purchase and lease<br />

options. The gross profit is the same<br />

with each, but choices help refocus the<br />

customer’s attention<br />

off the four<br />

square’s “single<br />

option” limitation.<br />

And the choices<br />

may eliminate the<br />

back-and-forth of<br />

learning what the<br />

customer will<br />

accept for payment<br />

and terms.<br />

The customer<br />

might even have<br />

some patience left<br />

for the F&I process.<br />

Grant also believes it’s a mistake to<br />

“soften up” the customer on the trade-in<br />

by sharing what’s wrong with it.<br />

Instead, be enthusiastic about the customer’s<br />

vehicle. And consider using a<br />

third party source like NADA or Kelley<br />

to support the trade-in value, on the<br />

principle that customers believe what<br />

they see, not what they hear. �<br />

Negotiation Time & Gross<br />

Number of Passes Average Gross<br />

2 $1,140.00<br />

2 $958.00<br />

2 $814.00<br />

2 $711.00<br />

2 $602.00<br />

2 $547.00<br />

2 $508.00<br />

2 $389.00


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31


32<br />

By Mark Cutshall<br />

Imagine you had a support team<br />

of professionals that provided your<br />

dealership invaluable tools like free<br />

legal service and a landmark regional<br />

Wage & Benefit Analysis Survey?<br />

Imagine having these services at your<br />

fingertips providing you with immediate<br />

access, personable attention and<br />

practical help that you can’t get anywhere<br />

else. These are just a few of the<br />

services offered by the PSADA eight<br />

member team: Jim, Joyce, Linda,<br />

Don, Ron, Donna, Susan and Dawn.<br />

Though you already knew them<br />

on a first-name basis, do you know<br />

how they’re strategically organized as<br />

a team to help every PSADA dealermember<br />

be the best they can be?<br />

“The Association exists to serve<br />

the needs of our dealers, period,” says<br />

PSADA Executive Director, Jim<br />

Hammond. “It’s about service. No<br />

other automobile dealer association in<br />

the country offers its members these<br />

two landmark achievements:<br />

• Dealer Employee Handbooks.<br />

The Association, says Hammond,<br />

has been recognized in national<br />

automotive publications as one of<br />

the national leaders in wage,<br />

management and labor relations.<br />

“Our dealership employee handbook<br />

has a high standard of<br />

excellence and is utilized by a<br />

large percentage of dealers<br />

throughout Washington State. It<br />

is highly regarded by many insurance<br />

companies.”<br />

• PSADA Wage and Benefit<br />

Analysis Survey. Hammond<br />

stresses the Survey is the only<br />

regional resource of its kind in<br />

the country. “PSADA participation<br />

rate is nearly 60 percent.”<br />

More than essential services like<br />

these, the PSADA team provides a<br />

uniquely integrated team approach.<br />

Let’s meet the PSADA “team” and<br />

discover how they’re putting their<br />

expertise to work for you:<br />

Jim Hammond<br />

Executive Director<br />

Jim’s entrance in the local automotive<br />

market came in 1973 when he<br />

began writing advertising copy for<br />

Seattle’s Buick dealers. The announcer<br />

was none other than legendary<br />

Seattle Sonics’ play-by-play announcer,<br />

Bob Blackburn. In 1972, Jim<br />

directed his first Seattle Auto Show in<br />

the Seattle Center Coliseum. Soon<br />

after, Larry Norton Jr., on behalf of<br />

the King County dealers, asked Jim to<br />

be the association’s first director.<br />

After 12 years in a second floor office<br />

above Westlake Chevrolet, the<br />

PSADA moved to Shoreline<br />

Community College. In 1976, with<br />

inspiration from Jack Pohanka, a former<br />

NADA president and father of<br />

ASE, Jim spearheaded the creation of<br />

the Professional Automotive Training<br />

Center at Shoreline Community<br />

College. Today, the program is recognized<br />

as one of the top automotive<br />

education and training centers of its<br />

kind in the nation. And the Seattle<br />

Auto Show that represented 29 local<br />

dealers (yet not a single manufacturer)<br />

back in 1972? Today the event<br />

showcases every major domestic and<br />

foreign manufacturer in four dedicated<br />

venues that cover 500,000 square<br />

feet, more than six times the<br />

Coliseum’s space. “PSADA’s heritage<br />

of service stems from dealers like<br />

Larry Norton, Jr., Warren Westlund,<br />

Pat Goodfellow, and Ron Claudon,<br />

Sr., early leaders of the association,”<br />

says Jim. “I’m honored to stand in<br />

their shadow and work alongside a<br />

team of such exceptional service oriented<br />

people. Individually, they are<br />

each immensely talented. As a team,<br />

their ability to meet our dealers’<br />

needs is exceptional. Each of them<br />

deserves a gold star for both their<br />

character and competence.”


Adam Buchanan<br />

33


Joyce Nichols<br />

Executive Assistant<br />

Joyce arrived at PSADA in August<br />

1995 having worked for three years in<br />

corporate banking and 25 years at<br />

Shoreline Community College. More<br />

than Jim’s confidential secretary, her<br />

major responsibilities include:<br />

Managing all internal operational<br />

aspects of the Auto Show, including<br />

exhibitor contracts, data base management,<br />

factory and booth exhibitor support,<br />

part-time show staff supervisor and<br />

managing the show office.<br />

Creating and customizing the<br />

employee handbooks for PSADA’s dealer-members,<br />

and working with the<br />

Association’s attorney to make sure the<br />

handbook are current with state and federal<br />

laws.<br />

Administering the annual Wage and<br />

Benefit Analysis Survey and report,<br />

administering and processing PSADA’s<br />

associate memberships, plus handling a<br />

constant stream of questions, information<br />

and requests on a bevy of autorelated<br />

issues.<br />

Says Jim, “It’s been said that no<br />

employee is indispensable in an organization,<br />

yet Joyce may be the one lone<br />

exception on the planet. She is quite<br />

simply the most amazing, efficient person<br />

I have ever met.”<br />

Linda Halverson<br />

Office Manager<br />

Linda maintains constant focus on<br />

several key areas from administering<br />

dealer classes on Hazmat training and<br />

computer analysis, to overseeing classes<br />

on Service Writer, Title Clerk and F&I,<br />

to managing the office’s computer data<br />

bases and delivering Association correspondence<br />

to PSADA members. Linda,<br />

who joined the PSADA team in May<br />

2001 came from Shoreline Community<br />

34<br />

College’s accounting department and<br />

many years in corporate banking. Linda<br />

also works closely with bookkeeper<br />

Donna Howard.<br />

“When you run a multitude of programs<br />

simultaneously, you need an ultimate<br />

multi-tasker who can manage and<br />

oversee projects and give each one the<br />

attention they deserve,” notes Jim.<br />

“Linda does this naturally. Not only does<br />

she execute well, she has tremendous<br />

foresight and intuition that helps us<br />

maximize our time, our dollars and our<br />

total effort.”<br />

Don Schultz<br />

Director of Education and<br />

Development<br />

Don worked at Shoreline<br />

Community College for 37 years, starting<br />

as a professor in engineering and<br />

manufacturing. The past 12 years he<br />

served as the Dean of Business,<br />

Automotive and Manufacturing<br />

Division. Don has been central to the<br />

success of the Professional Automotive<br />

Training Center at Shoreline. Today,<br />

Don is working with PSADA to raise<br />

money for the Center’s expansion project,<br />

which will add 24,000 square feet to<br />

the existing complex. To that end, he’s<br />

been working with dealers, manufacturers<br />

and other potential donors for cash<br />

donations. He’s also been the go-to guy<br />

working with SCC, the architect and the<br />

City of Shoreline on project planning<br />

and permitting.<br />

“Don is the guru of automotive education<br />

in America,” says Jim. “He<br />

helped lay the foundation for the<br />

Professional Automotive Training<br />

Center. When he retired from Shoreline<br />

Community College two years ago, we<br />

made sure he wasn’t going to get away.<br />

We hired him to run the expansion campaign.”<br />

Ron Olson<br />

Automotive Youth Education Systems<br />

Manager<br />

Ron coordinates the statewide<br />

school-to-work initiative between high<br />

schools and Puget Sound area dealers.<br />

The two-year AYES program he oversees<br />

involves high school students in an<br />

industry-based, in-class training program<br />

that is connected with a summer internship<br />

with a dealer. The intent of the program<br />

is to help young workers become<br />

automotive technicians.<br />

Says Ron, “I’m working to give<br />

dealers an increased appreciation for this<br />

program that gives them the opportunity<br />

to hire quality people and, as we like to<br />

say, “grow their own technicians.”<br />

“I’ve known Ron since 1973, when<br />

he was the regional representative for<br />

Volkswagen,” notes Jim. “Based on<br />

Ron’s vast industry experience, there<br />

was no question of who to pick to head<br />

our AYES program. His immense<br />

patience with the kids, combined with<br />

his experience, makes him a natural for<br />

the job.”<br />

Donna Howard, CPA<br />

Bookkeeper<br />

With 19 years experience as a CPA,<br />

Donna fills a critical role of processing<br />

all financial transactions, creating<br />

PSADA board financial reports and<br />

managing the Association’s year-end<br />

audit. As Donna says, “I’m here to help<br />

and provide perspective.”<br />

“Donna has revolutionized our<br />

bookkeeping system,” says Jim. “She<br />

can identify every expense, every payment<br />

at any time. Her accuracy, organization<br />

and financial analysis pay huge<br />

ongoing benefits for the association.”<br />

continued on page 36


PSADA Team from page 34<br />

Susan Leonhardi<br />

Receptionist and AYES Secretary<br />

With a business degree from the<br />

University of Washington and a broad<br />

variety of work experience, Susan is the<br />

smiling face you’re most likely to see<br />

when entering the PSADA office. Born<br />

and raised in Seattle, Susan is the mother<br />

of two.<br />

“Susan brings us incredible flexibility<br />

and efficiency, supporting all of our<br />

programs. And she’s very funny,” says<br />

Jim, smiling.<br />

Dawn Mylerberg<br />

Project Support<br />

“Several years ago I retired after 23<br />

years at Shoreline Community College,”<br />

says Dawn who grew up in Pasco,<br />

Washington and also worked in admissions<br />

at the University of Washington<br />

and Eastern Washington University.<br />

“My last job was as coordinator for<br />

Continuing Education. During that time<br />

I interfaced with Jim. I told him the kind<br />

36<br />

of work I was interested in doing when I<br />

retired. One day he walked in and asked<br />

if I would like to come to work for<br />

PSADA. He must have read my mind.”<br />

Today Dawn is on call to help with special<br />

PSADA projects and is a major support<br />

for Joyce down at the Auto Show.<br />

“When Dawn came through the<br />

door,” says Jim, “I knew in the first few<br />

minutes that she was perfect for the job.<br />

She fits in perfectly. And she is always<br />

so happy.”<br />

That’s the PSADA team. Eight professionals.<br />

Eight people committed to<br />

providing prompt, personable service,<br />

working together to help you make your<br />

dealership the best it can be. �<br />

Entitlement from page 21<br />

the opportunity to work for you, and is<br />

willing to accept your direction without<br />

question.<br />

Further, make time for face time.<br />

The best way to diffuse an attitude of<br />

entitlement—without uttering the words<br />

“you’re fired!”—is by forming a relationship<br />

where each party trusts the<br />

other to help them reach desired goals<br />

and objectives. In short, learn why they<br />

have a job, why they chose to work for<br />

you, and what their short-term and longterm<br />

objectives are. Resist the temptation<br />

to be like your first employers and<br />

‘lay down the law’ or tell them your<br />

company history and mission statement.<br />

Instead, do the opposite and first discover<br />

their mission statement. You’ll be<br />

amazed at how quickly they’ll shed their<br />

shell of entitlement and acquiesce to<br />

doing things your way.<br />

Never forget that regardless of what<br />

kind of first impression they make,<br />

underneath lies a kid who desperately<br />

wants to succeed, possesses the talent<br />

and skills to help your business grow,<br />

and is searching for direction, leadership,<br />

and a caring adult mentor. Rise to<br />

the occasion. After all, you’re entitled. �


Want Dedication?<br />

Give Inspiration.<br />

Employee Recognition<br />

Phone (800) 253-0882<br />

Fax (360) 573-6018<br />

www.terryberry.com<br />

e-mail: info@terryberry.com<br />

37


Puget Sound Automobile Dealers Association<br />

16101 Greenwood Avenue. N. Bldg. 2100<br />

Seattle, WA 98133<br />

PRSRT STD<br />

U.S. Postage<br />

PAID<br />

Seattle, WA<br />

Permit No. 1578

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