Fixed Ops Journal - February 2021 - F4

FIXED OPS JOURNAL

AGAINST ALL ODDS

New business practices, resiliency are bright lights in dark times

DAN
SHINE

A

s the calendar flipped to 2021, my
email inbox became littered
with story pitches from experts
dan.shine@crain.com
and analysts about how to
make the new year great.
Fixed Ops Journal
Some of the pitches were tied to the service
editor
lane and typically included a bullet-point
list.
Somewhere on just about every one was the advice, " Forget about
2020. "
I completely understand the sentiment. After all, last year was
horrifically bad. Hundreds of thousands dead from a pandemic,
millions unemployed and negatively impacted financially, a country

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FEBRUARY 2021

deeply divided politically. Not a lot of Hallmark moments.
But hear me out. While 2020 was forgettable in so many ways, there
had to be a few redeeming qualities as well. Right?
Jim Henne is the general manager at Performance Toyota in Sinking
Spring, Pa., 90 minutes northwest of Philadelphia. His service business
was off 40 percent last April. He had to furlough 70 percent of his staff at
the start of the pandemic and deal with customers afraid to come in.
He'd be right to want to forget 2020.
But Henne thinks about the things he and his staff accomplished
against enormous odds, efforts that will be an important part of their
2021 operations. Expanding their service pickup and delivery. Initiating
contactless payments. Offering free vehicle sanitizing to the community
- whether they were Performance customers or not.
Henne says 2020 taught him how to be flexible, how to " change your
course, really, at a moment's notice. "
" I mean everybody has plans in place for a downturn of business, but
nobody has a plan for getting a call the night before that your business
might be shut down, " he says.
Henne's service department was deemed essential and remained
open, but a slowdown in business taught him some lessons for which
he is grateful. He improved his internal communications skills -
sending out weekly video messages to the staff, both those still working
and those furloughed. The chaos of the pandemic also enhanced his
understanding of how his staff was doing and to make sure to check in
on their mental and physical well-being.
He also learned empathy toward stressed-out customers and how
vital it is to be sure the service department is communicating with
them.
" We get surveys and reviews all the time and if we got a bad one, it was
no big deal - let's move on, " Henne says. " Now we look at those
surveys intently because that's one thing we definitely took away [from
the pandemic] is that you really need to relate to the customer and also
convey back to them what you are doing. "
Henne's business bounced back by summer, and he is looking to
carry that momentum throughout 2021. He is strengthened knowing
that he and his staff endured a year unlike any other and came out the
other end smarter and more resilient.
And that's something worth remembering.
Fixed Ops Journal - February 2021

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