Issue link: http://www.insightdigital.biz/i/303876
24 | I NsIgh T • m a y 2 0 14 w w w . i n s i g h t o n b u s i n e s s . c o m "hi, I hope you are having an outstanding day!" Tim begins. "I've visited four stores this morning and everyone was smiling. … Let's be upbeat… Let's be a place when our guests come in, they see we're having a good day." he reminds them of their goals and then concludes, "anks for all you do!" It's a wrap in under a minute. Within 5 minutes, Craig posts the message and blasts it to every Bergstrom team member in all 30 locations statewide. On average, about 900 team members will see a new video (or more than one) every day. is is just one of many ways Bergstrom Automotive ensures that everyone is on the same page, putting the company's highest priority — guest services – first. Customers are "guests" at Bergstrom; employees are "team members." Bergstrom leaders say if you treat your team right, they'll treat your guests right and they will come back. give your team goals, hold them accountable and reward them for a job well done, and the whole company – and in turn, the community – benefits. is makes all the difference in an industry with 3 percent margins, in which prices are more transparent than ever, Tim says. It's especially true in a world in which the way people communicate is changing faster than you can say "Instagram." "Tim Bergstrom gets it," says Jason Dorsey, best-selling business author, speaker and chief strategy officer with e Center for generational Kinetics based in Austin, Texas, who has become a confidant of Tim's. "he realizes that social media is critical not just for having a conversation with millennials but for engaging every generation of customer, employee and community member. What other car ambassador takes selfies with smiling people around the world? Tim is an example of what is possible in terms of authenticity and transparency for the entire auto industry." John hogerty II, executive vice president and general counsel at Bergstrom, attests to Tim's zeal for fresh ways to communicate. he's among company leaders who oen finds himself snapping photos with Tim and others. "I've had the unique opportunity to watch Tim grow in his leadership style in different jobs within the company," hogerty says. "he has an amazing ability to communicate with our team members and guests, especially as we've grown and spread throughout the state. … e world has changed, and people who don't embrace it will be le behind." Tim helps lead the charge to attract and retain the right people in an industry that requires work on nights and weekends and a company that expects its people – from the oil changers and service schedulers to the sales team and management – to put guests first. he was among the leaders at Bergstrom who identified challenges in recent years – especially motivating the millennial workforce – and set about to fix them. e creative steps the company has taken to tackle those issues offer a lesson any business can learn from. Pedal to the metal for spring sales T he long, cold winter made the first quarter of 2014 tough for auto sales, says Bergstrom Automotive CEO and Chairman John Bergstrom, 67, who continues to steer the wheel of the company he and his brother Richard started in 1982. But that's in the rearview mirror now, just like the 2008 recession, undoubtedly the toughest time ever for the auto industry, Bergstrom included. "Today the sun's out and the sky is blue," John Bergstrom says with a broad smile, focused intently on the road ahead. "We've been through a number of tough years of very challenging times, but it feels good today." the story of how brothers John and richard bergstrom built their business is well known by many in the Fox Valley, but those of tim's generation and younger may not be aware that the two got their start in nightclubs, then hotels. "It started in 1974 with a nightclub," recalls richard "dick" bergstrom, vice chairman of bergstrom automotive and until december 2013, president of the company. "It was in the old post office in neenah, known as the 'old P.o.' I graduated from college (uW-oshkosh) in 1971, had been working in a bank in milwaukee and transferred to oshkosh. John (a marquette university graduate) was selling cars. We saw this beautiful old character building and said, 'let's open a nightclub.'" It took off like wildfire, and the brothers, then 28 and 24, opened a second nightclub, in a former chicken hatchery, and called it the Fire alarm in appleton. two years later, four business leaders in neenah and menasha, impressed with the impeccable service and hospitality of the bergstrom's nightclubs, recruited them to buy and run the Valley Inn hotel in neenah (now the location of the riverwalk Inn), financing it 100 percent. "We had two nightclubs going and I was working in a bank and John was selling cars," dick recalls. Within two years they sold the nightclubs and bought the Pioneer Inn in oshkosh. When business leaders in appleton recognized the need for a downtown hotel, they turned to the bergstroms, and in 1981 the brothers began building the Paper Valley hotel. It opened in June 1982. John had been managing the auto dealership on green bay road in neenah, and that same year they bought the place, which today is called bergstrom Chevrolet buick Cadillac. What did all these businesses have in common? "We always ran very clean, well-maintained businesses that were very hospitable, friendly, respectable, lively and upbeat," dick says. "It was all about service, hospitality and cleanliness – standing behind your people, your word, your product – right from the start." the bergstroms sold their hotels in 1998 and focused on the auto business, acquiring locations throughout Wisconsin. today, bergstrom automotive operates 30 locations in the Fox Valley, green bay, madison and milwaukee. eight family members are employed in the business. – Margaret LeBrun BergsTrom: How it all began