Issue link: http://www.insightdigital.biz/i/303876
gasoline in his veins. ey just naturally love cars," says Dick, who still keeps an office at Bergstrom. socially adept T aking a visitor on a drive from downtown Neenah to the company's Quest Training Center (at the site of the former Perfect Presentations on Lyon Drive, Neenah), Tim says social media – including YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Foursquare, Instagram, Tumblr, Flickr, google Plus and the company's internal and external websites –are among the ways Bergstrom reaches people. Today, he drives a white, 2014 Tahoe with company plates; he doesn't own a car with his own registration but hops in whatever he might want to showcase on a given day. he looks down and realizes he's wearing pleated pants – Jason Dorsey would not approve, he says. "he says I try to act older than I am," Tim says with a playful grimace. A 1999 graduate of Marquette University, he identifies with gen X but is sensitive to what motivates millennials. he talks about how he grew up in the business (his brother is an oral surgeon and his sister, a teacher) and how he sees his role as bridging the need for the company to maintain its culture of exceptional guest services with the way people buy cars today. Tim oen posts photos of sexy new models (of cars), selfies with team members in Bergstrom showrooms, and "checks in" electronically as he travels nationally and internationally (in April, Japan and germany as well as multiple U.s. cities) to manufacturers as well as statewide to Bergstrom dealerships. Almost 30,000 people "like" Bergstrom Automotive's Facebook page, Tim personally has about 1,200 friends on Facebook – about half are team members; he keeps it friendly but business focused. e company's followers on other social media are growing, as well. setting goals – and tracking them A t the Quest Training Center, in the office of Ted gessler, real-time statistics flash on a large screen on the wall. gessler, corporate Internet sales director, spearheaded search-engine optimization for Bergstrom last year, quadrupling the number of referrals within a few months. e wall monitor shows the number of calls coming in, how quickly each call is answered, how long callers are on hold and the duration of each call. About two years ago it became apparent that calls were not being answered quickly and efficiently. "On the sales side, if you said you wanted to buy a car, the call was answered in under 20 seconds," Tim says. Other calls, however, averaged 2 minutes, 32 seconds. "We said, OK, why is this happening? is isn't right." e company created a business development center, which channels all its calls to guest services. is removed the burden of scheduling from the company's service departments. Now, calls are answered in three rings and most callers wait on hold less than eight seconds. e Quest Training Center, which opened in 2013, includes an auditorium where the company trains new hires and holds meetings to keep team members informed of goals, metrics and new developments at Bergstrom. At a recent meeting, John Bergstrom wore google glass as he emphasized the importance of understanding new technology. e training center came out of Bergstrom's "Quest to be the Best" initiative, spearheaded by John Bergstrom. "John has done a good or better job than anyone in the country as far as customer relations," says Rollie stephenson, chairman and CEO of Faith Technologies, longtime friend of John Bergstrom and fellow car buff. "he's constantly put up against big automotive dealers of Chicago, san Francisco and other major cities, and the company always comes out high in the rankings. It has a lot to do with empowering those around them. … When someone can be true to their values and their passion, it always comes out." Bergstrom Automotive has developed its own criteria for metrics, which it calls Op:Ex (Operations Excellence), based on three criteria: the manufacturers' Customer service Index (CsI), the company's own standards for each of 11 components of the company (ranging from Parts and service to sales, Internet sales and Leadership) and "execution check," otherwise known as mystery shopping. "Roughly 92 percent of the time, we were executing things the way we wanted to," Tim says. "e way I look at Accolades for Bergstrom Automotive bergstrom automotive was named the no. 1 automotive dealer in the u.s. by time magazine in 2003, the industry's most prestigious award. the following are awards bergstrom has received in the past year: » general motors dealer of the year » Chevrolet, mark of excellence » gmC, mark of excellence » buick, mark of excellence » Cadillac, mark of excellence » Cadillac master dealer » lexus elite » audi magna elite society » bmW Center of excellence » Chrysler Five star award » nissan owner First award of excellence » mercedes benz "best of the best" » mini, no 1 in service, no. 2 in sales and guest treatment in the u.s. » acura Precision dealer » Volkswagen top 10 in the u.s. for CsI » mazda gold Cup » subaru stellar Care » automotive news, best dealers to Work for (top 100) 26 | 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