It's a formula that's been highly successful for the dealership, providing it with additional streams of revenue and profit that have helped Hansel Ford Lincoln Mercury achieve solid numbers year after year, even during tough economic times, Parts Manager Dan Scott said.

Scott, 48, said he has seen the "we do it all" strategy work on many levels during his 18 years at Hansel Ford Lincoln Mercury. 

 
"We've been thinking out of the box here for a long time," he said.  "When the economy hits a slump, like right now, we don't cut back and reduce staff and inventory.  We try to find other ways to make money, like offering aftermarket parts to our customers."

 
Scott said that staying competitive with the aftermarket is important if a dealership wants to survive.

 
"Ford Motor Co.'s statistics tell us that we're going to get between 12 and 20 percent of the market," he said.  "So there's always room for growth, even during tough times.  The key is to stay competitive with the aftermarket and to provide the best service out there."

Treating every customer with respect is a big part of the dealership's success, Scott said.  "Customer empathy is a big deal for me.  "At some places, the counterpeople view the customer as an adversary.  Around here, we don't care if the customer is right or wrong because our attitude is that we just want to solve the problem.  I preach this to our employees all the time."

Operating out of a 10,000-square-foot facility with an inventory of $800,000, the parts department at Hansel Ford Lincoln Mercury has 20 employees, including three people on the wholesale counter, three on the back counter, two retail parts specialists, one shipping/receiving clerk, two inventory clerks, and nine delivery drivers, Scott said.

 
In 2007, Hansel Ford Lincoln Mercury did more than $7 million in total parts sales, including $4 million in wholesale; $305,000 in retail, and more than$3 million that it sold to its own service center, Scott said.

Many of the parts Hansel Lincoln Mercury sells come from the aftermarket, including brake cleaners, antifreeze, brake fluid, Freon, and Bendix brakes, Scott said.  The dealership is also working on establishing a partnership with Factory Auto Parts that would allow them to sell parts for all makes and models, he said.

"We're very interested in becoming a factory-authorized distributor because their warehouse is right next door," he said.  "It's a unique situation and we know that, but we feel we can better serve our customers by doing it."

Tom Leonard, 59, said he has been with the Hansel organization for 32 years and became the service director at Hansel Ford Lincoln Mercury in 1987.  His service department operates in a 44-bay, 30,000-square-foot facility and employs 32 technicians, five service advisers, one shop foreman, one detail foreman, two cashiers, and one service coordinator, he said. Two of the service advisers also manage the fleet service operation and QuickLane.

In 2007, the dealership did more than $6 million in service, Leonard said.  And although 2008 started out a little slow, the last few months have shown great promise, he said.

"The first part of the year was a little shaky because customers were putting off maintaining their vehicles," he said.  "But recently it's been a lot better.  My belief is that once people saw gas prices leveling off, they decided to get their overdue maintenance done.  We've had a very busy summer."

In 2001, Hansel Ford Lincoln Mercury opened a Quick Lane Tire & Auto Center, which allows the dealership to perform what he calls "short-term operations" on any type of vehicle, Leonard said.

"We were one of the first Ford dealerships to open a QuickLane," he said.  "We were number 39, and they just opened number 500, so we were really at the forefront.  It allows us to be price-competitive with the oil-change places and provide our customers with a convenience that did not exist here before." 

One marketing concept that has worked well for Leonard's department is called the "Owner Advantage" program, he said.
"It's like a frequent flier card," he said.  "Any time a customer comes in for a service, they automatically get a $10 credit on their card, and then 5 percent of their purchase also goes on the card, to be used on their next service.  We started the program about six months ago, and the response has been unbelievable."

Leonard said Hansel Ford Lincoln Mercury prides itself on having some of the best-trained technicians in the industry.  "Ford has a great training program," he said.  "Our techs can either go to classes at the training center in Pleasanton or do the Web-based training right here at the dealership.  It's always been a top priority because we want our techs to be as competent in as many areas as possible."