North and West McArthur prepared their Ford dealership for the future by taking a simpler approach to sales.

Longevity and loyalty are two concepts generally not associated with car dealerships. However, North McArthur, president of Long McArthur, a Kan.-based car and truck dealership at the crossroads of Interstates 70 and 35 in the center of the country, attributes the success of his business to these two qualities.

“The longevity of the company and the ability to streamline the changes in management throughout the years is important to our stability today,” said McArthur. “Many businesses across the country push out the old and bring in the new when management changes hands. We’ve achieved stability between management styles by sticking by our employees.”

Long McArthur, a family-run business, has an extensive history dating back to 1915. When people ask how they have maintained the reputation their forefathers built, McArthur and his brother, co-owner West McArthur, tell them it all comes back to four simple words—real people, real value.

North McArthur

“Between 1985 and 1990, we hired outside consultants and started a different type of advertising campaign that was too aggressive for the city of Salina,” he said. “We got a big city reputation that didn’t fit into our rural community. My brother and I decided to go back to the real people, real value tenet to shore up that reputation and get back to basics, focusing on one customer at a time.”

Change in focus
The days of the fast-talking car salesmen are gone. Thanks to the Internet, consumers often walk into dealerships knowing more about a particular vehicle than their salesperson does. “You can’t slide your way through a sale anymore because the consumer of today is more knowledgeable than they’ve ever been,” said McArthur.

As a Ford dealership, Long McArthur sales people must pass a test for each type of vehicle before they are allowed to sell it. Although the program, Ford Star, has been around for many years, the depth to which all employees are expected to learn has changed.

“Employees learn more than how a car works. Ford Star teaches salespeople what to present to the consumer and how to present it,” said McArthur. “Our mechanics also need to be certified to do particular operations if they want to be paid by Ford Motor Company under its warranty policies.”

The increased focus in consumer-to-salespeople relations prompted Long McArthur to develop an Internet sales department called the Business Development Center (BDC). The department formed almost six years ago, shortly after the dealership moved to its current location. Since its inception, the BDC has increased its staff from two to seven and moved its focus beyond Internet sales.

“Rather than talking to a salesperson, consumers talk to a Long McArthur employee who is trained to ask non-threatening questions to assist the customer,” said McArthur. “The BDC also works with service department customers, making sure their vehicle is fixed in a timely manner and addressing any concerns they had after their vehicle was fixed.”

Strengthening ties
The increased focus on building quality customer relationships also strengthened Long McArthur’s relationships with banks and finance companies. While other car companies offer 0% financing for 48 months as a way to bring in business, McArthur believes these gimmicks only dilute the quality of consumer coming through the door.

“Those deals pull people from the market who weren’t ready to buy, but because the deal looked so promising they felt it was too important to pass,” he said. “In changing the way we conduct business, my brother and I became more focused on doing good business rather than any and all business.”

Although salespeople now work harder to make a sale, McArthur said his sales force was ready to put the focus back on quality. Throughout the hard-push times in the late ’80s, employees were concerned that the sales growth was not stable; they understood organic growth was more important.

“At the time, we didn’t think about employee morale and the culture we were creating because of the focus on increasing sales. We were too busy checking both ends and making sure things were balancing,” said McArthur. “Our sales people were happy to go back to a relaxed way of selling cars.”

McArthur and his brother have maintained the same sense of value and appreciation for their employees that their father and grandfather had. They both worked their way up in the company, washing cars, working in the lube rack changing oils and filters in high school, and detailing and polishing cars in the used car department in college. These experiences taught them that each employee counts, and this gives their employees a reason to stay.

“Whether it’s the janitor picking up and throwing out cans or my top salesperson, we need each and every one of my employees,” he said. “It’s important to say thank you to someone for what they’ve done for you, employees and customers alike.”