A GREAT PLACE TO WORK

If you are in the auto retail business, you’re always wondering which is the best dealership to work for. Well, now its official as Automotive News has declared Jaguar Plano in Texas its overall winner in its inaugural list of the ‘100 Best Dealerships to Work For,” writes John Minarick, Regional Vice President, Jaguar Land Rover North America.

Automotive News’ inaugural ‘100 Best Dealerships to Work For’ used Harrisburg PA‑based Best Companies Group to crunch the data and give this highly‑coveted top ranking to Jaguar Plano.

This is simply a tremendous accomplishment and honor for Ken Schnitzer, who is chairman of Jaguar Plano parent group Park Place Dealerships, which owns some 16 luxury car franchises in Texas and Nevada.

What Ken and his leadership team have done is create the kind of supportive environment for his people to be successful and that is translating into truly outstanding overall service for every Jaguar customer who visits Jaguar Plano.

When Park Place Dealerships acquired the store in 2010, the group immediately invested $1 million in building a new showroom, upgrading the service department and making the whole facility a better place to work. 

It also made an enormous commitment to training. Anyone who joins Jaguar Plano gets 160 hours of training in their first year. After that, it’s 50 hours every subsequent year. And anyone who Ken and his team believe has management potential gets additional training. To me, what’s impressive is that the group, as a whole, develops 98 percent of its managers from within.

Then there are the small details, such as encouraging managers to hand out $50 gasoline cards when an employee does something out of the ordinary for a customer. They believe rewarding good work creates a sense of pride.

The focus on employee satisfaction comes right from the top. Employees at the dealership regularly say that if they bump into Ken Schnitzer, chances are he’ll ask the same question: “What else can I do to help you do your job?”

Ken has said to me many times, and he has told Automotive News the same thing: “You can have the prettiest buildings in the world and the best cars in the world, but if you don’t have people who are knowledgeable and well‑trained to deliver outstanding client service, then you’re wasting your time.”

Jaguar North America has also recognized Jaguar Plano’s drive for excellence. It its first year of eligibility, it was awarded the prestigious ‘Pride of Jaguar Retailer Excellence Award’ for 2011/2012.

This is the highest honor a Jaguar dealer can receive and is only bestowed on retailers who take the ideals of excellence and turn them into a way of doing business for every customer, every day.

Congratulations to the entire Jaguar Plano team!