Last year, we introduced you to Collection Auto Group and owner Bernie Moreno.
The company is still making tremendous strides in the automotive industry, so we sat down with Moreno again to see how Collection Auto Group continues to drive success.
What’s your greatest business challenge?
Managing our growth while maintaining our culture. We have grown from 25 people to almost 300 in just under seven years. We have a very unique culture that puts the customer at the core of everything we do. We don’t consider ourselves a “dealership,” but rather, we consider ourselves a customer service business. As such, recruiting, hiring, motivating and retaining the absolute top performers is critical. We also spend a lot of attention on making certain everyone understands our mission and our core values.
What makes you an innovative leader?
I don’t know if I am an “innovative leader,” but I do know we always look for creative solutions to challenges others have found difficult or impossible. We strive to keep our organization on the leading edge by being on the forefront of technology; whether by using social media, iPads for our sales people, or state of the art customer relationship management systems.
What’s the greatest lesson you’ve learned in business?
Not everyone has the skills needed to be singularly devoted to following through on the mastery of the details required to delivery excellent customer service. Knowing this, we continually reinforce the need to put in place organizational processes to help manage these details.
What has been Collection Auto Group’s impact on the economy?
We employ almost 300 people and generate over $250,000,000 in gross sales revenue. We are one of the largest collectors of sales tax in Cuyahoga County. We donate about $500,000 to local charities. We also provide human capital in the community to help improve this region.
How do you provide value and go “above and beyond”?
We take the purchase or servicing of a car from a transaction to an experience. Anyone call “sell” a luxury vehicle; we want to provide our customers one of the best, if not the best, service experiences they have ever had.
Collection Auto Group
28450 Lorain Road
North Olmsted, OH 44070
Phone: 440,716.2700
E-mail: [email protected]
Web: www.collectionautogroup.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/pages/Collection-Auto-Group
