The spirit of the Saturn brand, which tried to reinvent the dealership experience in the 1990s, lives on at Bergstrom Acura in Appleton, Wis.
The dealership, with just 25 employees (at the time of Best Companies Group’s survey, it had 27) and a small-town feel, uses the one-price concept and family-friendly approach that made Saturn a favorite among customers and employees for a time.
The one-price model removes a major tension point of the buying process — haggling — and allows for a more relaxed retail experience. And that can transform a dealership into a place where employees and customers can interact as friends and acquaintances.
The approach helped Bergstrom Acura finish No. 3 overall in Automotive News’ 2020 Best Dealerships To Work For competition. And it took the top spot in the small dealership category, for stores with 25 to 49 employees.
“The coolest thing about our Acura team is they picked up this historic Saturn philosophy of very enthusiastic, positive-minded young people, and they just do a great job,” said John Bergstrom, CEO of Bergstrom Automotive, which had 16 stores on the Best Dealerships To Work For list this year. (See Page B44.)Bergstrom should know. He was one of the original Saturn dealers when the brand went on the market in 1990. The staff at his Acura store “reminds me of the days of Saturn where you just took great care of everybody, no matter what,” he said.
Jason Amo, general manager at Bergstrom Acura, sees it, too. The Saturn resemblance is part of why employees like working at the dealership, he said.
“When Saturn first launched, the philosophy was the same kind of thing,” Amo told Automotive News. “Negotiation was not involved in the sales process. Same kind of atmosphere.”
No-haggle pricing transforms a dealership’s sales operations and allows recruitment of employees who otherwise might not be interested in auto retailing, Amo said. For example, set pricing can enable a more regular shift schedule throughout the month. That, in turn, makes it easier to attract top talent.
“Consistent pricing is set throughout the month, so the schedules are more attractive for people outside the industry who maybe wouldn’t [have] considered the car industry as a whole,” he said. “They can work a 9-to-5 or a 10-to-7, and you don’t have those blocks at the end of the month where you have to work 12 hours because all the pricing changes.”
The small-store environment means workers regularly help out their teammates across departments, Amo said,
“There isn’t a job anyone wouldn’t do,” he said. “Very often, you’ll see managers and team leaders doing basic things like washing cars. They understand the greater good. So everybody’s willing to jump in and help when needed.”
Bergstrom noted that the commitment to caring for one another became even more poignant during the coronavirus pandemic.
“We were always focused on our teammates as family and engaged with their significant others, children’s achievements and the occasional loss,” Bergstrom said in a survey Automotive News conducted with the Best Dealerships To Work For winners. “With COVID, we have had to take that to a new level and make sure we are in tune with parents, siblings and children who may be sick, need schooling or just care. Understanding is critical.”
Taking care of employees this year, in particular, has meant putting in strict policies and procedures to keep everyone safe during the pandemic.
“We have changed the majority of our workplace policies in response to the pandemic. From daily health/temperature checks to contact tracing, to spaced workstations, to no in-person meetings and travel,” John Hogerty II, Bergstrom’s general counsel, said in the survey.
Although sales plummeted at the start of the pandemic before recovering in the following months, the dealership group as a whole has kept its employees on the job.
“We have 1,600 employees today, and we had 1,600 employees on March 1,” Bergstrom told Automotive News. “We all worked hard, worked our way through it, got through it. And we’re still working at it.”
Hard work and being upfront are key to the dealership group’s success.
“We set tough goals, but we are very transparent with our teams,” Bergstrom said. “Our people know how we’re doing, what we’re doing. There are no secrets.”
Of course, there are also a series of concrete perks for employees, such as 401(k) contributions, employee recognition programs, flexible vacation days and birthday celebrations for everyone with cake and balloons. Bergstrom Automotive has also moved to shorter, winter hours that give employees more time to spend with their families.
Bergstrom Acura adheres to the dealership group’s larger philosophy of giving back to the community as a critical part of the company’s mission. It means workers feel like their contributions go beyond providing a pleasant sales and service experience, Bergstrom said.
“I believe that we as a company — even though we’ve reached $1 billion in sales — are still small, and we care about each other,” Bergstrom said. “We care about our community, we care about our guests, and we care about our fellow employees.”
As a group, Bergstrom gives 25 percent of its earnings back to the communities in which it operates and has done so for 38 years.
“When we were small, it didn’t make a whole lot of difference, but now we can make a significant difference,” Bergstrom said.
The community outreach, such as funding an art center or a park, boosts employee morale in a relatively small town such as Appleton.
“Not only does my team understand that, yes, we’re here to retail vehicles, but there’s a huge community piece to it that has impact right here,” Amo said. “That’s something they take a lot of pride in, and they get excited about those campaigns.”
Bergstrom Acura sold 226 new vehicles and 115 used vehicles in 2019. Buyers often are return customers, and that’s because dealership managers and staff put a lot of effort into creating a positive guest experience that builds long-term relationships and fosters repeat business, word-of-mouth sales and lasting success.
“We look at our customers as guests into our homes,” Bergstrom said. “And you might think that’s hokey or something, but it’s not. It’s real. We realize if we build a relationship with those guests, they’ll keep coming back time after time.”