Hello CMA! Welcome to the 4th quarter of 2021. Unlike Sunday football, we know that this is not a game. We use many sports comparisons in our business but this is the 4th quarter of a year that has created many incredible opportunities and new challenges that affect each associate in different ways. This isn’t a game, it is life and it doesn’t end at the end of 2021. Each month, each quarter, each year give us an opportunity to measure our own progress along with that of our team. It is an “Infinite Game,” as Simon Sinek points it. Our goal is to be better each day – better than we were yesterday; better this month than we were last month; better this quarter than we were last quarter.
The question is… how do we measure better? How do we measure progress? The easy way is in numbers: Sales. Revenue. Profits. The harder way is in effort: Innovation. Creativity. Kindness. Love. All are important. All are critical.
As we move quickly into the 4th quarter of 2021, I ask that each of you take a moment and revisit what a great 4th quarter means to you. What are the goals that you have set for your role and responsibility to CMA and to yourself? What goals do you have with your family, your health, your finances? Go back and review your 3 personal and 3 professional goals that we asked you to outline to start the year. What progress have you made? What else do you have left to accomplish in the 4th quarter?
For CMA, we had a good, not great, month in September by the numbers. We had a great, not good, September when it comes to supporting each other. We had people out for COVID or for required quarantines, and the rest of the team was stretched to cover, to assist, and to support. I thank every one of you who has stepped in to help a fellow CMA associate through this time.
As to the numbers, we were impacted in a significant way by the availability of new car inventory. The CMA dealerships that excelled last month really switched their focus and mindset to used cars and service. Our pre-owned sales were up almost 25% over last September and it was the first time (maybe ever) that we sold more pre-owned cars than we did new cars. Congratulations to CMA’s Valley CDJR and CMA’s Colonial Kia! These two dealerships exceeded last September’s sales and exceeded their used car sales objective! We had five service departments exceed their forecast for the month: CMA’s Colonial Chevrolet, CMA’s Colonial Honda, CMA’s Valley Nissan, CMA’s Colonial Kia and CMA’s Volvo Cars of Charlottesville. The consistency of our service teams is more important than ever while we work through the new and used inventory fluctuations!
A few other highlights from the month included:
- Felicia Schultz led the board at CMA’s Colonial Auto Center and maintained a perfect CSI score for the entire quarter!
- Damian Emrich at CMA’s Colonial Nissan had two hat trick days in the last week!
- Don Sankey promoted to GSM of CMA’s Volvo Cars of Charlottesville!
- CMA’s Colonial Kia – #1 in new car sales in Richmond
- CMA’s Colonial Kia parts – 2nd straight month over $300k in parts sales!
- CMA’s Valley Honda parts set a record in total sales and wholesale sales, CMA’s Valley Nissan set a record in both service and parts, while CMA’s Colonial Subaru and CMA’s Valley Subaru crushed their ARC forecast in parts as well.
- CMA’s Valley Subaru service had a record last day of the month! Way to finish strong!
- CMA’s Valley Honda Sales and Service CSI crushed the region and national numbers – working as one team works!
- CMA’s Subaru of Winchester – F&I continues to grow – exceeding the goal with a high percentage of cash deals – no excuses for this team!
- Also at CMA’s Subaru of Winchester, their Express Service team broke their record with 220 hours sold– great job to Klarisa, Amy, Devon, Freddie and Kristian. Scott Bushman and Daniel Striker also deserve a big shoutout for working additional days and hours on the large repair jobs so that the rest of the team could continue to service the daily appts. The extra effort means so much to the whole team!
- The sales team at CMA’s Valley CDJR bought 17 vehicles direct from customers last month and Erik Kibler bought 8 of them himself! We know this is a huge key to having strong used car inventory for our sales teams to market in October!
- CMA’s Valley CDJR also had a record sales month with a “No Excuses” mentality from day 1!
- CMA’s Colonial Subaru was #1 in percent of objective with Subaru in the district and our newest sales associate, Aziz Benovenli, sold his first car as we closed out the month!
- CMA’s Williamsburg Ford officially opened the new facility and a huge shoutout goes to Rodney and Randall for setting up the wonderful event for our customers and community friends along with Andrew, Spring, Nikki and April for serving our guests for the evening.
- CMA’s Valley VW won the District Champion award for the 3rd month in a row!
- James McAvoy at CMA’s Valley VW deserves a shoutout for stepping up into a hybrid role in both parts and warranty admin – he stepped up where needed and is doing a fantastic job filling both roles.
On a few personal notes, Ben Patrick at CMA’s Colonial Kia got married this past month and Breanna Evans at CMA’s Colonial Auto Center also tied the knot – Congratulations to you both! Congratulations, too, to Shaina Rose on the birth of her first child!
We also have had two 35 year Anniversaries in the past month – Simona Holloway celebrated 35 years in August and today, Marcus Wyant at CMA’s Colonial Nissan is celebrating 35 years. 35-year Anniversaries don’t just happen – they don’t come often. These two have been part of the fabric of the dealership in Charlottesville and we could not be more grateful for all of Marcus’ and Simona’s contributions over so many years.
Our top ten sales associates know how to get it done no matter what the inventory looks like on the lot. This team below has learned how to sell into the pipeline, be creative in their sourcing of the right vehicle and finding solutions for customers differently than in the past. Thank you to this group of top sales associates for keeping the bar high and leading the way with activity, extra effort and positive attitudes!
#1 Tim Hansbrough CMA’s Valley CDJR 28 lives moved forward!!!
Brian McCaffity CMA’s Colonial Hyundai 27
Johana Labarca CMA’s Colonial Subaru 26
Wendy Sparks CMA’s Colonial Honda 25
Duncan Carlson CMA’s Subaru of Winchester 23
Michael Sharper CMA’s Colonial Chevrolet 22.5
Devon Paxton CMA’s Valley Honda 21
Damon Simpson CMA’s Colonial Hyundai 20.5
Erik Kibler CMA’s Valley CDJR 20
Rod Boothes CMA’s Colonial Kia 19
Chris Deering CMA’s Colonial Honda 18.5
Felicia Schultz CMA’s Colonial Auto Center 18
Aubrey Weaver CMA’s Valley CDJR 18
Corree Darcus CMA’s Valley Honda 18
Willie Lingenfelter CMA’s Colonial Subaru 17
Ryan Scott CMA’s Colonial Hyundai 17
Cory Garner CMA’s Valley CDJR 17
Gus Alvear CMA’s Valley Honda 17
Harold Wells CMA’s Valley Nissan 17
Milton Robinson CMA’s Colonial Hyundai 16
Taylor Lemon CMA’s Colonial Subaru 16
Josh Smith CMA’s Valley Subaru 16
Thank you to everyone who knows that they gave it their all and is focused on improving just 1% every single day. I also want to thank all of you who helped us raise funds for #fuelthefight. Supporting the families in our communities who have a child fighting cancer is just one of the ways that we try to give back. We share these fights so that we can raise awareness and inspire others to join the support team. I know every day I read about a family or an organization that needs help and if someone didn’t bring it to my attention, I may not even know about the fight. We have been supporting pediatric cancer research and treatment since 2003 and I am so proud that our support has grown to include the ASK Foundation and the Children’s Hospital of the King’s Daughter along with the UVA Children’s Hospital. Outside of the money raised for #fuelthefight, CMA is contributing $25,000 to offset transportation costs of families who travel from all over the state and West Virginia to bring their kids to UVA.
As we move into October, it is all about awareness and the louder we can be, the more women (and men) we can encourage to get regular health checks and mammograms for early detection of breast cancer. We have many survivors of breast cancer within the CMA family and it is clear that if caught early, it is a winnable fight. Wear your pink, share the statistics that we post to our Facebook pages, and encourage the women in particular in your life to go get their mammogram today if they are behind. If each one of us finds one woman in our life and gets them to the doc, we will save a few lives and long fights. Click on the emails that the philanthropy team has sent out to buy your hats, shirts and masks, or wear the ones that you have from last year. Let’s have fun and raise awareness this month in honor of and in memory of those who have been affected by breast cancer.
Lots of love to you all. Take care of yourselves and your families every day and focus on just being 1% better today than you were yesterday.
Liza
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