Steve Marshall Ford general manager and partner Karl Ebdrup thinks the employees at the dealership are “absolutely amazing.”
And he’s clearly not the only one.
Steve Marshall Ford has been recognized with the 2016 Diamond President’s Award, Ford Motor Company of Canada Ltd.’s highest dealership honour.
The award is presented annually to dealerships that demonstrate outstanding achievement in sales and customer satisfaction.
“Dealers become eligible through excellence in dealership operations and exceptional customer feedback through survey responses related to their sales and service satisfaction and overall dealership experience,” according to a press release.
The award was announced on Monday.
“We’re obviously very proud,” said Ebdrup.
“Really, the award comes from our customers because although it’s a combination of our sales records, it’s also a combination of our customer satisfaction scores and last year, we were ranked No. 1 in B.C. for customer satisfaction.
“That really is a rating that comes from our customers, not from Ford or anybody else — that is our customers saying how happy they are with our service. So a combination of being No. 1 in sales and No. 1 in customer satisfaction is a pretty big pride peg for us to have.
“We’re pretty lucky to win, but we feel like we worked hard to get that award,” he added.
Ebdrup attributes the dealership’s success to the people who work on the front lines day after day, the staff who come in direct contact with customers every day.
“They’re the ones who really won this award,” he said.
“I think we have the best front-line staff certainly in town. And I think it’s them that deserve all the accolades when it comes to the award; they’re the ones who are making customers happy on a daily basis. Quite often, the dealer gets all the recognition or his executive management team get all the recognition but the true recognition should go to the front-line staff because they’re the ones who make it happen every day.”
Ebdrup says customers have also ranked the dealership so high because of some of the additional services they offer. For example, if someone buys a vehicle at Steve Marshall Ford and services it with the dealership, they can receive lifetime car washes for as long as they own the car as long as they continue servicing it with the dealership.
Steve Marshall Ford sees all of the customer feedback surveys and Ebdrup says that when people are happy, they are usually raving about the person they dealt with.
“Both in sales and service, we have some of the best people around and if you met, you would just be wowed every time you meet them,” he said. “They’re absolutely amazing.”
This is the 24th time Steve Marshall Ford has won a President’s Award from Ford of Canada.
Steve Marshall Ford is celebrating its 50th anniversary in Campbell River this year. The dealership has been doing business in the same location at 1384 16th Ave. that entire time.
Currently, the dealership has 70 staff members working in several departments, including new and used vehicles, parts and service, a body shop and Like New Car Care, the auto detailing department.
Ebdrup says the auto detailing side of the business has grown a lot in the last few years.
