“Walk the Walk” the theme for Elite Support Summit
On March 18-21st, 14 representatives from Four Star traveled to San Antonio, Texas for the annual Elite Support Summit. This year’s theme was “Walk the Walk” which focused the discussion on how our dealerships could better live the principles of Elite Support and Continuous Improvement- not just “Talk the Talk.”
Over 500 Continuous Improvement Coordinators, Customer Advocates, Dealer Operations, DTNA Leaders and Customers participated in numerous presentations and breakout sessions over the course of three days to learn how to collaborate at the highest level as a unified network.
Notably, Jerry Kocan, Mike Ellifritz and Craig Mathis participated in a panel with two other dealer groups in front of the entire attendance. They lead discussions around the importance of our company vision, the customer experience, and working together as a tight-knit family.
Brett Phillips from The 1975 Transportation Group, led a panel of customers on stage to field questions from the hosts and audience, learning how our dealerships could best support their businesses. The recurring conversation pointed to two major topics- quality of information when communicating updates, and the customer experience when traveling outside of their home dealer’s area of responsibility. As a network, we must do a better job of supporting the customers who aren’t in our locations every week. The information we provide the customer for them to run their business must be accurate, comprehensive, and timely. Brett, Mike Ellifritz and Jay Morrison also presented Four Star’s Continuous Improvement Event of the Year- which highlighted our CX Day last July and the continuous efforts of our employees on learning how to “treat them how they want to be treated.”
The event culminated with a awards dinner on Wednesday night, where Kelly Hammon and Grant Crabill were recognized for Excellence in Leading their Change Management Teams in Dothan and Montgomery. Jenna Spray in Tifton was awarded the “WOW Award” recognizing excellence in 5S implementation. Mike Ellifritz took the stage to accept his nomination for the Parts Seat on the Dealer Advisory Group. Craig Mathis and Kelly Hammon were selected for the CIC/CXA Collaboration Award- a high honor only given to one team in the entire DTNA Network- recognizing their collaboration efforts in leading their dealership to continuously improving the customer experience.
Over the course of four days, the real benefit for our CIC’s was the networking and best practice sharing with like-minded individuals from all over North America. Old relationships were rekindled and new relationships born. Strong connections were made with other dealer families- all in the name of walking the walk as defined by Elite Support- providing a superior experience, in a consistent manner, at a good value, as validated by the customer.
Thank you to all our leaders that attended the Summit, and our employees who maintain a high standard every day. You represent Four Star and our Mission Statement to the highest degree. Our dealerships are recognized as best-in-class by our other dealer partners, Daimler Trucks of North America, and our valued customers- not just in our home locations, but throughout the country.
