The Klamath Falls Lithia Toyota dealership was given some big news this week.
On Tuesday, Jan. 24, the store was notified it is the No. 1 Lithia auto dealership in the country.
Of Lithia’s 282 locations spread across 27 states, Klamath Falls Lithia Toyota was one of the 125 nominated dealerships to compete for the prestigious Founder’s Cup and were the selected winners.
“It’s not all about sales,” said Klamath Falls Lithia Toyota General Manager Juan Maldonado. “Sales-wise, we compete with locations in Pensacola, Fla., and downtown Los Angeles and many other big cities across the nation. No, the decision is an amalgamation of many factors. We would not have won if it wasn’t for our customers.”
Each dealership is nominated by regional managers. Of the 125 dealerships another review is performed by CEOs and the Vice President of Lithia to dwindle down the nominated 125 to the top 56 dealerships which become known as the Partners Group. From those 56 in the Partners Group, further reviews are completed to create the final four Founder’s Cup recipients. Klamath Falls Lithia Toyota was chosen as number one.
Decisions are made based predominantly by the Customer Satisfaction Index (CSI) scores. The scores are calculated by combining customer surveys taken on various business attributes such as sales process and responsiveness. Toyota takes the CSI one step further by implementing the Toyota Loyalty and Engagement program (TLE). TLE is designed to improve the customer experience so that dealer personnel can focus on crafting the best customer experience possible for sales, service and parts.
Klamath Falls Lithia Toyota Sales Manager Tim Boozer said that the people of Klamath County are “awesome.”
“Klamath Falls supports us. We make up 70% of all new vehicles sold in the market [in Klamath County]. That’s only possible because we appreciate our customers,” Boozer said.
Last year, Klamath Falls Lithia Toyota also won the President’s Award for customer satisfaction.
“Like any business,” Maldonado said, “our greatest asset is word of mouth. There are five other auto dealerships on this same street [Washburn Way]. It’s not like we [Klamath Falls Lithia Toyota] have a better location. All our success is because we focus on helping [the customer] rather than sales and commissions. [Customers] can feel that as soon as they walk into the door. Taking care of people and the community is our foremost goal.”
