Volvo History P1800: Volvo Edmonton

Volvo of Edmonton is an AMVIC-licensed business. When you're setting a new standard for customer satisfaction, there's no such thing as standard service. Whether it's in new or pre-owned car sales, parts or service, Volvo of Edmonton continues to set new benchmarks — not only for Volvo dealerships, but for other Edmonton-area brands as well. Having won five consecutive President's Challenge Awards from Volvo of Canada, the store, located at 1205 - 101 Street, is arguably amongst the winningest teams in town these days.

"There's always a risk involved in being a benchmark for customer service," said Mike Norris, Dealer Principal at Volvo of Edmonton. "But we don't back down from challenges. "(Volvo of Canada) can't find an instance of a retailer being a five-time winner in Canada, but only two Canadian Volvo dealerships won last year. The year before, there were two winners, and the year before that there was only one — we've won all five
years."

The President's Challenge Award is based on specific performance measures in five crucial areas, including customer satisfaction in both sales and service. Volvo of Edmonton is one of only two retailers in Volvo of Canada's 42-store group to meet the company's demanding figures.

"We're growing," said Sales Manager Curtis Faulkner. "There's big opportunity in sales — and in service as well. One of my favorite quotes is 'luck happens when preparation meets opportunity'," said Faulkner. "Having won five years in a row proves it isn't luck. We have great sales people, but we also have an amazing service department. Again and again we have people coming back to buy a new vehicle, saying they're buying another because of and our service advisors. It makes things easier for us."

"For years, Volvo carried some of the safest cars you could buy, but they'd never been a leader of fuel consumption — mostly because they didn't want to sacrifice some of the safety features in order to meet those figures," said Faulkner. "But now they're coming out with cars that will be leaders in both safety and fuel consumption."

But the product is only part of the ownership experience; Norris's group knows that the real opportunity to shine revolves around the customer — not the car.

"Other than cleaning the cars and putting them on display in our showroom, we have no influence on the product. Volvo is getting much better as brand, and showing significant improvement — but it's really what we add to the brand that makes the difference and contributes to our success." Norris relates a recent example where a customer broke a windshield and a roof rack while on holidays. A service representative stepped forward and volunteered to pick up the car in Grande Prairie in order to take care of the problem. "There was no big deal made of it — he just made the 20-hour trip to make sure the customer was taken care of," said Norris. "That's what we mean when we say customer service is everything."