Amid furnishings featuring environmentally sustainable bamboo, the service center offers massage chairs, iPads, Internet access, flat screen plasma televisions, muffins, sandwiches and various coffees and beverages. Disposable plates, cups and plastic spoons are not to be found; silverware and china grace the settings – washed by hand with biologically friendly dish soap.
"Recently our favorite crown jewel is the nine-hole putting green that we have named the JM Lexus Country Club, where customers can grab a club and practice their swing while waiting for their vehicle to be serviced," says collision center manager Bobby Glaize.
A full-time associate is available behind the wheel of a hybrid RX 300 crossover to pick up and drop off customers who need transportation.
"We market to all of South Florida," says Glaize. "Not all Lexus dealerships have an onsite body shop, and the fact that we do all of our own work here at JM Lexus is appealing to our guests."
The company has been awarded the coveted "Elite of Lexus" award year-after-year for excelling at sales, service and overall owner support based on "extremely exceptional" results from customer feedback surveys.
"All of the associates here are empowered to satisfy our guests, and this thought process also extends to the body shop," says Glaize.
The craftsmanship carries a lifetime guarantee. "We also empower our associates to make decisions based on what is best for the guest, and reiterate that it's not always about the bottom line," he says. A third-party vendor measures every aspect of each transaction to ensure that all the customers come away from the experience with a 100 percent satisfaction rate.
Competition can be tough in such a densely populated area. "There are many collision centers, so supply and demand is high," Glaize points out. "We are known for our quality and customer service, and we gain our share of the market due to our reputation, but we must constantly stay on top of our game and never settle – always striving to do things better. We have a saying around here: 'If it ain't broke, break it.' We want to continuously look at ways to improve our products and service."
The staff is highly motivated and eager to please customers, he said. "Recruiting for us is not a challenge. We offer an incredible benefits package, the best of any dealership. We have been ranked in Fortune magazine as one of the 'Top 25 Companies to Work For' for 13 years running and stand behind our motto that 'Our associates are our most important asset,'" he says.
Another company slogan is "Our mission is to engage our associates and guests in a culture of greatness"
"Our culture has made us who we are," Glaize continues, "and we ensure that new hires are the right fit for our core values." The dealership's human resource department conducts a thorough background check and screening process to detect the top applicants.
Retaining the best body shop talent is an ongoing aspect of Glaize's management style. "I have an agreement with my technicians; they are paid for everything that they do, whether we are paid for it or not," he explains. "For example, if an insurance estimate states four hours, but the technician needs six hours to fix it properly, the technician will get paid six hours regardless of what we collect. In addition, our culture, our benefits, our work/life balance and the importance we place on our associates' well-being makes it easy for us to retain quality, loyal associates."
On the production floor, "we are a lean shop, or as lean as we can be while running a successful business," says Glaize. "We keep a minimal office staff, which makes teamwork paramount, and we recycle whatever products we can." Logs, sign-in sheets and distribution documents are laminated and filled out with a dry-erase pen, allowing them to be wiped clean at the end of the day and ready for tomorrow. Cutting back on copies means that the shop now buys just six cases of paper per month rather than the 10 cartons previously used.
"Our staff has come up with a lot of the lean initiatives, so the reaction has been pretty positive," says Glaize.
Drumming up savings
A nitrogen waterborne paint system reduces material usage by 28 percent per month, with augmented savings from a paint recycler and gun cleaner. Instead of consuming three 55-gallon drums a month, they are down to using half of a single 55-gallon container.
"Using the nitrogen machine has enabled us to bring in at least six more repairs per day because of the shortened drying time," Glaize reports. "The recycler cut back 2.5 drums a month at $375 per drum, saving us $975 per month, and in the office we are saving about $200 per month on paper usage."
Glaize had been approached about the benefits of nitrogen while employed at a previous dealership. After his arrival at JM, management gave the go-ahead; two machines were initially leased and then purchased a few years later along with three additional units at a cost of about $90,000 – one for each paint booth at the shop, which houses 37 repair bays utilized by a staff of 45 workers.
"It was a pretty seamless conversion," Glaize recounts. "My painters were very excited by the prospect, and it is an important value" for the company "to always be moving in a greener direction."
He notes that "the feedback has been great," with the entire staff eagerly embracing the concept of environmental conscientiousness. "The technicians love the nitrogen and the gun cleaner, which makes their jobs easier and helps the environment." JM takes pride in netting the Emerald Award for being the county's "greenest business" in 2009, 2010 and 2011.
The shop's lighting fixtures have been lowered from their perch atop the ceiling's high beams down to seven feet above the work areas. Other portions of the dealership are lit by LED lamps – set to net an anticipated $47,500 in annual savings on the electric bill – that may eventually be added to the collision center.
A measure of the marketing impact of these environmental initiatives is not yet clear. "We haven't really tracked this, but I would say it is a selling point with the younger demographic and those who are environmentally aware," Glaize says.
The shop belongs to three direct repair programs that amount to 45 percent of the business. It remains open to enlisting in others if the conditions are acceptable.
"I would say my biggest challenge is negotiating with the insurance companies to ensure a quality, but profitable repair," says Glaize. "Trying to balance what the insurance companies are willing to pay against what our technicians need to be paid and against what our vendors charge us is a day-to-day challenge," he adds.
"The first and most important aspect of any relationship is honesty and integrity; we do what we say and say what we do. We do not take shortcuts, and we work hard to develop relationships with adjusters at a local level. It helps build trust and rapport: We understand that they have a tough job and try to make it easier for them, so we do what we can to work with them," says Glaize.
When underpayment issues arise, he reports, "we always attempt to work it out with the adjuster; in the event that we can't, we work it out with the customer."
Observing that "our customer base is very intelligent and has a lot of business savvy," Glaize notes that it "makes us much better at negotiating the cost of the repair regardless as to whether it's customer pay or an insurance job. At the end of the day, the customers will pay to make sure the repairs are done to Lexus factory standards."
Rising through the ranks
Glaize's experience in the body shop industry has always been at the dealership level. Upon graduating from high school in 1980, he moved from his Ohio hometown down to Jacksonville, Fla. His sister knew someone at a local Buick dealership that was in need of a valet. After serving in that capacity for three months, "the body shop manager saw my work ethic, liked me and decided it was time for a transfer. That was the beginning of my body shop career."
Rising to the point of supervising eight dealership operations, a friend suggested that Glaize meet with Jim Dunn, the general manager at JM Lexus. Dunn outlined some changes and improvements that he was eager to implement to enhance the customer satisfaction rates and quality of the repairs. "I knew that I would be able to turn those numbers around," says Glaize.
"I have two mentors," he reports. "The first of them is Conny Fiser, the body shop manager at the Buick dealership. He took me from being a service valet and gave me a chance. He also taught me how to write a thorough estimate. The second is, Steve Hull, who owned a Chevy dealership in Jacksonville, Fla. He taught me how to manage a collision center in an efficient, productive way, maintaining quality and integrity."
Glaize gains additional support by participating in a Lexus/Toyota affiliation similar to a 20 Group.
