CMA’s Liza Borches explains the value of a top-notch customer experience

Carter Myers Automotive has roots dating back to 1902 as a hardware, machinery, and mill supply business that built and sold horseless carriages. Today, more than a century later, the family business has evolved and expanded to what we know today, including 17 franchises in 15 dealerships across Virginia. President and CEO, Liza Borches is the fourth generation of the Myers family and she joins us today to take a deeper dive into the CMA customer experience.

Borches says when it comes to the customer experience, she challenges her team to look at it from a lens of what’s happening in the industry currently. Consumers are walking into businesses today and being told what they can’t have. Borches believed they needed to become a ‘yes’ company. She says our job in today’s environment is to change our vocabulary to say, how do we say yes and how do we find solutions for consumers?

One thing that Borches says they do differently is taking the technology and processes and wrapping it with a relationship. It’s not about the moment the person comes to buy the car and creating just a frictionless experience. It’s how do we create an ownership experience that is a relationship that has trust and great communication, well beyond the sale. Borches believes in the next 10 years, consumers are going to be faced with decisions around their transportation solutions that they have never been faced with before.

Borches says she considers her personal customers to be their 720 associates. She says those are her internal customers. Their competitors, whether it be other dealerships or industries, can offer great benefits and a great workplace but they have to wrap those items with a relationship with trust and communication. Those type of environments creates a workplace that makes people want to stay and grow.

Borches says you can train hiring managers on how to interview a candidate and properly assess a candidate. She says but the two pieces that were missing were, they weren’t recruiting until they absolutely needed someone and they didn’t have time to actively recruit.

Times have changed says Borches. Candidates are now interviewing employers. She says you need to be able to convince them at the end of the time you all have spent together on why the auto industry is right for them and why the company has the best culture for them to grow and succeed in life and business.She says you do need to create awareness around what you have to offer. Then it’s your choice to figure out whether that person is a good candidate for your company. Borches says if you find a great person and they’re going to add to our industry or company, you find a way to bring them in, even if they don’t fit a normal position.

Did you enjoy this podcast with Liza Borches? Please share your thoughts, comments, or questions regarding this topic by submitting a letter to the editor here, or connect with us at newsroom@cbtnews.com.