It was my pleasure to meet with three representatives of Sill-TerHar Motors in Broomfield in June 2008.
David Sieks was recommended to me by my travel agent, Melody Sands, who purchased her Volvo from David two years ago ("He was really good--didnapostrophet seem to have any problems with me coming back multiple times to test drive and answered my questions. When my husband went in with me, he still talked to me instead of talking to my husband which was greatly appreciated since it is my car not Carlapostrophes." ) Melody had a very frustrating time with some other salespeople before she found David.
David has worked with Volvo for 7 years, 3 at this location after Ford Motor Company purchased Volvo. He told me that many of the Sill-TerHar Volvo service technicians have more than twenty years experience with this brand. I observed a a very close and friendly relationship among all the staff at both the Volvo and Ford Sill-TerHar buildings. Everyone I talked to told me the same thing: "It feels like weapostrophere all part of a family business, and the business just happens to be cars." Although I did not meet Jack TerHar or his wife Penny the day I visited, I live in Broomfield and hear about them all the time - they are both very active in the community.
David, who grew up in Peoria and attended Notre Dame University, says his last four customers were referrals from satisfied Volvo owners whom he helped in the past, like Melody. He has a passion for the business and for Volvos, and yet is a soft-spoken and low-key individual. In fact, I did not see any pressure anywhere at Sill-TerHar Motors, just lots of friendly people who seemed genuinely interested in helping their clients. Contact David at 303-469-1801 ext 6525 or
dsieks@sthmotors.com
Next I met with Molly Marston - her official title is General Coordinator. Mollyapostrophes is a real success story; she says everyone teases her because when she first came to Sill-TerHar as a receptionist (after a career as a high school math teacher) she claimed to want a job where she could work for eight hours, go home and forget all about it. That didnapostrophet last long - within a few months she was a service adviser and rapidly moved up from there. Now she does "a little bit of everything" from assisting the advertising and marketing director to filling in for the service department. We quickly established a mutual love for decaffeinated tea, and moved from there into talking about women in the auto business. Sill-TerHar has had up to three women sales staff at Volvo at the same time, and she just interviewed another this week. She explained that successful women in the car business are tough to find, and she usually has to pro-actively hunt for them.
Andy Chase from Sill-TerHar Ford wandered in as I was talking to Molly, and invited me to come see him at the building next door. Andy started with Volvo and then moved to Ford, and has been at Sill-TerHar for 8 years this month. He says this is a fun job, because it is whatever you make it; you are the captain of your own destiny. With three daughters, he says he is surrounded by women.
The biggest change Andy has seen in the last eight years is the proliferation of the Internet. Heapostrophes glad the web makes information more readily available to potential clients and feels itapostrophes very important for people who work in the industry to keep an eye on the pertinent websites. The training process at Sill-TerHar is designed to give real support to new staff until they are completely up to speed, and everyone pitches in to help.
Andy is excited about the all-new Ford F150 coming out this fall, and was quick to point out that Sill-TerHar has a good supply of smaller, fuel-efficient cars such as the Ford Focus and the Fusion on hand for immediate delivery, as well as an excellent selection of Pre-Owned cars. He comes from a die-hard Ford family ("my dad tried one ***** once and had transmission problems, other than that itapostrophes always been Fords.") He also mentioned that Ford Finance works hard for people with challenged credit - they still have the Red Carpet Lease and the store works closely with CU Direct (credit union financing.) Andy can be reached at 303-264-9399 or achase@sthmotors.com
Be sure to visit my website,
http://www.ColoradoAutoInfo.com for photos and more details about the women-friendly amenities at Sill-TerHar Volvo and Ford.
Laura Ryan is an active Ambassador for the Metro North Chamber of Commerce and Coloradoapostrophes Front Range BNI, and holds the dual roles of Visitor Host Coordinator and Librarian for her own BNI Chapter, A-1 Business Builders. Vice President of Public Relations for the Westminster Communicators Chapter of Toastmasters International and a member of Elle Group, Laura holds a Bachelorapostrophes degree in Business Administration and has worked her entire life in male-dominated industries. She is a member of the National Association of Professional Women. As an electronics technician in the US Air Force (enlistment date January 2, 1975), she was one of the very first women selected to go into military specialties that were non-traditional for women at that time. Most recently, Laura worked as a saleswoman in the automotive industry in the North Metro Denver area for eleven and a half years before leaving in May 2008 to start her own business, Laura Ryan Enterprises LLC. Now she consults with the automotive industry on building better relationships with their customers.