Ambassador's Journal: New England, New Reynolds

One of the fun parts of my role is talking with dealers across the country about how we can help their business–today and in the future. I recently traveled to the Northeast to visit some dealers and discuss why now is the right time to #RediscoverReynolds. One of the things this trip reminded me of is how many states and places you can actually get to with a little bit of windshield time. How does a 4-day, 3-night, 5-state tour sound?

Stop 1:

After flying into beautiful Manchester, NH, or ManchVegas as the locals call it, I traveled up to Portland, Maine, for a nice seafood dinner!

Holiday Inns are pretty much the same from coast to coast but the view from this one was about as good as it gets.

Traveling with our local account manager, Ryan Crocker, our first stop was visiting customer and longtime friend John Isaacson, CEO of the Lee Group. John and I have kept in touch and worked together since the late 1980s when they were an early adopter of a product called ERA?. We met with John and Vicki Mann, CFO, to discuss where Reynolds is and where we are headed. Over the years I have always appreciated the feedback, direction, and insights I've received from this group.

Stop 2:

We continued our trek north to Maine's capital, Augusta, where I got a chance to meet with Scott Humphrey, CFO at Charlie’s Motor Mall. I've spoken with Scott on the phone in the past but this was our first face-to-face meeting. I appreciated the feedback Scott provided on progress we have made and areas we need to continue to work on. The ability to continue to get direct feedback from dealers and hear their perspective on ways we can continue to improve makes these face-to-face visits invaluable. It never ceases to amaze me how dealerships are always great community stewards! They also frequently have some unique items in their showrooms like this vintage jukebox.

Stop 3:

After Augusta it was time to head "down east" as they say into the Boston area for an overnight stay and dinner with our regional sales director, Lynne Sheehan, and our account manger, Quinn Dawson. Then Quinn and I headed to Rhode Island to visit a few dealers.

We arrived in Newport a little early for our meeting so we decided on coffee by the ocean. There aren't many better places to enjoy a cup of Joe.

We enjoyed talking with Cathy Violet, CFO of the Langway organization, about her perspective on current challenges and opportunities for Reynolds to help them drive efficiencies in their business. We also realized a store they acquired in Manchester, Vermont was one I installed back in the late ‘80s.

These trips can be hard work but there is always a little time to enjoy the local culture and we took advantage of that in Newport.

Stop 4:

From Newport we were just a short jaunt back to East Providence for an appointment with Paul Masse Chevrolet.

General manager Bob Masse and office manager Kelly Gaulin took time out of their day to provide great feedback on some of the new things they really like from Reynolds. They also made suggestions for areas where we can react and respond quicker. Customers often mention the quality of our support team and the folks at Masse have a fantastic field engineer in Dave Bedigian. Dave's been supporting the team at Masse for 34 years and Kathy made sure to acknowledge his efforts.

Stop 5:

Next, I joined up with our account manager, Riley Jackson, in Hartford, Connecticut, where we visited with Damen Polance, executive manager at Harte Nissan. Harte decided to leave Reynolds a short time ago, but quickly realized they lost significant functionality, efficiency, and ability to serve their customers. After our team shared why it was a good time to Rediscover Reynolds, they decided to partner with us again. Damon shared that he has seen a change in Reynolds and is glad to be back. We also took the opportunity to learn how we can be a better partner and eliminate the possibility of them looking elsewhere down the road.

Stop 6:

The last stop for the week was the Mario D’Addario organization. Tom D’Addario and his whole team met with us to review how things are progressing with Reynolds and where we can continue to improve. This was somewhat of a nostalgic visit for me as I had installed their first Reynolds system in the early ‘80s called VimNet. I had actually met and worked with Tom’s dad Mario back in those days to complete the installation.

The D’Addario organization was a good group to visit as they too had tried a different provider that promised a very shiny and new looking solution. They quickly realized that Reynolds’ years of dealership operations knowledge and efficient software functionality was a better fit for them.

The Last Leg:

After visiting six dealerships in four days, I had a lot of information and ideas to contemplate on the last leg of my journey back to Dayton, but not before one last taste of New England lobster. Thanks to all individuals and dealerships that welcomed me during this Ambassador Journey.