Emphasis on service fuels Sound Ford's drive to top
Puget Sound Business Journal (Seattle) - by Brooke Zimmers Contributing Writer
Twenty-five years ago Rich Snyder took his master's of business administration degree from Northwestern University, $500 and drove west because "you were supposed to go west," he recalled.
After landing in San Francisco, he answered a blind ad and headed to Seattle to work for Ford Motor Co.
"I never thought I'd end up in the car business," said Snyder. "I'm not a car guy."
Snyder returned to the Midwest, where for 10 years he called on dealers for the Ford Marketing and Sales Division. He then moved back to Seattle to join the partnership of Sound Ford.
Snyder is now president and chief executive officer of Renton-based Sound Ford Inc., the state's largest privately owned automotive retailer.
Last year, the 480-employee firm sold more than 13,000 cars and did $278 million in revenue. It is the 27th-largest private company in Washington state. The firm, founded in 1975, owns and operates 10 outlets with the Sound name, including Sound Mazda, Hyundai, Suzuki, Infiniti of Kirkland, Seven Motors Co. and Millennium Ford.
Snyder's success can be traced to his four-pronged philosophy of car dealing: customer satisfaction, pleasing the manufacturers, working cooperatively with financial institutions and keeping employees happy.
"You can't become arrogant. You have to be respectful of all four groups," he said.
An example of Snyder's emphasis on customer satisfaction is the firm's concept of "Service Loaners For Life," which it also uses in its advertisements. Sound Ford customers who service their cars at dealerships are entitled to drive a free loaner car. Since 1986, Sound customers have put more than 20 million miles on service loaner cars.
Despite the industry's reputation, Snyder insists his staff doesn't use the "hard sell."
"We aren't a liner-closer (hard sell) company. Our salesmen work the deal all the way through up to finance," he said. "If every customer wants a blue car, then I'll sell all blue cars. If someone's doing it better than me, I'll change. Anyone who thinks they don't have to change will not make it in business."
Snyder believes reading market trends and paying attention to the wants and needs of consumers is critical to success in the automotive business -- especially with the Internet.
Several firms have Web sites that offer to help consumers find new and used cars, including firms that exist merely in cyberspace as well as traditional dealerships.
"I'm not worried -- we'll adapt to it," he said.
Sound Ford has an Internet department that accounts for a significant portion of the company's business, said Snyder. The firm's Web site provides information on inventory, service department contacts and even features a special service for busy women shopping for a car.
In fact, the newly remodeled Sound Ford in Renton will be completely wired for the Internet and will celebrate its grand reopening next month. The new store will be "state of the art," and Snyder claims it will be the most modernized car dealership in the Greater Seattle area.
Snyder is also excited about his firm's good deeds -- it recently gave $50,000 to Renton High School for scholarships to be given out over the next five years. Recipients are students that don't necessarily qualify for scholarships because of grades but because of need.
"Every business should give to schools, whether it is $5 or $50,000, because that is our future," Snyder said.
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