Assignment1: Sullivan Ford Auto World

Submitted By

Halavath Bhuralal (2016PGP135)

M Divya (2016PGP195)
Mekala Sai Saketh (2016PGP214)
Shashank V Bagare (2016PGP354)
Subanta Neogi (2016PGP384)
Vasantada Srikanth (2016PGP423)
What should Sullivan- Diaz do?
Currently Sullivan Diaz has two options
1. She can sell the company at the offer given to her by Bill Froelich
2. She can take a year or two to turnaround the company financially.
The current valuation of the company is very less. Therefore, going for the sale of the
company would not be profitable. Sullivan can try to turnaround the company by improving
their after sales service quality.

Why should Sullivan concentrate on improving the service department?

 40% of the revenue comes from the service department. The service department has a
substantial contribution to the revenue of the store. Improving the service department
would improve the revenues which further improves the profitability of the company.
 The service department has higher margins compared to the sales department.
 People visit the service department many times compared to the sales department. In
the sales department people usually do one time purchase. But when we see the
service department, if good service is delivered there is a lot of scope for repeat
business.
 By giving specific information the service personnel can persuade the customer to get
a particular service for their vehicles.

Problems / Issues with the Current Service department:

 Service department Manager lacks interpersonal skills. Service manager Rick Obert
attitude towards customers is gruff and argumentative although he is technically
sound.
 Lack of dedication in employees
 High attrition in Typewriters. Motivation in typewriters is low due to dealing with
angry customers and poor working environment (camped room with peeing of paint)
 Typewriters are overloaded with work when the two sisters are busy. This is leading
to high work pressure in typewriters and low customer satisfaction because customer
has to wait long time.
 Service department visibility is low. It was hidden behind the showroom
 Customer’s satisfaction levels are low with service department due to late delivery,
argumentative / gruff response of the service staff and sometimes the feels the service
staff is ripping them off.
 The salespeople did not introduce the service department to the customers two-thirds
of the time. This indicates that the company did not give much importance to the
backend.

What should Sullivan Diaz do to improve the service department?

 Currently there is one typewriter and one of the twins are filling in for other. But
when the sister is unable to fill the workload on the typewriter is high. When the
sisters are dealing the customers the customers are happy because the motivation
levels of the sisters are high. We need to keep two permanent typewriters with good
 interpersonal skills and make sure that they are satisfied. We have to keep them
motivated to various incentives. The typewriters should be moved to a little bit bigger
room with proper lighting and painting.
 Appoint new service manager who is interpersonally skilled and have good
communication skills.
 Focus on high quality service ensuring the reliability of the products and price of
service. Customers can given guaranty in respect to quality of service and price of the
service with same quality.
 Expert mechanics need to be hired in order to improve the overall service quality and
time. The case mentions that some of the minor problems are difficult to detect- these
can be solved by hiring expert or professional mechanics.
 The service work order process needs to be computerised. Computer softwares that
accurately tell the time the customers can come to the store and give their vehicles
depending on the number of orders the store currently has and sending automated
messages to the customers can improve the customer perceptions of the service
department.
 Training must be given to all the frontend people on how to deal with their customers,
specially the unsatisfied customers.
 The appearance of the service department has to be redesigned. Visibility of the
service department should be improved.

GAP Model Analysis of Sullivan Motors:

From the Sullivan Ford Auto World case we found that there is gap between customer’s
expected service and perceived service(Gap 5).Through gap model we know that Gap 5 is the
amalgamation of all the above 4 gaps. So, by reducing the all the gaps company can match
customer expectations and achieve superior quality of service.

How to reduce gap 1:

 By learning what customer wants through research, complaint analysis, etc.

 By increasing number of interactions between customers and managers, there by
managers can learn true problem of customers which has not happened in case of
Sullivan Ford Auto World.

How to reduce gap 2

 By reducing this gap Ms.Sullivan can establish right service quality standards.
 She should ensure that top management displays on going commitment to quality as
defined from the customer’s point of view.
 She should standardize repetitive work tasks to ensure consistency and reliability.

How to reduce gap 3

 By reducing this gap Sullivan Ford Auto World can meet performance standards.
 Define employee roles clearly.
 She should ensure that all employees understand how their jobs contribute to
customer satisfaction
 Provide employees with the technical training needed to perform their assigned tasks
effectively.
 She has to ensure that all the employees are equipped with necessary interpersonal
skills to deal with customers under stressful conditions.

How to reduce gap 4:

 By reducing this gap Sullivan Ford auto world’s delivery matches promises.
 She should ensure that consistent standards of service are delivered across multiple
work points.