Positive Power of Principled Profit
Volume 1, Number 2 - October, 2003

Positive Power Spotlight: Saturn: Changing the Face of Car Sales by Focusing on the Customer

Remember what it was like to buy a car up through the 1980s? You stepped into the showroom and were immediately greeted by a hungry shark—the salesperson. This person showered you with information you hadn't asked for and didn't need, seemed to be in your face every time you tried to have a look around, kept trying to push fancier and more expensive models and options—and never seemed to have the answer when you asked a direct question.

In 1994, I had my first experience of a very different model. I went to my local Saturn dealer, was greeted with respect, given a few short questions to assess my needs, and told who could answer my questions. For the first time, I was in a car dealership and was treated as a human being!

Other differences I noticed: a cutaway car, showing and explaining some of the unique safety and performance features, literature that stressed information buyers might actually want, and a clean and polished attitude that extended to the sales force, the condition of the showroom, and the offices. It's probably not a coincidence that this focus on people carries through to other aspects of the company. Its ads, for instance, often feature actual Saturn workers and customers, talking about what makes the car and the company special.

Has this had any impact on the industry as a whole? Well, this spring I went car shopping and was amazed at how many dealerships had adopted some of Saturn's ideas—particularly the idea of respecting the customer and letting the customer drive the decision making. Wow! What a breath of fresh aid! There were still some "shark" dealerships, but they were definitely a minority. Add in the no-haggle, this-is-really-our-price philosophy and nasty the reputation of car salespeople may be on the way out as well.

Saturn is one of the companies I talk about in Principled Profit: Marketing That Puts People First. Salespeople in every industry can learn a great deal from this company.

Perfecting Corporate Character: Insightful Lessons for 21st Century Organizations, by Frank J. Sherosky
(Strategic Publications, Inc., 1997)

Sherosky argues that corporations, like people, have a character and a soul and a set of values—and that molding toward humanistic values and away form those driven by greed is a central mandate for our time. Written well before the 2002-03 round of business scandals, it seems eerily prescient, if a bit dated in places.

A brief excerpt:

"...this whole corporate concept is still somewhat of an enigma. Governments do not know how to deal with it because legally there is this illusion of a lack of the human element. We never sat in conversation that the 'people within corporation X' did something. We just say that 'X did this or that'. We point to a collective entity as a singular, impersonal unit despite the fact that living human beings push the buttons... "Profit is not a sin, but it is the real motive and charter of corporate entities. In order to obtain a profit, those within the structure not only produce products and services, but legally hide if improprieties are used to garner the profit. Corporate structures become havens for profiteers with unscrupulous character.

"Since the corporate entity is not traditionally looked upon as a person, there appears a sense of inhumanity that is truly frightening.

"It explains how oil spills, price fixing and product failures can be treated so cold[ly] that human emotions appear missing. This inhuman quality, although a legal safeguard, is also a key ingredient to all business failures and bad press." (pp.67-68)

While the book is somewhat densely written and could have benefited by a good edit, his message is important and worth the effort.

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