MAO’s Dan Johnson and
Andrea Lane serve as the
welcoming committee
to the 2014 Society of
Excellence winners.
photos
See all the photos from
this year’s SOE trip at:
https://lhm-elt.smugmug.
com/Events/Society-2015
SETTING
THE
BENCHMARK
OF
PERFORMANCE
A LOOK AT THE HISTORY AND THE PROMISING FUTURE OF THE GROUP'S INCENTIVE PROGRAMS
Perhaps inspired by the on-screen heroics of Maverick, Goose
and the Ice Man, Larry H. Miller introduced the “Top Gun” sales
incentive program in January of 1988 to recognize the topperforming automotive salespeople in the Larry H. Miller Group.
In that first year, salespeople from the Group’s 10 dealerships
competed for a trip to the 1989 NBA All-Star game in Houston,
Texas, with Larry and Gail, as well as a three-day excursion to
Phoenix for golf, tennis and a little sun. The following year, the
pool of competing dealerships would grow from 10 to 16 stores.
Even from his first days at the parts counter, Larry was a student
of numbers, and he knew that the health of the organization did
not rest solely on sales figures alone. “A key ingredient that is
essential to our long-term success [is] the men and women of
our service and parts departments, and our body shops, also
known as ‘fixed operations.’” In 1992, the recognition program
was expanded to include the “Best of the Best” assistant service
managers based on individual Customer Satisfaction Index (CSI)
score, total customer pay hours, customer pay repair orders
written, and hour per customer pay repair orders sold. Yearly
Top Gun and Best of the Best winners and their guests were
treated to all-expense-paid trips each spring – a tradition which
continues to this day.
In the spirit
of continual
improvement (aka
KAIZEN), the Top
Gun and Best of the
Best recognition
programs were
combined into the
newly-titled “Society
of Excellence” in
July of 1