Our Mission

Our mission is to enhance the car ownership experience of as many people in Fairfield County as we are able.

Who are we? 

#6 largest Subaru service department in New England

#18 in new vehicle sales in New England

#1 rank in customer service in New England

*Updated 3/15/2016



Integrity

We pledge to be true to the principles that will permeate our thoughts and actions in all interactions.

This is the preamble to our constitution.

It is important to note that we are dedicating ourselves to the following seven concepts. We believe that they are the best way to be a good corporate citizen.

Integrity means that we will do the same thing regardless of whether someone is watching us or not. It is not in our nature to take shortcuts or deceive others. What you see is what you get. This means that we have an integrated personality - our thoughts become our actions which our all congruent with our principles. There is no contradiction in what we do and what we say.



1. Build relationships with honesty.

Trust builds credibility. Dishonesty erodes credibility. Open, respectful communication is one of the best ways to build trust and align ourselves. With alignment there is attention paid to what the customer wants. This can be done through listening to the customers' needs and evaluating how we can help. Relationship building makes deposits into a customers' 'Emotional Bank Account' so we can ask the customer for something in the future which would count as a withdrawal from the 'Emotional Bank Account'. You cannot make a withdrawal until you have enough deposits. 

Those who tell the truth selectively have a perceived dishonesty in all of their actions. When you do one thing dishonestly and someone notices, they will often suspect you are dishonest with them too.

 

2. Appreciate our customers by providing relentlessly friendly and impressively proficient customer service solutions. 

In return for their patronage, we owe our customers friendly and proficient solutions. Whether coming to us to purchase a part, repair their vehicle, replace their current car, or buy a brand new car, we will retain the human element of the experience with pride.

Not only can we perform our duties more accurately and faster than others, but we can do it in a friendly way. We 'can' because we have a choice. We believe life is 10% what happens to you and 90% the way you react to it. While other businesses tend to just "get by" we can meet our customers demand for excellence by being relentlessly friendly - no matter the circumstance - and impressively capable - no matter what the challenge is before us. 

When others give up, we push on.

 

3. Treat our customers with respect, dignity, understanding, and composure in spite of difficult situations. 

We are all human. And even those of you who are dogs deserve a certain level of treatment. At Garavel we pride ourselves on a high level of treatment. We consider it safe to make the following assumptions:

·         Respect: Mutual respect is crucial to a balanced relationship. Assuming respect is our way of ensuring we treat everyone fairly from the onset… even if we do not really know them yet. It is far safer than doing the opposite.

·         Dignity: There is no room for condescension here. If someone doesn't know, assume it is because you haven't shown them yet. We treat others with dignity because everyone deserves it, no matter their occupation or economic status. Everyone has different challenges they have faced in their lives, each deals with them in their own ways. 

·         Understanding: The better you listen, the more you can understand. It is our duty to listen with the intent to understand, not just listen with the intent to respond. Empathetic listening, as we call it, is a sure-fire way to build trust and best handle your customers' needs.

·         Composure: In the fast paced 21st century it is easy to make snap judgements. Our duty is to reserve judgement and align ourselves with our customers from the start. We value that by solving the problem of a customer who is upset, we can take ownership of the issue and solve their problem - turning that customer into our biggest advocate. Often their initial frustration is not with us, but with the adverse situation they have found themselves in. This is why it is important for us to maintain composure (and professionalism) in all interactions so we may constructively find a solution for them which will also be a solution for us. It's a WIN-WIN. If we don't maintain composure then we will not be in the position to help them.

 

 

4. Take responsibility for our collective.

An organization is an amazing thing. For us it can:

·         Pay us,

·         Support us with tools,

·         Teach us,

·         Lend us its credibility,

·         Surround us with like-minded people,

·         Be our support system, to name a few benefits

For our customers it can:

·         Give confidence in the consistency of the work done,

·         Do more than any one individual can do alone,

·         Connect a customer is need of a specific set of skills to a technician or a sales professional with those skills and resources, to name a few benefits

Each individual is part of a complex process, and each plays an important role in supporting Garavel. In something as seemingly simple as a new car sale there are many hands involved - from the shipping company that delivers the car from Japan, to the port which receives and equips them, to the computer system created to keep track of their location, to the franchise agreement that gives us the ability to purchase them, to the HR professional tasked with making sure we comply with federal and state laws, to the bookkeeper who stocks them into our inventory, to the detailer who cleans them, to the sales consultants who matches up the right car with the right customer… you get the point. No single person can sell a car alone.

Everyone takes part in the experience and everyone deserves some credit. Eventually it is the customer who receives the ultimate benefit. The better we perform as an organization, the better the company will become for all. Our reputation will continue to get better so that we can be prouder of where we work. We will continue to make money so that the money is paid to our employees, reinvested back in our tools, our facility, our advertising and our training. 

This organization which ties us together also ties together our responsibility to do a good job. It is our shared responsibility to make it do well. When you see a coworker in need of help, aid them. If there is something out of order, tidy it up. If you anticipate a customer's need, deliver great service. If you observe a problem unnoticed yet by the customer, tell them and fix it. If you encounter a dirty car, see that it is cleaned - follow up!

There is no room for adversarialness here. When we are all working toward a common goal we perform our best. The ability (and choice) to respond in a positive way is an attitude. If we are not calibrated to each other, first we need to communicate better.


 

5. Constantly improve each day to distance our competitors, fulfill our potential and achieve the great expectations of excellence our customers have… while maintaining humility.

It is not enough to 'just get by' here or 'do your job'. Excellence is a constantly rising bar. Our customers' high expectations are embraced. It is not our duty to lower expectations that are high - it is our duty to meet or exceed them. And usually we do.

We believe that if you are 'coasting' then you must be going downhill. That's not us. If you are not growing you are dying. Our competition and expectations are constantly changing so we must get better every day. 

Education is the foundation for progress. It can be done in a formal classroom or learnt on the job. The most important factor in education is our attitude towards learning and training. The more we learn, the more effective we will be able to accomplish our goals.

Our capacity for growth will largely be determined by our ability to see stress as a challenge, not a threat. When you are response-able you have this ability. It fosters receptiveness, not defensiveness. Know that mistakes are part of the learning experience. They are useful in the course of learning. Do not fear mistakes - fear only the absence of corrective responses to those mistakes. They keep us humble. With a receptive mind we can objectively evaluate ourselves and the most powerful type of change will result - change from within.

Satisfaction lies in the ability to exercise our full potential. We all want to be challenged.


 

6. Use discipline to subordinate our personal, short-term desires to our shared, long-term principles.

Sometimes the best way is the hard way. Discipline is the self-control and restraint that helps us to overcome our desires. When emotions make us contradictory to our original, planned action, it is discipline to our original commitment that keeps us driving towards our objective: to enhance the experience of owning one of our cars.

We must think of what is most important and prioritize based on it. Our day should be filled with important activities before they ripen to become so urgent that we must deal with them right away. Often we can trace the root of our problems back to a lack of proactivity. There is something we could have done in order to prevent this from happening. If we skip a step and take a shortcut, it will often surface as a problem later on. With confidence in our process (our way of doing business) and discipline pulling it off we can stock to our proven method to get predictable results. 

It's often said that there are only two types of excuses. Not knowing (see #5) and not doing (#6). We have the ability to solve both of those.

Side note: All of this doesn't mean we can't have an open-mind and suggest improvements when we think they are beneficial. It is important to stay pragmatic. Competition and an open mind are important for us continuing to get better. 

 


7. Focus on the future to build a sustainable legacy that will withstand difficult times.

It is important to establish our independence from the "valleys" of the business cycle. When we do the right thing, other businesses can be down while we are still up. Our real advantage doesn't come from the product we sell, but from the people we have and the level of service that they provide. Doing the right thing needs to become a habit so that our customers return again and again and again and again… 

We try not to do anything destructively. Whether to our environment, those around us, or our customers. There is wisdom in the advice, "you can sheer a sheep many times but you can only skin it once." We don't believe in gouging our customers. The product or service that we provide is only worth as much as someone wants to pay for it. Throughout their lifetime a customer will spend a lot of money in cars and tell many people about their experience. It is our duty to win the loyalty of the customer, not just win car sale happening right now.

We believe in burn-out. Moderation in all things is important. If you work here you must maintain the balance in your life so that you can do well for a long time. 

We must be consciously aware that the good or the bad that we do in the world will eventually come back to us. Let's make sure it is good.