Back in ’98, the BBC aired a fly-on-the-wall documentary series called “Back to the Floor.” A camera crew followed five British bosses who left the relative safety of the executive suite for a week's labor with downtrodden workers at the sharp end. When the show migrated to America’s PBS, it lacked the undercurrent of class warfare that gave Auntie Beeb’s original its zing. When Ford CEO Alan Mulally recently revived this scenario by playing car salesman, the results were equally dire.
Of course, Alan didn’t sell cars for a week. He “worked” for an afternoon at Village Ford in Dearborn, Michigan and Galpin Ford in L.A. Hanging with the Village people, Ford’s top dog supposedly set a blistering sales pace: four cars in forty minutes. Wow! Assuming Ford needs to sell 5.3m cars for a turnaround, Mulally should train 375 salesmen to repeat his voodoo. Working ten hour days, six days a week, they’d return Ford to ’05 sales levels by the end of the fiscal year.
Anyway, Nancy Miner was one of Big Al’s scalps. After a bad dealership service experience in New York (which Big Al didn’t investigate), Ms. Miner decided to go car shopping in Ford's home patch. That said, the main reason behind her journey was a visit with her son Kevin, a longtime Ford employee. Now don’t get to thinking Ms. Miner was a Ford family ringer, carefully prepped for purchase. At least, not according to the debrief provided by the divine Mr. M.
"She was down pretty much to a Camry and the Fusion,” Al said, displaying a car salesman’s knack for data capture. ”So I told her all about the Camry because I've had every Camry, I've had Lexus cars, I know all about Japan. I told her about the [Fusion], asked what her needs were. The Fusion was really for her."
It's a shame Ms. Miner didn’t ask Ford’s CEO why he chose Toyotas and Lexi over Fords and Lincolns for all those years, and whether this sudden change in brand loyalty had anything to do with his FoMoCo-sponsored $35m compensation package (plus unlimited G5 air miles). As opposed to, say, a recent, radical shift in Ford's comparative product quality.
Ms. Miner might also have enquired if Mulally’s all-encompassing knowledge of Japan includes insight into that country's automakers' ability to generate millions of sedan sales without relying on rental, taxi, livery and/or law enforcement fleets. While we're at it, readers with sales experience might like to know why “call me Alan” switched the qualify (ask about the customer’s needs) and present (tell her about the car) parts of the official Ford sales process. Never mind. I guess Mulally is more of a closer.
Big Al put this proposition to the test at Galpin Ford. Needless to say, the L.A. Ford franchise isn’t one of those Midwestern stores where the tumbleweeds blow across the sales floor and the dealer principal can’t afford to even think about divorcing his second wife. Galpin is, in fact, the world's top-selling Ford dealership. Suffice it to say: fish, barrel, Ford, Mulally.
Once again, “Call me Alan” sold four vehicles. Once gain, little was left to chance. Longtime customer Danny Harrington— 15 vehicles and counting– was teed-up. The general contractor was “warned” in advance that FoMoCo’s top dog would be on site, and took full advantage of the opportunity.
Herrington sat in the room where small pens sign big checks with Ford’s CEO and Galpin Sales GM Terry Miller. The Associated Press reports that Herrington wanted more money for his 2000 F-250. M&M did some pencil pushing and reduced the builder's payment to his target of $600 per month– for six years. Oh, and Big Al clinched the deal by throwing in a set of floor mats (I kid you not).
"There were a couple of things that were in question as to be part of the deal," Herrington said post facto. "I think because of him [Mulally] it went my way."
While the word “think” doesn’t indicate that everything went Herrington’s way, there’s a more important question: what did Alan Mulally learn from this exercise?
Call Me Al didn’t face any of the drudgery association with car sales: waiting hours for “ups,” filling out reams of tedious paperwork, making sales calls to old customers, etc. Nor was he subject to any of the psychological pressures facing salesmen and women: depending on a sale to make ends meet, facing down the GM, competing for bonuses, etc. Nor did he get a taste for a “real” customer interaction; all the prospects knew Big Al was Ford’s CEO. In short, The Blue Oval's Big Boss learned more about PR than people.
In the “Back to the Floor” doc series, the egghead CEO always gained an appreciation for his street smart employees’ difficulties— many of which were the direct result of company policies. The basic idea: something will change. In contrast, Mulally’s flying visit to the front line was a cynical move that changed nothing and fooled no one– except maybe Mulally himself.
Maybe Al needs to go to engineering to understand why it is that the Fusion he sold was not from a chassis designed in the U.S. Of course the Fusion is a decent car – as a spin-off of the excellent Mazda6 platform, it is indeed a ringer.
However, do give Mr. Mullaly the credit for some discernment in his previous car purchases. I seriously doubt that Rick Wagoner, or anyone else in the GM heirarchy, has any significant seat time in cars built by the company which is crushing them in the marketplace. If they did, they would be busy firing folks for loading their gun with such blanks as the G6, Impala or Malibu Classic. They might ask why the Solstice is such a porker when compared to its MX5 competition, when the MX5 has already been around for 18 years.
The Camry is certainly not my cup of tea, but Toyota has done a brilliant job of designing an excellent transportation unit which attracts a large segment of U.S. buyers by simply doing what it is supposed to do without drama and with high quality finishes. If Mr. Mullaly has indeed had every Camry, he’ll know why the 500/Taurus is not the hot seller that Ford needs today.
Godspeed, Alan.
Not as simple when everyone on your Ford team does not work together(UAW). But I give him credit, at least he is doing something but Ford will never be Toyota and the public expects Toyota like quality even at Ford levels. Fusion/Mazda, Edge/Mazada, Aura/Opel, G8/Holden, Caddy/SAAB, Solice/Opel are nothing more than rebadging-again a short term fix for a long term problem.
The new Toyota Tundra is a big concern. Not because of its current state but Toyota will keep improving and get the truck to levels above the current F150.
The constatnt pressure to improve a product will kill Ford. They simple can not keep up the pace with the Japanese.
Their management style is not bulid to deal with these kind of pressures. IMO, Mullay can get Ford management to change that will be much more impressive achievement than selling cars at dealerships. I don’t think he can get it done and just move on.
Sure I’ll give him credit for showing up at a dealership, but let’s be honest about his intentions. That was nothing more than a PR stunt–having absolutely nothing to do with “seeing the job through the eyes of the common man”. Besides, throwing in a set of floor mats to close the deal? Are they serious? Talk about propigating the American car dealer stereotype. As long as that doesn’t change (ie, the way people buy American cars), the Big 2.5 are destined to keep walking the path that they’re currently walking.
What the hell did he buy that costs $600 for six years?
At least Al got a hefty commission out of that sale.
Jonny Lieberman: A 2008 F-350 Super Duty pickup truck.
With or without flame throwers?
Obviously he likes Toyota’s a LOT. Too bad they weren’t offering $35 mil., he would have been there in a heart beat. Oh wait, that’s right, they pay their guys slightly less than that, but their product is better. Won’t compute…won’t compute.
I’ve sold Fords, next time I suggest a nice rainy Monday night in November for his car selling experience. And, yeah, commish on a F-350 is swweeet.
But, what has this to do with the core problems at Ford? That’s right, absolutely nothing. I just hope he bought some of them there carbon credits to offset his Gulfstream use and his guilt over selling an F-350.
Indeed, a blatant PR exercise.
But hey, some half-decent PR would go a long way towards solving Ford’s car-sales woes. The Fusion and, especially, the Five Hundred and Freestyle are really quite good products dying on the vine because of weak marketing support. Get the PR flacks off of Mulally and onto these mass-market products’ ad campaigns, Ford, and I bet you’ll see a better return on your efforts.
Hmmm.
Was anybody really expecting that Mr. Mulally’s “salesman for a day” was anything other than a PR op?
I mean good for him for actually doing it and actually working on a transactional price (as I doubt he’s actaully had to pay for a car in quite some time). Maybe he’ll keep that in mind the next time his marketing flacks tell him how much they think the cars are worth.
Good for him for not just showing up and doing a tour. In fact, I would hazard to guess that he is the first CEO in quite some time to actually talk to customers “in situ” no matter how true blue they may be.
Lastly, could anyone see if the Japanese take care of their own rental fleets in Japan? Based on the comment in the article, there must be Chevys, Dodges and Fords at the rental counter at Narita…:)
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On the subject of floormats.
“Throwing in” floormats is not a practise exclusive to domestic dealers. Many imports show mats as an option.
While its not a big deal south of the 38th parallel, many imports also list block heaters as an extra cost. Dealers are free to “throw” them in too (or not).
Does any one else see a parallel between the fortunes of the Detroit Lions and FoMoCo? kjc11 stated that “Their management style is not bulid to deal with these kind of pressures.” You see the same thing in the highly competitive environment of the NFL. Ford simply cannot compete against the Robert Krafts and Dan Rooneys because he doesn’t know any other way to do business than “the Ford Way,” with predictable results.
Its like Mulally/Ford wrote a “And they lived happily ever after. The end.” Hollywood movie. I think Im going to cry.
“At least Al got a hefty commission out of that sale.”
That chunk-a-change bought him a couple gallons of Jet-A…Oh…No…Wait…..
Perhaps the biggest problem with Mullaly’s foray into the peopleshpere is that things are never the same when the main guy is around. Here’s my experience with similar circumstances:
The submarine gets notified that Admiral Navyman will be coming aboard to tour the boat next week. For the entire time leading up to the Admiral’s arrival, all operations and activities are focused on that single event so that when he gets here, all the “I’s” are dotted and “T’s” crossed. Everything is so artificially prepared that his reason for touring the boat; seeing how it is for the common man, fails to provide any insight as to what life is really like.
You would fail to convince me that this same scenario didn’t play out at the dealerships Mullaly visited. He needs to do this again, unannounced.
Village Ford in Dearborn? More like Potemkin Village Ford whenever a big honcho visits.
Now, if Mullaly really wants a taste of real life, he ought to spend a Monday morning in a dealership Service Department as people stream in with complaints about their malfunctioning vehicles.
50merc: I agree: Mulally should be where the action is. He should arrive unannounced and unheralded EVERYWHERE within the Fordosphere, ALL THE TIME. He's got a jet, a cell phone and laptop. What else does he need? During the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln spent less time in the White House than he did in the field, talking with troops, commanders and anyone else who could give up-to-date on-the-ground recognizance. If Big Al wants to lead, he should take a leaf out of Lincoln's book and just go.
I wish Alan would have learned what a crock the retail car buying process is. Domestic or Foreign. How long can it be until we have a “showroom” with maybe 10 cars to drive and your car is custom ordered over the internet direct to the factory and delivered to your door? Unless it is a really hot selling item it could be built within a couple of weeks. No more “sales banks” or expensive dealership overhead. No more $399.00 dollar documentation fees, scotchgaurding, or my personal favorite “desert paint protection package!” Oh wait, then we may not be able to talk Alan into a free set of floormats. Nevermind.
“Suffice it to say: fish, barrel, Ford, Mulally.
”
Made me giggle. Thanks, Robert
It was widely reported that “Al” had a high end Lexus on order when he took the job at Ford and had to sheepishly cancel the open Lexus order. How do these guys sleep at night? Maybe the $100,000 custom bed they can afford helps :).
Now, if Mullaly really wants a taste of real life, he ought to spend a Monday morning in a dealership Service Department as people stream in with complaints about their malfunctioning vehicles
Even better he should go to some dealership in some place far away from Detroit (where they may not recognize him), walk in unannounced and under an assumed name and act like he wants to buy a Focus or Fusion. It’s been so long since he’s actually had to buy a car by dealing face-to-face with a salesman he’s probably forgotten what kind of hassle it is. He needs to see what typical customers have to go through in every stage of dealing with one of “his” dealerships.
richard wagner, are you reading these?
Since Al has absolutely no car experience don’t you think he should get what at Bethlehem steel they called the looper course. A new college gradu-ate would be sent to different parts of the bethlehem corporate world for hands on experience. Now Al should man a punch press, install some hoods and trunks, design a new model, and yes take first desk monday morning at a dealerships service dept.(unannounced).Maybe he should earn only say 17 million per year while he is learning instead of 35M. Back to Bethlehem steel, it seems the corporation no longer exists, but a new casino is being built at their former plant location in Bethlehem, Pa. Such is the workings of capitalism.
Ford Fusion –
Problems: Bland. Nothing special. Expensive. Mediocre in every way.
Solutions: A high performance turbocharged version. A hybrid model. A diesel model so people with access to bio diesel can use it. Can I run E85 in it? Lower the price.
Drastic options: A two door version. Rear wheel drive and a V8. Make the car out of aluminum? Shed ~1,000 lbs from the vehicle for improved performance. Add a turbo option for every motor. Offer a full blown electric version of it.
Camry is proven. Camry likely has higher resale value. It’s an uphill battle trying to change perception. You’ve got a reputation that goes back thirty years. All those “quality” cars you made during that time…
Your new stuff might be good. It might be great. We’ve got thirty years worth of memories though that say otherwise.
In what way is the Fusion superior to Camry? You’ve got to beat that car on all fronts and you can’t do it with an apples/apples car.
You need a model that beats the Camry on mileage. You need a base model that beats the Camry on price. You need a performance model that blows it out of the water. You need a hybrid version cause they have that too. If you had turbo versions, V8, rear wheel drive; you’d have it all!
Can we get a ~2,800lb, 2 door, V8, rear wheel drive version? That would be really nice… Stick a little `ol aluminum block/heads 302 in it(or 351)…. You’ve still got the molds right? That big `ol honkin 4.6/5.4 is way to big. What advantages does it have over push rods and how is it superior in every way? Cheaper? Lighter? Less parts? Quicker to build/assemble? I sure don’t like small bore it’s got. Not to mention the monstrous width either. Priced any aftermarket cams for it? Ever worked on one?
Most cars in Europe are ordered from the factory. The caveat is that orders must still go through dealers. I too would like to see the Dell model applied to automobiles, with “dealerships” stocked with cars to test drive and salaried vehicle experts. They would still have fixed ops to generate revenue.
http://tinyurl.com/2ugu6g
Reading this article, and various news accounts, about Alan Mulally attempting to understand the vagaries of car sales, reminds me of something Colin Powell wrote about Dick Cheney, in his biography; he said that he thought Dick Cheney asked more questions than anyone he had ever known. He thought that was a good thing, showing an keen intellect.
That is one way of looking at it. Another way is that the person asking all those questions doesn’t know a thing about what they are asking about.
I’ll leave to you whether or not you think Dick Cheney knows his stuff. As for Alan Mulally, I have my doubts – big time.
The auto business is unique, although it has some similar aspects perhaps to others. But the sales portion of it, is very much its own thing, going back to the days of the old System stores. Did anyone explain to Mr. Mulally how to “mouse a mooch, ?” (Translation: getting down payment money from a financial institution, for a buyer who has no money to put down; thus, the bank will accept the balance of the loan. That front money could be the store’s own – hence, “mousing” someone, front and back.)
I think Mr. Mulally’s intentions were good. I just don’t know that it did much for the company, other than move a couple of pieces of expensive iron on a bad day.
The admiral visiting the submarine story above reminded me of a similar experience.
Some years ago we were to meet with a “select” group of top GM honchos. Prior to the meeting participants were vetted, the agendas were discussed endlessly, and frequent attempts were made to control every word and utterance these honchos would be exposed to.
Clearly, it was important that they should remain in their bubbles, and never encounter as much as an iota of doubt as to the “solutions” they were promoting.
We were expressly forbidden from touching upon concerns we had as to the brands we were to discuss.
I agree – Mulally should do the completely unannounced car buyer visit, both at Ford and other dealerships, to get a feel for the kind of service regular customers get. Would clue him in pretty fast as to where the potential for improvement lies!
You know, for most people, the car buying experience is such a stressful and unpleasant experience that many just avoid it for as long as possible.
And with the longevity and long-term reliability of most cars increasing, potential new car buyers are able to put off that experience for longer and longer periods of time.
If I were CEO of Ford, I would resign…But before that I would show up at Galpin Ford unannounced and work the week as the repair shop manager. Leave it to a MBA to think the problem is with sales and not the car ownership experience. This was just a stunt created by Ford media handlers for broadcast media consumption it appears… Trying to create a perception over reality.
I totally agree with many of the posters on here. The moment I heard that Big Bad Al was going to work in a dealership, I immediately thought this was going to be a PR stunt. Unfortunately, I was right. But personally, I think Al missed a trick here. Instead of working in the sales department he should have worked at the warantee claims departement. Let’s face it, that’s one of the main gripes against the big 2 (Chrysler is Daimler’s pet! No two ways around that fact!) is their quality and reliability. Surely, if the point of Al’s trip was to find out what Ford’s problems were at ground level that would have been a golden opportunity to find out one of Ford’s main bugbears. Because, logically, speaking, if they build a great, reliable car it will sell itself; but to build that great, reliable car you need to find out what’s STOPPING you from building that panacea!
On an aside, I’ve always been sceptical of Mark Fields’ record. Apparently, he’s credited with Mazda’s turnaround. But I beg to differ, Mazda had the assets, the technology and the skill to become a successful company, it just needed a fine tune in management, which any manager could have done. Same with Mr Ghosn’s “Miraculous” turnaround with Nissan. Just needed some fat trimmed off it. What I find REALLY impressive are CEO’s who create companies from small regional players into global companies’ worst nightmare, someone who knows that quality and reliabilty is the key to making a product that people want to buy….like say, Chung-Mong Koo of Hyundai!
rtz:
Fusion bland? The Camry is the most bland car in existence. 30 years of reputation? Camrys were a new model in 83′. They replaced the Corona which had HUGE rust problems. I was a tech for Toyota then, the cars rusted like crazy. Also they required a lot of maintenance and people did not like that. Also lots of problems with Tercels and Land Cruisers. Corollas were slow and Celicas rode terrible. Toytota did not come into thier own until the very late 80’s.
BTW I have a V6 SEL Fusion and it is anything but bland. It handles like it is on rails, has plenty of power and IMO it is great looking. I have 23K on it and yet to have any sort of problems. In an earlier post some one said it is a spinoff to the Mazda 6. It is an improvement of the 6. Ford engineers worked with Mazda engineers and fixed the weak areas of the car. This resulted in the Fusion having bigger brakes, a larger rear seat and it is 14% stiffer than the 6.
Rag on him all you want it’s more than an other US auto CEO would have done. I’ll give him a couple of years and see how things are. It’s not like he can magically produce new product or quickly change ingrained corporate culture.
Alan M…. I agree with you…lets give Mulally some time to see if he can solve for decades of mistakes. Give the man a break already!
Steve_S: and umterp85: Sorry guys, the honeymoon's over. But more than that, Mulally should know enough about leadership not to emesh himself in this kind of meaningless PR stunt. It is, in fact, a slap in the face of all those hard-working Ford sales people who have to do it "for real." Mulally should have either made a genuine effort to get an honest-to-God feel for selling cars or simply visited a Ford dealership– DOZENS of dealerships– to listen to what the real experts think what Ford needs to do to survive. As for his ability to quickly change Ford's corporate culture, well, my God, why not? If he can't do it, he was the wrong man for the $35m job. If he can't do it quickly, Ford is doomed.
50merc: Now, if Mullaly really wants a taste of real life, he ought to spend a Monday morning in a dealership Service Department as people stream in with complaints about their malfunctioning vehicles.
Is this really the best place to guage the quality of the overall brand? Having spent my fair share of time in VW, Hyundai, and Toyota service depts (Hyundai being the worst by far)., none are filled with “happy” people. I’m willing to gamble that modern Ford service departments are not unlike any other make.
RFs last post I don’t allways agree with you but got that one right.
I’ve seen the Admiral/submarine story take place a hundred times.
If senior management really wants to know whats going down.Come on down to the floor,ditch the suit and the entorage,grab a note pad and a tray of coffees you would be suprised what you would learn.
my final thought on Mullaly selling cars is that if the crisis at ford is anything close to what we are told, how does the 35M man have time to leave the control room and play salesman? One would think with all that’s wrong it would be a 24-7 job fixing ford. When Iacocca came to chrysler in 1979 he had a small army of lieutenants that came with him from ford and progress was made rapidly. Big Al had no car people to join him because he didn’t know or work with any. I can’t imagine ford with a total outsider to the car industry.
He should have visited the marketing department, or whoever is responsible for managing the transfer of leads generated by their website to the dealers. Probably two months ago I filled in an online form requesting a test drive for a new drive. Over a month went by, and then finally I received a notification that a local Ford dealer would be contacting me soon. Silence. Two more weeks pass, and I get another email…telling me that a local dealer will be in touch with me soon. Then? Silence. Yes, I could just go to the dealership for a test drive, but that’s not really the point.
As an aside, I did the same thing for Suzuki and got an acknowledgement the same day, and a call the next.
Ford, if Suzuki is putting the boots to you ‘lead management’ wise, you are in trouble. Maybe they need a dose of the famous motivational speech from Glengarry Glenross.
BoredLawStudent said, “Now, if Mullaly really wants a taste of real life, he ought to spend a Monday morning in a dealership Service Department as people stream in with complaints about their malfunctioning vehicles.”
It’s probably easier than that to get in touch with “real life;” I’d suggest he just read his mail. I’ll bet there’s at least a dozen letters a day to the CEO and one of his administrators re-routes them to someone way further down the food chain.
How much more did this little PR stunt put Ford in the red? Time, resources, people, personal jets… all cost money that did nothing for there real problem, THE PRODUCT!