When Francine Floreani takes on a challenge, she doesn’t do things by halves. Two years after she and her husband Kent purchased a Honda dealership in Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., she became its dealer principal and general manager.
It’s no small feat, especially when you consider that her background — 20 years of managing Kent’s orthodontic practice — brought her nowhere close to the world of automotive sales and service.
But business is business, and, “in the end, it’s all about serving people,” says Floreani.
When the need for a change in business direction became evident, Floreani stepped in to provide it.
“At the time it was because we didn’t want another person managing it. But it was a challenge for me — it was something I knew nothing about,” she says.
Floreani soon found out about the ins and outs of running a dealership thanks to an 11-month National Automobile Dealers Association dealership management training program.
She already had the customer service skills needed for the job, honed by two decades of managing her husband’s practice.
Francine Floreani
“Any type of business is about the people and how you serve them,” says Floreani. “The automotive world is no different from anything else. It’s always changing. You just adapt and you keep learning all the time.”
That adaptability is paying off.
Since purchasing the dealership in 2010, the Floreanis have seen staff almost double, from 17 to 33. They’ve moved to a bigger building — a 10-year-old former Chevrolet store that they gutted and rebuilt.
The renovations were done with an eye to reflecting the dealership’s core values of openness, transparency and honesty, says Floreani.
“All of our doors and offices are glass. We’re not trying to hide anything. We’re very open about how we deal with our customers and I think they appreciate that,” she says.
The work on the building also provided an opportunity to demonstrate the Floreanis’ commitment to the community, she says.
“All of our doors and offices are glass. We’re not trying to hide anything. We’re very open about how we deal with our customers and I think they appreciate that.”
When the dealership moved to its new location, the upstairs became a community boardroom, says Floreani. “We provide use of it to non-profit organizations and other similar groups free of charge,” she says.
The boardroom can accommodate up to 30 people and includes use of a computer, smart TV, whiteboard and adjoining kitchen.
Some of the groups taking advantage of the space include Big Brothers and Big Sisters of Sault Ste. Marie, the SOO Minor Football Club, the Victorian Order of Nurses and the Lake Superior Watershed Conservancy.
“It’s nice to give back to the community that way,” says Floreani. “Our new tagline said we were going to be community driven, and that’s where we’ve gone. Our whole philosophy is one of giving back.”
Coats For Kids, the Terry Fox Run, and the Muddy Moose Charge five kilometre mud run in support of childhood cancer research and support services are just a few of the community causes benefitting from that philosophy.
The dealership serves the Algoma district, with the closest Honda dealer 3½ hours east in Sudbury and about eight hours west in Thunder Bay.
But distance is not a problem for Honda fans, says Floreani.
“The brand speaks for itself. Honda is built on a reliable product and people know the quality. They don’t mind driving that extra distance to come and see us,” she says.
With winters in Sault Ste. Marie “just a little bit longer” than those in the south, Floreani says that all-wheel-drive vehicles are most in demand.
She expects Honda’s new truck, coming out this year, will prove to be a popular choice, along with the all-new Civic.
“Any type of business is about the people and how you serve them. The automotive world is no different from anything else. It’s always changing. You just adapt and you keep learning all the time.”
As she enters her fourth year as manager of Great Lakes Honda, Floreani says that continuous learning is more important than ever — for herself and for her team.
Her training program with NADA put her back into student mode, and she’s comfortable with that role.
While there can be challenges finding experienced employees in a small community, Floreani believes that anyone with the right attitude can be trained.
“I once heard an expression: ‘if you think the cost of training is expensive, try the cost of ignorance.’ And so, I’m all for training my people,” she says.
“We’ve had our challenges. There’s a lot of dealers that are bigger than us. But the way that we do business contributes to our success.”
And whether the business is orthodontics or car sales, Floreani has found that the common denominator is people — the ones who work for her and the ones her company serves.
By looking after them all, she plans to steer Great Lakes Honda along the road to business success for a long time to come.
