For 2011 Mercedes-Benz USA held a “Beyond the Walkaround” Competition for salespeople to test our product knowledge, presentation skills and customer interactions. I competed at the Market Level and Regional Level to advance to the National Finals held in November in New York City at Mercedes-Benz of Manhattan. The four finalists, one each from the Northeast, Southern, Central and Western Regions presented the ML-Class to the Exectutive Management Team of Mercedes-Benz USA as well as our Learning & Performance training team. I placed second at the National Level this year and was presented with this unique trophy by President & CEO Herbert Werner and VP of Sales Mike Slagter. It was an honor to represent Atlanta Classic Cars and the Southern Region at the National Level. It was a great experience and I will certainly put the product knowledge and sales skills to use! Thank you to everyone who organized this great competition.

National Finalists: Jesse Cannon-Wallace - Atlanta Classic Cars, Conrad Cave - MB of Laguna Nigel, Chris Strom - Tri-Star Imports, Ian Brissette - MB of Boston

Five key customer “touch points” are measured  - people, presentation, process, product and price – to identify companies that excel within their own industry and also stand out among all 20 major industries that J.D. Power evaluates.

Ernst Lieb, president and CEO of MBUSA, says “This is an important confirmation of the extraordinary effort we have undertaken with our dealer partners over the past few years to ensure that we are delivering the very best experience to our customers.”

3rd in Sales Satisfaction

6th in Initial Quality

6th in Product Appeal

9th in Customer Service

9th in Vehicle Dependability

That is a well rounded ownership experience! And we are moving up every year!

Our loyalty increased 8% over last year to 67% overall! In these tough economic times it speaks to the value of the brand that 2/3rds of our owners come back time after time!

The study says “Mercedes-Benz has steadily improved its customer retention rates during the past five years, and in 2009, has achieved the highest rate ever attained by a manufacturer since the inception of the study,” said Festekjian. “In particular, customers cite the resale value and appearance and styling of Mercedes-Benz models as primary reasons to remain loyal to the brand.”

You can read the full J.D. Power report here.

So…Dieter Zetsche wasn’t actually there, but MBUSA President and CEO Ernst Lieb was one of the judges for my presentation!

I’ll post some pictures and the video once I get them from the training department. Thank you to everyone who helped me prepare!

The competition was part of the National Dealer Meeting, so I was able to see (no cameras allowed) the new E-Class Cabriolet scheduled for release this spring and the SLS AMG! Both were spectacular and will be very successful!

If you want to learn all about the 2010 E-Class from the most knowledgeable salesperson in the whole United States please stop by Atlanta Classic Cars and pay me a visit.

There are no pictures from the Test Track at Unterturkheim, the Mercedes-Benz Engine Production Plant in Cannstatt, or from inside the AMG factory in Affalterbach, which were certainly some of the best parts of the trip. Mercedes closely guards their secrets and we were not allowed to take pictures there. I have included an old stock picture from Unterturkheim because I couldn’t put into words what we got to experience there!

The Engine Plant was striking in how clean and efficient it was. They pride themselves on high standards for the workers, including a 35-hour workweek, over a month of paid vacation, facilities that are non-toxic and empowering the workers to fix things and stop problems. Here the engines start down the production line and both the workers and the robots add parts, adjust tolerances and test the components. I found it very interesting that the engines come down the line mixed together. It isn’t 200 right-hand-drive V-6′s one day and 200 diesel V8′s the next. It is one of each of whatever is needed. They are currently expanding the facility because they also produce engines for some of our competitors and demand has grown.

At AMG, the facilities are just as impressive but the production of the engines is kind of opposite. The block is mounted to a cart and the single technician moves that cart from station to station adding the components and testing as he goes. After the engine is complete all of the V12 engines and a selection of the V8′s go to the test bench and are put through their paces. We saw a V12 race around the track virtually and it shook the room! At this location they also do customization for an elite clientele. We saw elongated G-wagons, an ML with a royal blue and yellow interior and a CL with more security features that an embassy!

The day we were scheduled to go to the Production Plant in Sindelfingen the plant closed for a meeting! (The meeting was to discuss reducing production by 35,000 units for the rest of the year.) We were able to go to the European Delivery Center in Sindelfingen instead and see where our clients would pick up their vehicle. In Germany it is popular to pick up your new vehicle from the factory rather than the local dealership!

I had not been to Germany before and was surprised by the beautiful countryside and vineyards. It reminded me of upstate New York in the fall. The trip was a wonderful mix of the Mercedes production and history I was looking forward to and a tour of Germany that I wasn’t expecting. Thank you to Mercedes-Benz Training and Education for arranging the trip and to Fred Schoeninger, our fantastic guide!

Mercedes 51.02%
BMW 50.65%
Lexus 44.01%
Ferrari 40.29%
Cadillac 38.91%
Audi 34.01%
Lincoln 33.30%
Porsche 32.76%
Acura 31.05%

This means that more than 51% of Mercedes owners who purchased or leased a new vehicle chose another Mercedes! This information comes from reported vehicle registrations.