Tell us a bit about who are you, where you work, and what role you serve at your company.
I am Salvadorian immigrant that came to the US when I was 21 years old and now I am the BDC Director at Wondries Toyota in Alhambra, California – a very diverse community 15 minutes from DTLA.
What does your day-to-day typically look like?
I get to the office in the morning and first thing's first; I have to grab my cup of coffee.
After that, I start my day by checking on how my team is feeling. I will go around to see how is everyone’s day going and trying to make sure we are all feeling positive and happy to help our customers. Making sure we never forget that helping our customers is our number one priority. It's important to me, and in order for our customers to feel a good energy, my BDC reps also have to feel it.
Next I go over all the leads that we have received the prior day and early in the morning. I check our the emails and text messages to make sure that we are communicating with our customers in a way that is positive and helpful. I check to see how is our day looking for the sales and service departments, and work on the customers that my BDR (Business Development Representatives) feel need a bit more TLC.
Our day to day goes fast as we work as a team. I practice a lot of “on the spot” training, where I take every call as an opportunity to coach our BDRs, especially if there is something new to discuss or I can help them better their craft. I am a mental health awareness advocate and its something ever-present in my day to day operations.
Every day at noon I meet with someone from our sales teams. We have on-going training sessions were we talk about selling skills and personal development. I feel that as a leader we have the responsibility to coach those we lead about how we can be better humans. As someone who has been in this industry for over 23 years, I understand that now more than ever we need to, “Love people more than cars,” as Liza Borchers would say and I am doing everything in my power to impress it on those around me.
I work very close with our Customer Relation Manager, but I do try to resolve the issues I can instead of having customers bounce around. Working in the past as a Customer Relation Manager has giving me the experience to get involved and find solutions. So, if one of my BDRs has a customer that is unhappy, I can assist.
I get out of work after making sure every email, text and conversation was answered. When I get home I get to enjoy time with my two dogs Luca and Swaggy.
How did you get into the auto industry?
I was a manager for a large call center that handled marketing campaigns for different industries on Spanish television. I realized that even though it was a good job, I was not really practicing and learning English, and I needed to move in order to learn it.
I applied as a BDC Representative for a Ford Dealer and I was really blessed that even though I had a thick accent, they hired me. I learned most of my English from my former manager. She took me under her wing, saw something, and helped me become a BDC Manager after a year.
I had my former GM's full support as well and they helped me every day to improve my English. I will never forget when Ford came up with the Ford Focus, and I made some customers blush because I didn't quite say it the proper way (use your imagination).
After that, I went to a Toyota Dealership where I rebuilt their BDC, established some of the first Service BDCs in our region, and then became the Internet Director.
A lot about the industry is changing. What are you doing to prepare?
I try to stay in the loop with updates from colleagues and newsletters like the one ASOTU sends. I share a lot of the information with my teams to keep them educated. Knowledge and awareness are imperative to be able to pivot whenever necessary.
Our industry has seen so many changes in such a short period of time, and we have learned that we have come together to help each other in order to continue moving forward.
I am preparing by surrounding myself with those who are helping to reshape the misconceptions that the consumer has about the automotive industry and those in it.
What are some of the ways that your dealership serves the community?
I am very blessed to work for a family-owned business where our GM, Abigail Valdez, and our Dealer Owner, Patty Wondries, prioritize helping our community as much as possible. Even though Alhambra is a city very close to downtown LA, it's very community-oriented and gives its residents the feeling of a small town.
We participate on many of our local festivals like the “National Night Out” sponsored by the local Police Department, the “Chinese New Year Festival” as we are predominantly an Asian/ Hispanic community, the "Spooky Night Trunk or Treat Festival" for the kids on our community, and we support our school district in as many activities as possible. We are also heavily involved with our Chambers or Commerce, and stand ready to assist or collaborate with any of our neighbors in need.
What are you most looking forward to going into the last quarter of the year?
I am looking forward to developing a new team of BDRs as we expand. Leading them into a successful quarter and helping develop the skills that we need to connect with our customers is something that I will be striving to do.
If both of our teams - Sales and Service - have a productive year while being of service to our customers, then I will feel that we had a year full of accomplishments.
What is one piece of advice that you'd give to someone new to the industry, or, a piece of advice you'd give to an industry veteran who maybe just needs a little inspiration?
We are part of a great industry, an industry that play a big role in our economy but also that plays a big role on every family’s economy in our county. Lets make sure that we do not loose sight of the role we have in our customer’s life and we always have present that instead of seeing them as a business transaction that would benefit us, we need to see them as an opportunity to be better humans and help them find solutions to their problems.
We have to see our customers as humans that we are able to have an impact on their life and lets make sure that impact is a positive one.
We're sorry we missed you at ASOTU CON this year! What do you remember from your time at ASOTU CON 2022?
When I saw Paul J. Daly, Kyle Mountsier, Erikka Tiffani, Alex Flores, Glen Lundy, and many others back in Vegas at the Digital Dealer Conference in November of 2021, and Erikka spoke so passionate about how we need to change our industry and how “People Are Our New Currency,” I knew that I wanted to be part of that.
Attending ASOTU CON last year was a rewarding experience and a taste of hope for those of us focused on shifting our industry on the right direction. I am very grateful that my way of seeing our industry is heavily influenced by what ASOTU represents and those that belong to it.