“I Choose Not to Participate In That!”

Our Vice President of Agency Development, Marty Walsh, is becoming well-known within GWC for his quick wit and snappy comebacks.  My favorite of Marty’s golden nuggets is a response he learned years ago whenever someone complained about the tough economy:  “I choose not to participate in that!”

What a great and self-fulfilling attitude!  And it’s worth keeping top of mind as we all continue to grapple with the ongoing “Great Recession.”  In fact, more than a few of GWC’s Dealer Consultants have done just that.  In a market that on a year-to-date basis has seen used vehicle sales by Independent dealers increase by 5% (or well below the 12+% forecasts we saw at the beginning of the year), many of our Dealer Consultants have “chosen not to participate” in the doom and gloom:

·         Cindy H. has taken her sales in a market where we added several DCs up by almost 75%!

·         Becky E. has grown her “mature” market up by almost 50%!

·         Dominic L. moved into an underserved territory and has expanded it by about 45%!

·         Jim J., Ruthie S., Sal R. and Kent N. have all taken their existing markets up by 30+% this year!

I could go on and on; in fact, these high performers are among a large cadre of top sellers who are successfully demonstrating to dealers across the country that GWC’s products and people add tremendous value to their businesses.

The next time someone tells you that the economy is tough, think about our great GWC sales team, including the champs listed above, and tell them “I choose not to participate in that!”

Thanks, Steve, and Godspeed.

Steve Jobs’ passing yesterday is a reminder of our fragility and the fleeting nature of time.  Steve’s life, however, is also a reminder of how awesome it is to be alive, brimming with ideas and making the world a better place. 

As Steve’s health waned over the past few years, I found myself becoming sadder and sadder over what appeared to be the inevitable:  That we would lose an inimitable cultural icon who had touched our lives in a myriad of ways.

Stanley Bing’s column in Fortune a few weeks ago was prescient in capturing why we will miss Steve and could serve as a great eulogy:   The Bing Blog: Thanks, Steve.

On a personal level, I will never forget watching my young son fall in love with his first iPod in 2003, cradling it under his pillow each night as he went to sleep.  As a confessed music geek myself, the iPod transformed my travels by allowing me to take 25,000 of my favorite songs with me everywhere I went.  And, after forcing myself to hold off until the iPad2 came out earlier this year, I walked around for days telling everyone in earshot that I was in love with that amazing gadget.  In fact, it’s 8 months later and I’m still doing it!

What can I say?  I love Steve Jobs and Apple in a way that is hard even for me to understand.  But my life and the lives of millions of people around the world are cooler, richer and more fun than they would have been without Apple, Pixar and all the other miracles that Steve Jobs envisioned.  And for that, I can only humbly say “Thanks, Steve, and Godspeed.”

The Art of Compromise

The recent spectacle in Washington D.C. over raising the debt ceiling leads to some obvious questions:  Why have we let compromise become such a dirty word?  Why is it acceptable for powerful people to demonize their opponents?  And why have graceful negotiation tactics (sometimes known as “win-win”) all but disappeared from our political scene?

These are not just idle musings.  The ramifications of the recent debt ceiling fiasco are significant to all of us who invest or borrow money (i.e., all of us).  In fact, GWC’s financial advisors were even sharing regular updates on the possible impacts of this on our very conservatively invested reserves.   This simply illustrates just how deep this issue cuts across our financial universe.

Everyone in business knows that it is very rare that one side gets everything it wants.  In fact, those of us who lead businesses know that we cannot demand everything we want (at least not for very long) from customers, suppliers or employees without running the business into the ground.  GWC is constantly managing the delicate balance of providing for our Dealer Partners, looking out for the best interest of our customers, and supporting our employees.  We understand that no business is healthy when one of its key segments is weak.

Perhaps that’s a lesson that needs to be clearly articulated to those we’ve elected to lead our country.

Are you a Hedgehog or a Fox?

by Rob Glander, GWC President and CEO

One of my neighbors, in the process of packing for a move to Florida, asked me if I wanted any of his business books.  I quickly grabbed his copy of “Good to Great” by Jim Collins, which I last read when it was published in 2001.  Hard to believe it’s been 10 years since this groundbreaking work came out, but the lessons it shared still ring true.

One of my favorites is Collins’ appropriation of the ancient Greek parable:  “The fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knows one big thing.”  Companies that go from Good to Great understand what they can be the best in the world at and then focus single-mindedly on that.

In the midst of a continuing tough economy, it’s easy for all of us to be distracted by the day’s challenges, false hopes and fads.  Instead, we at GWC are rededicating ourselves to focusing on what we do better than anyone else:  Deliver the “No Worries.  Just Drive” service contract experience to our thousands of dealers and end customers across the U.S.

Thanks for the 10-year reminder, Jim.

Ribbon Cutting

by Rob Glander, GWC President and C.E.O.

This past Wednesday, GWC hosted about 150 guests at the ribbon cutting and open house celebrating our new office.  Our Coal Street location in Wilkes-Barre, PA is the 4^th space GWC has occupied since its founding as Guardian Warranty 16 years ago.  Each move has represented an important step in the company’s growth. This beautiful space represents our company’s past success as well as our future aspirations.

Several years ago, Wilkes-Barre Mayor Tom Leighton laid out a vision for the Coal Street complex that would rescue it from disrepair and restore the happiness of its glory days.  We were inspired by the Mayor’s commitment to this project and are proud to be part of this energizing community.  While we are a nationwide company, GWC Warranty is delighted to call the City of Wilkes-Barre our new home.

GWC Warranty now occupies more than 16,000 square feet of space which houses our claims administration, contract processing, and executive offices.  A 72-person training room gives us the ability to host high-level training programs for partners and employees.

The transformation of GWC’s headquarters itself took just about a year to complete.  Just 5 months ago we were standing in a completely undeveloped space.  We have many people to thank for turning that empty space into a world class office that our employees are proud to call home:

·         Coal Street Redevelopment (including John Aciukewicz)

·         The Wilkes-Barre City Council

·         Mayor Leighton and his staff (most notably John Koval, who worked out the details of this deal with us over several months)

·         The Wilkes-Barre Chamber of Business & Industry (in particular, John Augustine who introduced us to this site last year)

·         Tony Bevilaqua from Sordoni Construction Services, who served as our construction manager

·         Jim Kline from Sordoni, who was the onsite superintendant every day during construction

·         Highland Associates, our Architects.  (In particular, Charlie Consagra who convinced us to go big and bold with the space.  Also, Denise Luikart from Highland, whose design genius can be found in every square inch of this space)

·         I’d also like to note that Jason Fondren, the artist who created the beautiful paintings in our gallery under a very tight schedule, made the trip over from New York to be with us for the opening.

·         Finally, Joe Brennan, GWC’s Vice President of Operations, who lived and breathed this project from its initial inception through this reception.  All in his spare time while doing his day job!  Thanks so much Joe.

GWC Warranty is proud to be a leading provider of vehicle service contracts in the U.S.  We bring the “No Worries.  Just Drive” experience to dealers and drivers nationwide.

And, we are thrilled to occupy this state of the art facility, from which we will continue to deliver that experience for our customers.

Moving Day

by Rob Glander, GWC President and CEO

I’m writing this surrounded by boxes, noise and the general commotion that accompanies a move. And I couldn’t be happier.

Today, GWC is relocating to an amazing new office at 40 Coal Street in Wilkes-Barre: 18,000+ square feet of exquisitely designed (thanks, Highland Associates) space above the number one sports franchise in NE PA (the Divisional Champion Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins). It will be the 5th space we’ve occupied since our inception 16 years ago and represents another growth-driven leap ahead for GWC.

And I have to share my pride a little bit: This new office is simply beautiful. From our state-of-the art Boardroom to our 72 person training room and every workstation in between, we have invested in a facility that befits our aspirations as a company.

Even more importantly, I am proud of our people. As I see everyone scurrying around packing and cleaning up, I am reminded of how much everyone cares about this company and how engaged they are. Special thanks to Mandy, Kelli and Georgiann, who took on some of the nastiest cleanups without any prompting, just because it had to be done. And kudos to Jeff who led the cable stringing, server room setup so we will be up and ready on Monday morning.

Finally, a particular shout-out to Joe Brennan, our Vice President of Operations, who for the past year has lived and breathed this project. Joe found the space, convinced us to take on the audacious task of building it out, negotiated our many contracts, oversaw the design and basically lived onsite for several months while the renovations were being done in record time (and within budget!) Joe, we all owe you a big debt of gratitude.

These are exciting times for GWC and we’re bursting at our seams to share that excitement with our great dealers and end customers. We’re all moving confidently ahead: “No Worries. Just Drive.”

The GWC Social Network

by Rob Glander, GWC Warranty President and CEO

Several years ago, I noticed my teenagers’ use of their cell phone minutes plunging. They had discovered Facebook and since then it’s become solidly enmeshed in their lives. It’s now their primary source of daily contact with their friends across town and across the country.

I didn’t get it; my standard line was “I have a hard enough time managing my REAL LIFE relationships, much less online ones.” But I chalked it up to a generational divide and decided it was okay for me to miss this trend. Even after my college roommate convinced me to get an account I rarely even glanced at my Wall, much less the fascinating musings of the hyper-aggressive types who’d sought me out and invited me to be their friends.

Cue to December 2010, when I still didn’t completely understand the appeal of Facebook and its blunt, 140-character cousin, Twitter. However, The Social Network was winning movie awards, Facebook was receiving astronomical market valuations and it seemed like every major business was racing to devise a social media strategy.

When founder Mark Zuckerberg was named Time’s Person of the Year, the accompanying article finally made it clear to me:

    “Right now the Internet is like an empty wasteland: you wander from page to page, and no one is there but you. Except where you have the opposite problem: places like Amazon.com product pages and YouTube videos, where everyone’s there at once, reviewing and commenting at the top of their lungs, and it’s a howling mob of strangers.

    “Zuckerberg’s vision is that after the Facebookization of the Web, you’ll get something in between: wherever you go online, you’ll see your friends.”

Mark Zuckerberg actually summed up Facebook’s mission this way:

    “In the world, there’s trust. I think as humans we fundamentally parse the world through the people and relationships we have around us. So at its core, what we’re trying to do is map out all of those trust relationships, which you can call, colloquially, most of the time, friendships.”

At GWC, we used to say that we wanted to be a car dealer’s partner or consultant. But based on Zuckerberg’s definition, we really want to be their Friend.

So, please be our Friend. Visit our Facebook page, follow us on Twitter, stay tuned to our website and become part of the GWC Social Network.

facebook.com/GWCwarranty

twitter.com/GWCwarranty