Dealership News
The Ben Mynatt team at the raceThe Ben Mynatt team at the race for a cure JDRF walk on April 20th, 2013
at the Fieldcrest Cannon Stadium in Kannapolis, NC
Adopt-A-Soldier
The Ben Mynatt family dealership has been lucky to be part of several charity events to help our local community. Including our work through Ben Mynatt Children’s Foundation and most recently Adopt-A-Soldier. This year we were also fortunate because our customers in Cabarrus County voted us as the Best.
Last year in 2012 Ben Mynatt Children’s Foundation has distributed more than $59,000 to our community. The Ben Mynatt Children's Foundation was formed as a charitable organization in 2002. Its founders represent a small group of Cabarrus county businesses who share a common interest in investing in the children of the community. As of this year, we have distributed over $410,000 in cumulative giving to children's groups in our region.
This year Ben Mynatt was honored to be given the opportunity to support our local military troop members through the program Adopt-A-Soldier. The soldiers of our community, specifically the North Carolina Army National Guard’s 514th Military Police Company based in Winterville, NC. We were especially grateful to be able to support them after the loss of three team members in 2012 due to a suicide bombing. We were able to send over 31 boxes of supplies and goodies through Adopt-A-Soldier.
Our family of dealerships is proud, grateful and excited to have been able to support our local community the way we have been able to. Not only do we support our community, our community supports us as well. We received the honor of being voted Cabarrus Business magazine “readers’ choice” best business of August 2012. During the interview, Cyndie Mynatt was asked to answer several questions. Almost all answers came back to the support of our community and customers.
Cabarrus Business (CB):
“Why do you think you were named “Best Of”?
Cyndie Mynatt (CM):
“I think we received a lot of publicity when General Motors attempted to terminate our Chevrolet and Cadillac franchises in 2009. The community rallied around us and staged a true grassroots campaign to earn back our right to represent these brands in our town. I think the community recognizes that they are responsible for our very existence, and that they have taken ownership of our brand.
Along with our long history in the community, our wonderful employees continue to treat our customers with great respect, courtesy and honesty. We try to be very visible at community functions and to give back to our neighbors and our customers at every opportunity.”
CB:
“What does being chosen as the “Best Car Dealership” mean to you?
CM:
“We will be forever grateful to Cabarrus County for standing behind us when our back was to the wall. We don’t take that confidence in us for granted, and know that we must continue to earn it every day, in every transaction with every customer. It means that hopefully we’ve been successful in developing a culture within the dealership that understands the importance of customer service, not as a buzzword, but as a way of living our lives.”
Saved by community support, Mynatt back in high gear
CONCORD, N.C. — Ben Mynatt Chevrolet Cadillac has made quite a comeback. Two years ago, the 36-year-old dealership was one of 1,800 dealerships GM targeted for closure. Today, it’s not only profitable, but on June 13 it was awarded GM’s highest honor, the Mark of Excellence Award.
The award recognizes “outstanding GM dealerships for achieving a superior sales volume, having an exceptional dedication to customer service and satisfaction,” according a company website. For owner Cyndie Mynatt, the award is redemptive.
Mynatt, whose Buick GMC dealership next door also won the award this year, bought Ben Mynatt Chevrolet Cadillac from a family member in 2008, just months before GM announced the closures. “They had used the performance metrics of the previous management,” she said, which is why Ben Mynatt was one of the dealerships scheduled for closure.
Over the next several months, thousands of Cabarrus County residents took part in a letter-writing campaign aimed at swaying GM’s position. They received support from government and business leaders, the Concord City Council and the Cabarrus County Board of Commissioners.
Eventually, GM officials told Mynatt her dealership could be reinstated if it met certain standards for profitability and customer satisfaction.
“We called it double secret probation,” Mynatt said with a chuckle.
“In 2011, when they came to us and said ‘OK, you can have it back if you perform,’ we knew we could do it, so that’s when we made the big announcement to the community that we’re back,” she said. But it wasn’t until June 13 — the same day the dealership received its Mark of Excellence Award — that it also received a letter confirming its reinstatement.
“It’s kind of ironic,” Mynatt said. She said the outpouring of community support and the letter-writing campaign helped save the dealership, and she put the letters in a binder.
“I keep that book of letters on the podium in the showroom,” she said. “That is our moral compass for all of us at the dealership.
“I’ll spend the rest of my life trying to live up to the nice things they said about us.”
Source: Independent Tribune