• Browse More Videos
• Blog
• Featured
• Press
• Uncategorized
• Video
• What's New

What’s so funny about “Peace. Love. Happiness. Volkswagen?” That particular theme evident at Lewisville Volkswagen isn’t so much about being “funny” as it is “fun” -  if your idea of fun is Dallas Volkswagen shopping surrounded by pop cultural touchstones from the late 1960s, including DayGlo colors, employees in tie-dyed T-shirts and jeans, San Francisco folk-rock music and, of course, classic VW Beetles and vans.

Yet “Peace” also means peace of mind for Dallas Volkswagen car shoppers who are wary of overly-aggressive car sales tactics. Lewisville’s philosophy – emblazoned in DayGlo colors on a mural on a wall in its showroom – translates into a low-key, laid-back approach to selling cars. Customers are encouraged to take their time, visit other dealerships, make more than one trip to Lewisville VW. Sales people won’t pressure them into signing anything before they’re ready.

Sales statistics show that the “Peace. Love. Happiness. Volkswagen.” theme is a hit with customers – Lewisville VW is the largest volume Volkswagen dealer in Texas and was number one in the state – seventh in the nation – for July 2010. The dealership also ranks high in customer satisfaction surveys for those going Dallas Volkswagen shopping.

Ensuring a pleasant customer experience for Dallas Volkswagen shoppers extends to Lewisville VW maintenance policy and its service bays. Feelin’ groovy when you buy a car is one thing, but service horror stories can quickly make satisfied customers change their tune to something from an early ’70s Black Sabbath album. Lewisville VW boasts the largest fleet of  loaner cars in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, and each VW service technician must undergo 800 hours of training.

“Peace. Love. Happiness. Volkswagen.” isn’t just about business models or showroom decor. It’s also a way for Lewisville Volkswagen management and employees to honor the memory of co-owner William “Skipper” Beck, who died in a 2009 plane crash. The Beck family started the franchise and instituted the idea of empowering both employees and customers – hence the “Peace. Love. Happiness” theme. “Skipper” Beck continued that, but also used his success with Lewisville VW to become more involved with philanthropic efforts in Africa. Brown said his Dallas Volkswagen business wants to keep that effort going by contributing to various causes in its North Texas community.

“He was very, very forward-thinking in making sure that customers had a wonderful facility such as we’re sitting in right now, that the technology was cutting-edge – you know, free WiFi and things like that. That made us different and still makes us different going forward because we’re still carrying that flag,” Brown said.

For more information on Lewisville Volkwswagen, go to http://www.lewisvillevw.com

Renay:
Sure it’s an automotive brand but it’s also a piece of cultural history if you will. I mean picture that Volkswagen bus up there covered with flowers and some San Francisco folk rock going in the background and you get an idea of the power in the Volkswagen brand. Peace, Love, Happiness, Volkswagen is the theme here at Lewisville Volkswagen but it’s also the way they’ve come to treat their business and their customers.

Sherry:
Peace, love, happiness is the coolest thing we’ve ever done. We love it. We love the environment it provides. We love what it does for our customers. It’s very relaxed. We’re one on one with you everyday. Rather than being in a suit and a fancy watch and a fancy this, we’re just as normal as you are. We all have kids and checkbooks and plenty of responsibility.

Kevin:
They want an experience. They want us to provide them with something different that they do not have when they go down the street to the other manufacturers. And we provide that by being low pressure.

Sherry:
I think everybody’s been in a situation where you feel like you need to go in armed. You know you walk in the door and it’s like woooo. We don’t have that. When you walk in and you see a bunch of people walking around in jeans and tie dye and the music is on and we’re having a great time. How can you not have a good time?

Kevin:
I’m going to do it your way. I am going to find a need and a want that you have. And I am going to try to find that and help you any way we can.

Sherry:
The gong is crazy. We actually ring the gong every time someone buys a car. And everybody stops what they are doing. If you’re in the building, you stop and you clap for that person because they’ve made a significant purchase in their life. They’ve made an investment. Not just in the car, they’ve made an investment in us. And how do you not get excited for somebody like that? It will scare ya. Just be ready for it.

Renay:
Talk about scary. Buying a car at a dealer that uses stereotypical sales tactics can make a customer twist and shout. Yet Lewisville VW and its sixties vibe gives peace a chance with offers such as the happiness guarantee. Not pleased with your car purchase? You can return in within 72 hours, no questions asked. Also the sales people get a commission on top of a base salary to encourage the low key outside the lines approach and of course to keep them smiling. In fact many of the staff have been with Lewisville Volkswagen for many years. You might say they are happy together.

Sherry:
I think we are different because we care. I am not saying that other people don’t but we care in a different way. We care in a way that makes you want to come back. Peace love happiness is unique to us. It means the greatest thing. It means that there is peace of mind for a customer. We are happy to be there so you are happy to be there. Everybody loves the car. Volkswagen. How can you get any better than that?

Renay:
The VW brand is such an iconic brand. It is such a part of auto industry tradition. And it dates back to a certain time and era – obviously the 60’s and 70’s and that sort of thing. But does it still have that kind of power in the 21st century?

Alan:
Absolutely. Our clients have some sort of story that they bring with them. Either a vehicle they had going through college or high school. Or a vehicle that mom and dad had like a beetle or a van. That first time buyer coming in who is 18 or 19 yrs old, their grandpa might have had one. There is some sort of connection within their family nucleus that gives them a story, that gives them an idea of that vehicle lasting forever. And that vehicle having incredible quality with a lot of miles on it.

Renay:
So peace love happiness Volkswagen looks good on a bill board, looks good on a tshirt, even a tie dyed tshirt. But tell me how you make that work as a business model here at Lewisville Volkswagen.

Alan:
Just that environment that tells them they can take their time and take their pace. We actually tell clients right up front. We encourage you to take 2 or 3 visits with us. And that immediately sets the tone for them to have the experience that they are looking for not for the experience we are looking for them to have.

Renay:
And this not traditional approach has worked even with the vagaries of the economy. You haven’t had to make any adjustments to that sales approach as the economy has dipped now and then?

Alan:
We’ve been very successful. And that is something that we are proud of. If you are chasing a status of being number one, the customer is going to feel some pressure there. So we will fluctuate a little bit in our standings. And that is ok because it is all about the customer experience.

Renay:
Well one of the customer experiences that people will talk about a lot. They may buy a car from a dealership, but when they have to get it serviced that experience turns into a horror story. How do you translate peace, love happiness to the service department?

Alan:
We had a client just a few months ago who had a 06 Passat with a hundred thousand miles. That’s a customer that most stores probably wouldn’t have the dealership work extra hours to wait on or anything like that because that’s a customer that’s been out there for 4 or 5 years with a lot of miles on the car. They called us at 8:00. Service was already closed. We stayed at the dealership until 10:30 and we gave them a car out of stock to drive as a loaner vehicle. That right there means more to us than anything because you can’t put a price on it. Because that experience that that particular client felt is going to tell all their friends and family what we did for them with a 4 year old car with a 100,000 miles. And that’s something that we are very proud of. I can donate money. But I want to donate my heart and time.

Renay:
Tell me about the Beck family especially Skipper Beck. I know a lot of the philosophy that’s seen here at Lewisville VW was kind of started with the Beck family and then carried on with Skipper Beck. Tell me about them.

Alan:
Obviously we are family owned. Something we are very proud of. It starts all the way back to Bobby and Skipper’s father, William C Beck. He was very, very big on empowering people. That filtered obviously into Skipper and Bobby. And then Skipper unfortunately, Sept 11 of last year, passed away in a fatal plane crash. He was very, very, very forward thinking in making sure that customers had a wonderful facility, such we are sitting in right now, that the technology was cutting edge, free wi-fi and things like that that made us different and still make us different going forward because we are still carrying that flag.

Renay:
Lewisville Volkswagen also carries on Skipper Becks philanthropy by giving back to the local community. It’s one more way of actually living the theme. It’s putting some bright colors back in the car sales business. For Spark360, I’m Renay San Miguel.