Feature Friday: June 17th, 2016—Ornella Roberts
What does Ontario Motor Sales mean to you?
The dealership history is huge for me. I’ve been able to work with some of the forefathers of Ontario Motor Sales, like L.M. Souch and Glenn Willson. It’s been amazing to have been able to work with iconic salespeople too, like Murray Silver, Jim Neal, and John Horky. I try to keep the history alive in my office; I have a few pictures and articles posted around, but there are whole walls celebrating our 93+ year business around the dealership. If you’re ever in and want to see some OMS history, just ask someone to show you around!
What has been your favourite part about working here?
Easy: my favourite thing is my customers. I’ve gotten to know so many of their families and friends, and I’ve been to their birthday parties, weddings, and funerals. When you’re here for so long, you really get personal with them and that is what I love. I get life stories, and have watched my customers’ kids and grandkids grow up. It really hits me some days that I’m now serving our next generation of customers. But our customers are our family, and now the younger generation are our family too.
What is one thing you try to bring to your interactions with customers?
I try to bring the personal interaction, like I just said. In this industry, you have to care about the customer and you have to help them out in any way that you can or you just won’t make it. I make friends with my customers and I know that’s as important to them as it is to me. Any issue they might have, our team will try their absolute best to solve and I love watching that happen.
How would you describe the working environment here? Why?
We don’t have the typical “car sales cliché” at all that you see on TV. Our salespeople are as dedicated to their customers as they are to the dealership and go the extra mile for them all the time. We operate as a family business, after all, and our employees take that seriously. This is a very friendly place to be.
What is your most interesting—fun, funny, or otherwise—OMS story?
Sometimes I feel like our dealership is a part-time hair salon… Ha ha! One time, my hair was bugging me and I was way too busy over the next couple of days, so I couldn’t make it to my hairdresser. My bangs kept getting in my eyes, and I got so desperate that I actually had our nighttime receptionist cut them off! He actually did a pretty good job.
Another time, during our first year of participating in Movember in 2010, I made a deal with Dave Baker where if I raised a certain number of donations, I’d get to shave his moustache off in the middle of the showroom. He’d had his moustache since he was a teenager, so it was a pretty big deal. Of course, I made more than enough, and got to pull out the razor and give Dave a trim! Here’s a picture from the event:
