Jeff Perry Buick GMC of Peru was honored with the 2022 Buick Dealer of the Year by General Motors.
The award is based on performance in sales, service and dedication to customer satisfaction.
This is the largest and most distinguished award you can win as a dealer and it reflects more on the employees that work here than myself.”
Jeff Perry, owner
“For us, this is a Super Bowl victory,” said owner Jeff Perry. “This is the largest and most distinguished award you can win as a dealer and it reflects more on the employees that work here than myself. It says Dealer of the Year, but it should say dealership because it’s the employees who earned it.”
To qualify for the award, dealerships must be in the top 1% of all Buick dealers in the nation.
General Manager Steve Hammers said the dealership had to hit specific quotas in order to qualify for the award. More than 90% of customers had to be completely satisfied and more than 90% of customers had to return to the dealership for their first maintenance after purchasing a vehicle as well as sales quotas.
“The biggest thing is the retention and customer satisfaction retention, meaning your customers choose to do business with you, they come back to you and that’s what that first service department business means,” he said.
Regional Director of the North Central Region for GMC Shari Keith said it is special when the dealership “you are rooting for” wins.
“We only give the award to 22 Buick dealers in the market,” she said. “We are looking at sales effectiveness in terms of taking care of the market and customer satisfaction. So, you can’t just win the award just by selling a lot of cars and making a lot of disgruntled customers.”
Keith said she is in a “unique position” to talk about the dealership as she choose them when she bought a vehicle for her son a year ago when she had the entire North Central area to choose from.
“They have no turnover when it comes to their personnel. So, everyone’s been here a long time. They do a great job of taking care of customers. They make it really efficient when you buy the car to service your vehicle. They are very knowledgeable and that goes back to lack of turnover,” she said.
Perry said the dealership has “taken the challenge” to win the award next year and they may already be on their way, as they are ranked second as of Monday. The top three qualify for the award.
“We always wanted to be better today, than yesterday,” he said.
