Honda Walkaround Winner-2005 (yup, theHondaGuy!)
Honda American Mtr Co., Inc.
Torrance; July 8, 2005
Lyle Sweetner, American Honda Motor Co., Inc.
American Honda Motor Company, Inc., would like to congratulate the 10 winners of the 2005 Honda Walkaround Competition, a nationwide contest designed to test the product knowledge, presentation skills and techniques of sales consultants at Honda dealerships across the country. Michael Correra of Penske Honda is our Zone 1 winner and he will compete in the national finals in Marysville OH in August.
Michael and the 9 other winners from across the nation have all demonstrated a strong command of product knowledge and superb selling skills. Spanning 1,017 dealerships across 10 zones, the 10 winners first participated in this groundbreaking event at their own dealership level, and then advanced to compete at the zone level where the sales consultants were given the opportunity to presnt the product features of a Honda Pilot EX to a live professional actor who portrayed an actual customer. The consultants were judged on their ability to accurately determine which features/benifits best suited the customers buying motivations, as well as their ability to match the customers pace, focus and communication style.
As a reward for their achievement, each National Walkaround Winner was given a check for $1,000.00 and in August will be flown to Ohio for an exclusive tour of the Marysville, Ohio manufacturing plant and a day of performance driving and training at the famous Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. In addition a formal Reconition Event and Banquet in Columbus, Ohio has been arranged for August 20-23 for the 10 winners and their families. The final competition will be held live in front of over a thousand Honda employess and executives, we wish Michael and all the winners good luck in this groundbreaking competition!
theHondaGuy's been on the ole net for a long time now...
SUVs aren't helping Aspen's air quality
by Troy HooperSunday, December 3, 2000
..."a Honda representative said his lot caters to a different type of customer.
"Honda buyers tend to be more educated about the vehicle," said Mike Correra, a sales director for Canyon Honda in Glenwood Springs. "It's a topic of discussion."
Quality, engineering, reputation, and safety are among consumers' biggest issues, he said, with clean emissions not far behind.
Still, he said Honda displays vehicle emission sticker information on the windows of all its cars to show its commitment to clean air standards and has done so well before it was required to.
"Honda is the cleanest manufacturer in the world. It's one of the few manufacturers that doesn't have to build a car specific for California. (California has some of the strictest emissions testing in the nation)."
EPA data lends support to Correra's claims, with all of Honda's models scoring much better than average in its study."
Blast from the Past
7/5/2005
Quoted from my monthly email newsletter July 2005:
As my past readers already know, I recently won a nationwide competition put on by Honda for my sales presentation walkaround. As recognition of this Honda of America awarded me with an amazing trip to Columbus Ohio for 3 days. I stayed at the Westin Hotel in downtown Columbus, a restored historic hotel with a grand ballroom that made me want to take up ballroom dance! Honda provided me with the dream of all young boys, a day at the race track! I got to spend the day at the famous Mid-Ohio track getting training in all aspects of high performance driving capped off with the opportunity to drive the famous road course at speed on my own! What a thrill, I was so excited that I just had to take some of my own pics with my camera phone, yeah I got in trouble for it too! The most incredible part was a walk thru of the Marysville Plant that assembles the Accord, it was staggering to see this huge building with raw parts entering one end and brand new completed Accords being DRIVEN off the line at the other end, 1 EACH MINUTE! Midway through the tour we spotted a crowd and when I snuck over I got an unauthorized peak at the new 2006 Accord, although they shuffled me away quickly (someone probably got chewed out for that!) I was able to see the changes they made to the rear of the car, way cool! The trip was wrapped up with me re-doing my AWARD WINNING walkaround presentation for a hall full of Honda employee’s and high level managers, when they stood and clapped I really felt like I did an outstanding job! After all, they build 'em and if they say I present it well, they MUST know what they are talking about! The trip was such fun and Honda really rolled out the red carpet, great memories for a lifetime! Now, with my HIGH PERFORMANCE driving skills, about that 10 freeway.....