Mike Bennett, new general manger at New South Ford-Nissan, in front of the dealership on North Frontage Road. Bennett wants to create reputation for customer service at the dealership.

    Mike Bennett, the new general manager at New South Ford-Nissan on North Frontage Road, was moving to Meridian before he landed his new position.

    When the economy took a downturn in 2008 and Bennett lost his full-time position, he took advantage of an opportunity to consult with the car dealerships he had worked with and grew a successful consulting firm, adding new clients.

    Over the next three years the consulting business became Bennett’s new full time job. As the firm grew Bennett added three new employees —  two full time and one part time. His duties kept him on the road often.    

    “I spent 214 nights in a hotel last year,” Bennett said.

    One of the dealerships Bennett consulted with was New South. He would spend one or two days a month in Meridian for the last six and a half years. Bennett and his wife decided to look for a home in Meridian since it was more centrally located to his consulting business than their home in Mobile, Ala. About that time, Bennett was contacted by New South owners Milburn Van Veckhoven and Michael Van Veckhoven to see if he would be interested in working for them exclusively.

    “It was one of those ‘meant to be’ kind of things,” Bennett said. “We had already looked at a house and were considering putting an offer on it. We like Meridian and we both think it’s a wonderful town. My mother was born in Mississippi, so it’s almost like coming home for me.”    

    Bennett is not only happy with Meridian, he is also optimistic about the outlook for the automobile industry.

    “The car business is recovering,” Bennett said. “For ’08, ’09, and ’10 it was pretty rough. Real estate, car business, stock brokers — anything having to do with spending money was pretty rough. The car business has begun to recover and it’s doing really well.”

    Bennett said he has definite goals he wants to accomplish at New South.

    “The biggest thing is create the reputation of customer service,” Bennett said. “Milburn and Michael both have the goal of having great customer service … Rebuilding the processes so we follow through and do what we say we’re going to do and people begin to trust that they can count on us. I think that’s the big goal,” Bennett said. “Selling a lot cars is going to be a byproduct of that.”

    In Arizona, where Bennett spent most of his time selling cars, he developed a process called “Help Your Customer Buy a Car.”

    “I wrote a book on that process and it’s about to be published,” Bennett said. “A good friend of mine was an R.J. Reynolds Nabisco employee and a union negotiator for lot of years. You know, the type of guy that really knows how to talk to people. I was struggling in my early years selling cars and he said, ‘Why don’t you stop selling cars and start trying to help people buy cars? You’ll be much more successful.'”

    So now Bennett says when someone comes on the lot he’s not trying to sell a car. He is trying to understand what the person wants to accomplish and how he can help them achieve that.

    The strategy paid off in Arizona — in a town a little bigger than Meridian. The dealership went from selling almost 200 cars a month to 600 a month.

    “That wasn’t because we were great at selling cars,” Bennett said. “It was because we were great at taking care of customers and employees.”

    Bennett said at New South there will be a change in focus, from “beating the best deal regardless” to offering a lifetime warranty. Every vehicle on the lot, with some exceptions on high mileage cars and commercial vehicles, will come with a lifetime warranty, Bennett said.

    “We want New South to be known as the home of the lifetime warranty,” Bennett said.