Mark Halloran, manager of one of six Levine Automotive parts stores, says employees try to keep it as much as a family-oriented business as possible. “The owner, Jeff Levine, has a direct impact on everything that the stores do,” says Halloran. “Customer satisfaction is our No. 1 goal.”
With one location in Brewster, N.Y., and five others and a warehouse supplying only Levine stores located across the border in the Danbury, Conn., area, the independent jobber distributes auto and truck parts and auto body supplies, including paint.
“So we have a wide market to attend to,” says Halloran. “We try to treat each customer on an individual basis, based on how we would want to be treated. That’s basically what we try and pride ourselves on — customer service. People buy from people, and we keep it on a real one-to-one, friendly level.”
With customer service being Levine’s No. 1 priority, the company stands behind everything it sells as far as warranties. “If you have a problem with a part six months down the road you don’t have to worry about us turning our back on you,” says Halloran.
How long does Levine warranty parts? “Our policy is customer satisfaction,” Halloran says, “so if you feel that it didn’t last long enough, then we’ll take care of it.
“We try and really go the extra mile for the customer. I’m willing to pick up a part from a dealership for a customer if I don’t have it in stock...anything to make the customer feel like we’re going the extra mile for them and to make them call us before anyone else. It’s always been a family-oriented business. We’ve had customers for a long time, and our inventory has always been one of the best in the area, with the ability to spread inventory over six stores.”
Do customers notice? Halloran definitely thinks so. “I think the main reason why people buy from us is because of the people we have working for us and the practices we instill as far as our customer service and warranty practices,” he says. “And that means a lot to people, especially today when customers demand so much.”
Ted Pettit, manager of the Danbury store, agrees that one of Levine’s main goals is to take care of customers, especially walk-ins. “Have you ever gone into a store and feel like you’re doing them a favor by standing there?” asks Pettit. “Well, that’s basically what we try not to do. We try to acknowledge customers when they walk through the door even if we’re busy; we try to make sure they know somebody’s going to be right with them.”
He also thinks Levine is different than most parts stores because most of the others are staffed with help that “probably aren’t really knowledgeable, and we do from A to Z, while they do like A to C.”
Pettit, who’s been in the business for 30 years, explains that Levine tries to hire and keep folks who’ve also been in the business for that long or more, and provides the whole realm, from heavy truck parts to paint, installing and machine work. “We do everything,” he says. “That’s what keeps us competitive against these chain stores that come in.”
He adds that it’s vital to “stay on top of our whole game plan.” The company holds regular meetings with everybody internally, from the drivers to counter-level people, right up through to upper management. “We all try to sit down once in a while and talk things out to see which way we’re going, and Jeff doesn’t hesitate to experiment with certain things, too,” he says.
Keeping on top of meetings and following up on tasks they’re working on is also important, he says. “Every store manager has to stay on top of what particular thing we’re working on for that month,” says Pettit. “We have salesmen on the road, and when they go into a shop, we know if certain things we’ve tried aren’t working or didn’t do, that’s how we get feedback.
“If you don’t sit down once in a while to get everybody pointed in the right direction, people start going in wrong directions.”
