Eleven years ago, Team Chevrolet of Valparaiso hired a man who has gone on to become a core part of their culture and customer service – Bill “Billy” Wicks. Officially, Wicks is the dealership’s used car manager, but he defines his role much more broadly.
“All it means is that I do a little bit of everything,” he said. “I’m a regular employee who helps out where I can. Our heart and soul as a dealership is always the technicians and salespeople, and I’m just here to do what I can for them. I like to joke that I take the credit, but really the credit is all theirs.”
On any given day, Wicks is determining pricing, making appraisals, and ensuring the dealership’s inventory of vehicles are clean and orderly on the lot.
“When you walk into our dealership, we want you to feel at home,” he said. “You want to see that it’s clean, that things are where they are supposed to be, and that someone’s there to meet you with a smile.”
That kind of management work is not entirely unfamiliar to Wicks, who spent time working in the traditional retail space.
“I was the manager of a big home improvement department store for a while,” he said. “I kind of got burned out on it and decided to pursue different opportunities. I landed on a car dealership, put in an application, and started the following Monday.”
When he joined Team Chevy, the biggest initial challenge was building and maintaining a deep understanding of every car on the lot.
“It seems like whenever you finally have the opportunity to learn a car line, they change something on you,” he said. “At the same time, that’s one of the perks. It never gets stagnant when the inventory is always changing; there’s something new each and every day.”
Though Wicks always liked cars – appreciating their aesthetics, sounds, and styles – his time at Team Chevy has built a deeper appreciation for them and how they impact people’s lives. A car might look impressive, but it also represents a person’s livelihood, how they get to work each day, how they transport their families, and more.
“The main thing is having the opportunity to help people on a consistent basis,” he said. “It’s one of the things I’ve always liked to do. At a dealership, you can find different ways to help people, whether it’s putting them in a new car, fixing their current car, and all kinds of other situations.”
Every customer has a different story, and Wicks leads his team with an understanding that the best outcome for each one might not be leaving the dealership with a new or used car.
“You never know what someone’s going through when they come into the dealership,” he said. “They could be celebrating a job promotion, or they could be here because they can’t afford the payments on their current car. The thing we have to do is treat everybody the same – we’re here to help them. The sales will come, but what we really want to do is make sure a customer’s needs are met, and quite a few times, that’s not actually a sale.”
After over 10 years with Team Chevy, Wicks knows that his philosophy is one shared by the General Manager David Brubaker and ownership/parent company Gurley Leep Automotive Family.
“It’s one of the reasons I’ve stayed here for so long,” he said. “It’s truly an opportunity to help people, not just to sell cars. That’s one of the things our owners, Gurley Leep, talk about. It’s about finding ways to make people’s days better.”
To learn more about Team Chevrolet, visit chevyon30.com.
