Ford Iberia’s Pablo Vaquero Assesses the People@Retail Program

Vaquero, who serves as Homologation & Quality Manager at the company’s Madrid headquarters, is responsible for ensuring that tens of thousands of customers each year get a great experience, delivered by a large workforce across Spain and Portugal.

The key, he’s discovered, is relying on a sophisticated software tool for assessing candidates for service and sales positions called Logi-Serve which is provided by MSX International’s People@Retail program.

Since the tool was deployed just a few months ago, Vaquero has already found it critical in increasing employee productivity and avoiding hiring mistakes. His deep experience has taught him that the a most important element in satisfying Ford Iberia’s customers – and retaining them long term – is great people.

“There’s simply no replacement for positive, engaged service employees,” said Vaquero. “They need to ensure that our valued customers feel looked after, with their needs anticipated and quickly met. The trick is finding employees that can perform quality customer minded service.”

To do so, he relies on the Logi-Serve tool and the MSXI People@Retail training and development programs. It helps him identify the best candidates from large pools of applicants and to direct their training needs to service competencies. What makes it especially valuable is that it’s tailored to the culture and philosophy of his business.

While the project is still in an initial phase, he’s already found significant value in its ability to guide hiring decisions. The work started with defining the ideal employee profile and typical service situations that individuals might face.

To accomplish this, existing employees completed a self-assessment and supervisors completed employee performance evaluations. Then, Logi-Serve data scientists analyzed key competencies that were required and that could be improved through MSXI training that’s customized for each position.

“We are convinced that, given the personalization features of the Logi-Serve tool, we’ll soon see a return on our investment’ says Vaquero.

The tool is especially valuable in identifying candidates with skillsets and capabilities already present in Ford Iberia’s dealership network. Employees have already begun to recognize what capabilities they need to augment to earn client loyalty, which ultimately boosts revenue per visit. From a corporate point of view, the program helps define what the profile of a Ford worker looks like.

When asked what swayed Ford Iberia to choose Logi-Serve and MSXI, Vaquero points to its personalization and strong track record of success.

“We have great people here at Ford Iberia, and my goal is to find others who share their values, strength and drive. Our customers benefit from that, and so do we,” he said.

About MSXI People@Retail

Satisfying customers during a service experience is critical to building customer retention and long-term brand loyalty. MSXI offers a rapid and long-term ROI for OEMs, NSCs and dealerships by streamlining workshop processes, improving workshop and technician efficiency, as well as increasing dealership capacity and service sales. MSXI takes a custom approach that starts with a two-day site assessment led by highly trained and independent automotive retail experts. This process identifies opportunities for improvement and creates initiatives that focus on key business processes.

MSXI’s process and practices have been tested in numerous dealership networks, consistently delivering successful results with full executive management approval and multi-year funding. Follow-up programs and continued training based on workshop performance indicators ensure long-term sustainability of performance improvement as well as notable increases in part and service sales.

About Logi-Serve

Logi-Serve Sales and Service assessment combines a personality profile measure, a biographical experience questionnaire, and a measure of candidate judgment, in difficult service and sales situations, to evaluate candidates’ service and sales competencies. The Logi-Serve assessment includes branding capabilities which enable companies to subtly communicate organizational and position-specific culture/norms. These cues tie the assessment tool more closely to the content of the actual job adding realism to the assessment and improving the relevance of the candidate’s responses.

Predicting outcomes and identifying value using Logi-Serve’s revolutionary monetary analytics is also unique in the market. Logi-Serve is able to localize the predictive power of its assessment and scoring to a specific client’s KPI’s and measure how much money can be saved or made using Logi-Serve scores and development recommendations. Logi-Serve is breaking new ground in predicting performance and tying these insights into business impact.

Logi-Serve works with closely with its partner MSXI to fine tune its offering to meet the needs of automotive OEMs, NSCs and dealerships. MSXI and Logi-Serve have already validated their work helping dealerships around the globe increase sales and improve service excellence and customer experiences.