John Willan joined Birchwood Honda West as a Sales Team Leader in June of this year. Prior to joining the Birchwood Automotive Group, John spent two years at the Waverley Auto Mall selling for Midtown Ford. His time at Midtown was John’s first sales role in the automotive industry. Before entering the automotive industry, John owned a very successful Giant Tiger operation in North Eastern Ontario in the town of Cochrane. After 10 years, John and his wife Lee Ann decided to sell the franchise and move to Winnipeg (her hometown). Upon arriving in Winnipeg, John took a few years off to chart his next career path. He had had enough of the retail environment; however, he enjoyed working for himself and knew sales was the right move. After talking with many people, he felt that selling cars was the best choice for him. John said that “he did well right from the start!” Through his time at Giant Tiger, John knew that he wanted to be in a management role again but he realized he needed to sell cars successfully for a few years before this could become a reality. Due to the fact that the managers at Midtown had all been in their roles for a long time and there were not any positions becoming available in the near future, John started to look elsewhere for the next step. While at Midtown, he worked alongside Scott Pollett and it was Scott who told him that there was no better company in Winnipeg to work for than Birchwood. That was when John decided to apply for an opening as a Sales Manager within the Group. John met with Richard and they both agreed that Birchwood Honda West would be a great fit.

John says he enjoys “working with people/team members” and finds this to be the most enjoyable part of his current role. While selling he felt he was working on his own and he is happy to once again be working on a team where he is assisting in helping and moulding their team. He said that this component of his current job is also what he enjoyed most in his previous role with Giant Tiger. He believes there are similarities to all management roles and it is in how you deal with the “ups and downs” and working through them appropriately with your team.

When I asked John how he would describe his leadership style, one word came to mind – “fair!” When I asked John to elaborate, he explained that it is important to come to a mutually-beneficial (win-win) agreement for all those involved. It is important that whoever you are dealing with feels like they have come away with something that matters to them while at the same time balancing what matters to the team and the dealership.

“We are a team” – is what John attributes to the success of the sales team at BHW. “Our floor really melds together.” Everyone on the team works together, no one works against each other. John feels this is very important, as it is not something that is common on all sales floors, especially in the automotive industry. He feels his team is successful due to the environment that has been created; no one feels that they must be there 6 days a week, it is a less stressful and allows the sales consultants to be less worried when they come to work.

The sales team have created their goals for 2012 and John emphasized that the store will be focusing on volume for the upcoming year with the goal of each team member selling a minimum of 10 cars per month. They also have a team member bonding event coming up in the first part of the new year.

John and his wife Lee Ann live in Southland Park (near the Mint) with their 3 children (and one on the way!!). Son John Jr (18) is a team member at BHW, working as a Detailer in the Service Department; daughter Alyssa (12) is active in figure skating and dance and their son Liam (11) is a goalie for the Dakota Lazers and recently did a photo shoot for a local Yoga company (you can see the ad on John’s computer screen in his photo.)

In his (limited) spare time, John like to golf, spent time at his wife’s family cottage in Sandy Hook and he also helps out on his son’s hockey team, as their Manager.

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