For Sauers Ford Lincoln Service Manager, Ryan Stewart, Business is About Respect

For Sauers Ford Lincoln Service Manager, Ryan Stewart, Business is About Respect

In the automotive service industry there’s no do-overs. Northwest Indiana drivers are fortunate in a sense as to live in a region where cars are revered, and knowing how to work on them is seen as a badge of honor. Thus, we can drive down seemingly any street and pass by an “Al’s Auto” or “Tom’s Tire and Oil”.

And with all these choices it means, for the service provider, that one below-excellent experience more than likely means you will never see that customer again.

But at no other service provider than Sauers Ford Lincoln are you going to find a shop with three Master Technicians, the best of the best when it comes to what they do. And at no other place than Sauers Ford Lincoln are you going to find a Service Manager like Ryan Stewart, whose experience and love of cars is only outdone by his love of people and his desire to build lifelong customer relationships.

Stewart is a native of La Porte, a Slicer graduate, and someone who has been in the automotive industry his whole life.

“I’ve been in the business for over twenty years,” Stewart said about his career. “I started at the bottom as a porter, then washing cars. Doing whatever it is they wanted me to do and just working my way up.”

Stewart is fortunate, he says, to be in the position he is now with the experience he has gained over the years working his way up the ladder. As the Service Manager, Stewart’s job entails him to be able to serve as the liaison between the customer and his technicians. Which means the best Service Managers are the ones who can speak the languages of both the technicians and the customers.

“I have been really lucky as time goes on to move up the ladder where I am,” Stewart added. “I have been fortunate enough to work as a tech and a service writer as well. But I always wanted to be in a position to where I could use my ‘gabbing skills’, as I like to call it, as well.”

And when it comes to these communication skills, Stewart said he is also fortunate in this regard to have had the best teacher at one of the finest institutions around.

“A lot of these ‘gabbing skills' I learned from my older sister,” said Stewart. “She owned a hair salon and is a very social person. I watched her at the salon and out in public and kind of absorbed all this.”

“Hair and cars might be much different,” Stewart added, “but it all boils down to the business aspect: You treat the people you work for right and they will keep coming back.”

And it’s that golden rule of autos, in a sense, that Stewart says is the secret to the exceptional service you will find at Sauers Ford Lincoln. Meaning, it’s not only the fact their customers get the benefit of working with technicians who get their training straight from the manufacturers, or even that their customers get the rarest of luxuries in knowing there are three certified Master Technicians on hand, but that if you come to Sauers Ford Lincoln for service, you’re coming into a service center where the employees treat the customers the right way because the team treats their own employees the right way, too.

And it’s that positive atmosphere and complimentary working environment that breeds a culture of positive work, Stewart says.

“It’s unique to have three Master Technicians on hand, but it’s really a reflection of Sauers’ commitment to building lifelong relationships with their employees and wanting to them to be their best. You have to treat employees the right way when you’re in the service industry. You want them smiling and happy every day. You have to treat your customers and employees with respect. It’s the only way to do it here.”