July - September 2017
SPOTLIGHT ON
Thank you & Farewell! Jim Duncan will be retiring after 41 years of service with Fowler! We talked with Jim as he reflects on his career with Fowler:
Tell us about your career in a nutshell:
I have been doing accounting/ bookkeeping around 50 years. I’ve been in the automotive accounting office over 45 years ( 4 at Gandara Buick, 41+ at Fowler)
Think back to when you were first hired. What’s the biggest change you’ve seen?
your time at Fowler that you’d like to share?
Bill Fowler, Michael Fowler and Don Griffin, thank you for keeping me for 41+ years, hopefully I was a dedicated employees who watched over your investment.
I will remember all the people that have worked for us, plus the different buildings the Fowler name has been on with the different manufacturers.
Biggest change would be how much the computer and Internet is used now. And cell phones, wow.
Most of all, I’ll remember watching this business grow from one store with less than 50 people to the many stores owned now. Being part of this organization and being part of the growth is rewarding.
Do you have any big plans after retirement?
Anything else you would like to add?
No big plans yet. This a huge life change.
Any favorite memories from
Inside This Issue
During these working years I have raised a family that are grown now, even though most month-ends(over 500) my mind was only on the financial statement side.
Three Honda Deal Scott Warfel’s three car deal
Page 3 Employee Spotlight Q&A with Parts Warehouse Clerk Justin Howe
Page 4 Fowler Family Welcome the little ones to the Fowler Family
Page 7
Do you follow us online? Follow FowlerAuto on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram!
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From the Executive Suite
COMMUNITY SPOTLIGHT: BROOMFIELD Century Chevrolet was a proud sponsor of the Broomfield Days Trade Fair. Event attendees participated in a“Bowtie Coloring Contest” to win awesome prizes for the whole family! Century Chevolet also sponsored the Downtown Louisville Street Faire and doodled on a car with dry erase!
Jonathan Fowler, Vice President of Operations, Fowler Holding Company
We all know that technology is changing the world around us, and it seems like there is a new example of that every day. Whether it’s Google Home, Alexa, the newest phone or app, technology is getting more personal and people have more choice than ever. Through technology we’ve been given the ability to look behind the façade of businesses and people and sometimes even decide not to engage because of what we find. All of this has trickled down into every industry, but especially automotive. We are currently at the crossroads where personal meets public in the technology sphere. In the 90’s, although people were getting personal computers and America Online had a chat function (RIP AIM), tech moves were mostly for business connectivity. Since then, we spent most of our time feeling our way through it. In the 2000’s, you saw tech become highly personal with social media platforms and hand held devices. Now the automotive industry is at the crux of where these two realms meet and must learn how to work together. At one point it seemed as though businesses would be able to
use new tech to our advantage to operate more efficiently and affordably. Now consumers have made tech work for their benefit, as we’ve seen the rise of online reviews and price comparisons, all of which have leveled the playing field. Retail has now gotten back to its root’s and it’s all about the experience. If we can’t make the experience worth the customer’s time and money, then they will take their dollars and go elsewhere. Fowler has always strived to stay ahead in customer service and technology in our industry. Recently, several of our team members attended Digital Dealer in Las Vegas and returned back home with excitement and concern. Their excitement was for new ideas and the validation that we are ahead of the curve. However, they felt concern with how fast the technology is changing and that other dealers are catching up. They also realized there is a gap between how we present ourselves outwardly versus how we present ourselves inside the stores. We have seen online reputation scores rise consistently for some time now, but our manufacturer customer surveys are not growing at the same pace. Thanks to the GM’s and their team members that attended Digital Dealer, we were able to identify two key opportunities that will keep us ahead of the curve and narrow the gap between our online and internal customer scores. First, is more transparent and market driven new car pricing through VAuto’s conquest tool. We have been using this tool for used car pricing for some time with great success. It has allowed us to drive more used car traffic for less advertising dollars, and allowed us to be fully transparent in our pricing.
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Customer response to this has been great. The second opportunity is our Search Engine Optimization and Paid Search strategies. The team at Digital Dealer learned how we can tweak existing strategy to make sure that we are serving the right message to the right customer at the right time. This helps set better expectations and gives us more opportunity to meet said expectations. Beyond this, Donnie Pelkey and the Service Managers
have been working with XTime software in their department to get more transparent information into the hands of the customers quickly, allowing us to communicate on the progress of work and perform services faster than ever. Technology will continue to change our world and industry, but I am confident we will stay ahead of the curve as long as we strive to put customer service first.
Three Honda Deal Makes One Happy Family
COMMUNITY SPOTLIGHT: TULSA PHILBROOK FESTIVAL
Presented by Fowler Toyota Tulsa Friday, December 22 5 p.m. - 8 p.m. Celebrate the holiday season with Philbrook! Day, night, any time. The Museum comes alive with festive holiday events, décor, and thousands of lights reflecting the spirit of the season. Gather the whole family for unforgettable experiences. Enjoy the most beautiful place in Oklahoma during the most wonderful time of the year. Fowler Toyota will be at the event giving away Christmas Cheer! Fowler Toyota of Tulsa is a proud
The “Antuna 3” first stopped in at Fowler Honda to see Scott Warfel in early September to get more information about the new 2017 Honda Accord. At the time, only Shelly Antuna was looking for a new car, but her sister, Brenda Antuna, and niece, Amy Antuna, came along for support. Scott answered all of their questions and even though they weren’t ready to buy just yet, he stayed in contact with them. Fast forward to a phone call later that www.fowlerauto.com
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month and Shelly had made up her mind, but so had Brenda and Amy. All three wanted their very own Honda Accord, in three different colors of course. Scott was happy to oblige and the Antuna 3 lived “Honda-ly” ever after. Thank you to Scott for such great care of our customers, new and old!
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Top: The 1991 Honda Civic “Tape R”. Bottom: Justin Howe racing the “K It Forward” 1986 Plymouth Reliant Wagon at Eagle’s Canyon Raceway in Decatur, TX. Right: Justin’s racing team and the “Tape R”. Below; justin and his wife Meaghan
Employee Spotlight: Justin Howe
JH: Does racing give you the chance to travel the state/ country?
SHIPPING/RECEIVING & PARTS WAREHOUSE CLERK JUSTINE HOWE (HONDA) TELLS US ABOUT HIS INVOLVEMENT WITH AMATEUR RACING
FA: Describe amateur racing in a nutshell: Amateur racing is low budget endurance with the 24 Hours of Lemons series. Teams of 4 to 6 people attempt to race a barely road worthy car worth about $500 for 14-24 hours over the course of a weekend against 60 to 230 other teams for the chance to win a couple boxes of nickels and trophy built out of broken car parts. My team also races our car in the World Racing League series, which is slightly more serious about the racing aspect leading to nicer cars sharing the track with our crapcan.
FA: How did you get into this style of racing? JH:A buddy of mine decided he
non-racing people) on the car for every race, made completely out of different styles and colors of tape. If we can’t be fast, we can at least be pretty.
wanted to build a car for the 24 HoL series, and needed a chassis guy, and I was the guy who knew how to weld and balance chassis dynamics. Most endurance races feature drivers who can kinda build cars, and builders who can sorta drive cars, and I fall more solidly in the second camp.
FA: Tell us about the car(s) you have raced. What are you racing right now? JH: Our first car was a 1996 Miata that we campaigned as the “Spec Pinata”, a play on the much more competitive (and sheet metal crumpling) Spec Miata series. After a couple races with it, we built our 1991 Civic “Tape R”, a play on the old (and current) Civic Type R. To keep with the theme, we put a new livery (paint job for the
MF: While the 24 HoL and WRL both race at road course tracks around the country, most of our racing occurs in the Central Regions of each league, including Hallett here in Oklahoma, The Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Autobahn County Club outside Chicago, and Hi Plains Raceway in the middle of nowhere Colorado. Next season might see us at NOLA Motorsports Park outside New Orleans or Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham.
FA: Tell us about your racing team: JH: Our team consists of a half dozen regulars: myself, Chris Mills, and Brian Dombroski of the OKC metro, Todd Carver of Tulsa, Jim Rowland of NW Arkansas, and Chris ‘Mental’ Ward of Atlanta. As schedules and finances allow, we stock the roster with ourselves, then offer any remaining seat time to a small group of friends we’ve made over the years, mostly from the OKC area. We strive to find kindred spirits, folks who are more interested in having a good time and preserving the car than wringing
Want to pick up a copy of Mike’s book for you or a gift? Get it on Amazon, or ask your local bookstore to order for you! 4
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every last tenth of a second out of a lap and murdering the car in the process. It’s endurance racing, and winning requires finishing.
FA: Do you have a favorite racing story to share? JH: In 2013, a fellow Lemons race team based in Florida decided to offer their 1986 Plymouth Reliant Wagon for free to any team who would race it. That quickly turned into a nationwide bucket brigade called ‘K It Forward’, wherein a team would take possession of the car, race it for a weekend, then hand it off to another team to repeat the process. I picked the car up in Missouri from a team who had raced it at Gingerman Raceway in Michigan and spent the next week chasing a half dozen
engine, transmission, electrical, and suspension problems to get it ready for the following week’s race at Eagles Canyon Raceway in Decatur, Texas. During the race it broke a motor, a control arm, and a couple motor mounts, earning me a trophy for plowing a ton of effort into a hopelessly lost cause. It was both the worst and best week of racing I’ve had; achieving the near impossible, then watching it all fall apart.
parts department and endurance racing Hondas puts me on both sides of the counter, and it gives me the opportunity to offer advice and insight to customers who are working on their own oddball and non-stock Honda projects.
FA: Does racing cross over into your work-life at all? JH: I’ve been playing with cars for longer than I’ve had a license. My parents bought one of the first Preludes delivered to AI Honda in Tulsa, and I’ve been obsessed with the brand ever since. Working in a Honda
Above: Justin Howe recieved the keys to the “K It Forward”
Fowler Family
Let’s celebrate and congratulate our employees and their families!
Welcome Debbie Ellis’s granddaughter! Kealie James Mason born September 21st
Welcome Natasha Rivera’s neice, Zara Devalle Gonzales born July 24th
Welcome Allie Swanson’s baby boy! Thad William Wallace Westrick. 8 lbs 15 oz, 21 1/4 in.
Not pictured: Khalid Bushaala (Century) and Paige Varges welcomed their baby boy Khalil Bushaala to the world!
www.fowlerauto.com
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Happy Customers COMMUNITY SPOTLIGHT: OKC/NORMAN HOLIDAY POP UP SHOPS sponsored by Fowler Honda Nov. 24 - Dec. 23, 10 a.m. - 9 p.m. (Sunday until 6 p.m.) 397 NW 10th St, OKC This year, visit over 40 independent shops, an urban Christmas tree lot managed by Bishop John Carroll School and much more at the Holiday Pop-Up Shops. Shops rotate weekly through a set of geodesic domes & the tree lot is available until trees sell out. Follow on Instagram for a complete schedule of food & beverage vendors, live music and Santa.
A BLACKWATCH CHRISTMAS PARTY presented by Fowler VW Friday, Dec. 8, 7 p.m. - 11 p.m. STASH, 412 E. Main St., Norman Blackwatch Studios and Fowler VW have your holiday soundtrack needs covered with the seventh vinyl collaboration, “A Blackwatch Christmas.” Join us to for performances from the vinyl to help you get in the holiday spirit. Free digital downloads are available for all of the Blackwatch Christmas albums. Download the whole collection and make a donation to Norman Public Schools elementary music programs at www.FowlerVWChristmas.com
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Q1 Top Performers Top Sales DODGE Chauncey Lee TOYOTA OF TULSA Michael Drummond VOLKSWAGEN Zach Brashier
Anniversaries We are proud these employees have called Fowler home for many years! We appreciate you and thank you for your dedicated service.
HONDA Joshua Francis TOYOTA NORMAN Kyle Devon Dwyer CENTURY Sean O’Donnell
Top Service TOYOTA NORMAN Tim Ostwalt Jason Magerus Bryan Blackwell
DODGE John Gatlin Fabian Munoz Kenny Hall
HONDA Joey Colvin Jerome Stark Taylor Henson
TOYOTA TULSA Kyle Powell Michael Whitaker Victoria Thomas
CENTURY Tom Ricicki John Hobart Nicole Holzli
VOLKSWAGEN Taylor Cypert Pat Waters Jacob Fleck
30 Years Ryan Snyder Century 20 Years Dallas McClary Toyota Norman Kirby Rodgers Century
15 Years Lee Ann Cross Honda Ellen Ellis, Toyota Norman
10 Years Vien Tran, Toyota-Norman
Top F&I Producers Jon Hagan, Toyota Norman Tyler Richey, Toyota Norman Brian Dexter, Dodge Dillon Harris, Toyota Norman Joshy Lucero, Dodge
www.fowlerauto.com
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5 Years Mike Fortunato, Century Michael Herrara, Century Christina Mendoza, FHC Tyler Rowe, Honda David Tafoya, Century 7
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2721 36th Avenue N.W. Norman, OK 73072
Fowler Employee Discount Fowler is a proud sponsor of Norman Firehouse Art Center. Fowler employees can enroll in art classes at a discounted rate year round, and winter enrollement begins November 27 for classes starting in January. Children’s classes are structured by age groups, five to six, seven to nine, and ten to fourteen, and include a variety of mediums, including painting, drawing, ceramics, collage, and mixed media.
Adult classes at the Firehouse are offered in a range of mediums, including painting, drawing, ceramics, sculpture, jewelry, printmaking, fiber, glass, and a variety of workshop opportunities. Classes are offered seven days a week, taking place throughout the day, beginning as early as 9 AM and ending as late as 10 PM. To enroll, visit normanfirehouse. com to see the schedule and visit FAC 444 S. Flood Ave and mention you work at Fowler to recieve the member price.
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Telephone contact (405) 573-9909
Have an update, announcement or idea for a story to share? Are you an artist, musician or involved in the community? Contact us!
E-mail contact:
kristenv@fowlerholding.com
Headquarters:
2721 NW 36th Ave , Norman, OK 73072
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