For the Love of Community Community Driver Craig Kalawsky is making a difference BY LAUREN KRAMER, BLACK PRESS CONTRIBUTOR You’d be hard-pressed to find a dealer principal more deserving of the Community Driver Award than Craig Kalawsky, who was recently named a 2020 recipient of the prestigious award from the New Car Dealers Association of BC. The award recognizes dealers who make a tangible contribution to the growth and livability of their community, and for Kalawsky, of Castlegar Toyota, it comes naturally. Kalawsky has watched his parents, Darlene and Neil, make significant changes to their community through their work in automotive dealerships since 1978, and when he took the helm of Castlegar Toyota, he introduced changes that have impacted young and old, rich and poor, in the region. The dealership runs two annual events to deliver extra food supplies to the Community Harvest Food Bank, incentivizing service customers to bring donations by offering them 10 per cent discounts on their vehicle service. “We have a truck in the showroom that we use to collect the food donations, and each time we run this promotion we’re able to fill it with $2,000 worth of food,” Kalawsky said. “We’ve been doing this for the past eight years and we’ve been able to fill a lot of trucks, which is great because food banks across the country need our support.” In the holiday season, Castlegar Toyota runs a Giving Tree promotion whereby customers who bring a child’s toy can get discounts of up to 50 per cent off their service bills. Last year $500 worth of toys were collected for local families.
“In rural communities like ours there isn’t a lot of big industry to take on projects like these, so everyone has to help each other out where they can,” Kalawsky reflected. “These are some things that I personally believe in and support, and in a community our size, you can see the difference it makes for people.” Castlegar Toyota also throws its weight behind the Communities in Bloom initiative, a worldwide program to beautify cities and increase environmental stewardship and education through landscaping, murals and keeping cities clean. “We give donations, volunteer and provide vehicle support to move plants and equipment,” Kalawsky said. “This has been a major feather in the cap for Castlegar and we’ve won provincial, national and international recognition for the beauty of our community.” Kalawsky was surprised to find out he was selected as the award recipient: “In a tighter community you want to do this—not out of any need for recognition—because that, to me, is not important. I want to help out because it’s the right thing to do. If we all work together we can make a difference in a big way,” he said. “I saw my parents improve the industry and help in the community and I learned that no matter how big or small a dealership you are, you can still contribute. We’re fortunate in that this area has allowed us to be very successful, and I think you need to support the people that are supporting you.”
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Real-World Training. Built for Now. BY DAN SMITH, NCM In today’s fast-paced automotive retail environment, the need for ever-changing and ever-lasting training is always important. Our current environment for safety for both staff and customers has become more important than ever. Throughout my career, I’ve discovered that training programs often lack real-world applications. Often they are taught by people without experience in a retail automotive environment. This is what sets effective training apart from programs that simply relay information to the participant. The automotive landscape has rapidly changed, but the need for well-trained dealership employees and future leaders has not. Training is not an occasional item; it is a commitment that we as dealers make to develop our future leaders. With that said, I want to share effective virtual training that the team at NCM has developed to assist dealers in ongoing training and development for their staff. This virtual training product enables immediate sales returns as well as increased customer service and employee satisfaction. This occurs without added travel expense and time away from the dealership. In August of this year, I participated in several of our newly designed virtual training classes. From Used Vehicle Management
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to Service Management training programs, I was able to study the format and interact with the participants. The results were amazing! NCM’s virtual training isn’t a pre-canned program the user simply navigates, but rather a live session led by experienced industry experts. The goal is to deliver a structured program and ensure there is a healthy and interactive dialogue among participants and the instructor. NCM recommends managers attend the virtual class with the students, allowing the manager to understand what the student has learned and heard in the virtual class. This ensures that the teachings are followed up on—in and through the dealership. As a result, the learning experience is created in a team environment where expectations and accountabilities of the student are set. Participants get to interact with other students via camera and participate in polling questions that provide them with information about what their peers are experiencing on a specific subject. This leads to in-depth group discussions to better assist them in learning how to apply the material from the class in a real-world setting. To learn more, call us today at 866.756.2620 or email ncmi@ncmassociates.com.
