Rena Picou Trevathan
July 12, 2011
Jeanne R. Lefort
July 14, 2011
Ask a first time visitor to Terrebonne Parish what they thought about their stopover and a very plausible response may be, “The people there are just so nice!” Not surprisingly, a similar response may be heard if they had just visited Houma’s only Honda automotive dealership, Barker Honda.
Striving to embody the warm and welcoming nature of our area, the dealership, which occupies the corner of Martin Luther King Boulevard and Enterprise Drive, focuses much of its attention on the happiness of its patrons. Simply ask the business’ managing partner Lester Bimah what he feels is the most important part of the dealership’s success: Providing a personal experience and aiming for 100 percent customer satisfaction are at the top of his list.
“We are a family dealership. We take care of our customers. We know who you are, we know your kids and we know your family. It’s a family-oriented atmosphere.” Bimah said of his Honda home. “In a small town like the Houma-Thibodaux area you’ve got to keep good customer CSI, good customer satisfaction. We put a lot of emphasis on it because that is where you make a living. You treat people badly, they’re not going to come back to you.”
New car sales manager Jed Duplantis agreed with Bimah and added, “Honda’s dedicated to customer service. That’s where they have made their mark in the industry. So they are very serious about it. Most of the awards that are available to a dealer are tied to customer satisfaction … The Barker’s take it seriously and it’s a good partnership with Honda because they have the same philosophy.”
The Barker family has been a driving force in Houma’s automotive market since 1940, when Richard Barker Jr. founded Terrebonne Ford. Sixty years later in February of 2000, the Barker family purchased Cournoyer Honda and invited Bimah along for the ride.
“Eleven years ago, Mr. Dickie and Mike Barker offered me the opportunity to come in with them and I accepted it,” reminisced Bimah, who originally started working for the Barker family in the late 1990’s. He formerly acted as the business manager for Barker Mistubishi, one of the other Barker automotive dealerships in the area.
According to the managing partner, women are the primary purchasers of Honda vehicles and the number one car Honda sells is the Accord. Civics are popular among the younger generation, while the Odyssey van is a great family transport. Several of Honda’s vehicles receive excellent gas mileage, including the Fit and Civic. The brand is also known for its high resale value, incredible safety ratings and low maintenance.
“In the last J.D. Power’s report, Honda was number two for the most trouble-free car. Lexus was number one and Honda was number two,” Bimah remarked.
While new vehicles are arriving every month at the Houma dealership, there has been a slight lull in automobile availability due to the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan, where one of Honda’s factories is located. Bimah said the setback should be resolved soon.
“The biggest problem we are having right now is the availability of cars. Eighty percent of the cars are built in the United States, but the parts come from Japan, so we are experiencing a tremendous problem right now with inventory,” he explained. “It should be another month before we start getting regular inventory. It’s definitely going to come back. It’s just that the factory is not up and running yet at full capacity since the tsunami and earthquake.”
In an attempt to retain faithful Honda clients and keep with their tradition of customer satisfaction, the car company has come up with the Honda Promise Program due to the shortage. Duplantis, who has been with the company for almost five years, said that while some consumers may have to wait for the car of their dreams, they won’t lose out on any deals.
“The promise is on virtually every model and Honda because of the tsunami in Japan and the shortage of cars, in an effort to keep loyal Honda customers … said that as long as the purchase of the car takes place within 6 months, they are going to guarantee the incentives on a car we have coming in the future,” the sales manager explicated. “If we don’t have the car they like, we can register them with Honda and if they agree to buy the car at a certain price now, they are guaranteed to at least get incentives as good as we have today. If they happen to be better, then they will get the better rates. But if the rates go away they would be guaranteed to have those (initial) rates.”
“It’s designed to keep from losing loyal Honda customers,” Bimah added. “Customer loyalty is a big part of the business now.”
While customer satisfaction is one of the pivotal forces behind the Barker Honda dealership’s success, Bimah applauded his staff for their contributions to the business and exclaimed, “I’m nothing without my employees. They are the heart and soul of the dealership. That’s the truth.” ALYSON SHOWALTER
