To illustrate one approach to his dealership’s success, there’s an example Scott Fink uses that most of us can likely relate to — whether we’re in the dealership world or not.

If he was traveling to a new city and a friend recommends a restaurant, that’s where Fink is eating, period — the referral is that important.

 “If my friend told me that’s where I need to go, that’s where I’m going to go,” said Fink, the president, chief executive officer and owner of Hyundai of New Port Richey and several other Florida dealerships. “And we take that same simple philosophy, and we put it into everything we do.”

That philosophy Fink refers to — putting the customer first and recognizing the power of referrals — is the linchpin of his dealership’s success.

And it appears to have paid off: Fink and his team at Hyundai of New Port Richey have been named Auto Remarketing’s 2014 CPO Dealer of the Year, presented by NCM Associates.

Hyundai of New Port Richey will be presented the award at 4 p.m. (PST) today at CPO | The Pre-Owned Conference as part of Used Car Week.

Troy Morgan, who is the service manager of the dealership’s stand-alone CPO sales center, is accepting the award on site at the event. Then at 10:30 a.m. PST on Tuesday, Morgan will join a panel discussion on the “Top 10 Things You Can Do Now to Improve Your Store and Create a CPO Sales Champion.” 

“I would say, in a nutshell, our growth and our success is directly related to our business philosophy, which is, the customer has to come first,” Fink said. “And we don’t say that just to say that. We recognize that vocal advocate is going to touch more and recommend more than any amount of advertising on direct-mail, TV and radio that I could ever do.”

This philosophy, Fink says, dates back to when he started the business.

Fink — who began his auto industry career working for Ford before moving into the retail side in 1989 —opened Hyundai of New Port Richey in 2003 with his team after being awarded an open-point from Hyundai.

“This was an open-point in a county that had no Hyundai representation. So the entire units in operation for the brand in my primary market area was about 125. So, I said to my operational partner and I said to my team, ‘Our job, from Day 1 is to build a vocal army of advocates that are going to go out and help us sell this brand.’

“And that’s what we’ve done,” he added. “And honestly, that’s what we continue to do.”

Lessons Learned from Accounting

Fink got started in the car business in 1985, working for Ford Motor Co. He would move into the retail side four years later when he went into a partnership to buy a Mitsubishi dealership in Clearwater, Fla., before eventually buying a neighboring Toyota dealership.

Following successful runs, Fink said, the stores were both sold to Sonic Automotive. And after opening Hyundai of New Port Richey in 2003, they were awarded open-points for Hyundai of Wesley Chapel and Mazda of Wesley Chapel, opened a stand-alone certified used-car location, and bought a Chevrolet store. They also bought and sold a Hyundai dealership in DeLand, Fla.

Interestingly enough, Fink’s educational background in is accounting — and that’s something that has proved to be quite important in the car business.

“I think the biggest thing is the fact that — and I think it’s different today — but when I first started in the car business working for Ford Motor Co., a lot of the dealers were maybe sales managers or came from the sales side of the business, and they weren’t necessarily very comfortable or experienced with financial statements … or the overall financial aspect of running a business,” Fink said.

“When I started at Ford in 1985, 30 years ago, the business was not nearly as complex as it is today. And I’ll be the first to tell you that it’s a very, very difficult business to operate efficiently and effectively unless you have a strong financial background or you have people around you that are strong financially,” he continued.

“So, I’ve been able to be successful because I have a pretty good grip on the financial aspect of the business.”

Leading Hyundai Dealers

Fink’s career path has also taken him to this role: he is the current chair of Hyundai’s national dealer council, and has served in this role for more than six years.

In this capacity, Fink has been able to meet twice with the chairman and CEO of Hyundai Motor Co.  When asked what he learned from Chung Mong Koo, Fink — who spoke with the Hyundai chairman and CEO through an interpreter at a breakfast in Korea — said he spoke highly of the company’s U.S. dealer base.

“He was very appreciate of the dealers, and the dealer council and the effort that the dealers in America put forth to not only excel the Hyundai brand and product, but to represent it so appropriately,” Fink said.