Company: Autohaus Arizona Inc., Phoenix, AZ
Company Description: AutohausAZ sells OEM parts for European & Asian cars worldwide via its website. Founded in 1979 (Autohaus Phoenix) as a local wholesale distributor, Autohaus was sold to its current owner in 1996. Its website was launched in 1998. With active customers in 110+ countries, Autohaus growth over past 3 years has been exponential & it has won many awards for diversity, growth & innovation.
Nomination Category: Sales Team Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Online Sales Team of the Year

Nomination Title: AutohausAZ's Sales Team Provides a Personal Touch in an Impersonal Online World

1. Tell the story about what this nominated team achieved since the beginning of July last year (up to 500 words). Focus on specific accomplishments, and relate these accomplishments to past performance or industry norms. Be sure to mention obstacles overcome, innovations or discoveries made, and outcomes:

AutohausAZ builds its reputation on professional integrity, personalized and
friendly customer service and high-quality products. A large part of the
company's success is due to treating customers with the utmost respect to let
them know their business is highly valued. The customer service/sales
department has direct contact with customers, but AutohausAZ's corporate
philosophy is that customer service is a companywide commitment. Everyone at
AutohausAZ plays a role in building long-term customer relationships.
This philosophy has allowed AutohausAZ to grow substantially in an industry
marked by stagnation in recent years. Comparing 07/2007 to 07/2008, sales
increased 41.13%, while employees increased 11.11%. Customer calls increased
73.91%, with phone calls/salesperson increased from 1,207 to 2,098/month.
AutohausAZ's customer service/sales department internally handles all calls
and emails from customers worldwide and provides an easy, pleasant,
informative customer experience while ensuring the efficiency, accuracy and
quality of the service customers receive. Customers receive personal
assistance with questions, looking up parts and processing orders.
The technical department built and maintains the online catalog and integrated
interface for assisting customers (i.e. look up parts, process orders, send
customer notifications). These improvements allow AutohausAZ to assist
customers quickly and knowledgably without sacrificing the "personal touch".
Conversely, nearly all competitors use dropship programs from outside vendors
who handle catalog maintenance, order processing, packing and shipping. Most
competitors also outsource customer service, with call centers handling
customer interaction. AutohausAZ feels it's not in the customer's nor the
company's best interests to lose control over performance of critical
functions.

AutohausAZ implemented several automation improvements in the shipping
department to handle increased packages with decreased errors. July 2007 vs.
2008 monthly package volume went up by 37.79%, while errors decreased
substantially. Industry return rates (indicators of catalog and shipping
errors) average 12%-15%; AutohausAZ's return rate is 2%-3%, significantly
below industry averages.

Warehouse efficiency increased through redesign of shipping stations,
incorporating scales and autofed weights into shipping records and development
of a parts-picking program using PDAs. As with all technological
improvements, the picking program was written in-house and tailored to
staffing, warehouse layout and order-processing flow. This decreased picking
time by pulling multiple orders simultaneously. Additionally, PDAs increased
accuracy and decreased training time by displaying on-screen images for each
part (nearly 20,000 parts).

Purchasing also benefited from interface improvements. By incorporating code
allowing communications between different computer platforms, automating
vendor ordering and allowing variable specification for stock levels,
AutohausAZ significantly minimized purchasing time while maximizing inventory
turns. The industry standard inventory turnover is 4%-6%; AutohausAZ's
purchasing interface provides 12%-15% turnover without sacrificing the ability
to provide superior customer service, shipping all orders the same or next
business day.

Additionally, all departments developed standardized training manuals to
reduce training time and increase cross-training. This reduces errors,
decreases training expenses and allows AutohausAZ the ability to consistently
provide the superior customer service all customers expect.
Overall, these changes allowed AutohausAZ to increase operational efficiency
(measured by annual sales/employee) by 27.01%, from $471,500/employee in 07/07
to $598,900/employee in 07/08. Compared to the industry standard of $125,000-
$130,000/employee, AutohausAZ is proud of its accomplishments.

2. List hyperlinks to any online news stories, press releases, or other documents that support the claims made in the section above. IMPORTANT: Begin each link with http://, and enclose each link in square brackets; for example, [http://www.youraddress.com]:

Customer comments:
- http://www.autohausaz.com/html/customercomments.aspx

2008 DiversityBusiness awards:
- http://www.autohausaz.com/html/diversity-business.html

2008 Inc Magazine/Inc 5000 & Inc Top 100 awards:
- http://www.autohausaz.com/html/inc-5000.html
- http://www.inc.com/inc5000/2008/the-full-list.html?sort=state&order=ASC&o=50
- http://www.inc.com/inc5000/2008/company-profile.html?id=200818680
- http://www.inc.com/inc5000/2008/lists/retail-companies.html?sort=listrank&order=&o=50
- http://www.inc.com/inc5000/2008/lists/phoenix-mesa-scottsdale-az.html

2008 Arizona Companies to Watch award:
- http://www.autohausaz.com/html/az-company-to-watch.html
- http://www.reuters.com/article/pressRelease/idUS170410+08-Sep-2008+PRN20080908
- http://news.moneycentral.msn.com/provider/providerarticle.aspx?feed=PR&date=20080908&id=9112971

2008 Stevies for Women in Business Finalist - Website of the Year (top award
not yet named):
- http://www.stevieawards.com/pubs/women/awards/414_2252_19418.cfm

2008 Arizona Woman Million Dollar Club:
- http://www.facebook.com/pages/Arizona-Woman-Magazine/17467778677

3. Provide a brief (up to 100 words) biography about the leader(s) of the nominated team:

Tom Giedt, Customer Service Manager, has a 15-year customer service
background, 7 years at AutohausAZ. With his multi-functional experience, he
effectively develops and refines procedures and intuitively handles situations
relating to customer satisfaction and staff training/development. Tom
integrates flexibility and cooperation among departments to ensure superior
customer service standards are consistently maintained. He closely monitors
customers' needs, trends and daily operations to ensure all aspects of the
customer experience, from initial contact through receipt of merchandise, are
substantially above customer expectations. Working directly with top
management, he's helped AutohausAZ continually adapt to the ever-changing,
expanding and diverse markets served by AutohausAZ, and he plays a key role in
the Company's success.