A 'White Knight' for Buick Fleet

After serving as Buick fleet head from 1980-81, Bob Henderson's now back in that post, attempting to turn the division's sagging sales record around. In this interview, AF's Ed Bobit asks Henderson how he plans to do it.

AF: I think everyone is enthused that you're back with us, Bob. To the best of my knowledge, you are the only fleet director who has been reappointed fleet director as well as named director of distribution for a major division. What are your thoughts about coming back to this post?

Henderson: It may surprise people, but I'm very excited about it for several reasons. First of all, I enjoy the fleet job. I think it is one of the most fascinating areas of our business that's out there. It is changing. I just feel excited about fleet and the opportunities in fleet. Buick has made some interesting changes that I heartily concur with. I'll admit that at the time they were announced, I had a little problem. But I think that it is going to take somebody with fleet experience to make those changes bear fruit. It is a challenge they've thrown into my court and I'm looking forward to it as well as having the fleet job back.

AF: You now have two major areas of responsibility - and distribution is certainly one. Others in the industry question whether you're going to be able to devote enough time to fleet when distribution is such an equally demanding area, with forecasts and meetings and arbitrating with key people. How do you think you are going to allocate your time or do you think you'll be able to do it?

Henderson: Look at it this way. I'm Buick's fleet director with some additional responsibilities. I guess the verdict will be out for a few more months, but distribution, with the computer age, has become very systemic. Things happen because the numbers are put into computers and the computer gives us great guidance on where to go and on what product, the type of components we need and all the other various factors that go into scheduling and producing the car for the marketplace. When I had the fleet job before, I knew that we needed a closer relationship with distribution. To be effective in fleet we have to be able to produce the right product and we have to get cars into the fleet market as needed. It was discouraging to me when I had the job before that when we did some business I had to fight with the director of distribution to make those things come true. I fell we just had to have a closer liaison. I think the philosophy of putting fleet closer to the distribution has great merit and, of course, my job will be to make that come true in the minds of the fleet market and with fleet people. Buick, in fact, docs have a better idea - to coin a phrase from our competition. I think it will work.

I think you hit on the one thing that we need to resolve. And that is the time. You make the necessary time to do both. I'm happy that our management says, 'Bob, fleet is yours - you should devote your time on that.' I'm back and I'm involved. I know what we have to get done. It shouldn't take that much time. We think it will work its way together. I'm not going to promise that some day Buick won't say, 'Well, I guess maybe we do need two people because of the time factor?" But we won't divorce ourselves from the philosophy of putting fleet and distribution closer together because I think developing an effective and responsive licet distribution system has got to be a primary goal of all companies interested in fleet.

AF: Do you feel that the field force for the fleet sales group is as effective working under the regional manager as they would be directly under you as director?

Henderson: Well, selfishly, I'd like to think that it would be under me, but you have to understand that Buick - as well as other companies - has awakened to the fact that the whole United States is made up of various markets and great variety. There is no consistency. An advertising campaign that works in the Northeast may not work in the Southwest. Regional marketing, which is a phrase that everyone seems to be using, is very much "in" today. I think it has great merit. That is really what we at Buick have done - we've assigned assistant general sales managers to live in the field, in their area, so they can experience their area and develop product and non-product strategy to meet that area. They are responsible for every sale in that area, including fleet. Therefore we felt that the fleet managers should report to those individuals. We feel that they have the kind of power and clout to get the job done. Now the question is who handles the major national accounts - that is, PHH, Gelco, Hertz, National and such. We have to do that, from out of the plant. We need to develop our expertise there so that we have a closer liaison, but I think that between both, we'll have a very adequate and very superior fleet organization.

AF: What has happened to Buick fleet sales in the last couple of years?

Henderson: We're off this year, there's no question, and I'm not going to say this hasn't hurt some of our numbers and some of our forecasts and things that we wanted to do. I think that you can attribute that to a number of things - any of which we probably could have overcome, all the way from not having a wheel on a certain car to the color combination to the interior, some content in the cars. Our reorganization, I think, was completely misperceived by the fleet industry. It all added up to the common phrase: 'Is Buick interested in fleet?' I put that right next to the phrase 'the check is in the mail.' It is one of the great misconceptions of history. We're definitely interested in fleet. And I'd have to tell you that when we are done we will have a superior fleet department, more responsive, more service oriented, more capable of discussing all aspects of fleet with any fleet customer and filling their fleet needs with the particular products that we have.

AF: Do you have any specific plans to make your fleet group more effective or to get those sales back up?

Henderson: I have bounced around a great number of plans in my head, but at this point in time I have to tell you that I haven't sold a lot of those to our management. I can tell you this though: I've spent a great deal of time since I've been back on the job (one month) with our top management. And they're nodding their head on virtually every suggestion. It is just a matter of me getting those suggestions on paper, formalized and approved so that we can go ahead and turn around this misconception and put Buick back very much in the minds of all the fleet customers.

AF: How would you characterize or summarize the response from Don Hackworth's recent round of personal calls on major lessors, like PHH and Gelco. When he asks the question, 'How come we're not getting more of your business?' how would you characterize the response?

Henderson: I think the response has been fantastic - we've been very frank and honest. I don't think anybody has glossed over where Buick is and how Buick is perceived right at this point. We need to develop solutions for some of the product problems - and again, when I say 'product problem,' don't put in your mind that we have products that aren't performing to expectations; it's just the content and the little things that are not exactly in line with what a fleet buyer wants. It has been a great two-way conversation. You'll find in our top management and particularly through these contacts with Mr. Hackworth that he's probably as close to the fleet market as far as what we need to do as any top manager or field manager of any division right now. I almost hate to say that because I'm sure that somebody will prove me wrong. But I do know that Mr. Hackworth and I have had some very good conversations after these contacts, which have shown me that he has a pretty good understanding.

AF: Buick has always been known as a quality, finely engineered car, a 'premiere' car of sorts. It certainly has been a hot fleet car in some years past, as a line. Do you think the corporate pricing structure has been a help or a hindrance to you in the widening gap between yourselves and sister divisions?

Henderson: I don't know. I have to be honest with you. The pricing gap which you refer to, whether established by the corporation or partly self-inflicted, we're looking at that. We continue to want to be the type of company that you've described: an upscale, yet attractively-priced company that will go into service and will come out of service with that same attractive price such that the dollars are not significantly different than that of our competition over the entire ownership experience. I think this falls into that area where we need to do a few things and it won't be much.

AF: Finally, do you have any special message for lessor buyers and fleet managers as to what's coming in the future or what understanding you might want from them?

Henderson: You know me, I like to get up on a soapbox and start talking about Buick and most specifically in this case, the Buick fleet advantage. We feel that in the end, on the bottom line, we'll have developed a service-oriented, a sales-oriented, a knowledgeable, and responsive fleet department ready to discuss with any fleet buyer their particular needs and how Buick would fit into their fleet and be attractive to them. We're ready to go on that basis.