Planet Nissan is No. 1 in Western sales region

Planet Nissan in the northwest valley has doubled its figures in the past year, and a finely tuned team of employees is to credit for the dealership's rebound.

Among the keys to Planet Nissan's success are new-car manager Jennifer Gardner; business development center manager Patricia Davila; sales managers Chad Marnach, Jason Meixner and Joe Rahme; used-car manager Steve Hristov; finance manager Lou Cushler; and General Manager Sam Amer.

The dealership is currently No. 1 in Nissan's Western region including Nevada, California, Arizona and Utah.

"There is an angel looking over us at Planet Nissan, because we continue to improve and increase our sales month by month since the business bottomed out two years ago," Gardner said. "A lot of our success is based on the fact that we don't depend on floor traffic. We call our customers back to check on them, and people appreciate that we do that. We really try to stay in contact with all over customers.

"Our motto is to treat everyone in our dealership as an honored guest."

Marnach, a sales manager who has been with the dealership for 2½ years, said Planet Nissan knew how to adjust when the economy went sour.

"Like Jennifer says, we don't wait for people to walk into the store, Marnach said. "We get on the phone and we make it happen."

Meixner added, "We resorted back to the fundamentals of sales and customer service. When you're in business of sales, it's very important to treat customers the way you want to be treated. Many times people come in for one car and once they find out how well they are treated, we then find ourselves helping other customers who were referred to us."

Rahme pointed out that only one sales consultant is allowed to approach each customer.

"Our customers are not haggled when they come here," said Rahme. "We are a team and we work together.

"Every one of our customer responses go directly to our general manager. I have never seen an open-door policy like the one they have here."

Davila has a staff of six which operates primarily on laptop computers.

"We are really efficient when leads come in," said Davila, who has been with the dealership for four years. "The Internet is not an eight-hour job, and our people know they need to move quickly. In the past few months, our BDC numbers have increased dramatically."

Amer praised the entire staff for its effort.

"Our people pulled together during some very challenging times," said Amer. "We rose to another level rather than letting the hard times defeat us.

"We're here to stay, and we're not fly-by-night. It all starts by taking care of the customer."

Planet Nissan is situated at 5850 Centennial Center Blvd., in the northwest valley. Further information may be found by calling the dealership at 876-8000, or by visiting www.planet-nissan.com.

The dealership is part of Staluppi Automotive Group which, has five dealerships in Southern Nevada and more than 26 dealerships nationwide.