By CRM Staff
Hamilton, Ontario — January 27, 2018 — Following a healthy 2017, CARSTAR executives sat down to discuss their plans and ambitions for the up-coming year. In on the call included CARSTAR North America President Michael Macaluso, CARSTAR Canada Vice-President of Insurance John Harvey and CARSTAR Canada Associate Vice President of operations Jeff Labanovich.
The company has three main goals of which it is aiming to reach this year, and are centred around ensuring the customer experience is always at the front and centre of its program.
First, speaking on behalf of CARSTAR, Macaluso stated they plan to work towards expanding their North American footprint to well over 650 facilities in total by the end of the year, after adding 115 new locations. Some of this development will come in the form of express repair facilities-shops that will offer quick repair services for minor vehicle damage. “Express services are centred around customer convenience,” said Macaluso.
Growth in the form of new facilities is expected to occur largely in the greater Toronto area (GTA), British Columbia and Quebec, rural Ontario and rural Alberta, where the numbers of CARSTAR facilities are minimal compared to other areas in Canada. Macaluso noted, “British Columbia is one of our last frontiers, so to speak. We have 25 locations in British Columbia.” In Quebec, CARSTAR has 65. “With great existing franchise partners, there is great potential for new territory, and a lot of open space.”
Second, CARSTAR hopes to encourage sales growth for existing franchise systems. “We are laser focused on ensuring stability and success with our partners – both franchise partners and insurance partners,” said Macaluso. CARSTAR is set on focusing its growth on helping its existing franchise partners open up new locations as well as further establish their current repair shops through improving key performance indexes (KPI). “KPI is a key area of focus,” he added.
The third thing CARSTAR hopes to do this year is execute the EDGE performance group platform under Labanovich’s leadership. The EDGE performance platform, a training and operational excellence program, is designed to drive performance improvements for our franchise and insurance partners success. Harvey commented on the initiative, stating, “The EDGE performance group platform could not come at a better time.” He continued, “It’s a marriage of our best practices. We recognize now more than every that we are only as good as out operational platform, and with this exceptional platform we will drive strategic growth.”
For more information, please visit carstar.ca.
