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Mark Fields

Ford Reportedly Set to Name Mark Fields CEO

JKRAdvertising / Auto Industry in the News /

April 24, 2014

Mark Fields

Ford Motor Company COO Mark Fields may soon become Ford CEO Mark Fields. That’s because beloved current CEO Alan Mulally is rumored to be retiring before year’s end, and Fields is said to be the pick to replace him.

Mulally has been CEO of Ford since replacing Bill Ford in 2006, leaving Boeing to take the reins at the then-troubled automaker. Since his arrival, he has not only managed to turn the company’s fortunes around, he did it without any government assistance during the 2008-09 economic crisis.

The 68-year-old Mulally said he would stay through 2014, if necessary, but the board of directors could approve an earlier departure.

Who is Mark Fields?

The Ford governing body certainly appears to have full confidence in Fields, grooming him to take over Mulally’s position since 2012. At that time, he was given the newly created position of Chief Operating Officer … the signal he was next in line for the CEO role.

For his part, 53-year-old Mark Fields seems ready to take over. He is a graduate of Rutgers University who also earned his MBA in Economics at Harvard. He has capably run Ford of Europe, and even moved to Japan to oversee the Mazda brand.

Why Mark Fields Could Be Named CEO Soon

Rather than let Mulally finish out the year, Ford seems determined to use this as an opportunity to show their trust in Mark Fields during this period of transition – which is why this could happen sooner rather than later. Making the announcement on their terms would go a long way toward reassuring Wall Street that the company is in good hands, especially in light of the way the company was viewed last year when rumors swirled that Mulally was leaving to take over Microsoft.

Ford currently has no comment on the matter, saying they’ll let everyone know if and when any changes occur.

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This means that, while sales volume is similar, overall bottom lines are lower for many dealers due to the reduced gross profits. What about your dealership?

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It’s time to turn the page! The time for dealers to simply be order takers for people willing to pay MSRP for a vehicle (and in some cases more) has passed and dealers have to work hard once again to achieve acceptable gross profits.

Selling a high volume of cars doesn’t control gross profits, no matter how much you wish this was the case. Correct processes and menu pricing – and strict adherence to them – do!

What kind of processes?
∙ Slow down the transaction! Your sales staff has to once again sell the customer on the features and benefits of every new and pre-owned vehicle on your lot.

∙ Your salespeople and managers should devalue the customers’ trade-in value (politely, of course) as much as possible. After all, if the customer expects you to lower your price, shouldn’t you be able to do the same on their trade? Remember, you’ll have to fix it up, put your name on it and resell it to someone else with all the tenacity you would a brand-new car. So make sure you buy it right … because the profit is made when you buy it, not when you sell it!

∙ To that end, management should be ready and willing to leave the desk and do thorough walk-arounds on each trade to ensure the best outcome for the dealership.

The Cure for Low Gross Profits
If you are like a lot of dealers these days, you could use some good news. Here it is: while you may not have the capability to achieve profit margins similar to those you enjoyed during the pandemic, they could likely be improved. JKR’s clients enjoy the benefit of attracting not only more customers, but better ones, too!

If meeting and exceeding your sales goals (and increasing gross profits at the same time) sounds great to you, you need to call us. Don’t settle for reduced gross profits when help is out there to get you closer to where you’d like to be.

Want to know how we do it? Reach out to Senior Partner Richard Brauns (407) 701-4233 or Partner/Vice President Jon Albert (407) 718-2494 today.

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