Butch Oustalet Ford Makes a Smooth Transition to the Ford SMARTT Program

In Gulfport, Mississippi, Butch Oustalet Ford is a family-owned business that sells vehicles made by Ford, Lincoln and other manufacturers. They work hard to find the best fit for each and every client.

Service Director Eddie Seal has been working with Butch Oustalet since 1994. For the last three years, he’s also been the Memphis Region delegate to the Parts and Service Managers Advisory Council for the Ford Motor Company. “We switched to SMARTT for a variety of reasons,” Seal says, “It came highly recommended from a delegate I trust from the Advisory Council.”

Butch Oustalet Staff Learns Fast

The transition to the Ford SMARTT system started with an on-site technical assessment. Seal explains, “CDK Global first made sure that we could handle the transition. They sent out a networking team to check our infrastructure and make sure our wireless internet and bandwidth didn’t need to be upgraded.They also sent out some process specialists to observe our team and see how we interact with customers. To have them watch how we moved around the vehicles was helpful, and we really appreciated knowing that the program would be tailored to fit our needs.”

“Next, I went with our Parts Manager to another Ford dealership already using the SMARTT program,” Seal reports. “We observed every aspect of the system — from write-up and inspection, to billing and inventory. Obviously, every dealership works a little differently. But we wanted to put together a list of potential questions and scenarios and how to adapt to them.”

With the Ford SMARTT Program, Butch Oustalet Goes From Good to Great

Butch Oustalet Ford services between 100 and 110 cars every day, so volume is a significant factor. According to Seal, “As we began implementing the SMARTT program in different facets of the dealership, we did run into a few bugs. But we expected that, and CDK was prepared for it; our trainers and project manager helped us overcome them easily. I can’t say enough good things about the team CDK provided. They were accommodating and flexible, and worked well as a team with our team. We were very grateful for them.”

Seal concludes, “The process is completely seamless now. Everyone is up to speed with the SMARTT Program, and we’re running at full efficiency. We were already pretty good as a group, but now we’re even better. We can track lost sales and lost opportunity dollars, and we’re all accountable to make sure we’re doing what we’re supposed to be doing. We’ve officially moved into the 21st century of technology, and we couldn’t be happier about it.”

"I can’t say enough good things about the team CDK provided. They were accommodating and flexible, and worked well as a team with our team. We were very grateful for them."
— Eddie Seal
Service Director
Butch Oustalet Ford

To learn what the Ford SMARTT program can do for your dealership,
call 888.424.6342, email [email protected] or visit cdkglobal.com.