Jim Dunn, general manager at JM Lexus, believes that if it isn't broken, then break it and make it better.
That philosophy led the Margate, Fla., dealership in March 2012 to replace its traditional salespeople with product specialists who help customers find the vehicles that best fit their needs.
After that, the specialists step aside and leave price negotiations and financing to sales managers.
Eliminating the middleman from negotiating has helped the dealership cut the time a customer spends in the store after deciding to buy a specific vehicle to 2.5 hours from 3.5 hours, including delivery. It also is among the reasons that JM Lexus has kept its title as the world's largest-volume seller of new Lexus vehicles for 22 straight years.
In 2013, the dealership sold 5,976 new Lexus vehicles, up 27 percent from 2012. It also increased its used-vehicle sales 5 percent to 2,400.
"If you'd asked me last year, I would have never said we were going to improve by 27 percent," Dunn says of the store's new-vehicle sales.
He says he doesn't expect such a large increase this year, adding, "But how tall do trees grow? I think we'll see a 10 percent increase for new at our dealership and pre-owned, probably 15 percent."
JM Family Enterprises Inc. owns JM Lexus. JM Family Enterprises also owns Southeast Toyota Distributors, which distributes Toyota and Scion brand vehicles, parts and accessories to 176 Toyota dealerships in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina. JM Lexus is not part of the Southeast Toyota region.