Service technicians from Volvo Trucks North America, Greensboro NC, dealership Pare Centre du Camion Volvo in Levis, Quebec, Canada, emerged victorious at the Volvo VISTA 2009 competition on April 16, according to Volvo information.
VISTA is a hands-on competition to select the top dealer service and parts personnel, and to highlight technician excellence. It is also an exciting and effective way to maintain a high level of technical skill and proficiency in the Volvo dealer network.
The members of the winning team were Daniel Blais, Benoit Raby, and Mario Labrecque. This was the second time this team has won the Volvo VISTA competition in North America--their first win was in 2003.
The other two teams to reach the final rounds represented GATR of Sauk Rapids Inc, Sauk Rapids MN, and Central Valley Truck Center, Fresno CA.
A total of 148 three person teams from 85 Volvo dealers competed in the latest VISTA challenge since its start last October. Participation in the biennial event requires significant dedication of time and effort by the participants. Each team usually consists of a mix of service and parts experts.
There were three rounds of competition involving online technical questions to produce three teams of finalists, who then traveled to Greensboro for the final round. All the answers for the written questions are contained in Volvo service and parts literature, and the finalists were tested on their knowledge of service bulletins and ability to look up parts and service information within the Volvo system. There was also a strong hands-on element to the competition, where the contestants had to troubleshoot pre-determined faults placed on two Volvo trucks and a Volvo D13 engine.
Since the VISTA program began in Scandinavia in 1977, Volvo has seen a strong correlation between dealers with teams in the final round and high customer satisfaction indexes. This has been linked to dealer leadership and willingness to invest in personnel and competence development.