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Web Site Changes

As Garry advises his dealer-clients, "Just like an airport, your dealership Web site will never, ever be functionally complete!" This Web site is no different; please be patient with us, as we continually strive to enhance the content and improve the functionality. 

Miscellaneous Photos of Garry House

ABOUT GARRY HOUSE

Education

 

Mr. House was raised in Richfield Springs, New York, and he graduated from Richfield Springs Central School as valedictorian of his class.  He then attended Hamilton College at Clinton, New York, for two years, pursuing a Liberal Arts curriculum with a major in economics.  Garry then transferred to General Motors Institute in Flint, Michigan, sponsored by Hydramatic Division.  He attended GMI for 3½ years, in the Industrial Engineering degree program.

Retail Automotive Career

 

In July, 1964, House married Sabra Wilson, whose father, Glenn Wilson, had recently (1963) purchased the Buick-Oldsmobile dealership in Fenton, Michigan.  During the early stages of Mr. House's GMI "Fifth-Year" program at Hydramatic Division, Wilson convinced him that his "career direction" should be toward the Retail Automobile Business; subsequently, in May, 1965, House resigned from General Motors Corporation, prior to receiving his degree from GMI, to become a Sales Representative at Glenn Wilson Buick-Oldsmobile, Inc.

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Early in 1966, House became an officer and stockholder in the Glenn Wilson dealership, and was named on the "Successor Addendum" to the GM Sales and Service Agreement in 1967.  Also in 1967, he assumed the responsibilities of General Sales Manager at the dealership.  In late 1968, when Wilson decided to semi-retire, Mr. House was appointed Vice President, General Manager, and Chief Operating Officer of the dealership.

 

In 1973 House negotiated for and acquired the GMC Truck franchise, which was added to the other two General Motors franchises held by the dealership.  Following the death of Glenn Wilson in 1974, Mr. House became President, Dealer Operator, and majority stockholder of the dealership and remained in that capacity until April, 1987.

 

During the waning months of the recession in late 1982, House and his management staff began an aggressive campaign to increase the dealership's "share" of the Greater Flint Area automotive market.  This strategy proved so successful, in that, for each of the next five years (1982-1986), Glenn Wilson's was one of the top five volume automotive dealerships in the county, finishing 1st in 1983, 3rd in 1984, and 2nd in 1985.  The dealership's best volume year was 1985, when sales of 3,000 new Buicks, Oldsmobiles, and GMC Trucks were recorded.

 

In mid-1986, House and J.M. Harris, the only officers and share­holders of the dealership, decided to actively pursue a plan to dispose of the assets of the dealership through a "sale" to an approved successor-dealer.  That plan was successfully completed on April 27, 1987, when Martin Buick-Oldsmobile-GMC Truck, Inc. acquired the operating assets and GM franchises for the Fenton dealership.

Training and Consulting Career

 

In early 1987 in Fenton, Michigan, Mr. House formed Garry House & Associates Co. as the entity under which he would be conducting business in the future.  The office has since been relocated to Jupiter, Florida.  Following the sale of his dealership and the subsequent "wrap-up" of his various dealership-related corporate entities, House engaged himself in researching and developing services and products to fulfill the needs of today's automobile and truck dealers.  He has designed computer software applications for Responsibility Reporting, Percentage Management, Management Compensation, Forecasting, and a related "Decision-Making" module for dealers considering the acquisition of additional stores.  Mr. House also developed and presented a 2-day Seminar/Workshop for key dealership finan­cial manage­ment per­sonnel, titled Dealership Financial Planning and Controls.  Additionally, he developed a six-hour Seminar for dealers, general managers, and general sales managers titled Recognizing and Understanding the Hidden Profit Center -- 8 Keys to Maximum F&I Profitability.  House filmed the highlights of this Seminar in a 4-part series for the Automotive Satellite Television Network.

 

Garry House and Associates Co. primarily markets its products and consulting services to successful, high-volume dealers interested in Improving and/or Sustaining their Competitive Advantage. All products and services offered by GH&A are generally designated for Operational & Financial Planning and Control. GH&A has also represented Control Technology, Inc., which provided products and services to dealers in Organizational Development and Operational Planning & Control, and Media-Match, Inc., whose unique specialty for retail automobile dealers involved Market Research, Market Planning, and Market Development.  Since late 1988, Mr. House has been primarily engaged in performing on-site and off-site consulting services for client-dealers.  Until the end of 1993, House also functioned as a contract consultant for Management Performance Groups, Inc. and moderated several of the MPG 20 Groups.

 

In February, 1995, Mr. House joined the newly originated Training & Consulting Division of NCM Associates, Inc. (a nationally recognized Dealer Resources firm, formed in 1947, with more than 3,000 contract clients worldwide) as the Senior Account Manager. In early 2011 he was named Director of NCM’s newly-formed training and education division, the NCM Institute Center for Automotive Retail Excellence (NCMi). With decades of automotive retail management experience and a commitment to the axiom that a well-trained management team has a critical impact on the profitability of an automobile dealership, NCMi offers a comprehensive management training program.

 

In addition to his management and faculty responsibilities at the NCM Institute, House handled client-dealers for both the NCM Retail Operations Division (consulting) and for Garry House & Associates Co. He continually maintained a portfolio of three to five client-dealers with whom he consulted on operational, financial, and growth-related issues.  His analytical background, coupled with his “Let’s make it happen!” attitude, assisted him in identifying, quantifying, and implementing profit opportunities and afforded him the ability to develop strong, long-term relationships with Dealer Principals and their key management personnel.  Much of his training and consulting effort interfaced with dealership accounting personnel and third party practitioners to ensure timely, meaning­ful, and accurate management information reporting to dealership operations personnel.  Garry is also credited with authoring and conducting numerous training programs for Dealership Operators, Dealers-In-Training, Chief Financial Officers and Controllers, and Department Managers.  Mr. House also functioned for 10 years as the NCM Training Partner to Sonic Automotive, Inc. After nearly 20 years at NCM Associates, Inc., Garry resigned from the company on September 30, 2014.

 

Garry has continually focused his consulting efforts on Management Training and Accountability, with an emphasis on “achieving long-term growth, without sacrificing short-term profitability.”  Garry’s client dealers have prided themselves on Maximizing Sales and Gross, Targeting a 30%++ Net-to-Gross Retention, accompanied by Sound Asset Management, Maximum Employee Productivity, Measured Employee Satisfaction, and Unparalleled Customer Satisfaction.  Over his 30 years of training and consulting experience, House has worked with more than three hundred dealerships; most of these are owned and operated by multi-franchise, multi-location clients. 

Consulting Specialty

 

During the period from 1987 through 1994, Garry House became highly experienced in dealership compensation planning, implementation, and management. This was not by intent, but rather totally by circumstance. His dealer-clients were challenged by the complexities in developing results-oriented compensation plans that would effectively support a high-performance culture and reduce employee turnover. House offered his assistance in meeting these client challenges and soon became recognized as one of the few subject matter experts (SMEs) in the dealership compensation arena. In fact, during this eight year period nearly half of the revenue generated by Garry House & Associates resulted from this consulting specialty.

 

After joining NCM Associates, House continued his involvement within this area of specialization, because he was, in fact, the only consultant on the NCM team with any significant experience with dealership compensation. By default, he became know as NCM’s subject matter expert in compensation planning, implementation, and management.

 

Garry’s specialization in this area became particularly valuable to NCM Associates in 2005. In late 2004, the leadership of Sonic Automotive recognized the need to standardize the sales and management compensation plans within their rapidly-growing group of automobile dealerships. At the time, Mr. House was serving on the faculty of the Sonic Dealer Academy, and through this relationship, the senior staff at Sonic became aware that they had a compensation SME in their midst. NCM Associates (specifically Garry House) was then engaged by Sonic to complete four phases of the mission to role out standardized compensation:

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  • Develop, test, and submit uniform compensation proposals that could be quickly and easily installed within the sales and management arms of each store in their dealer body.

  • Train the Sonic regional teams (“train the trainers”) in the nuances of implementing these new plans.

  • Assist the regional teams with plan implementation in platform locations in which Sonic had a large footprint (Houston, Columbus, Northern California, Southern California, and  Birmingham).

  • Review the success of plan implementation, and assist with any required re-launches.

 

With approximately 150 dealerships involved, this project kept Mr. House very busy in 2005 and provided a large, unplanned revenue stream for NCM Associates from Sonic Automotive. The project also greatly enhanced Garry’s experience level in the dealership compensation arena, particularly as related to implementing massive compensation changes across a large multi-store organization.

Industry Involvement

 

While House was an automobile dealer, his business affiliations were many; he was a member of both the National Automobile Dealers Association and the Michigan Automobile Dealers Association for over 20 years; he was a member of the Greater Flint Automobile Dealers Association from its inception.  House was a member of an NADA 20 Group, GM Dual I, from 1973-1987, serving a three year term on the Executive Committee from 1977-1979.  He was a charter member and President of the Greater Flint Buick Dealers Association from 1979-1982, a charter member and President of the Suburban Buick City Buick Dealers Association from 1984-1986, and a charter member of the Key GMC Truck Dealers Association from 1984-1987.  House has been a regular attendee at the annual NADA conven­tion/exposition for the last 40 years and has served on the faculty for their work­shop programs.

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