SPOTLIGHT ON WOMEN IN THE INDUSTRY LYNN ROGERS As a part of our ongoing series, we highlight exceptional women in the industry. There is a misconception that the auto industry is only for men, and it is time to break this stereotype. The best way to encourage women to explore career opportunities in auto retail is by highlighting the success stories of women who have made it in the industry. In this edition of Montana Auto Dealer, we are featuring Lynn Rogers, general manager at Tilleman Motor Company in Havre, Montana. We recently sat down with Lynn and talked about her career, her experiences in the industry and what can be done to encourage others to choose this career path. The following are excerpts from our conversation. Please tell us about yourself. I was born and raised in Miles City, Montana. My husband, Joe, and I have eight grown children: Daniel, Jessica, Kayla and RaeAnn, Alisha, Susanna, Josey and Jamie. We also are blessed with the joy of three grandchildren. We spend most of our time with them and our family of Shitzus. My favorite downtime is enjoying the peace and quiet of fishing! How did you get into the auto industry? What did your career path look like? In 1995, I was hired by Donna Smith and Kenny Makelky of Mac’s Frontierland, in Miles City as a part-time temp to answer phones and greet customers. The job was only supposed to last a few weeks while they did a dealer management software system conversion. Five years later, I was still there. I never left. Dealerships have an exciting environment, and I thrived in it. In those five years, the owners allowed me to grow into every role that I wanted to take on. I went from answering phones and greeting customers to running all aspects of the office. I learned three valuable lessons from the Makelkys: In this business, you must be a tree (willing to bend), never say, “I don’t know” (let me find out and get back to you), and never say, “It’s not my job!” Those lessons served me well growing into my career! A life change led us to relocate our family to Bozeman, Montana, in 2000. We left Miles City on Aug. 1, 2000, and I went to work for the Ford dealership in Bozeman on Aug. 7. I left my husband with five children, a U-Haul to unpack, and a new home to set up and ran off to my first day of my new job. My husband Joe is a huge reason for my success. He took on the majority of the home role, being instrumental in raising the kids over the years, allowing me to be focused on my career. My family has always been supportive of my career despite the time it sometimes took from them. David Wallin of Bozeman Ford had hired me despite there really being no open position for me. It was an interesting transition; I left one Ford dealership knowing exactly what my job roles and duties were and walked into another Ford dealership not knowing what I would do. Fortunately, the office staff was going on vacation, so I was able to cover everybody’s vacation for about the first month or two. But eventually, they all came back to work, and I was struggling — I was not sure what I was doing there. Around that same time, Firestone recalled 6.5 million tires, and we were struggling to handle the customer needs and demand of such a significant recall. I dedicated myself to bridging a gap between a local retailer and our dealership and created a process that was literally seamless for customers. I found the experience more than rewarding as I was able to ease customers’ stress and earned high levels of customer satisfaction. When Ford Motor Company launched its Blue Oval Program, I again raised my hand and volunteered to implement the process for Customer Relations and the Sales and Service 38 MONTANA AUTO DEALER
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