It’s a melting pot of cultures in a place where you might least expect it.
Local car dealerships have become multicultural environments, where employees are going above and beyond to do everything they can to cater to customers, including negotiating in a client’s native language.
“I used to live in Lebanon. I’m originally from Yemen, I speak Arabic,” Abdul Razzaq Basharahil, the sales manager at Jubilee Ford, said.
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Basharahil said in his time with the dealership, he’s helped more than 50 families find a vehicle by assisting them in Arabic.
“In a way I would say, it’s trust when you speak that language just because of the common culture, common ground, they just feel safe,” he said.
“It’s just connecting all of the information for that purchase and it helps a lot.”
Being culturally sensitive isn’t just a consideration at the dealership; they feature their employees different dialects on posters throughout the building fittingly titled We Speak Your Language.
It’s concept that began a few years ago at the location, with the posters updated from time to time after new hires.
Cultivating this method of customer service also means asking mechanics to come up-front to lend a helping hand if need be.
“I’m from India, I came here seven years ago and I can speak Punjabi, Urdu, I can speak Hindi,” 23-year-old Harpreet Kaler, a mechanic at Jubilee Ford, said.
Communicating car troubles can be difficult enough for drivers, let alone in a different language.
“If I can speak their language, they’re more at home.”
It’s estimated one in every four newcomers to Canada buys a vehicle within the first two years of settling in.
Jubilee Ford is just one dealership of many that forms the Wyant Group and while it doesn’t track these types of purchases, approximately six to eight vehicles a month are bought by someone whose first language isn’t English.
“I think it makes the whole process just easier. Buying a vehicle should be fun, it should be enjoyable and easy to do and we try to do that for everybody who walks through our door no matter where they’re from,” Jared Bond, general sales manager for Jubilee Ford, said.
The group said its next goal will be to offer a service online to meet the needs and expectations of their clients new to Canada.
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