Cuban-American Dealer Success Story

As a boy, Mario Murgado came to the U.S. as a young Cuban exile. As a teenager, he loved cars.

As an adult in Miami he worked for Braman Motors and  later started Brickell Motors, representing Honda, Buick, GMC, Cadillac, Pontiac, Infiniti, Audi and Mazda. His operation ranks No.76 on the WardsAuto Dealer 500.  

In his own words, Murgado describes his business philosophy and how he gives each auto brand he represents the attention they deserve.

In the mid-1960s, I came to the United States as a Cuban immigrant. Hard work, tenacity and an ongoing desire to learn have helped me become a business leader in South Florida.

To do that, I took on the task of turning around several auto dealerships in the heart of Miami’s Little Havana neighborhood.
My approach to business has always been a combination of attitude and action. I work countless hours to develop an acute awareness of customer satisfaction, evaluation of profits and revenues, the understanding of market share and capital investment and the importance of maintaining product quality and integrity for true customer satisfaction. 

You can find me at the stores every day, talking to customers, giving advice to associates and making sure that every person who walks through my dealership doors is treated as a friend. 
My philosophies are direct: positive attitude, team development and synergy within an organization that heightens the awareness of individuals and motivates them to act positively.

Employees should be aware that for every action there will be an equal and opposite reaction, and therefore a proactive approach in anticipating those reactions is required.

On managers’ parts, proper benchmarks and constant evaluation of employee progress can help people attain their goals – and rise in an organization.

I keep top brands separate but equal in terms of marketing and attention. To explain, I like to draw the analogy between adding a new brand and having another child. 

When our second child is born, as parents we wonder how we could possibly love our second child as much or more than our precious first-born. Somehow, you learn how to love them in equal but separate ways. 

We treat each of our dealerships as separate, semi-autonomous entities. Each dealership has its own general manager whose responsibility is to eat, breathe, drink and live the dealership culture. It is the general manager’s job to nurture the dealership, foster our culture through all our associates so that it is productive for our business. Also, be a good citizen in the community and provide a great place to work for employees.

Having other brands offers a certain amount of collective leverage (and flexibility), but ultimately we want our dealerships to operate independently.

Of course, if a customer can’t find the right vehicle in one dealership, we suggest they try another – within our family. But just as parents can’t play favorites, neither can dealers.