Toyota President’s Award—Medium Business Division: Toyota Nueva Ecija Toyota Nueva Ecija, Inc. (TNI) has once again proven its excellence, securing the President’s Award of Excellence in the Medium Business Division for consecutive years. With an unrelenting commitment to customer service and operational efficiency, Toyota Nueva Ecija stood out among its peers.
TNI’s ability to balance strong business performance with customer-centric service reflects Toyota’s mission of continuous improvement and innovation, making it a benchmark for mid-sized dealerships across the country. We spoke with the president of Toyota Nueva Ecija, Katherine Ivy Tan:
1. Winning consecutive President’s Awards of Excellence is a major achievement. What are the key factors that brought these triumphs to your dealerships?
Our greatest asset has always been and will always be… OUR PEOPLE. We achieved this because of all of us, working as one. Because in the face of every challenge and uncertainty, one thing we never did was give up. Kahit mahirap, tuloy lang. Move on, move forward. That mindset, our faith in one another, our strong teamwork, and our commitment to our clients and our company is what brought us to where we are today and lead us to victory.
2. How does your dealership maintain strong relationships with customers and ensure they remain loyal to Toyota?
Being a Toyota dealership already gives us a strong advantage because Toyota has earned the trust of customers for many years. But for us, we know we cannot rely on the name alone. Every day is a new opportunity to serve our customers better and earn their trust all over again.
Maintaining a strong relationship with customers involves personalized assistance, open and consistent communication and exceptional aftersales service. We focus on the small but important things. How we welcome our customers, how we guide them in choosing the right vehicle, and how we continue to support them even after the sale. Every interaction matters.
It is simply being present, being reliable, and truly understanding the needs of our customers and the community we serve. When customers feel valued, respected, supported and genuinely cared for, loyalty naturally follows. Trust is built and relationships grow stronger.
“It is simply being present, being reliable, and truly understanding the needs of our customers and the community we serve. When customers feel valued, respected, supported and genuinely cared for, loyalty naturally follows. Trust is built and relationships grow stronger.”—Ivy Tan, President, Toyota Nueva Ecija
3. Being part of the Toyota network, how do you leverage best practices from other dealerships to improve operations?
We are grateful that TMP provides an environment where dealers can continuously share and learn from each other’s best practices. Being part of the Toyota network gives us the opportunity to see what works well in other dealerships and apply those insights to improve our own operations.
By studying these best practices, we carefully identify which strategies fit our specific operations and cater to the needs of our primary market area. We also leverage dealer benchmarking to recognize our own areas for improvement and then adopt the most effective approaches to address them.
It is about learning, adapting, and growing every day. Always striving to do better not only for our dealership but most especially for every customer we serve.
4. Toyota is known for its customer-first philosophy. How do you and your team embody this principle in your day to day operations?
Toyota has always believed in putting the customer first. At Toyota Nueva Ecija, we do our best to live that every single day in the way we serve our customers.
For us, it often comes down to the small things. Providing faster service, taking the time to carefully listen, offering a more personal approach, or simply going the extra mile for them. These may seem like simple gestures but they make a big difference in how customers feel about their experience with us.
Whether a customer is visiting the showroom, bringing their vehicle in for service, or simply making an inquiry, we want them to feel welcomed, valued and well taken care of. Our goal is simple. We want every customer to leave our dealership happy and satisfied. Always going beyond and exceeding their expectations.
5. What advice would you give to other Toyota dealers looking to achieve and maintain your consistent level of excellence?
If there is one piece of advice we can share, it is this: Excellence is not achieved instantly, it is built every day through consistent effort, teamwork, and a genuine commitment to serve our customers better.
It is not just about meeting expectations but going beyond them in every interaction, every process, and every opportunity to make customers feel valued.
Equally important is the commitment to continuous improvement. We must always identify what can be improved, learn from our mistakes, and learn from those lessons to grow stronger. By constantly learning, evolving, and striving to become better versions of ourselves, we enhance our team, our dealership and also create experiences that truly set us apart.
