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Dan Roseland bought a struggling dealership in a picturesque and popular tourist town in Northern California just before the Great Recession. He weathered the economic storm through grit and ingenuity, but the experience took its toll.
Sonoma Chevrolet was not doing well when Roseland took over in 2006, and in the years leading up to the worst downturn since the Great Depression things only worsened. Revenue and vehicle sales were trending downward. In late 2008 he wondered if the dealership would survive.
As business slowed, he focused on his service department, figuring -- correctly -- that people would buy fewer cars but would need to fix and maintain those they had.
Roseland overhauled the service department,...