It’s always a difficult task to choose a single recipient for the Counter Professional of the Year award. The staff of Counterman magazine sifted through piles of entries and identified several people who are worthy of recognition. After narrowing all the entries down to five finalists, Thomas Dayton, of J S Auto Supply, Jamestown, N.Y., was chosen as the recipient. Here is a look at those who made it to the final round.

Flor Marin
Royal Auto Parts Corp. (Auto Value affiliate)
Paterson, N.J.

Flor Marin is known as a problem-solver, says Royal Auto Parts President Mark Horowytz, who nominated him. Marin serves as a counter professional for Royal Auto Parts Corp. (an Auto Value affiliate)  in Paterson, N.J., a city of 150,000 people just outside New York City.

‘EDUCATED IN THE ART’
“He is a problem-solver. He knows the function of the parts he sells,” Horowytz wrote in Marin’s nomination to judges. “He is educated in the art of the auto parts business and communicates this knowledge that results in sales … and he does this in both English and Spanish.”

FOLLOW THROUGH
In his essay to Counter Professional of the Year judges, Marin wrote, “We as counter professionals need to follow up on vehicles as if we’re the ones repairing them. By doing this, there would be fewer wrong parts sold, fewer comebacks and less wasted time, which equals more return business.”

Marin is known to answer more than 100 calls, print 65 to 90 invoices each days and assist the store’s 30 other employees. “Mr. Marin knows tools and test equipment. He knows their function and use,” Horowytz wrote. “He will know that a tool that solves a problem will sell at a certain price point even before we get a call for that tool. I am no longer surprised to see an item sell within a few weeks of him suggesting that we bring it in and he will sell anything while being aware of profit margins.” Marin receives at least 80 hours a year in specific product training.