Mike Chancellor has always loved business challenges. He enjoys taking a business with potential and then seeing it succeed. This week, Chancellor is enjoying his success.

In 2001, the Laurel businessman joined Martin Motor Co. as corporate manager. As of Wednesday, Chancellor is the owner of the dealership, and the name of the business is Chancellor Motor Group.

“I saw a ton of potential here,” Chancellor said about the dealership, a fixture in this community since 1940. “There is a challenge in taking a business and turning it around.”

Chancellor said the main focus at his business is the customer. He and his staff will find out exactly what the customer wants — new or used — and then find it. And they offer financing to all customers, he added.

In 2004, Chancellor purchased the Buick and Pontiac franchises, thereby offering even more choices to automobile buyers. Since he joined the dealership, the inventory has more than tripled, meaning sales have also increased greatly. And Chancellor wants that trend to continue.

One area of the car dealership that has exploded is Internet sales, according to Chancellor.

“Some larger dealerships are selling 200-300 vehicles per month over the Internet,” he said, adding that the CMG web site should be up and running within a month.

Chancellor is proud of his management team, having added a few new staff members — Wayne Combest, new and used sales manager; Paul Miller, business manager; and Kevin Pierce, service manager. He also has two familiar faces from Martin — General Manager Dennis Henley and Parts Manager Jamey Watts.

Chancellor explained that his dealership is serving about an eight-county trade area, and many vehicles are sold to out-of-state buyers. “There are several months when Jones County is not the number one purchaser.”

Although Chancellor has seen success since joining the dealership, he still has lofty goals. He wants to double sales and provide quality service for the life of the vehicles purchased at CMG. And he also wants to increase the customer satisfaction index.

Chancellor will continue to build on the service Martin was known for in the past, but with CMG, he wants to begin a new era for the dealership.

“We have more products, more services, more options. The main difference is a new attitude.”