Do you really want to know the secret of the successful dealerships that are out there right now racking up CSI and raking in the profits? Would you like to know how they have grown from mediocre dealerships into the multi-million dollar per year players?
The secret my friends, is the relationship building that takes place between the employees of the business and the customers. That’s the secret, that’s it, it seems simple right? It can be if you pay attention to the training aspect of your employees as well as the compensation arrangement for your employees.
Successful dealerships listen to both sides of the coin, the customers and the employees. Successful dealerships and service facilities LISTEN to what their customers are saying and pay attention to what the customer’s needs and wants are and then they give it to them. Dealerships that are highly successful also listen their employee’s needs and wants and strive to give it to them. I will expand on this principle a little further into this article.
Let’s examine the customer’s needs and wants in a little more detail. First and foremost it is a great marketing tool to advertise your facilities amenities. Most company’s flyers, print advertising, pamphlets, commercials, blogs or website advertising fail because the theme is usually only about how GOOD they are.
Successful dealerships succeed because they have listened and observed the customers and then focus only on the customer. Successful dealerships show understanding, compassion and empathy for the issues their customers are having and they go out of their way to provide REAL SOLUTIONS to remedy the issues. Remember always fix the customer first - once that is accomplished you can fix the vehicle.
Instead of focusing on the words such as “Me, We, I, My” within the context of your marketing you should focus on words like, “You, Your, Our”. The more you can emphasize that your dealership is always there for the customer’s needs and wants, the better your marketing will be and the better your customer service will be. (Example - You are our number one priority, our mission is to have 100% satistisfaction for you, our most valuable asset.)
Some may ask, how do we really create an exceptional relationship with our customers? It’s very simple, “Start taking an interest in your customers and listen to what they are telling you”! I remember twenty years ago working for a dealership that sent out birthday cards, wedding anniversary cards, vehicle purchase anniversary cards, thanksgiving cards and Christmas cards to their customers. This little step goes a long way keeping a customer and it keeps your name in front of your customers in a positive light throughout the year. Really, what does it cost?
You could also give out incentives or small bonuses for being a great customer such as the first anniversary of their vehicle purchase, the customer receives a complimentary express detail of the vehicle. Again, what does it really cost? Looking after your customers is a priority. If you ignore them they will eventually ignore you.
Let’s now look at the employee in this scenario. When drafting your employee’s compensation plan, base a large portion of the plan on CSI and reward your employees according to the CSI score as individuals on a sliding scale. The higher the CSI score, the bigger the compensation reward.
Remember to incorporate a team CSI compensation package as well. The reason I say this is to promote everyone to work as a team, giving every customer that WOW experience. Let’s suppose Bill is away on vacation and Larry is looking after Bills customer for the redelivery of the vehicle, I would want Larry to give that customer the same attention and treatment as Bill would have, had he been present.
I know this works because it worked for me at a facility where the CSI was at the bottom of the region, we focused our attention on each CSI question and paid according to the CSI score attained, individually and team. Within three months we were number in the region and held that spot. Our factory rep was thrilled that I was posting our scores in the service drive with a caption that read, "Working to Serve You is Job One - Succeeding Keeps Us Number One".
When spending some of the DAP or CSI money that dealerships receive from manufacturers on employees to boost CSI, this should not be seen as just boosting CSI, this is building a business that will be viable into the future. The amount of money spent from the CSI bonus may be deemed as part of the business revenue stream, however if you spend this on your employees to promote and create exceptional CSI, you will build a customer base that will easily bring back a higher ROI then you will spend on CSI employee bonuses. Profits should not be looked at in the short term, always look to the future with the mindset of growth and expansion and you will win the day, month and year.
It takes money to make money!
David
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Monday, September 6, 2010
Compensation Expectation
Recently I spent some time with a colleague talking about his service facilities need to GET STABLE. I asked him what he meant by the term, “GET STABLE”. He started telling me that during the last few weeks he was receiving more and more telephone calls from prospective employers wanting references for current employees at his dealership.
We spoke at length about how this will affect his ability to conduct business should he start losing his current talent. I listened in wonderment as he spoke non-stop about having to hire new employees, retrain them and teach the policies and procedures all over again to a new group of people. After ten minutes or so of his ranting, “That this seems to be a common dilemma that his dealership endures about every six months or so”, I was asked what I would do in his situation.
I had to ask the question, “Does this have anything to do with how the employees are compensated or treated”? My friend informed me that most of the non technical employees are all paid exactly minimum wage and during their employment the senior management piles more and more work on them. He indicated to me that most if not all of these people were underpaid and overworked for each of their positions. I asked him what he thought should be done about the situation and his reply was to over pay for each position by a fair amount, he indicated a dollar or two more then minimum wage would make a huge difference in retaining quality people.
Then he went on to say that he wasn’t the only manager in his facility having the same issues of retaining individuals or of feeling the same way. He stated as a manager within this facility it was becoming harder and harder to go into work each day feeling pumped and he indicated that this feeling was infecting most of the management.
He listed the sales department as having a revolving door for the position of receptionist, lot porters and billers. Even the service warranty administrative position was becoming harder to keep someone employed in because there was more than enough work, not enough compensation and the senior management expected whoever had this position to take a meager salary and work ten or more hours per day. Apparently the positions of shuttle driver and swap driver they cannot keep enough resumes to satisfy the demand that is being created internally.
So let’s look at the effect this problem poses on the dealership and its ability to provide service.
1. Each time you hire a new employee, you will spend precious valuable time in the process to pick the right person. There is a certain amount of time that must be invested when hiring and training any new employee, ensuring they meet and exceed your expectations is a top priority. Training is ongoing for an unspecified amount of time until you as a manger feel they are performing at your level of expectations and providing your customers with a WOW experience.
2. There is also a cost factor involved when hiring a new employee and we all know from our own experience what those costs can be.
3. Constantly having employee turnover in any business creates havoc for your customers; the customer will not have the opportunity to establish and build a relationship with your employees and remember that building relationships builds trust. The more trust your customers have in your business the more likely you are to succeed on numerous levels.
4. If your business is a revolving door your customers may lose credibility with your business. Customers may start to wonder WHAT internal problems exist within the business behind closed doors and this is a damaging effect as you may lose customers as you lose credibility.
5. Having a revolving door has a detrimental negative effect on all employees of the business, they become cynical and this opinion may be voiced in private corners of your business. The negative attitudes of some employees crying foul over the constant turnover rate can and will lead to creating negative cancer within your facility. When it comes to cancer we all want it cut out before it infects the rest of the body, therefore we shouldn’t let the cancerous effect even start to permeate into our business. The only way to avoid these detrimental affects is by retaining the quality people you have, this means paying them a proper compensation package for the work they perform.
If you pay your employees what they are worth you can retain them! Retention gives the business the opportunity to effectively and properly train each employee, molding them into the employee you want and need to represent you. Having awesome representation sets the stage to give each customer a WOW experience. If your customers are getting a WOW experience each and every time they come to your facility obviously by the laws of business, word will spread about HOW GREAT YOU ARE! This leads to more business and soon you won’t be thinking of how little you can pay somebody to perform a particular job function, you will be thinking of hiring more individuals to meet the needs of your ever growing customer base.
If you look at negative steps one through five above, you begin to see that this issue is cyclical, each problem compounds the next, this is a vicious cycle of workplace cancer that needs be cut out and eliminated permanently to grow any facility.
David
We spoke at length about how this will affect his ability to conduct business should he start losing his current talent. I listened in wonderment as he spoke non-stop about having to hire new employees, retrain them and teach the policies and procedures all over again to a new group of people. After ten minutes or so of his ranting, “That this seems to be a common dilemma that his dealership endures about every six months or so”, I was asked what I would do in his situation.
I had to ask the question, “Does this have anything to do with how the employees are compensated or treated”? My friend informed me that most of the non technical employees are all paid exactly minimum wage and during their employment the senior management piles more and more work on them. He indicated to me that most if not all of these people were underpaid and overworked for each of their positions. I asked him what he thought should be done about the situation and his reply was to over pay for each position by a fair amount, he indicated a dollar or two more then minimum wage would make a huge difference in retaining quality people.
Then he went on to say that he wasn’t the only manager in his facility having the same issues of retaining individuals or of feeling the same way. He stated as a manager within this facility it was becoming harder and harder to go into work each day feeling pumped and he indicated that this feeling was infecting most of the management.
He listed the sales department as having a revolving door for the position of receptionist, lot porters and billers. Even the service warranty administrative position was becoming harder to keep someone employed in because there was more than enough work, not enough compensation and the senior management expected whoever had this position to take a meager salary and work ten or more hours per day. Apparently the positions of shuttle driver and swap driver they cannot keep enough resumes to satisfy the demand that is being created internally.
So let’s look at the effect this problem poses on the dealership and its ability to provide service.
1. Each time you hire a new employee, you will spend precious valuable time in the process to pick the right person. There is a certain amount of time that must be invested when hiring and training any new employee, ensuring they meet and exceed your expectations is a top priority. Training is ongoing for an unspecified amount of time until you as a manger feel they are performing at your level of expectations and providing your customers with a WOW experience.
2. There is also a cost factor involved when hiring a new employee and we all know from our own experience what those costs can be.
3. Constantly having employee turnover in any business creates havoc for your customers; the customer will not have the opportunity to establish and build a relationship with your employees and remember that building relationships builds trust. The more trust your customers have in your business the more likely you are to succeed on numerous levels.
4. If your business is a revolving door your customers may lose credibility with your business. Customers may start to wonder WHAT internal problems exist within the business behind closed doors and this is a damaging effect as you may lose customers as you lose credibility.
5. Having a revolving door has a detrimental negative effect on all employees of the business, they become cynical and this opinion may be voiced in private corners of your business. The negative attitudes of some employees crying foul over the constant turnover rate can and will lead to creating negative cancer within your facility. When it comes to cancer we all want it cut out before it infects the rest of the body, therefore we shouldn’t let the cancerous effect even start to permeate into our business. The only way to avoid these detrimental affects is by retaining the quality people you have, this means paying them a proper compensation package for the work they perform.
If you pay your employees what they are worth you can retain them! Retention gives the business the opportunity to effectively and properly train each employee, molding them into the employee you want and need to represent you. Having awesome representation sets the stage to give each customer a WOW experience. If your customers are getting a WOW experience each and every time they come to your facility obviously by the laws of business, word will spread about HOW GREAT YOU ARE! This leads to more business and soon you won’t be thinking of how little you can pay somebody to perform a particular job function, you will be thinking of hiring more individuals to meet the needs of your ever growing customer base.
If you look at negative steps one through five above, you begin to see that this issue is cyclical, each problem compounds the next, this is a vicious cycle of workplace cancer that needs be cut out and eliminated permanently to grow any facility.
David
Sunday, September 5, 2010
What?
My question today for all you managers out there is this; “What is it that you want to become, or the business to become – What is it”?
Maybe you want to create exceptional experiences with Customers or you want to be more creative or marketing savvy. Maybe you want to be a better team builder or team leader or you want to learn something new today. Possibly you have some new ideas to help grow the business!
It really doesn't matter WHAT your "WHAT" is! The secret to success depends on repetition to improve and change, as well as the stick-to-itiveness ideology and a passion to grow. No matter what your idea, the formula remains a constant.
Step 1 - DECIDE
Step 2 - DO
Step 3 - KEEP DOING IT
Step 4 - KEEP DOING MORE OF IT
If you know “WHAT” your “WHAT” is! You need to take STEP 1 and decide to do it!
Now is the time for your own call to action to cause a positive reaction! Remember to succeed you always need to ignite the passion!
This success formula is simple and timeless. It's time to take action and decide to do and then keep doing more of it, when you think you’re done do it again!
David.
Maybe you want to create exceptional experiences with Customers or you want to be more creative or marketing savvy. Maybe you want to be a better team builder or team leader or you want to learn something new today. Possibly you have some new ideas to help grow the business!
It really doesn't matter WHAT your "WHAT" is! The secret to success depends on repetition to improve and change, as well as the stick-to-itiveness ideology and a passion to grow. No matter what your idea, the formula remains a constant.
Step 1 - DECIDE
Step 2 - DO
Step 3 - KEEP DOING IT
Step 4 - KEEP DOING MORE OF IT
If you know “WHAT” your “WHAT” is! You need to take STEP 1 and decide to do it!
Now is the time for your own call to action to cause a positive reaction! Remember to succeed you always need to ignite the passion!
This success formula is simple and timeless. It's time to take action and decide to do and then keep doing more of it, when you think you’re done do it again!
David.
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