As many Mega-Dealers have learned, it takes a significant amount of time and investment in personnel to get new stores up and running profitably. For many, it is quite surprising to learn how much hand-holding this process actually takes. So, how do dealerships overcome being “people broke” so they can focus on growth and expansion? APB, through years of working with dealerships across America, has identified a three-part solution that when applied consistently delivers unparalleled results: Offer careers paths to every employee. Provide mandatory staff development. Deliver the tools needed for success.
Dealers are not money broke today, they are ‘people broke’. This essential distinction has a tremendous influence on the success and growth of car dealerships today. Being “people broke” is a critical limiting factor for growth as dealers look to expand and acquire additional stores.
Offer A Career Path To Every Employee
In a dealership, every employee should start their career as a Greeter, even if for a short rotation. From there, they can move virtually anywhere, having learned the foundation of the dealership’s precepts and systems, and how to successfully meet and understand the customer. Developing a career for every employee clearly demonstrates the long-term opportunities the dealership offers and creates a team environment with a shared culture and goals. Complementing a career path, dealers must offer attractive longevity plans that improve as employees stay with the dealership and offer the potential for substantial financial gain regardless of the position an employee holds.
For example, most Greeters are paid hourly and have little or no ability to control or advance their income. Incentivizing a Greeter (for example, each time they greet and generate a customer card) gives him or her direct control and responsibility for performance. The same holds true for every job at the dealership. Funding this is simple: a dealer can set aside as little as $25 for every car delivered to be used as an end-of-the-year bonus. The right path and reward will result in peak performance across the board.
Develop People From Within When Dealers look externally to fill Sales or Manager positions, they typically recruit from a pool of professionals employed at other dealerships in the general vicinity. When this happens, the new recruits bring the methods and habits of their former dealership to their new position, whether or not these methods and habits match the established processes and culture of their new employer.
The new Manager is hired to run the organization based on their past successes, yet within the parameters of an established structure they don’t understand. The result: the new Manager changes the structure bringing, perhaps, a temporary performance spike. In the long term, however, since the rest of the team is not trained in the new structure, overall performance will drop and turn-over will jump.
Conversely, when Dealers hire – or promote – someone from within, the process is simpler with better results. When a Salesperson is promoted to Sales Manager, for instance, the individual already knows the structure, the business processes, the organizational values and virtually everything that makes the dealership a success. When promoted from within, the new Manager is not intent on changing things but is primed to take the next step in established structure, using familiar processes to drive growth and performance.
Equip Employees With The Tools To Succeed
Dealers must provide mandatory training in the skills needed for every job function for every employee. Training programs cannot be selective for many reasons.
1.Training builds an understanding that part of each person’s job is to nurture and develop people below them – and training gives them the skills to do so.
2.Training gives every employee the same opportunity to embrace new skills and apply them in new ways on an even playing field.
3.A star performer may emerge only after he/she receives the training and tools needed for success.
4.Conversely, a “superstar” in his/her current role may not have the mindset or ability to embrace the skills needed to advance, a fact that will become clear as training is provided.
Training programs don’t have to be complex, but be comprehensive and include motivational, organizational, managerial, sales, service, and leadership skills. What do you think?
Increasing Your People “Wealth” – APB’s Recipe For Increasing Profits