A recent Harvard Business Review case study, entitled, “Why Are We Losing All Our Good People?” suggested that the blame often lies at the feet of management. If you discover that turnover in a particular department is common, take a good look at the missing employees’ manager. In the study, Anne Pringle of Microsoft explains that, “leaders (are) accountable for attracting and retaining key talent.”

Employee retention is too large a job for one individual. The dealership as a whole, more specifically the leadership, should make retention a goal. Immediate managers should have insight to individuals and the specific things those individuals value. If the loss of a valued employee is a surprise, you can bet that someone in leadership dropped the ball. Management should be in tune to employee needs, especially the employees directly under them.

Educate your management team. Help them to understand the dealership’s goals where retention is concerned. Empower them to be flexible with employees and be careful to hire management that understands your dealership’s position. It’s been said that employees don’t leave jobs, they leave managers. There is certainly truth to that, probably more than most of us take the time to realize.

Think about it… and the money your dealership loses every time you lose an employee.

As mentioned previously, training and resources can potentially lead employees to leave companies as they increase in value. This tendency can be nipped in the bud with a little caution during the hiring process. If companies take care to hire teachable employees with a propensity to commit, and take the time create a favorable impression from the start, they will find that an investment in those employees will be very low risk. Many of a company’s attrition issues are determined during the very early stages of their relationship with new employees. A study by Ipsos-Reid claims some 30% of employees plan to leave their job within two years. But, Corning Glass, the specialty glass and ceramics giant, found that employees who enjoyed a positive orientation to the company were 70% more likely to remain at their job for at least three years. Employee retention starts with the interview. Choose your employees based on attitude and ability to learn. Be sure to continually give them the tools they need to succeed. Entrust them with some semblance of autonomy, the ability to participate in company wide decisions and opportunity to expand their skill sets, and kiss high employee attrition good-bye.

A recent study from Vanderbilt University's Owen Graduate School of Management suggests that simply training good employees is not necessarily enough to keep them around. In fact, sometimes training (on its own) lead employees to leave companies as they become more valuable in the marketplace. All is not lost, however. The study finds that employees who feel empowered are far more likely to stay with a company. When employees have a measure of autonomy and decision making power, they “buy in” or commit more fully to a company. Empowerment also includes reward or bonuses directly proportional to performance. Incentives and rewards help to keep employees motivated and on top of their game. It’s important to strike a balance. Investing in employees without their return investment in your company will generate little reward. However, hiring good people, investing in them and empowering them fosters their commitment to you.

We’ve already established the importance of employee retention. Now let’s look at some practical ways to keep your best and brightest on board. Giving good employees a measure of autonomy lets them know you trust them. When success is in large part an individual responsibility, individuals tend to step up to the plate. Although mentoring and training are important for all employees, letting competent individuals have ownership over their work is a great motivator. Help them create a plan of action based on their strengths, then step back and let them flourish. And ALWAYS reward a job well done. Also make sure you regularly solicit feedback from employees. You should be informed on the overall feeling and culture at your dealership, and not just what management thinks. It’s also very important to find ways to incorporate that feedback into the culture. If employees feel they have voiced their opinions and their opinions are being ignored, they will be less motivated and are much more likely to look elsewhere for gainful employment. Take the time get feedback and use it to improve your dealership culture.

Just as the dawning of the "Internet Age" redefined the consumers ability to access information and become a more knowledgeable and confident shopper, another phenomenon is occurring 15 years later. Those same consumers, some of whom were not yet talking, let alone walking are writing about your products on blogs, editing your commercials on YouTube, defining who you are on Wikipedia and building groups of influence about you on social networking sites like FaceBook. These are all elements of a social phenomenon, a groundswell that has created a permanent shift in the way the world works, some see it as a threat, others as an opportunity. Either way it is here now, and it it here to stay. It is a spontaneous movement of people using online tools to connect, take charge of their own experience, and get what they need.....information, support, ideas, products, and bargaining power - from each other. Its global, and its unstoppable! In my opinion is a tremendous opportunity to differentiate yourself from your competitors, build deep connectivity to your customers and build a positive image of your brand, be it a dealership, an OEM, or you as an individual. The social networking profile of this community takes the form of for groups. Creators - they maintain a blog, a web page, or upload videos and represent approximately 20% of the online community. Critics - these people respond to blogs, post comments, edit wikis, they react rather than create, around 25% of the online community. Collectors - this group collects information, they bookmark websites, they represent a small percentage of the online community, approximately 10%. Joiners participate in or maintain profiles in the social networking sites such as MySpace and FaceBook, and has reached over 25% of the online community. These groups will continue grow in size and their reach into all facets of both our personal and business lives will continue to impact how we communicate, connect to and respond to each other. The questions we must all ask ourselves is, where do we fit into the groundswell?  Its happening with or without us, so we can either a) sit back and watch this tremendous opportunity pass us up or we can b) get involved, grow our brands and use it to our advantage.  For me there is no question, Im in.  I hope you join me.

It's obvious that dealers need to spend time cultivating customer relationships. We'velearned a lot about how to make customers happy and develop emotional buy in. We know the steps to creating lasting relationships between dealerships and consumers, but the piece of the puzzle that we talk about here is too often overlooked ; Happy, long-term employees help create happy customers. Let's look in more depth at a couple of ways to retain employees and consequently save your dealership money. Offer relevant training from the start One of the most effective ways to develop relationships with consumers is offering value. Offer value to your employees as well! If they see your dealership as a place to grow and learn, and are offered compensation for their progress, they'll begin to "buy in." If they see your dealership as their dealership, they will be much more convincing sales people and in a better position to develop relationships with customers. Allow job expansion Even if you're not thinking about your employees next steps, they are. Unfortunately, when employees feel underappreciated or bored, their next steps will often be out your front door. And, if they're good at what they do, they may very well take several customers with them. Offering rewards for hard work and showing that you care will help your employees invest emotionally in your company. Ultimately, their investment will bring you more loyal employees and customers alike.

When I came to the States from Australia, its no surprise I needed a job, and like many of you I got in the car business by accident, little did I know it would end being my passion and a career. Since I was new in the country, my employment options were limited; but I had a background in Finance and Marketing so I took a job selling cars. It was a good time and I did well but I really was not into waiting on the lot to fight over the potential customers coming in the door. Most sales consultants at the time (and lets face it, the industry has not changed much in this regard) sold cars to as many walk ins as they could and after the sale forgot about the customers so they could get back on the lot and get another. It sounds almost cliche-ish but I knew there was an easier way to get in front of these customers. I began to come to work early, with a pocket full of quarters, and spent my mornings buying coffee and getting to know the service customers. I had a great time building relationships with these customers (they took a liking to my accent) and you would be surprised how many questions people have in the service drive that a good sales person can answer. It took some time but soon I had built a reputation as the "Friendly Aussie" who sold cars. Soon the referrals started coming in from the service and parts personnel and people began to ask for me when it was time to shop for a new car. Now it did not happen over night, but I stayed in the business through the highs and lows and over the years I had built a stable business that would prove to be recession proof. I eventually built a small dedicated and passionate team with similar ideals and we formed our own department, with a staff of admin support, my own lot techs and drivers, we were literally selling approx 2,000 cars a year. We were a dealership within a dealership, and the best part was the deals were easy! Our small marketing budget was targeted on generation of second and third generation sales to previous customers, communicating with our current customers instead of focusing on finding new ones proved to be the foundation of our success. We did so much repeat business that we generally started the month with up to 100 retail orders, factory orders, in the bank to be delivered. After 13 years, I left the dealership and began focusing my career on technology to assist dealers in managing these customer relationships. Our success was built on a solid process and a genuine desire to ensure a great experience for our clients. I share this story for a few reasons: First, to let you know that if I, fresh from Australia with no contacts, could build a business based on relationships, you can too. Second its a great example of the power of relationship selling, selling up to 200 new vehicles a month was easily achieved working our own data base of clientele , it was all based on treating the customer fair, displaying transparency and giving them what they want; a relationship! Lastly, it all started with a pocket full of quarters and some hard work. We did not have the technology back then that is available to day. Not that technology is the end all answer (obviously) but with hard work and some of the relationship management tools out there, you, particularly ISMs, are in a great spot to be wildly successful!