Career pathing has been around for some time in corporate America, and the reasons are apparent. One great reason is engagement. An engaged employee is a more productive employee. In fact, a Gallup study shows that corporations with engaged employees are 20% more profitable than those with employees that are disengaged.

Career pathing can also help with recruiting and hiring better talent. Potential employees want to know where they will be in the future, and this can be a deciding factor in job selection.

Chances are you’ve been hearing more and more about career pathing. In fact, DrivingSales has been preaching the value of a career path in your dealership for a few years now. What does a solid career path look like?

Quotas and metrics that define success. Your career path needs to have multiple levels, each with its own metrics. Your grizzled veterans should be held to a different standard than a brand new hire. Think in terms of a video game. Most games have a specific objective the gamer must achieve in order to “level up”.

A defined timeline for achievement. You need to define how long an employee needs to sustain performance before they can be promoted. This is entirely up to you. Do you want them to hold the performance for 90 days? Is it something they can be promoted for if they achieve it just once? 

Finally, a career path needs a reward structure. This structure defines what the employee receives with their promotion. In other words, what’s in it for them? Your reward structure is comprised of two different reward types. 

First, there are compensation-based rewards. For example, a salesperson can receive a higher percentage of commission. Or maybe there is a month-end bonus tied to their scorecard review. They don’t have to directly impact a pay plan. You could build spoons into your pay plan. In this scenario, an employee would need to be a certain level in order to handle spoon deals. This can impact their compensation, but not their pay plan. Some stores have even built traffic sources into their career path. An employee needs to be at a specific level in order to take phone calls or Internet leads.

The other reward type is perks. These could be as simple as a designated parking section for Level 4 Service Advisors. Or maybe it’s branded gear. Or scheduling benefits for higher-level employees. You can get pretty creative here and not directly impact compensation.

That’s it. Design the quotas and metrics, determine the timeline for achievement, and develop a reward structure. Do this for each role in the dealership and connect the dots. You want to have points in your career pathing that allow departments to act as “recruitment centers”. For example, your BDC personnel can be recruited as salespeople. Or your lot techs could be the department that serves up the next generation of technicians.

Simply put, an employee needs to know what success looks like in order for them to be promoted. Defining this for each job role is a good exercise for a leader to do, and creating a dealership career path is an important tool you can use to reduce turnover and improve employee performance.

Irvine, CA, February 2, 2021 - DealersGear, a rapidly growing SaaS provider to the automotive industry, announced today that it has appointed automotive industry leader Hunter Swift as Chief Executive Officer (CEO). Swift’s tenure with DealersGear officially began at the beginning of January.

Swift, a 17-year automotive industry veteran, brings to DealersGear a wealth of automotive experience and a proven track record of increasing revenue and market share, and will be instrumental in driving the company’s growth and innovations in the automotive technology space. Swift has worked with some of the nation's top dealers, dealership groups, vendors and OEMs. He is a recognized industry thought leader and is a frequent contributor at industry conferences, in addition to articles, interviews, webinars and other industry dedicated media.

Swift most recently served as Senior Vice President of Sales for Dealer World, and previously served in various leadership roles during his 13 years with DealerSocket, includes Director of Strategy & Sales Development and Director of Sales Training & Demand Generation. Prior to that Swift gained his automotive retail experience working at dealerships in Southern California. Swift also holds a bachelor’s degree in Business Management from Pepperdine University's Graziadio Business School.

“Hunter is a legend when it comes to automotive technology and implementing cutting edge tech solutions to help dealerships,” said DealersGear Chief Technology Officer and Founder Jamil Ashkar. “He has a reputation as an innovator, and a process master. We’re all excited to see where he brings us and the industry.”

DealersGear, which currently provides an all-in-one marketing platform that includes dealership websites, inventory syndication/posting tools, and advertising automation tools, is currently developing a new automotive CRM for dealers called DealersGear CRM. Swift is considered a CRM expert and under his direction plans to change how dealers use CRM.

“Dealers are currently seeing more frustration than value from their CRMs,” said Swift. “CRM companies have gotten too outdated and too confusing. Innovation has dried up; customer service has disappeared, and CRM companies have become more focused on profits than results. DealersGear CRM will be a truly intuitive, user friendly CRM that helps salespeople and managers sell more. We’re designing it as a response to existing frustrations, and we’re fully utilizing the latest innovations and technologies.

“I am excited to lead this amazing company through this next stage of strategic growth,” said Swift. “I am ready to embrace the challenges and rewards of scaling the business and providing dealers with the best, most advanced platforms to help them succeed.

About DealersGear:
Based in Southern California, DealersGear is an all-in-one, marketing solution that was built by dealers for dealers. DealersGear softwares enables dealers to manage their digital presence, manage their inventory, and manage their websites from one integrated platform. DealersGear’s software platform and services include multimedia management, inventory management, intelligent auto dealership websites, inventory syndication tool that posts directly to Craigslist, Facebook, and Google My Business, Automated Ad Management, and CRM. For more information visit DealersGear.com

Herve Austin
COO
DealersGear
Put Your Dealer On The Highest Gear
949-923-0190
hcomeau@dealersgear.com

DrivingSales, the leader in human capital management software for dealerships, is excited to announce that Jared Hamilton, CEO and Founder of DrivingSales and Jason Volny, National Training Manager of DrivingSales will both present at NADA Show 2021. Jared and Jason will be part of the Human Capital track and will be sharing best practices and strategies to help dealerships develop their employees and improve performance. 

“It’s a huge compliment to have two members of the DrivingSales team present at this year’s NADA show!” said Jared Hamilton. “So many progressive dealers participate in the show so we are extremely excited to be able to bring awareness to the importance of investing in human capital.”

Jared Hamilton will share processes to attract, engage and grow millennial and Gen Z talent into the highest-performing employees at your store. Jared will share two simple processes that dealers today must implement in order to compete for human capital. Dealers in attendance will come away with a gameplan and processes to implement one week after the show! Jared will be presenting virtually Thursday, February 11, 01:30 pm -- 02:30 pm EST.

“Leadership teams at many dealerships have started to discuss employee management and leadership as an opportunity for growth in 2021. NADA is a great opportunity for us to show them how,” said Jason Volny.

Jason Volny will give dealers the top tips for implementing career paths at their stores and why it’s critical for any organization today, especially dealerships. Dealers will come away with the strategies to systematically educate their employees and give them the competencies they need to perform at the highest level. Jason will be presenting virtually Thursday, February 11, 03:30 pm -- 04:30 pm EST.

Not attending NADA Show? Dealers can learn more about optimizing their human capital by participating in the DrivingSales Master Class. In this free, 8-week course, managers will learn the importance of building processes to grow and develop their people, such as scorecard reviews, career paths and much more. Participants will build and implement processes that will turn Millennials and Gen Z employees into top performers. Learn more here.

About DrivingSales HCM

DrivingSales Human Capital Management is an employee management platform built to maximize the performance of dealership professionals. Dealers across the world use the HCM platform to automate the most important processes, such as onboarding, training, performance reviews, and more. Dealerships implementing these processes experience increased employee performance, a positive dealership culture, and higher sales. Learn more about the DrivingSales Human Capital Management platform today and see how you can maximize your dealership success. Go to: https://hcm.drivingsales.com/hcm

CallRevu, a leader in automotive Communication Intelligence (CI), proudly announces today the launch of a platform innovation which harnesses Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) using CallRevu’s unique automotive lexicon developed over the past 12 years from millions of human transcribed calls. This new technology analyzes all phone communications (all lines, all departments), distinctively harvesting rich insights and producing actionable data to help dealers improve the customer experience and grow their revenue.

With over 90% accuracy, the CI Platform is designed to give dealers what they need – quantity with quality – to provide the call connectivity metrics with detailed call flow, voicemail monitoring and keyword search combined with customer alerts, customer satisfaction monitoring and spam / robo-dialing reports that pinpoints areas for action.

“At CallRevu, we know that Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning are only as good as the training data – this is why we have amassed over 100 million calls transcribed by humans to develop the largest, automotive specific lexicon which enables us to deliver unparalleled quality -- and NOW we do this for every call, and every line," said Jeff dePascale, CallRevu VP of Technology.

Users will have increased visibility into the customer journey – from inquiry to sale – with rich data points that will help them identify, analyze and optimize their processes and approach. Early adopters are witnessing incredible gains in productivity – many claiming greater than 44% improvements achieved from the new capabilities, intuitive interface and the self-service tools that empower them to do more.

“CallRevu believes data is good, insights are better, but what Dealers really want is predictive and prescriptive alerts that focuses their attention on action. CallRevu has a rich history of firsts, and we believe the CI Platform is another example of CallRevu innovation and how we continue to lead the industry, with our sole focus on automotive that allows us to package and deliver information that is intuitive, real-time, mobile-first and readily accessible, and most importantly designed for action – and there is so much more we are bringing to market in 2021”, said Anthony Giagnacovo, CEO of CallRevu.

CallRevu partners with dealers to deliver a superior customer experience – the CI Platform innovation enables us to deliver richer insights to automotive dealers for better customer experiences that results in more connections, conversations and conversions to sales.

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About CallRevu
CallRevu, founded in 2008, helps thousands of automotive dealers in the U.S. cultivate the customers that make it into the showroom after having a great experience on the phone. CallRevu has monitored over 110 million calls and by providing local and toll-free numbers to place on all ads, we track, listen, summarize, alert, and report on dealership’s phone calls to monitor call performance. With the robust data we collect, we coach on how to enhance the caller’s experience and improve the bottom line of dealerships. Visit callrevu.com.

HOFFMAN ESTATES, Ill. – Dec.15, 2020 – CDK Global, Inc. (Nasdaq: CDK), a leading retail automotive technology company, today announced Eric Guerin will join the Company as executive vice president and chief financial officer (CFO) on January 18. The appointment of Guerin will enable Joe Tautges to complete his transition to the role of chief operating officer (COO) early in 2021.

In his role, Guerin will be responsible for driving the Company’s financial strategy, growth opportunities, and performance to ensure they are pursued efficiently, profitably, and with minimal risks.

“We are looking forward to Eric bringing his more than 20 years of finance experience from well regarded, publicly-traded companies to help us strengthen our balance sheet and accelerate growth in our business,” said Brian Krzanich, president and chief executive officer, CDK Global. “As we welcome Eric, I want to thank Joe for his tremendous contributions as CFO and look forward to him continuing to play a critical role as COO as we build on our momentum and transform the way the industry connects.”

Guerin joins CDK Global from Corning Incorporated, where he served as division vice president and sector CFO, Corning Glass Technologies. Throughout his career, Guerin has held various leadership roles, including vice president, Finance and CFO, Aftermarket Services and Solutions at Flowserve Corporation; vice president, Finance, Global R&D, Alcon Division at Novartis; and finance director, WWR&D and New Business Development, Ethicon at Johnson & Johnson.

“I’m excited to join CDK Global at a time of significant opportunity when the Company is investing in its growth,” said Guerin. “I look forward to helping CDK execute on its strategy to provide innovative solutions to automotive retailers and OEMs that allow them to connect better, manage, analyze and grow their business, as well as enhance value for shareholders.”

Guerin holds a Bachelor of Science in Accounting with a minor in Economics from the College of Staten Island and a Master of Business Administration from St. John’s University. Guerin has also earned his CPA and CMA designations (both inactive).

Guerin will be based in the Company’s Hoffman Estates, Ill. office.

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About CDK Global, Inc.
With approximately $2 billion in revenues, CDK Global (Nasdaq: CDK) is a leading global provider of integrated information technology solutions to the automotive retail and adjacent industries. Focused on enabling end-to-end automotive commerce, CDK Global provides solutions to dealers in more than 100 countries around the world, serving approximately 30,000 retail locations and most automotive manufacturers. CDK solutions automate and integrate all parts of the dealership and buying process, including the acquisition, sale, financing, insuring, parts supply, repair, and maintenance of vehicles. Visit cdkglobal.com.

DrivingSales is pleased to announce a partnership with the Schumacher Auto Group. The DrivingSales Human Capital Management platform will be used by the Schumacher Auto Group to facilitate the training and development of their staff.

With over 900 employees, the Schumacher Auto Group has served the Palm Beach and Delray Beach communities for over 45 years across their family of dealerships.

“As we grow at Schumacher Auto Group, so does our need for trained employees,” said Jean Wihbey, VP Schumacher University of the Schumacher Auto Group. “Dealerships should consider joining DrivingSales HCM to expand outstanding organizational and leadership performance. HCM will assist with developing and improving our dealerships’ work environment, highlight the importance of customer relationships, improve technical skills, enhance policy and procedure knowledge, and advance the love and understanding of the car culture.”`

“We are extremely excited to partner with the Schumacher Auto Group.” Said Jason Volny, National Training Manager of DrivingSales. “ The Schumacher Auto group has demonstrated an unwavering dedication to developing the careers of its employees. I’ve been really impressed by how much they prioritize a positive culture across their stores.”

The Human Capital Management platform automates the most important dealership processes that lead to success. HCM is used by leading dealers around the world to maximize employee performance and increase dealership success. Visit here for more information.

http://www.drivingsales.com/about/see-how-hcm-can-increase-your-bottom-line/?utm_campaign=Schumacher%20Auto%20Group&utm_medium=Press%20release&utm_source=Community

Jason Barrie will help guide Digital Air Strike’s product strategy and market development as the company continues to grow and release new technology to help businesses transact virtually with consumers.

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz., - (December 10, 2020) Digital Air Strike, the leading consumer engagement technology company, is proud to welcome Jason Barrie to its award-winning executive leadership team. Barrie will serve as senior vice president of product strategy and market development. 

Barrie spent 14 years at Dealertrack Technologies Inc. and Cox Automotive where he held leadership positions including serving as an associate vice president for Market Performance, VinSolutions, and Dealertrack F&I, as well as vice president and general manager of Dealertrack Dealer F&I.  Most recently Barrie was chief operating officer and general manager at Carmatic, a technology company geared toward simplifying the car buying experience for consumers. 

Barrie and Digital Air Strike’s co-founder and CEO, Alexi Venneri, were colleagues at Dealertrack where Venneri was part of the senior team that took Dealertrack public as the vice president of marketing, communications, and investor relations. 

“Since working with Jason at Dealertrack, I have continued to be impressed by his stellar contributions and career advancement in the automotive industry,” said Venneri, “We are looking forward to Jason bringing his exceptional product strategy and leadership expertise to Digital Air Strike’s executive team as we continue to expand our offerings through both organic and acquisitive avenues.”

"Digital Air Strike is the perfect blend of technology and managed services, and when you combine that with the company's industry experience, OEM and partnership relationships as well as overall leadership position, it's an opportunity in which I wanted to play a part,” said Barrie. “My goal is to help the company’s growth by aligning product roadmaps to market needs, ensuring we continue to deliver innovative technology solutions that help our clients be even more successful. Digital Air Strike is a proven partner in digital retailing and enhancing consumer engagement in the automotive and adjacent industries."

Barrie graduated from Miami University and lives in the New York area. He will divide his time between New York and Digital Air Strike’s headquarters in Scottsdale, Arizona.  

About Digital Air Strike

Digital Air Strike is the leading social media, intelligent lead response, and consumer engagement technology company helping 5,000 businesses increase consumer response and conversions in digital and social media environments while generating measurable ROI. A pioneer in digital response, social media marketing and online reputation management solutions, Digital Air Strike deploys industry specific mobile apps, software, intelligent messaging, and managed service platforms to monitor, engage, improve, and manage consumer interactions for businesses in the United States, Canada and 33 additional countries, including working with seven of the largest automotive manufacturers. More information is available at www.digitalairstrike.com

and www.facebook.com/digitalairstrike.

Lincoln (Luxury) and MINI (Mass Market) Rank Highest in Sales Satisfaction in Respective Segments

TROY, Mich.: 10 Dec. 2020 — Decreased showroom traffic caused by COVID-19 shutdowns fast-tracked dealer adoption of remote selling capabilities, according to the J.D. Power 2020 U.S. Sales Satisfaction Index (SSI) Study,SM released today.

“The pandemic provided dealers with a wide-open path to allow different approaches to sell vehicles outside of their traditional showroom sales process,” said Chris Sutton, vice president of automotive retail at J.D. Power. “It’s revealing, too, that 44% of online shoppers are now selecting the exact vehicle they want from inventory on a dealer’s website, which is an increase of 13 percentage points from January of this year.

“The more shoppers are exposed to remote communication and actual online buying options, the more they may prefer these methods in the future over traditional showroom visits to wade through inventory and negotiate. In fact, nearly one in four buyers say their purchase experience during the pandemic will make them less likely to shop in person in the future, indicating that digital retail processes are here to stay. These lasting effects make it imperative for dealers to step up their digital offerings to remain competitive.”

The study, now in its 35th year, has been redesigned for 2020 and places a much greater emphasis on digital retail and remote buying. Digital retail activities measured in the study include the ability to select vehicle from inventory; receive credit approval; review F&I products; agree on purchase price; and complete purchase paperwork. All saw a spike during the onset of the pandemic and, while many declined in the May-June timeframe, all are still up nearly 50% from January.

The study also finds that, as dealers implemented and refined digital procedures at the onset of the pandemic (March-April), buyer satisfaction among digital customers increased. Most notably, satisfaction among buyers who finalized a price online was nearly identical to those who didn’t finalize a price online before the pandemic began. By the May-June timeframe, satisfaction among buyers who agreed to a price online was 42 points higher (on a 1,000-point scale) than among those who hadn’t. This demonstrates how quickly dealers were able to implement and refine processes that resonated with buyers.

Following are some key findings of the 2020 study:

• Key pandemic-related buying activities improve satisfaction: Even though most buyers say COVID-19 affected their buying process in ways they didn’t expect, many were more satisfied as a result. In fact, satisfaction among buyers who say their process wasn’t affected at all is seven points lower than among those who were affected. Buyers who completed most of their paperwork online are the most satisfied, with satisfaction averaging 873, which is 35 points higher than among those who didn’t complete paperwork online. Similarly, satisfaction scores among those who had more virtual communication are 17 points higher than among those who didn’t. These activities illustrate why such trends are likely to continue.

• Online F&I review can enhance take rates: Reviewing F&I products online increased after the COVID-19 outbreak, but it’s still uncommon—only 7% of buyers say they reviewed products online during the March-June timeframe. However, the take rate among buyers who reviewed products online is higher compared with those who reviewed products in the showroom, especially for extended warranty (36% vs. 28%); prepaid maintenance (23% vs. 16%); and tire protection (18% vs. 12%).

• Brand and dealer advocacy aren’t aligned: On average, vehicle brands have a higher Net Promoter Score® (NPS)[1] than their dealer base, with nearly a 20-point gap (on a 100-point scale) between the scores. However, there’s also a wide range of gaps between the two groups that vary by brand, the largest of which is 34 and the smallest of which is -2. Key performance indicators (KPIs) that have the highest effect on buyer satisfaction index scores include sales consultant completely understood needs (+94); vehicle delivered in perfect condition (+55); and finance staff not too pushy selling additional products (+52). These KPIs are met nearly 90% of the time. NPS measures customer advocacy for the model they own and can be a strong predictor of future business growth.

• Tesla profiled for first time: Tesla receives an SSI score of 804. The automaker is not officially ranked among other brands in the study because it doesn’t meet ranking criteria. Unlike other manufacturers, Tesla doesn’t grant J.D. Power permission to survey its owners in 15 states where it is required. However, Tesla’s score was calculated based on a sample of surveys from owners in the other 35 states.

Study Rankings

Lincoln ranks highest in sales satisfaction among luxury brands, with a score of 827. Lexus (826) and Mercedes-Benz (826) rank second in a tie.

MINI ranks highest in sales satisfaction among mass market brands with a score of 824. GMC (804) ranks second and Buick (803) ranks third.

The U.S. Sales Satisfaction Index (SSI) Study measures satisfaction with the sales experience among new-vehicle buyers and rejecters (those who shop a dealership and purchase elsewhere). Buyer satisfaction is based on six factors (in order of importance): delivery process (28%); dealer personnel (21%); working out the deal (19%); paperwork completion (19%); dealership facility (10%); and dealership website (4%). Rejecter satisfaction is based on five factors: salesperson (28%); price (27%); negotiation (18%); dealership facility (14%); and variety of inventory (13%).

The study is based on responses from 35,816 buyers who purchased or leased their new vehicle from January through June 2020. The study is a comprehensive analysis of the new-vehicle purchase experience and measures customer satisfaction with the selling dealer (satisfaction among buyers). The study also measures satisfaction with brands and dealerships that were shopped but ultimately rejected in favor of the selling dealership (satisfaction among rejecters). The study was fielded from July through October 2020.

To learn more about the 2020 U.S. Sales Satisfaction Index (SSI) Study, visit

http://www.jdpower.com/resource/us-sales-satisfaction-index-ssi-study.

See the online press release at http://www.jdpower.com/pr-id/2020076.

J.D. Power is a global leader in consumer insights, advisory services and data and analytics. A pioneer in the use of big data, artificial intelligence (AI) and algorithmic modeling capabilities to understand consumer behavior, J.D. Power has been delivering incisive industry intelligence on customer interactions with brands and products for more than 50 years. The world's leading businesses across major industries rely on J.D. Power to guide their customer-facing strategies.

J.D. Power is headquartered in Troy, Mich., and has offices in North America, Europe and Asia Pacific. To learn more about the company’s business offerings, visit JDPower.com/business. The J.D. Power auto shopping tool can be found at JDPower.com.

Media Relations Contacts

Geno Effler, J.D. Power; West Coast; 714-621-6224; media.relations@jdpa.com

Shane Smith; East Coast; 424-903-3665; ssmith@pacificcommunicationsgroup.com

About J.D. Power and Advertising/Promotional Rules www.jdpower.com/business/about-us/press-release-info

DECEMBER 9, 2020 - DrivingSales is pleased to announce a partnership with the Key Auto Group. The DrivingSales Human Capital Management platform will be powering the employee management and people development of the Key Auto group. 

With nearly 500 employees, the Key Auto Group is one of the leading auto groups in New England and has served its customers for over 25 years.

“If you’re looking to build a team that breaks away from the negative ‘dealership” stereotypes, DrivingSales will help you make it happen.” said Armando Rodriguez, Sales Development Coordinator of the Key Auto Group. “Our employees are our biggest asset and engaged employees who have a clear direction and an understanding of their job will yield significant results in the long run. If you’re looking to take your dealership to the next level and join the likes of some of the most successful companies in the world such as Apple, Hilton and Amazon it’s important to take a page of their book and invest in your people just as you would with advertising and technology. 

“The DrivingSales team is extremely excited to Partner with the Key Auto Group.” Said Jared Hamilton, CEO and Founder of DrivingSales. “The Key Auto Group has proven to be a leader in the industry that other dealers should follow. Their commitment to developing their people demonstrates their understanding of the importance of dealerships to invest in the success of their employees. We are excited to have the Key Auto Group join the DrivingSales Community and we look forward to seeing their progress as Human Capital Management leaders.”

The Human Capital Management platform automates the most important dealership processes that lead to success. HCM is used by leading dealers around the world to maximize employee performance and increase dealership success. Click here for more information on the Human Capital Management platform.

https://hcm.drivingsales.com/hcm