BALTIMORE (PRWEB) AUGUST 20, 2020

CallRevu, the industry leader in automotive Conversation Intelligence featuring call data, tracking and advanced machine monitoring powered by artificial intelligence (AI) to help Dealers Connect, Communicate and Close deals, is pleased to announce that Jim Menard has joined as the new Vice President of Client Services. Menard will be focus on strengthening CallRevu’s relationships with dealers, supporting customer growth and elevating CallRevu’s brand across the automotive ecosystem.

“I am excited to join CallRevu, where I can apply my passion for helping dealers achieve greater success – helping them simplify the customer experience while strengthening their conversations with customers – CallRevu is a cornerstone in helping dealers achieve their goals,” said Jim Menard, Vice President of Client Services.

Menard has been working in the automotive industry for 23 years, having served as Senior Vice President of Sales, Service and Support for TrueCar and in other senior leadership roles at AutoTrader, vAuto and Search Optics. Menard brings proven experiences that result in better organizational effectiveness, employee retention and satisfaction along with higher sales, greater market penetration, and enhanced customer experience.

Menard comes to CallRevu from Dominion Dealer Solutions where he was the Vice President of Client Success, Operations and OEM Relationships where he focused on dealer and OEM relationships across the company’s software and digital marketing platforms. Jim is also a frequent keynote speaker for influential automotive groups, such as the National Automobile Dealers Association [NADA], National Independent Automobile Dealers Association [NIADA], and National Alliance of Buy Here, Pay Here Dealers [NABD].

“We are excited to have Jim on-board, and help us take our customer engagement to the next level — Jim knows the industry and has proven experience leading a Customer Services team to deliver unparalleled value and service. Jim is Bold, Innovative and champions Partnership – all are core values to CallRevu and made Jim an obvious choice,” said Anthony Giagnacovo, CEO of CallRevu.

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 http://www.callrevu.com.

I began selling cars in 1998. The Internet was just beginning to take hold. In fact, a lot of the customers I contacted from Internet leads (that were faxed and handed to me) were actually angry that I was calling them.

 We had a brochure rack, and it took up a pretty large footprint on the showroom floor. We had boxes and boxes of brochures in the supply closet that we used to keep the rack stocked. When I think back to the value of the dealership, we had the information. We had the product specs, colors, and options. You went to the dealership to gather that information.

 As the Internet took hold, customers could go online to get that information. They could spend hours upon hours comparing the different makes and models. The brochure rack started to dwindle. People weren’t coming in asking for brochures as much anymore. That value had shifted, but we still had the pricing. Customers had to come to us for that part of the process, and our Internet lead handling process reflected that. Most of the customers inquiring through the Internet were looking for the price of a particular model. That was the value of the dealership. We controlled the pricing.

 Today, customers can get the pricing online. They can compare models, options, and pricing of the vehicles they’re interested in. If you want to be in the game, you need to price all of your vehicles online. It’s the entry fee to play the game.

 So where is the value of the dealership? How do we justify the need for a brick and mortar facility?

 I feel like this is a good question that we need to be able to answer in our departments. This doesn’t matter if you are in sales, service, parts, what is your value? How can you add value to the transaction?

 There is an interesting dichotomy here. We hear frequently that customers don’t like the sales process, yet our customer experience research has shown that they are looking for a dealership and a salesperson they can trust. As a dealership employee, how can you build value and trust into your process?

 I think a good place to start is to ask, “Are you in the way or are you necessary?” We need to make money. That’s a given. Customers have told us that they don’t mind paying more for a good experience, but that’s easier said than done. We have processes that have worked for years. It takes intestinal fortitude to make changes when the current processes work.

 But here is the thing. If our processes don’t work for consumers, they will eventually find a workaround. We’ve seen it occur over and over again.

 Dealerships have value. It’s up to us to find it and communicate it to our customers. As this value shifts, we need to be vigilant in building value into everything we do.

I know the title sounds like an ad for a clinical trial, but what I’m referring to is a problem that runs rampant in dealerships. If not checked, it can cause you to lose appointments, sales, service gross, and more.

What is conversational narcissism? Simply put, a conversational narcissist is someone who makes the conversation about them. They attempt to take control of a conversation and focus it on themselves. This is a problem if you are in any sales-type position.

If you think about a needs analysis, regardless if you are in variable or fixed ops, it is to gain information from the customer about their wants and needs. Hence the title “needs analysis”. But a good needs analysis is about so much more.

Your customers want to trust you. They need to know you have their best interests in mind. This is accomplished by talking about them, not you. I’m not saying that you shouldn’t find common ground and relate their needs to your own. This is a good way to build trust. I’m saying that you need to be careful about the flow of the conversation.

In addition, so much of the sales and service process today involves engagement. Active listening and questioning are two of the keys to better customer engagement. This requires less talking from you.

Don’t worry. Conversational Narcissism can be treated, and it doesn’t require a visit to a doctor or medication. Here are some things you can do:

First, ask your peers. Odds are this isn’t something that only occurs during your sales process. Find someone you can trust and ask them to be straight with you. Do you tend to take control of a conversation?

Next, pay attention to how much you are talking vs listening in a sales conversation. You can ask more questions. We all know that listening is a skill all successful sales consultants, BDC agents, and service advisors have. Work to develop this skill in yourself.

At the end of the day, active listening and questioning are two of the antidotes for conversational narcissism. Take the time to perfect these two skills and improve your engagement with customers. Your bank account will thank you.

Your dealership is all about growth. You may be looking to grow sales, improve your sales or service gross, maybe invest in new points.

Regardless of the growth path your store is looking to take, there are four levels that contribute to organizational and personal growth. In this post we will review and define each level. For an example, I am going to use employee development. Keep in mind that this same logic can apply to different areas in your dealership where you see growth opportunities.

The first level is ad hoc. Ad hoc growth is inconsistent, and has no structure. It is typically controlled by outside forces or just plain hard work. The main problem with ad hoc development is not very efficient.

For example, ad hoc employee development means inconsistent new hire onboarding. An organization may hire ten employees to find and keep two. Managers invent the training that occurs, and too often that training happens “at the desk” when the employee is in the middle of a situation. Performance is tracked is tracked on the sales board. It’s how many service hours an employee generates or how many cars an individual sold.

The next level is manager driven. Organizations that are manager driven take on the personality of their management staff. The Sales/Service Manager defines the processes that are deployed. New employee onboarding involves watching a veteran and modeling how they do it. Managers create and hold the training. Favoritism is rampant in a manager driven growth level. Another issue with this level is the management linchpin. If a manager leaves the organization, all of the training and processes leave with them. The dealership is left with a large vacuum that needs to be filled (usually with another manager and their training and processes.

The third level is dealership driven. This is the minimum growth level your organization should employ. In this level, the store defines and implements the training and processes. The market, time of year, or management does not control the training. Store goals are defined and driven by the executive team.

For example, the store onboards all employees. New employee onboarding means indoctrinating an employee on the “dealership way” of doing things. Training and processes are documented, and management is assigned to deliver the dealership training. Employees are managed based on performance, but the store has established activity metrics that lead to the ideal results with which employees are held accountable.

The final, fourth level is continuous improvement. In this level, growth is ingrained into the organization, and technology is leveraged to automate and scale.

In our employee development example, processes, training, and employee standards are captured in software. Orientation is automated for consistency. Furthermore, training is tied to strategy and uses a standardized curriculum for instruction. Everyone has a defined career plan, and training along with performance expectations are incorporated to advance employees through their career. The organization also executes performance reviews monthly to check in on employee development.

As stated earlier, we used employee development as an example, but you can use these four levels to create a growth in your organization. Inventory management, your service advisor or finance processes, digital retailing, all can use these four levels to help you define success. Take a few minutes to audit your store and determine what needs to take place to get to level three. You will create efficiencies and develop a successful growth strategy.

I recently sat down with Mike Darrow, CEO and President of TrueCar, to chat about the current state of automotive. We talked about TrueCar's direction and where he sees the industry headed.

 Insights on digital retailing, predictive analytics, millennial buyers, and marketing insights competed onstage at the DrivingSales Presidents Club event virtually in June

Salt Lake City, UT – June 15, 2020 – DrivingSales today announced the results of the 2020 DrivingSales Most Valuable Insight Competition, which was created to foster the spirit of progress and thought leadership in the auto industry.  Finalists were asked to provide an insight that would provide significant value to dealership executives.  They were selected from a competitive field of submissions by a dealer board. Each finalist competed virtually during the 2020 DrivingSales Presidents Club event, June 9, 2020.

“There are so many creative innovators in our industry that we wanted to provide a special forum for uncovering insights that can create significant change and benefit, but that are often overlooked or unheralded,” said DrivingSales Founder and CEO Jared Hamilton. “This is our chance to hear from the deep thinkers among us – those who have an intuitive understanding of the automotive industry and who are constantly seeking to improve it. We congratulate the finalists, each of whose insights – whether on mobile or millennials or marketing metrics - will provide immediate value not only to the executives attending the Presidents Club, but to all dealership leaders on the look-out for smart ways to improve their operations.” 

The 2020 DrivingSales Most Valuable Insight results are: 

• Winner, Most Valuable Insight: “Leverage Your Human Capital To Drive Better Results” by DriveCentric.

• Finalist: “U.S. Automotive Well Being Index” by Experian Automotive 

• Finalist: “What Car Buyers Really Want” by DealerPolicy

• Finalist: “There is no Average Buyer Journey” by Stream Companies

Each finalist presented their insight virtually at the DrivingSales Presidents Club event. A panel of dealer judges scored each presentation.  The 2020 Most Valuable Insight will be presented in more detail at the 2020 DrivingSales Executive Summit held in October in Las Vegas.

The Most Valuable Insight Competition is part of a high-level line-up at the DrivingSales Presidents Club, an intimate and collaborative event. The event is designed to help an elite audience of dealership principals and general managers build the strategies they need to adapt to a changing automotive retail market – and to lead it. The event focuses on the three foundational elements of successful dealership operations – Capital, Brand and People. 

Visit www.drivingsalespresidentsclub.com for more information and to register for the event. 

For more information about the DrivingSales Most Valuable Insight Competition, go to http://drivingsalespresidentsclub.com/most-valuable-insight/. 

About DrivingSales 

Founded in 2008 and dedicated to the dealer community, DrivingSales is a business intelligence and performance improvement company that delivers unbiased*, profit-building information to make automobile dealers more successful through three distinct channels: DrivingSales Data, DrivingSales University and DrivingSales Media. DrivingSales Data houses the largest database of cross-vendor, dealership performance data in the North American auto industry and provides dealerships with the most statistically accurate performance benchmarks and metrics for their marketing and technology investments. Approximately one in every three dealerships in the United States has a registered member in the DrivingSales community.

*Vendor Neutral Policy: Dedicated solely to making dealerships more profitable, while also providing benefit to automakers and the industry as a whole, DrivingSales adheres to a strict vendor neutral policy through each of its channels. This means the company only provides unbiased information, not ‘pay-to-play’ follow up services -- and never accepts payment in exchange for media coverage or lets potential advertisers dictate messaging or create bias in any of its channels.

DAYTON, Ohio – June 5, 2020 – The Reynolds and Reynolds Company today announced publicly that Tommy (N. Thomas) Barras has been promoted to president and chief operations officer (COO) of Reynolds and Reynolds. The promotion is effective immediately. Barras will report directly to Reynolds Chairman and CEO Bob Brockman.

In making the announcement, Brockman said, “With more than 40 years in the industry and with the
company, Tommy understands in amazing detail the core strengths of our software and products, and how both fit into a dealership’s operations as a retailer. Tommy has been involved in developing
virtually every major software and product initiative across the company, and his product achievements have been an important key to our success.”

Barras, 61, joined the company in 1976. He was named a company officer over software development in 1988 and has held the position of executive vice president of software development since 2008. Brockman concluded: “I look forward to working even more closely with Tommy in his new role as we continue our focus on building software and services that deliver more sales and gross profit to dealers. That is who we are.”

About Reynolds
Reynolds and Reynolds is a leading provider of automobile dealership software, services, and forms to help dealerships deliver better business results and transform the customer experience. The company is headquartered in Dayton, Ohio, with major U.S. operations in Houston and College Station, Texas, and Celina, Ohio, as well as operations in Canada, in the U.K., and Europe.
( www.reyrey.com )

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For those of you in a Master Class,

You’ve just learned about creating a Human Capital Management business plan and how it can systematically help your organization implement the five key processes to improve engagement, performance, and retention of your people. 

To recap:

 - We went through the maturity model of process-driven dealerships and what makes them successful

•  - We discussed the people-process-technology framework to help with new-process implementation.

•  - We discussed the HCM business plan and how it can systematically aid in the HCM integration, one bite a time.  

“The great aim of education is not knowledge but action” - Herbert Spencer.  You’ve done a great job in the Master Class, however, the learning is not over. As a reminder, adults don’t learn best by watching others, they learn best by doing and experimenting. 

Our whole team is dedicated to your success and we’ll still be here after the Master Class, should you need us. Please complete your homework assignment and one of our team members will schedule a one-on-one strategy session where you will collaborate and put together an HCM business plan for your organization. 

There are 3 things we need you to complete:

 - Complete the People-Processes-Technology Framework Worksheet for one of the processes and email it to your Employee Management Expert . For extra credit, complete and submit all five processes. This will help us build a business plan for your organization. 

•  - Email your Employee Management Expert your contact and shipping information so we can send your certification. 

•  - Set up an appointment with your Account Manager to build your Business Plan. Click on your Account Manager Name to see their calendar. 

Christian Burleson

Jay Trotter

Here are some additional resource downloads to help you complete your HCM Business Plan homework.

People-Process-Technology Framework Worksheet

People-Process-Technology Framework Worksheet Example 

Create Change with the People-Process-Technology Framework

For those of you in a Master Class,

You’ve just learned about New-Hire Orientation and how it can systematically help you set your new hires on the right path. You also learned how to build a great orientation process to fit your organizational needs. 

To recap, you learned:

 - The pitfalls of the current orientation process

•  - The benefits of a proper new-hire orientation process

•  - Step-by-step instructions on how to build an orientation process to fit your needs

“A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step” -Lao Tzu. As an organization, you must make sure that your employee’s career path begins with a step in the right direction. 

There are 3 things we need you to complete:

 - Complete a New-Hire Orientation Process and New-Hire Orientation Checklist and email it to your Employee Management Expert (our team will load it for you into the HCM platform.) 

•  - Comment and interact on 5 Steps to creating a dealership new-hire orientation process  blog in the community

•  - Participate in the New-hire Orientation forum

Do not hesitate to reach out to your Employee Management Expert, they would love to help. 

Here are some additional resource downloads to help you complete your New-Hire Orientation homework.

New-Hire Orientation Process 

New-Hire Orientation Process Example 

New-Hire Orientation Checklist 

New-Hire Orientation Checklist Example

5 Steps to creating a dealership new-hire orientation process

For a long time, Joe Girard was the "World’s Greatest Car Salesman".  His record has since been broken, but when I was managing a dealership he was the king. What always fascinated me was that he didn’t sell cars in a bubble.  He worked with other salespeople in a dealership. How come that store didn’t have a stable full of Joe Girards? Didn’t anyone mimic what he did?

If you think about successful employees and analyze why they are so successful, you’ll come up with some traits. They work hard. They follow the process.  I would argue that they are successful because they have mastered the habits that lead to success.

The word habit seems to have a negative connotation. That person has a drug habit or a gambling habit. We don’t talk enough about the good habits people can develop. Think about the power of these positive habits. Better yet, think about how you can develop positive habits in your employees and yourself.

This may date me, but when I was in high school I took typing.  I also took history classes. Ask me to recite the Presidents of the United States and I could probably get 60%. But put me in front of a computer and ask me to type, I can do it without thinking. Why? Because I memorized the Presidents, took a test, and quit. But I typed every day, and I still do.  It’s second nature now. 

In previous posts, we discussed that processes solve all operational issues. Your goal is to make these successful, proven processes to be second nature. How can you do this?

Begin by making a list of the habits you feel makes someone successful in a specific job role. This could include CRM usage and daily follow up. Try to identify anything that you preach to your people will make them successful.

Once you have this list, determine if these are daily, weekly, or monthly habits. How frequently do successful employees complete an activity? The more you can make daily, the better. But you may find some are not feasible to do daily. Break your list of habits down by daily, weekly, and monthly.

You also need a way to hold them accountable for completing the activity you want to become a habit.  I guess you could say that you, as a leader, need to develop the habit of checking in on the habit development of your team.  The HCM platform can make this easy.  You can assign daily tasks (that will develop habits) to each of your employees.

At the end of the day, good management is about activities, not results.  Manage the activities that lead to success and you will achieve the results you want. For example, rather than managing monthly car sales, focus on the activities that lead to car sales. Setting appointments, daily follow up, process consistency, etc.

Success isn’t rocket science. It’s about consistency in the daily activities that separate your rock stars from everyone else. The more you can make those daily activities become habits, the more success your team will achieve.