2017 was a year of many milestones for our Dealership.  Here are 4 main changes we made that had an effective impact on our Partners and Clients.  Hopefully, they can have the same impact on your dealership as they did ours;

#1. Creating Extrinsic and Intrinsic Motivation - We started to pay our staff off the bottom line in 2017.  This gave them an extrinsic motivation factor, but also an intrinsic motivator because they felt as though they are now a Partner at the dealership.  We improved our language by acknowledging our "employees" as our Partners which gives them an added morale boost, thus leading to higher productivity and a healthier culture.  We've noticed less micro-managing and more leading as well.

#2. Gifting - It's well known that repeat and referral business is the best form of business.  And word of mouth is the most effective form of advertising.  We capitalized on that this year by incorporating gifting into our advertising budget.  Let's say you enjoy being in the kitchen.  Wouldn't it be nice to have a custom-made cutting board with your last name proudly engraved on it?  We tailor the gifts to our clients' interests and hobbies.  Ideally, something that they will see on a daily basis as it leaves a minor impression from Woodworth Dodge even though we don't put our name on their gift anywhere.  It's the thought that's the differentiating factor here.  Sending a handwritten thank you note along with it adds to the positive experience.  Yes, it requires a bit of time, but not as much as you think, to put this together but we find it to be an investment well worth the time.

#3. Random Thank You's - It's a great feeling when you see a client's reaction to getting a free oil change for being a loyal client, bringing a smile with them to the dealership, or any other positive expression and commitment they've shown towards your dealership.  We started to allocate a weekly budget to our Parts and Service Department where the only purpose of this budget is to give away something to an unsuspecting client.  The catch is, the person doing the Thank You and providing a free oil change in this example, has to tell the client why they are getting a free gift today.  It leaves the client with an irreplaceable feeling of joy and gratitude.  This one has been a lot of fun!

#4. Transparency Meetings - Normally, I'm not a huge fan of meetings, even though we seem to have a lot of them.  They're hard to avoid when you're wanting to improve operations.  This one can seem a bit controversial but has worked for larger corporations such as Bridgewater Associates.  Once every other week, we have everyone meet up in the morning before the day gets going and provide them with an opportunity to speak their mind in concerning areas of operations and/or to bring praise to someone who is doing a great job or handled a situation properly in front of their peer group.  The closed-minded people will think this is risky or negative, but that's because they view feedback as criticism instead of an opportunity to improve which is what open-minded people do.  Since incorporating this style of meeting, which is limited to 10 minutes, we've built trust amongst our departments and more respect towards each other as we can better understand how each department operates.

Make 2018 your best year yet!

Brandin