In the last post I spoke about Mission Statements.  The next step in communicating the vision for your store are Core Values and Job Responsibilities.

Core Values are a set of basic principles that guide all the actions from the top down. These can be things like Honesty, Efficiency, Trust, etc.. The best method for putting these together is to have a few brain storm sessions to get a large list and then let executive leadership narrow them down. The reason for having multiple meetings to to get as expansive a listing as possible. If you put everyone together in one meeting once the session gets a direction, it is rare that new ideas are brought forward.

Once you have a list of the priciples, take the responsibilities for each position you have in the store and see how they fit into the core values.  These values are meant to frame how we follow through on each of our responsibilities.  Below are some examples.

Here are a few examples of some key tasks that belong in the professional service writer job responsibility guidelines and how they relate to core values.

Core Value – Efficiency – Giving fellow employees and clients the fastest and easiest method to interact with our dealership; creating a workflow that saves time and money.

Task – Reservations – By using a reservation process, clients will arrive at our dealership at a specific time with complete information on concerns and desired services.  This will enable the dealership to better schedule work including; having parts availability on the initial trip, faster service time since we can plan to have a technician available when the car arrives, and a higher likelihood of fixed right the first time by getting solid information upfront.

Core Value – Transparency – Management and staff will give all the complete information to the clients and fellow employees, allowing for higher customer satisfaction and better decision management.

Task – Active Delivery – Every client will receive an accurate and thorough summary of the diagnosis, accounting of the services performed, and a review of the pricing.  This step ensures client satisfaction with the method, outcome, and charges of any performed.  It also gives the service writer a later review of the repair order to confirm that any and all services were offered.

Core Value – Service – The value of service is the intent with which we interact with clients and one another.  Profit is one of many end results we want within our business such as loyalty, satisfaction, or happiness.  To quote Zig Ziglar, “If you help enough other people get what they want, you will get what you want”. 

Task – Follow-up – After every face to face interaction with our dealership the client will be contacted to ensure satisfaction and perpetuate our relationship.  Timely follow-up demonstrates our willingness to communicate with clients even when it will not directly create a transaction.  All employees will use the three question format according to the Acura design so we will know if the client received the level of service they expect, and can be proactive if the client knows a way for us to be more efficient.

If you are looking to build a list in your store and want a little help, just reach out. Message me here, or find me on your favorite social network.

In the last post I spoke about Mission Statements.  The next step in communicating the vision for your store are Core Values and Job Responsibilities.

Core Values are a set of basic principles that guide all the actions from the top down. These can be things like Honesty, Efficiency, Trust, etc.. The best method for putting these together is to have a few brain storm sessions to get a large list and then let executive leadership narrow them down. The reason for having multiple meetings to to get as expansive a listing as possible. If you put everyone together in one meeting once the session gets a direction, it is rare that new ideas are brought forward.

Once you have a list of the priciples, take the responsibilities for each position you have in the store and see how they fit into the core values.  These values are meant to frame how we follow through on each of our responsibilities.  Below are some examples.

Here are a few examples of some key tasks that belong in the professional service writer job responsibility guidelines and how they relate to core values.

Core Value – Efficiency – Giving fellow employees and clients the fastest and easiest method to interact with our dealership; creating a workflow that saves time and money.

Task – Reservations – By using a reservation process, clients will arrive at our dealership at a specific time with complete information on concerns and desired services.  This will enable the dealership to better schedule work including; having parts availability on the initial trip, faster service time since we can plan to have a technician available when the car arrives, and a higher likelihood of fixed right the first time by getting solid information upfront.

Core Value – Transparency – Management and staff will give all the complete information to the clients and fellow employees, allowing for higher customer satisfaction and better decision management.

Task – Active Delivery – Every client will receive an accurate and thorough summary of the diagnosis, accounting of the services performed, and a review of the pricing.  This step ensures client satisfaction with the method, outcome, and charges of any performed.  It also gives the service writer a later review of the repair order to confirm that any and all services were offered.

Core Value – Service – The value of service is the intent with which we interact with clients and one another.  Profit is one of many end results we want within our business such as loyalty, satisfaction, or happiness.  To quote Zig Ziglar, “If you help enough other people get what they want, you will get what you want”. 

Task – Follow-up – After every face to face interaction with our dealership the client will be contacted to ensure satisfaction and perpetuate our relationship.  Timely follow-up demonstrates our willingness to communicate with clients even when it will not directly create a transaction.  All employees will use the three question format according to the Acura design so we will know if the client received the level of service they expect, and can be proactive if the client knows a way for us to be more efficient.

If you are looking to build a list in your store and want a little help, just reach out. Message me here, or find me on your favorite social network.

Getting your staff to WANT to work for your business long term is the holy grail for every dealership.  There is a key difference between want to be a part of your store, and feel like your store happens to be the best option.  You can make this happen for your staff.

Every day I speak to employees that not only perform their job, but have become ambassdors for the business.  The key ingredient to corporate structure is culture, and the way we express culture to our leadership, staff, and clients is through a clear mission statement.

A mission statement is the banner in front of the marching army, a symbol of the future vision and values that we work together for as a group.  Before you can ask your staff to commit to your dealership, ask yourself have I given them anything to commit to?

Here are some guidelines for creating the mission statement you can put forward for your store:

1) Keep it short and concise.  Stay on a very specific point.  You cannot be all things to all people.

2) Use brainstorming sessions with your entire staff to get a list of keywords that they feel are important to them.  Use these basic words as a framework to build the statement.  The more of our staff that is involved in the process of building the mission statement the greater the buy-in down the road.

3) Consider the three perspectives on your statement.  Can executive management lead this way; can the staff treat everyone they meet this way; will clients identify with my business in an environment built this way?  So, something like "The cheapest cars in town" is a poor mission statement.  Would you as an employee want to identify with that?  Can a leader use cheapest as his/her guiding principal?

4) When you decide on a mission statement proudly place it everywhere.  A banner in the showroom and service, every desk, on your cards, in your ads, on your website, etc...  Statements of culture need to be everywhere, because you want every employee and manager to be accountable to it everywhere.

These are just some basic guidelines to get you started creating your own culture banner.  Feel free to contact me if you need help with how to conduct a meeting to get the ideas together, or if you already have a bunch of ideas and just need a fresh perspective on putting all this into a statement I am happy to help.

Have a prosperous day :-)

Getting your staff to WANT to work for your business long term is the holy grail for every dealership.  There is a key difference between want to be a part of your store, and feel like your store happens to be the best option.  You can make this happen for your staff.

Every day I speak to employees that not only perform their job, but have become ambassdors for the business.  The key ingredient to corporate structure is culture, and the way we express culture to our leadership, staff, and clients is through a clear mission statement.

A mission statement is the banner in front of the marching army, a symbol of the future vision and values that we work together for as a group.  Before you can ask your staff to commit to your dealership, ask yourself have I given them anything to commit to?

Here are some guidelines for creating the mission statement you can put forward for your store:

1) Keep it short and concise.  Stay on a very specific point.  You cannot be all things to all people.

2) Use brainstorming sessions with your entire staff to get a list of keywords that they feel are important to them.  Use these basic words as a framework to build the statement.  The more of our staff that is involved in the process of building the mission statement the greater the buy-in down the road.

3) Consider the three perspectives on your statement.  Can executive management lead this way; can the staff treat everyone they meet this way; will clients identify with my business in an environment built this way?  So, something like "The cheapest cars in town" is a poor mission statement.  Would you as an employee want to identify with that?  Can a leader use cheapest as his/her guiding principal?

4) When you decide on a mission statement proudly place it everywhere.  A banner in the showroom and service, every desk, on your cards, in your ads, on your website, etc...  Statements of culture need to be everywhere, because you want every employee and manager to be accountable to it everywhere.

These are just some basic guidelines to get you started creating your own culture banner.  Feel free to contact me if you need help with how to conduct a meeting to get the ideas together, or if you already have a bunch of ideas and just need a fresh perspective on putting all this into a statement I am happy to help.

Have a prosperous day :-)

Here is the daily hiring and getting hired tip:

Employers it is time to get bang for your buck in the job board market. Here are a few suggestions on getting your employment ad in front of the maximum number of people for minimum dollars.

1) Use pay per click job boards. Many of the sites that businesses use to advertise their jobs are flat fee. You pay one amount and no matter the result or exposure pay one fee. The most successful boards, like Indeed, have moved to a bid for clicks on your ad. This allows you the ability to either raise or lower your expense depending on the number of applicants coming in to your job. Even better, when you fill a position you can stop your expense even if you are only a couple days into a campaign.

2) Post your job socially. Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter are a terrific resource for sharing your need for a new employee. Facebook and Twitter are tremendously under utilized for this. With a minimal ad budget you can share your ad with targeted people in your market.

3) Use an aggregated sharing tool to reach all the free job boards. ZipRecruiter is a tool that does this. You may ask, why pay to post on free job boards? The time it will take you place your ad one by one and format it will cost you much more than the fee to one of the posting sites that spider out to dozens of boards.

If you have any questions about how to do this for your store inbox us, we are happy to help

Here is the daily hiring and getting hired tip:

Employers it is time to get bang for your buck in the job board market. Here are a few suggestions on getting your employment ad in front of the maximum number of people for minimum dollars.

1) Use pay per click job boards. Many of the sites that businesses use to advertise their jobs are flat fee. You pay one amount and no matter the result or exposure pay one fee. The most successful boards, like Indeed, have moved to a bid for clicks on your ad. This allows you the ability to either raise or lower your expense depending on the number of applicants coming in to your job. Even better, when you fill a position you can stop your expense even if you are only a couple days into a campaign.

2) Post your job socially. Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter are a terrific resource for sharing your need for a new employee. Facebook and Twitter are tremendously under utilized for this. With a minimal ad budget you can share your ad with targeted people in your market.

3) Use an aggregated sharing tool to reach all the free job boards. ZipRecruiter is a tool that does this. You may ask, why pay to post on free job boards? The time it will take you place your ad one by one and format it will cost you much more than the fee to one of the posting sites that spider out to dozens of boards.

If you have any questions about how to do this for your store inbox us, we are happy to help

I have been writing a lot about how employers can find employees in the hiring stage, and recently had a few comments about the difficulty in keeping  quality staff once they are found.

For the next few days there will be a series of posts about creating the environment and culture that helps retain employees.  This post is a frame work and in the subsequent days there will be a more in depth blog post for each individual piece of the puzzle.

Retention is all about one thing, relationship.  Relationships are all built on one foundation, shared commitment.  Commitment happens when people share a vision of acting together in the future.  Communicating a clear vision to share with your employees is the key to creating this lasting bond.

Here are the elements and topics of communication:

Mission Statement – This is your opportunity to define the overarching path for the dealership.  The best mission statements include; what it does for the clients, what it does for employees, and what it does for ownership.  This can be stated in one up to a couple of sentences that define a topline business strategy.

Core Values – These values are the foundation on which we perform all work and tasks within the dealership.  While tasks and products may change for a company, core values are a constant that guides all our activities.  These values are the basic elements of how we go about completing our mission.

Job Responsibility Guidelines – Job responsibility guidelines are the tasks, skills, needed equipment, knowledge, and relationships necessary for a position to fulfill their individual part of a mission statement.  Core values govern the way we go about putting the job responsibilities into action.  These should be living documents that meant to challenge employees.

Compensation Plans – This follows the old axiom, “You get what you pay for”.  Compensation should be designed to encourage employees to excel in the company’s mission, values, and their own job description.  Match bonus programs up with your true stated goals.

Business Plans with Evaluations – Success happens when planning meets energy.  Business plans are a quarterly road map of not only what is going to be produced, but also how we are going to attain our goals and vision.  Employees should generate their own plan, otherwise they will never take true ownership of enacting it.  The evaluation is a quarterly review of this plan that allows management to give insight as to possible improvements, suggestions on actions to take to achieve the quarterly plan, and a look at the previous quarter for learning moments.

Each of the days going forward I will post a detail on creating and communicating each of these elements.  

Feel free to connect with me for more personal direction, and definitely comment if you can share and help others :-)

I have been writing a lot about how employers can find employees in the hiring stage, and recently had a few comments about the difficulty in keeping  quality staff once they are found.

For the next few days there will be a series of posts about creating the environment and culture that helps retain employees.  This post is a frame work and in the subsequent days there will be a more in depth blog post for each individual piece of the puzzle.

Retention is all about one thing, relationship.  Relationships are all built on one foundation, shared commitment.  Commitment happens when people share a vision of acting together in the future.  Communicating a clear vision to share with your employees is the key to creating this lasting bond.

Here are the elements and topics of communication:

Mission Statement – This is your opportunity to define the overarching path for the dealership.  The best mission statements include; what it does for the clients, what it does for employees, and what it does for ownership.  This can be stated in one up to a couple of sentences that define a topline business strategy.

Core Values – These values are the foundation on which we perform all work and tasks within the dealership.  While tasks and products may change for a company, core values are a constant that guides all our activities.  These values are the basic elements of how we go about completing our mission.

Job Responsibility Guidelines – Job responsibility guidelines are the tasks, skills, needed equipment, knowledge, and relationships necessary for a position to fulfill their individual part of a mission statement.  Core values govern the way we go about putting the job responsibilities into action.  These should be living documents that meant to challenge employees.

Compensation Plans – This follows the old axiom, “You get what you pay for”.  Compensation should be designed to encourage employees to excel in the company’s mission, values, and their own job description.  Match bonus programs up with your true stated goals.

Business Plans with Evaluations – Success happens when planning meets energy.  Business plans are a quarterly road map of not only what is going to be produced, but also how we are going to attain our goals and vision.  Employees should generate their own plan, otherwise they will never take true ownership of enacting it.  The evaluation is a quarterly review of this plan that allows management to give insight as to possible improvements, suggestions on actions to take to achieve the quarterly plan, and a look at the previous quarter for learning moments.

Each of the days going forward I will post a detail on creating and communicating each of these elements.  

Feel free to connect with me for more personal direction, and definitely comment if you can share and help others :-)

Here is the daily hiring and getting hired tip:

It is always hard to know when to reach out to an interviewer after an interview. You don't want to seem too desperate for the position, but also want to show that you are interested. The last thing we want is a hiring manager avoiding our call because we start to seem clingy. What is the happy medium?

Here are the three communications that you can send to keep in touch without overwhelming the hiring manger.

1) Ask the interviewer to connect on LinkedIn towards the end of the interview. Tell them it will give them a chance to see more about you than is on your resume. That same day send a request to connect with a short message thanking them for the connection.

2) One day after the interview send over an email to your interviewer. Begin by thanking them and letting them know you are available at their discretion for additional questions they may have. You can try for a little engagement by asking a short question about the company. A busy hiring manager may not take the time to respond to an email, so do not read anything into it if you do not hear anything back immediately.

3) Unless the interviewer states otherwise, one week after your interview give a call to ask the next steps in the process. Tell them you enjoyed the meeting and want to make sure you are keeping up with what needs to be done on your end to move the process forward.

This will keep your name in front of the interviewer, and ensure you do not get lost in the shuffle as the company meets new candidates.

Here is the daily hiring and getting hired tip:

It is always hard to know when to reach out to an interviewer after an interview. You don't want to seem too desperate for the position, but also want to show that you are interested. The last thing we want is a hiring manager avoiding our call because we start to seem clingy. What is the happy medium?

Here are the three communications that you can send to keep in touch without overwhelming the hiring manger.

1) Ask the interviewer to connect on LinkedIn towards the end of the interview. Tell them it will give them a chance to see more about you than is on your resume. That same day send a request to connect with a short message thanking them for the connection.

2) One day after the interview send over an email to your interviewer. Begin by thanking them and letting them know you are available at their discretion for additional questions they may have. You can try for a little engagement by asking a short question about the company. A busy hiring manager may not take the time to respond to an email, so do not read anything into it if you do not hear anything back immediately.

3) Unless the interviewer states otherwise, one week after your interview give a call to ask the next steps in the process. Tell them you enjoyed the meeting and want to make sure you are keeping up with what needs to be done on your end to move the process forward.

This will keep your name in front of the interviewer, and ensure you do not get lost in the shuffle as the company meets new candidates.