The automotive industry has a sales department staffing problem – and a big one. In fact, NADA has placed the yearly turnover rate as high as 70 percent. Dealerships are in constant hiring mode to keep their sales floor staffed with enough employees to provide coverage for their floor traffic and to follow up with customers and prospects.

Since customer experience and loyalty depend upon employee loyalty, what can dealerships do to increase the chances of hiring the right person that transforms into a long-term employee and successful brand advocate?

For decades, dealerships have recruited new employees through the same old advertising messages and promises. $2,000/month guarantee, unlimited earning potential… blah, blah. Does this sounds familiar? The problem is that this kind of ad can easily attract exactly the type of prospects with the highest likelihood of NOT sticking around long… namely, those that are simply looking for a job to do while they look for one they actually want. Even in the rare circumstances that someone comes along with the ambition and goal of becoming a car salesperson (c’mon, how often does that really happen?), once they start and experience the long hours, grueling work, boring and repetitive tasks and constant rejection by customers as they follow up, they realize that they don’t really like selling cars and, ultimately, leave.

If the old ways of getting employees isn’t working – and clearly it’s not – then what is a better way?

The one thing most car dealerships excel at is marketing. Dealerships are laser-focused on what brings traffic into the dealership, how to market themselves and their vehicles and, ultimately, get those customers in the door to purchase and drive away in a new car. Then, afterwards, they will market to those sold customers to attract them to the service drive with the end goal of turning them into a loyal customer and brand advocate. It looks like this:

Market Cars --> Attract Customers --> Sell a car --> Market Service --> Service --> Create Loyal Customer

Pretty simple, right?

What if we took the same flowchart of activities that dealerships are great at and applied it to recruiting and hiring?

Start thinking about your job opening as a product. You’re trying to sell that job to a customer. To sell it to them, you must attract them to your dealership. By figuring out what those job hunters are looking for in your product (job) and MARKETING your product to prospective employees (customers), you can send a message that is both compelling and attractive to your audience of prospective employees.

Once you attract the right prospects and hire them, then continue to convince them that they should stick around by showing them that they are valued. Be flexible and compassionate and ensure that they know there is room to grow in the organization.

Accomplish that and you’ve created a long-term employee. The only thing left is to continue to make them feel welcomed and part of your organization. You will more than likely find that this person turns into someone who cares about their job, your dealership and becomes a brand advocate for you. This should reduce turnover with engaged employees who are fully invested in the success of your company. Employees who are happy and much more productive. And this combination will result in a better customer experience.

While this is only the first step in creating a loyal customer base, many would argue that it’s the most important. Regardless, by identifying the attributes that prospective salespeople seek from their employees and in their careers, and by ensuring that your dealership is marketing those to the right people and fulfilling those promises when they get hired, you should be well on your way to a more productive and content salesforce.

As technology has caused a significant shift in consumer interactions and desires, retailers have to follow suit in order to retain the consumers’ business. Customer loyalty is an increasingly fickle thing. And, as convenience has become so easily attainable for today’s consumers, some retailers believe that the only competitive arena left is price. However, this is not always the case at all.

An article on Loyalty360.org shared the results of a recent study conducted with the help of a University of Rochester professor. The study created a customer-brand relationship model based on a popular relationship theory – Sternberg’s Triangular Theory of Love. It used components of relationships and paralleled them to retail loyalty.

The study of 1,000 consumers shared that 86 percent would go to other retailers, rather than their favorite brand, if it were more convenient. However this can easily be handled by providing the right customer experience.

For the study, the repurposed Theory of Love focused on three components to determine consumer brand relationships – intimacy (willingness to share information with the retailer), passion (brand enthusiasm) and commitment (loyalty). And what is interesting it that it was found that the more of these attributes a consumer had towards a brand, the more likely they are to remain a loyal customer and become a brand advocate and recommend the retailer to others. In fact, 96 percent of devoted customers would recommend a retailer to others, demonstrating the importance of creating and maintaining devoted customer relationships.

All too often, customer loyalty is rewarded based on transactions, rather than a customer’s behavior. In fact, many of today’s consumers want a more personalized experience with “surprise and delight” type rewards and experiences, rather than simple discounts or free services.  And for that great customer experience they will pay with the best currency of all – their loyalty. Think about it this way: some salespeople are more motivated, give their loyalty faster and, in turn, work harder for a manager who is supportive and validates their efforts with a pat on the back. They prefer that over any cash weekend spiff. However, many managers assume that money is the most motivating thing. For some, I am sure it is. But what about those salespeople or employees for whom that is not the case? You could just be motivating and rewarding part of your staff while leaving the ones who merely want recognition out in the cold.

Customers are the same way. Some may want discounts and freebies, while others seek more of a high level customer experience and desire recognition from you in return for their business.

Running the dealership as if customers are on an assembly line – even when a loyalty program is in place – can alienate those customers who merely want to be recognized, appreciated and feel welcome.

The sad part is that this second group of customers wouldn’t cost you a penny – only a few minutes of your time to welcome them to the store and thank them for their business. In fact, the same study reported that 59 percent “would buy more if retailers understood their individual needs and requirements better.”

Take the time to get to know your customers through all necessary means. But mainly through personal interaction and attempt to understand what motivates each of them.

Everyone is different. While this may seem like a hard task to accomplish. With, in some cases, hundreds of customers visiting your dealership on a daily basis, the effort required can transform some of that 86 percent who would patronize your competition into loyal brand advocates. These loyal advocates tend to spend more money with you and bring their friends and families with them. And that’s a winning combination!

Great customer experiences can win customer loyalty. That’s why dealerships install restaurants, movie theatres and Starbucks. But while that customer experience is integral to keeping the customer’s business and loyalty, it doesn’t take much to shatter that loyalty and see that once loyal customer desert to a competitor.

Why? Because deep down, people don’t like surprises. Sure, we like them when they are gifts from friends, or spontaneous parties we weren’t aware of. But when a customer visits a business they like and are familiar with, they expect the same service that made them a fan in the beginning. And if they don’t get it, they may start rethinking their loyalty.

Take Hyatt as an example. Most big hotel chains acquire smaller non-branded hotels so as to extend the chain’s reach. Hyatt is no different EXCEPT with its Hyatt Place brand. The Hyatt Place chain was specifically designed to introduce consistency and confidence to its guests and potential guests. While other chains endure complaints from customers that their stay did not live up to the standards that were expected, Hyatt has created a chain that provides the exact same amenities and room layouts at every single location. This gives travelers (especially business travelers) confidence that they will get exactly what they expect and want.

Why is this important?

Because people do business with companies they know and like. The missing component in customer loyalty is that trust. It is the hardest component to earn. But it can be earned through consistency.

Customers come to your dealership for the first time on a gamble. Regardless of what others have experienced, ultimately the customer really only cares about their experience.

In today’s competitive market it’s not enough to provide a great customer experience UNLESS you do it every single time for every customer.

Of course, the longer the relationship continues, the more forgiving the customer will be. However, the same logic applies to how betrayed that loyal customer may feel should they experience too many bad experiences after patronizing – and advocating - your dealership for a long time. Then they can become more vocal and damaging than any first-time or short-term customer could ever be.

While a focus on likeability and brand are important, trust is the main ingredient in any loyalty potion. And to earn that, all three ingredients must be present each and every time your customer drinks – they like you, know you and their experience is consistent. Lose any one of those and you may find that your love potion no longer works and you lose a customer.

As Henry Ford stated, “If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.”

Technology changes in our industry faster than many of us can keep up with. It seems like new services and innovations pop up weekly. Do we know which innovations consumers are sure to like or not? Of course we don’t. We can’t actually know until they end up liking them – or not. And they don’t know what they want until they see and experience it. Back when Henry Ford built cars, nobody even knew what a car was, or how this “thing” would improve their lives. Once cars started passing horses and became affordable through manufacturing -- only then did our society adopt and embrace automobiles.

Let’s look at a modern example of this. Prior to Uber, was anybody (aside from the founders) clamoring for a ride-sharing app? Nope. Well, today many companies provide this service and auto manufacturers are rushing to provide cars or partner with them. Customers didn’t know that Uber was something they wanted… until they did.

So how does this apply to car dealerships? If we don’t know what the customers will want next -- and they themselves don’t even know – then how are we supposed to make decisions on which technologies to embrace, services to offer and experiences to provide?

Five years ago, who would have thought that technology would develop to the point that we can complete the entire vehicle purchase process online, from beginning to end – customers can now purchase a vehicle without ever stepping foot in a dealership. Well, now they can and there are many companies – from industry disrupters to large mainstream automotive vendors – that offer this service directly to consumers, or through auto dealerships.

Will it take off and become the next consumer favorite? That verdict is still out. The point is that the only way to know what YOUR customers want is to see if they end up liking it. However, you can also try it out and ask yourself whether you’d want it if you were a customer. When testing new customer-facing technology how about doing a sort of secret shop. Become your own customer and experience it yourself for the first time. Is it something you’d like? Also have some other staff members of different age groups test it out. Any vendor trying to sell you a technology product should be happy to oblige. Then reconvene and discuss. It doesn’t matter how much it costs -- until you know it’s something that your customers will want. Figure that out first.

Many would tell you to ask your customers what they want and act on that. And that is also a great best practice -- in fact it can help identify customer pain points and process issues. However, in the same way Henry Ford didn’t listen to what customers wanted before producing his car – being open-minded to change, and always on the lookout for new technology that can enhance the customer experience and your business, could well keep your dealership ahead of the competition and provide a unique selling proposition.

Staying ahead of the competition and up to date on technology that works well to give your customers a better experience is important. Customers see other industries adopting new ways of interacting with them and will either love the technology – or not. Pay attention to what consumers start to like OUTSIDE of the auto industry in terms of technology. This is one strategy that could help you find and adopt technologies that drive improved results in your dealership. At the same time, look for technologies other industries start to offer which YOU like because you, in the end, are also a consumer.

When companies anticipate consumer wants and needs before the consumer even realizes that need, they build loyalty. And that is the magic happening right there.

Humans naturally crave interaction with other humans. However, as technology advances, there is an increasing push by companies to automate as much of their processes as possible. While this is understandable, as it saves on costs, the path technology is taking us down could prove to be a double-edged sword.

Think about all the automated technology that you DO like – for example people love Siri and Amazon Echo is a big hit. The technology that people like the most tends to be more personal in nature – such as speedy access to information, organizational utility and home automation -- to name a few. I don’t know many people who like wading through automated phone trees when calling a customer service line, do you? Have you received any phone calls from robots that sound really human? I bet it doesn’t take long for you to tell that it’s not a real human.

My point is that if human interaction is desired, there’s a real difference between do-it-yourself customer service-type tools and forced automation.

The big trend right now is towards chat bots. If you don’t know what a chat bot is it’s essentially customer service software driven by artificial intelligence. It’s designed to interact with customers using chat via the company’s website, via social media, or over the phone. The problem is that humans communicate in ways which a computer program can’t fully duplicate. And, sometimes, that software fails to answer a customer appropriately and cannot assist them with their need.

According to an article on Knowledge@Wharton, it is also difficult for artificial intelligence to correctly interpret what the customer means when they get frustrated if automation is unhelpful and does not offer them the correct options for their situation -- the computer simply doesn’t know what to do.

How does this affect customer loyalty? Companies that automate too much risk a break down in the customer bond which, in turn, decreases the emotional connection that customer may have with a company. Inappropriate or unhelpful automation, while it may seem cost-saving on the surface, could end up being more expensive as customers defect to competitors or stop caring who they deal with. The article gave a great example of how a company went from a customer engagement win without automation to a customer engagement fail due to adopting it.

“When a political consultant got stuck in an Amtrak elevator at BWI Airport last February, she used the Amtrak Twitter account to get help, and help soon arrived. Seven months later, she received this Tweet from Amtrak: “We are sorry to hear that. Are you still in the elevator?”

Imagine how silly that made Amtrak look. It’s sad that this automated Tweet happened as in fact Amtrak quickly responded and helped the customer. How do you think the customer responded when she received that tweet seven months later? She had a field day with it on social media. According to Wharton marketing professor Americus Reed, “when non-human customer service works, it works extremely well; but when it works poorly, it works extremely poorly.”

Nobody is saying that automation can’t be useful to companies by enabling them to assist customers at all hours, or provide do-it-yourself type tools for them. However, businesses should analyze exactly what type of automation can help their company as well as how it will affect any connection to and engagement with their customers. In some cases, they may find that the negative effect in customer engagement outweighs the savings that the automation offers.

According to Wharton marketing professor Americus Reed, “We have a human side, and there is going to be a counter-punch by companies who choose to focus on connecting with customers in a more human way.”

So, while many may choose to save money and adopt technology that replaces humans, offering 24/7 customer service through automation, these companies may find their customers drifting away -- gravitating towards those companies that choose to make their unique value proposition the more personal, human touch.

There’s a big push in our industry right now to bring as much of the car buying process online as possible. Startups are entering the space believing that consumers want this ability and automotive vendors of all sizes are creating products to facilitate that.

However, some dealers are afraid to adopt these solutions for fear of loss of control and decreased profits. It’s certainly much easier to sell product – especially the increasingly important products in F&I – if the customer is sitting in front of you, rather than through some website widget.

Today’s car buyers visit numerous websites to gather information about vehicles and many arrive at the dealership knowing which vehicle they want and exactly what they want to pay for it. That’s not going to change. But what if I told you that the more “digital” car buyers get, the more they actually want to visit your showroom? Well, according to a recent study by Accenture, that’s exactly what’s happening.

According to the study, 60 percent of digital car buyers stop at the dealership more than twice before buying a vehicle, compared to 47 percent of those consumers less active online in the car buying process.

The ability to complete some of the car buying process online is simply a way for the digital customer to reduce the amount of time spent physically at the dealership completing the transaction. The report suggests that the reason the digital customer needs less time at the dealership is that they’ve already made their purchase decision online. But there seems to be a contradiction here – how can a digital customer visit the dealership more, yet need less time at the dealership? The reason is that by the point that they’re ready to buy they have already gathered the information they needed through digital sources AND have visited the dealership multiple times in order to collect physical information (view colors in person, ask questions, compare trim levels in person, test drive vehicles, have their trade-in appraised etc.). So, at the point they’re ready to buy, those widgets and online car buying facilitation tools simply help them get ahead in the process.

However, decreased time at your dealership means you have less time to create a relationship with the customer. If the industry transforms into a straight transaction-based business, then the customer could potentially have no more loyalty to your dealership than your competition.

How do you build a relationship with a customer who wants to spend less time buying a car? You begin to build that relationship from the moment the customer walks in the door. According to the study, it’s much more likely that the customer you just greeted is a digital car buyer than a conventional one. Yet, in many cases, our current road to the sale focuses on exactly that… the sale. Most manager introductions, service drive walks and other relationship-building opportunities for dealerships happen AFTER the sale. If you have a digital car buyer, you may not have as much of an opportunity to do these things.

Start building value in your dealership from the moment the customer walks in the door. Consider integrating service walks and manager introductions into the beginning of the sales process, not after the customer buys a vehicle.

Perhaps then you have a better chance of convincing the customer that they should buy from you and should also bring their vehicle back for service.

If they already know what they want, how much they want to pay for it; what their trade-in is worth; and every other piece of information; then why start the whole process trying to give them something they already have? How about selling the dealership first?

As online vehicle buying tools become more utilized, this simple tweak in the initial contact with a customer could mean the difference between seeing them again…

…or having them visit the most convenient competitor.

Working retail in the auto industry can certainly be taxing. Salespeople work 60-70 hour weeks to make a paycheck. Sales managers do so while also having to manage the sales team, create multiple reports and handle a multitude of tasks -- and the service department is just as overloaded.

Not surprisingly, frequently the excuse, “there’s not enough time,” comes into play. However, it is important to remember that the entire existence of a car dealership – as a business – is to sell and service cars. Growth and profitability is dependent upon satisfying the needs of many customers which, at times, can be overwhelming. When the GM is breathing down a sales manager’s neck to have a report done by a specific time, all while trying to desk a deal and handle heat, it’s easy to lose track, or miscalculate priority. It’s almost like the chicken before the egg argument.

So what IS most important?

The most important thing is to make the customer first. There’s a great old saying by Henry Ford: “It is not the employer that pays the wages. Employers only handle the money. It is the customer that pays the wages.” This is absolute truth. Without customers, no business can last. It will fail and there won’t be any managers or salespeople any longer.

The existence of a car dealership is entirely dependent on ensuring that people buy and service their vehicles with them. If those things don’t happen because managers are overwhelmed or have higher priorities, business will drop. On the contrary, however, by putting the customer first, the customer feels appreciated, valued and is taken care of. This fosters loyalty, referrals and repeat business which, in turn, grows the business rather than seeing it falter.

Customer loyalty and advocacy will only be encouraged and developed by making the customer the priority. And I’m not just talking about handling heat, ensuring that there’s enough floor coverage or available service bays. Customers and their questions, care and problems, should be a priority.

If the customer doesn’t feel that spending $30,000+ on a vehicle is appreciated, they’ll go someplace where they feel appreciated. Treat the service customer like they’re a nuisance and schedule them 4 weeks out for an appointment and they will find someone who is willing to help them when it’s convenient for them, not for the business. Imagine going to McDonald’s and having them tell you that all of the employees are taking a break so you’ll just have to wait. Or that they’re simply too busy to assist you at the moment so come back later. Would YOU come back? Probably not. And neither will your customers.

I guarantee that if you take care of your customers first, those reports will look better each and every time you send them to the GM or dealer, and they’ll forgive the fact that you were tardy. Bottom line is that a report isn’t going to bring in revenue, leave reviews or service its car with you… but a customer will.

A recent article in Automotive News reports that the three-year employee retention rate at dealerships reached a new low, dropping by 2%. In fact, the study showed that only 1/3 of sales consultants stay at a dealership for 3 years or longer. The article went on to share that the average tenure for sales consultants has steadily dropped since 2011, when it was about 3.8 years. Last year? 2.4 years. According to the article the result is: “…reduced productivity, reduced median and average earnings, and reduced dealership profitability.”

What’s the answer to retaining employees? Perhaps we should start looking outside of our industry, analyzing companies that people love to work for and figuring out which of those attributes we can adopt in dealerships.

Consider starting by simply asking employees if they’re happy or not, what could be changed that would make the dealership a better place to work, etc. However, be sure to do this anonymously, or you probably won’t get honest answers. Then sit back and be prepared because some of the answers you get may sting. You can’t, however, make changes without knowing what’s wrong and unhappy employees generally aren’t going to tell you to your face.

Our workforce is getting younger. These days, many aren’t willing to work under the taxing conditions that we experienced. And it’s usually not because they’re lazy, or have a poor work ethic. It’s because our society and culture has changed. People prioritize things differently. And this trend isn’t going away. It’s only going to keep shifting

If we continue to try and operate dealerships the same way as 10 years ago – mandating “bells” and 70+ hour work weeks – we’re going to keep watching the front door revolving – existing employees leaving and new faces coming in. And if you don’t think your customers notice, you’d be sadly mistaken.

Making employee retention a priority can, by itself, improve customer experience and loyalty. In addition, you will save money that would otherwise have been spent hiring and training new staff. Isn’t the whole point of retention and loyalty to increase revenue? Well those two words apply just as much to your employees as they do to your customers. Never forget that.

Have you ever tried to call a dealership – whether it’s to inquire about a vehicle or schedule a service appointment – just to get placed on eternal hold or thrown into someone’s voicemail? Many consumers have and, just like you, they don’t like it.

People are busy. When they pick up the phone to schedule a service appointment, or try to get information about a vehicle when they are in-market, if the first impression you give them is hold music, or voicemail boxes, they could easily move on to the next dealership – especially if they are a sales customer.

Most dealers, however, just assume that everything is going smoothly because they don’t hear complaints about the issue. The reason they don’t hear is because the people who WOULD complain don’t bother to call again – and, perhaps, never come in again.

Every dealership has a receptionist. Some have one for sales and one for service. Some even assign call tracking numbers to each department so that they can monitor the outcomes of these calls. Or, at the very least, track the volume of them. The problem is that many dealers will have two or three phone numbers on their website – sales, service and parts. The customer, however, doesn’t know or care about the difference. They just call the first one that they see. So inevitably dealers will have sales calls coming in on the service line and vice versa. Oftentimes there is a single “main” receptionist handling all of the calls and routing them to the proper departments. But they can easily get overwhelmed. What happens to those customers that called for sales, were put on hold and then hung up? Or they called for service to schedule an appointment and the same thing occurred?

Chances are that you’re paying a receptionist minimum wage (or close to it) to answer and route the calls. Between sales, service and parts, I bet that there are times when they are overwhelmed. They transfer the call and assume that the call will be answered. Too often it’s not. In each and every one of those cases, many times the dealership either lost a sale or parts/service revenue.

Today’s consumer is all about efficiency and simplicity. The less time you can take up to achieve their goal when they try to contact you, the more likely they are to appreciate and think highly of you. If you make things easy for them, they will appreciate it and have a positive experience.

If it’s difficult to do business with you, the opposite will occur. Customer loyalty is something that is built over time. It’s great to ensure that the customer has an excellent experience and feels appreciated when they’re physically AT your dealership. But that experience has to extend to any contact or interaction they have WITH you as well.

If you’re using call tracking numbers, monitor those calls religiously. Make sure that any unanswered calls up are called back promptly. Apologize that nobody picked up the phone and assist them. I promise that they’ll be impressed. People understand that you get busy. Perhaps they meant to try to call back later, perhaps not. But if you call them back first, not only will they forgive you, but you’ll impress them too.

That’s how you build a loyal (and profitable) following. Make sure that each customer who TRYS to do business with you is able to. Don’t let a dropped call result in a lost sale or repair order. It can easily happen. But it can also be remedied easily. And that pro-activeness can go a long ways to retaining and building a solid customer foundation that you can count on.

Tom Hawkins, Dealer Principal of Hawkins Chevrolet in Fairmont, MN, a cornerstone of his local community, was searching for a way to provide even more support to his local area. He reached out and identified an area that had both a need and a raving group of supporters -- animal lovers. Being a big animal lover himself, he contacted his local animal shelter, Martin County Humane Society of Minnesota, and made arrangements for his dealership to sponsor two animals per month, covering their adoption fees.

The animal shelter agreed to promote the sponsorships on social media via branded posts and chooses which animals to sponsor so as to increase the likelihood that the hardest to sponsor animals are promoted for adoption.

The sponsorship costs just $250 per month ($125/animal) in adoption fees, yet each and every sponsored pet posted to the animal shelter’s Facebook page brings accolades from the shelter’s fans – all of whom live in Hawkins Chevrolet’s selling area. It has produced a storm of goodwill with posts thanking the dealership for caring about the animals and sharing these branded “pleas for help” with all of their local friends and family.

In addition, many of the animal lovers also visit Hawkins Chevrolet’s Facebook page and thank them for helping the animals avoid being euthanized.

However, in the end, for Tom at least, it’s about giving back.

Customer acquisition, loyalty and retention are three things that every dealership is concerned with. Acquisition? No problem. Spend enough money and you’ll get some customers. Retention and loyalty, however, are a different beast. People want to do business with companies that share their values. In this case, Tom has been able to be involved in his community while also capturing the minds – and more importantly – the hearts of many of the animal lovers within it.

Social media has a huge reach: the average person on Facebook has 338 friends. In the example above, that post about Kai (who was adopted) was shared 22 times. Exponentially, the reach of that single post could be in the tens of thousands when you consider how many people “could” have seen it.

Have they sold any cars from their 3-month old initiative? Who knows -- and I sincerely doubt Tom cares. If he cared he would add “Animal Shelter” as a source in his CRM. You want to know what really matters to Tom? The impact and difference he, as a business owner, can have on the people in his community and his customers.

Oh, and you know the person who ended up actually adopting Kai (the dog in the Facebook post above)? He was so impressed with the support of the animal shelter that he wrote a letter to the editor of the local paper.

Perhaps you don’t believe in social media. Perhaps Facebook isn’t something you even bother to care about. If that’s the case, I guarantee that the article, published as a “Letter to the Editor” in the community’s local paper, IS something you care about. Why? Because you probably write some hefty checks to your local paper to market your dealership and vehicles.

This truly is a win-win situation. Tom did not do this for the accolades, he did it as an animal lover and to support his local community. The small investment has been a huge help for the local community and has paid huge dividends in terms of the dealership’s reputation.

In the end, what’s $250/month to help your community, generate positive word-of-mouth, directly impact a couple of people (and animals) a month and, perhaps influence the decision as to where someone should buy their next vehicle.

It’s certainly a lot less than the $640 per customer spent on average by most dealerships today. And that typical customer acquisition cost comes with none of the side benefits, but at over twice the price. You decide which makes better sense. Kudos to Tom and Hawkins Chevrolet for making a difference.