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.

With the major shift into leasing certified pre-owned vehicles by several OEMs and major financial institutions, many dealers have predicted a decline in service contract sales. However, according to an article in Automotive News, they would be wrong to do so.

Due to an influx of low-mileage pre-owned vehicles, captive finance companies and others have started to embrace certified pre-owned leasing programs. Lease customers haven’t always been the best candidates for service contracts – especially high line leases, as many of these vehicles come with free maintenance. However, the length of many leases and, more importantly, the length of loan terms have increased.

This is an indicator that many consumers who opt for extended term loans, or leases, would certainly benefit from service contracts as they will either 1) still be in their lease when the free maintenance expires; or 2) hold onto their vehicle for an extended period of time, far longer than in the past.

According to the article, while new vehicles will still outpace used vehicles in service contract penetration, there’s no need to worry about a decline in service contract sales. In fact, both new and used vehicle service contract penetration has increased among prime borrowers, with the gap between new and used vehicle service contract penetration decreasing from seven percent in 2007, to just 0.5 percent in the second half of 2016.

Many buyers – prime and sub-prime alike – increasingly see the value of a steady monthly vehicle expense without the worry of a hefty service bill. Yet there are many finance managers that don’t present service contracts as aggressively to prime borrowers for used vehicles as they do to sub-prime -- they assume the customer won’t be interested. While this may historically be accurate, the CPO leasing movement, along with extended loan terms, have substantially altered the rules of the game.

Consumers have warmed up to service contracts and have come to understand the benefits for convenience and financial stability. And, as new car margins continuously decrease due to manufacturer incentives, competition and increasing pricing transparency via third party sites, dealers increasingly rely on their F&I departments to increase profits through back-end product sales. Yet many F&I managers have been trained – via customer interactions and their common sense – that certain customers don’t need or want a service contract, but that is where the shift has occurred and there is opportunity aplenty!

Perhaps in the past service contracts didn’t make sense for certain buyers. However, these days, increasingly car buyers ARE investing in service contracts -- both for purchasing AND leasing.

The key to any successful selling process is consistency. Train your finance managers not to assume anything. Present, show the value of and sell service contracts to every customer, regardless of lease or purchase. According to the statistics, they will thank you for it, and it’s a win-win for the customer and your dealership.

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.

Many businesses, including the automotive industry, have a strong focus on creating a better customer experience through technology. In fact, technology has transformed the customer experience across all industries. Consumers can buy a multitude of products online and have them delivered, in some cases, in an hour. Technology has even advanced to the point that consumers can buy a used vehicle completely online, taking delivery via a vending machine.

However, sometimes technology ceases to enhance and improve the customer experience and starts to degrade it.

Technology has certainly transformed how we do business but, in the end, do consumers really want a complete purchase interaction with absolutely no human involvement? No. What they REALLY want is an easier, more efficient and transparent buying process. Technology has assisted in providing that, but we can’t forget that people buy from people.

It is important to always remember that we are in a “people” business. Let’s look at it from a consumer car buyer perspective. Thousands – perhaps millions – of pages of information are now available online for consumers to access free of charge. Studies indicate that the average consumer visits 24 touch points prior to coming into the dealership, with dealership visits averaging under 2 percent of those visits. As a result, many assume that customers know more than the salespeople do when they show up at the dealership… and they may be right.

However, the problem is the customer still doesn’t know EVERYTHING. No website can illustrate to a customer how a car FEELS, SMELLS or DRIVES. In addition, even the most knowledgeable customer visiting your showroom very likely still has questions to ask and expects answers.

A recent study by the Harvard Business review reported that, “emotionally connected customers are more than twice as valuable as highly satisfied customers. These emotionally connected customers buy more of your products and services, visit you more often, exhibit less price sensitivity, pay more attention to your communications, follow your advice, and recommend you more – everything you hope their experience with you will cause them to do.” The study outlined how using an emotional-connection-based strategy within an organization can increase these types of customers, reduce attrition and increase customer advocacy. All of these things are exactly what car dealerships need to differentiate themselves from their competition.

I’m not being original when I say that the battle for consumers in the car industry will be in differentiation. Just don’t forget that it’s all about the people – your employees, leadership and customers.

The technology is there to help make the process more efficient, NOT to replace people. Consumers will never have an emotional connection with a vending machine. So, as alluring as that type of buying experience may SOUND, being a great place for people to visit; with great people to interact with; that take good care of your customers; and ensure a superior customer experience; will always win the battle.

Loyalty programs are nothing new to retail. In the beginning, most consisted of simple punch cards or other basic means of tracking customer transactions. As technology improved, many programs became digitized with key tags, cards and other ways for retailers to keep track of these transactions, aside from purely manual means.

Then came big data, enabling retailers to track transactions and analyze consumer purchasing behavior and trends. This resulted in better consumer engagement and more relevant messaging.

However, according to an article on Venture Beat, consumer interaction with brands has now become fragmented, forcing companies to review their loyalty programs and interact with customers via a more multi-channel strategy, rather than just point-of-purchase.

With the explosion of social media, along with various websites and other media, the entertainment industry leads the pack in consumer engagement and tracking. For example, Marvel – the superhero megastar – recently added a loyalty program to reward transactions and engagement across the many channels their consumers use to interact with the company.

And Marvel isn’t the only company adopting this. The Ultimate Fighting Championship also have a thriving rewards program. It rewards fans for doing things they already do to interact with the company, along with things that the company wants them to do – such as to tweet and purchase pay-per-views STREAMING, rather than via their cable provider, so as to bring more profit to the UFC. In exchange, fans can redeem points for items such as signed merchandise and special access to live events.

The Venture Beat article further revealed that, according to Visa 2016 Bond Loyalty Report, loyalty programs are all headed towards personalization and experience. The report shared that, “brands whose representatives make members feel special and recognized have 2.7 times higher program satisfaction.”

Ultimately, this goal of making customers feel special and recognized has always been the point of a rewards program. The only thing that has changed is with the level of rewards some programs now offer, it has become harder to make customers feel special, as many rewards programs don’t have exciting, appealing or attractive rewards.

While customers do like discounts, free services and other normal rewards, some want something more. That could mean VIP treatment, exclusive experiences or other relevant rewards… something that gets them excited and makes them want to earn points in the program, rather than just earning them by default.

The more interested and engaged you can get your customers in your rewards program, the more likely they will be to patronize your business on a regular basis. Don’t simply throw a reward program at your customers and hope they buy in. Create some memorable or unique rewards that are above and beyond simple free oil changes or discounted services. They don’t have to be expensive, just tailored to YOUR customers.

Think about the actions you want your customers to take and transform your rewards program into one that incentivizes them for doing those things. Keep in mind that you can also use loyalty points in lieu of discounts when pushing a specific product or service.

If you need to ramp up tire sales, rather than offering discounts, why not offer extra loyalty points? The other use for loyalty points is to leverage them when customers have poor experiences. The hospitality industry is very good at this. Have you ever had a bad experience during a stay at a hotel then, when you brought it to the hotel’s attention, they apologized with extra reward points? This practice makes the customer happy without any loss of revenue through refunds.

Keep your customer engaged and motivated. They will visit more often and, typically, spend more money on each visit. And that’s all you really want your customers to do in the end.

Customer loyalty is something every business needs and desires. Some companies are spectacular at accomplishing it, while others struggle.

According to a study by DMA, perhaps we’re missing an important fact… not all loyal customers are the same.

DMA’s “Customer Engagement 2016” study, takes customer loyalty a little further. It narrowed the pool of loyal customers into four groups: Active Loyals, Habitual Loyals, Situational Loyals and Active Disloyals.

It’s rather interesting to take a look at this:

• Active Loyals – According to the study, “Active Loyals” contains customers that are loyal to your company for both routine and special purposes. In the case of a car dealership, this would obviously include those that purchase cars from you and those that also service, with you regardless of any “deals” your competitor may have. They trust you, enjoy your service and don’t look elsewhere when they need anything related to their vehicle service or purchase needs.
   
• Habitual Loyals – These are customers that may or may not have purchased their vehicle from you, but are your regular service customers. However, when it comes time to purchase their next vehicle, they will shop you against your competition to make sure they are getting a good deal. They’ll probably still buy from you, based on their previous great experience, but it’s not a guarantee. Treat them right. Be fair when it comes to a new purchase and you’ll win their business.
   
• Situational Loyals – This group is the opposite of Habitual Loyals. They will shop elsewhere for service or parts if presented with a compelling offer. But will return to you when they’re ready to buy a new (or new to them) vehicle, due to the experience you provided. Of course, the lifetime value of a loyal customer is significantly higher when they are servicing with you, so this group is incredibly important to nurture and, hopefully, transfer into the group of Habitual Loyals. Service revenue is more consistent and vehicle margins are continuously decreasing so gaining this group’s loyalty in service is important.
   
• Active Disloyals – This group has no loyalty whatsoever. They’ll bounce from deal to deal without the slightest concern over loyalty or experience. Sure, if they have a bad experience, they’ll probably not return. But regardless how great an experience you offer them, chances are it won’t change their minds. All hope is not lost, however. Just because these tend to be frugal people, doesn’t mean you can’t earn their business. While they may be the most unlikely to be loyal, people change. The key to winning this group’s business is consistency in marketing, customer experience and competitive pricing.

Customer loyalty is a finicky thing. Is it possible to narrow down customers into one of these four groups through data analysis? Perhaps. Transactional records and behavioral patterns can help you identify these people, but it will never be 100 percent accurate. In addition, these groups of loyal customers are dynamic. Individual customers can bounce from one category to the other with one single misstep or perceived wrongdoing.

Customer experience is really the buzz word of today. It pays dividends to pay attention to all your customers and ensure that they have the best possible experience at your store – regardless of how loyal or disloyal the customer may be.

You may think that simply because you offer an excellent customer experience, your customers will be loyal… but what is really happening? Is it possible that YOUR definition of a great customer experience differs from your customers?

A recent article on Business2Community covered how a study by American Express of 11,000 people across the globe, found that roughly 2/5 of consumers believe that, while companies are helpful, they don’t do anything extra to earn their business. Only 7 percent of Americans reported that they felt companies exceeded their expectations; 31 percent reported that companies missed their expectations; and 59 percent believed that companies DID meet their expectations. Hey, 59 percent isn’t that bad, right?

Not exactly. Consider this: The fact that a consumer got a mediocre (meaning not great but not bad) experience at your business probably won’t elicit any sense of loyalty. When you go to the movies, you EXPECT the movie to play just like you expect your oil to be changed in the service drive. Perhaps the movie is a little out of focus, or doesn’t start quite on time, but the problem is fixed fairly quickly. That doesn’t mean you had a BAD experience -- but it certainly doesn’t mean you had a great one. Would that prevent you from returning to that movie theater? Maybe, maybe not. But what if a BETTER movie theater opened up not too far way… one with couches instead of chairs. Ottomans to rest your legs on. That might cause you to change your mind, right? It’s the same thing with consumers. They may not abandon you because they had an O.K. experience. But, if a GREAT experience comes along elsewhere, they just might.

In the same study, 22 percent of consumers felt that companies take their business for granted. And, 75 percent stated that they have spent more money at a business because of a good customer service experience. Which group do you think is more loyal? Well, according to the study, 13 percent report that they would spend more money with a company that provided excellent service. And, a full 35 percent said that companies that do provide excellent service have earned their business. But wait… 44 percent of the respondents EXPECT excellent service and do not believe they should have to spend more to get it. So which is it? Will they spend more for it? Or do they simply feel as if a great experience is expected?

Well, both. Regardless of price, consumers will spend more for great service -- but also expect it. And not only do they expect it, they are vocal about their experiences. When customers do have great experiences, 44 percent will tell other people. BUT, if they have poor experiences 56 percent are more likely to.

How much influence does customer experience have on purchasing decisions? A lot. 55 percent indicated that they did not follow through with a purchase due to poor customer service. Imagine losing out on 55 percent of potential sales or service business. And it can be something as simple as being placed on hold on the phone. How long are Americans willing to wait? Well, we all have limited attention spans and that proves to be the case in this study -- 19 percent are willing to wait up to 5 minutes and 29 percent up to 10.

Customer service and experience are key customer acquisition and retention drivers. Regardless of any other factor, consumers expect great experiences, prompt responses and personalized treatment. Any less than that -- while you may have their business for now, they’ll jump ship to your competition the second they offer a better experience than you do. Analyze, review and make changes that acquiesce your customers. Stop focusing on what YOU think is the best customer experience and start focusing on what THEY do. Only then will you earn their loyalty and reap the benefits.

If you’ve ever worked in automotive retail, you know that there are constant internal struggles going on between employees and their departments. The structure of most dealerships actually encourage this – similar to how a salesperson’s pay plan incents them to sell cars.

The most obvious friction oftentimes occurs between sales and service. While in theory, everyone is on the same page, how many times have you heard a sales or used car manager complain about what they feel are excessive reconditioning costs on a newly acquired unit, decreasing potential front end profit? I’d guess that’s nothing new to you. Used car managers are paid based on the profits they bring in on sales. Service managers are paid based on service revenue. So each has their own motivation for maximizing one or the other.

Well, does it have to be like this, or is there a better way?

Automotive News recently ran a story reporting a Mercedes-Benz USA initiative that will immerse corporate executives within retail dealerships so they can better understand how the decisions they make on a corporate level impact operations at the dealership level. Similar to the butterfly effect whereby a butterfly flaps its wings on one side of the world, eventually causing a hurricane on the other, decisions made that impact others can have consequences that the decision maker can’t predict or would never see.

This initiative also aims to help corporate executives identify and fix problems with customer experience, processes and financial considerations, including co-op money and incentives.

By putting their executives in dealerships, Mercedes-Benz isn’t doing anything new – at least in business. Most businesses – especially those in the hospitality industry – require cross training as part of their management curriculum. Restaurant managers will, throughout their training, work in each and every department in the restaurant – from cashier, to greeter, bartender, server, cook, etc. By having the knowledge of what it takes to do the job, as well as how difficult it is, the manager is better able to prioritize tasks in times of need and also identify traits that would make for good employees in certain positions. In addition, the manager can be sympathetic and more objective when making decisions, whether they be departmental, or more specifically position or staff-based.

How many times have you hired a General Manager and made them work as a porter for a few days? Probably not too many. Well, think about this for a second - one thing that’s consistent across every new or CPO manufacturer survey is the cleanliness of the vehicle upon delivery. Don’t you think it would be valuable for a GM to know if there is friction in that process that is extending the time it takes for porters to clean the vehicles properly; or if the dealership is staffed adequately to handle volume; or if the porters have the supplies they need to do an excellent job? Absolutely it would.

Now let’s revisit our first example. What if you had the service manager work with the used car manager for a week – visiting auctions, inspecting potential trade-ins – and then had the used car manager work with the service manager? Do you think they’d both have a better understanding of the challenges they both face? I bet they would.

The same logic applies to every position in your dealership. Do you want salespeople to understand why the F&I process sometimes takes so long? Let them shadow an F&I manager for a couple days. Perhaps they won’t complain about why it’s taking so long for their customers to go into sign paperwork anymore. Or, even better, maybe they’ll figure out ways to speed up the process on their end, thus making the entire experience smoother and more enjoyable for the customer.

Regardless of how many years of experience your managers have, unless that experience is at your specific store, your processes, staff, resources and facility vary by individual and by department.

Consider adopting a training process embraced by almost every other retail sector in existence. You may well find that you create a closer and more efficient team and a better working environment which, in the end, will translate into a better customer experience. And the end result of that is more money in your pocket.

A little over a year ago, the founder of a credit card payment processing company made an unorthodox move that resulted in some very mixed reactions and a whole lot of media attention. Dan Price, founder of Gravity Payments, cut his own salary by 93% (from $1 million to $70,000 per year). He did this so he could pay every single employee the exact same amount - $70,000, regardless of if they were the janitor or the receptionist, or how long they had worked there.

The story is not completely perfect and does come with some bumps in the road – his brother (and co-founder) sued him and there was also much speculation in the media about how successful this move would be.

However, it seems to have been a good decision in the long run. According to this story on HumanResourcesOnline, revenue and profits have doubled; new customer inquiries jumped from 30 per month to 2,000 per month; customer retention rose from 91% to 95%; and only two employees quit. Add to that the 4,500 resumes the company has received since this initiative and it would seem that the company is thriving with sales, happy customers and very happy employees. In fact, the employees are so happy that in July 2016, they collectively bought their boss a $70,000 Tesla!

I am pretty sure that any business would love to enjoy similar demand, growth and employee engagement to that of Gravity Payments. However, few businesses are in a position to pay every employee an annual salary of $70,000.

However, the point of this story is really that this particular leader’s personal sacrifice was the ultimate act of appreciation. One that immediately showed his employees that he valued them. In response, the employees increased productivity and worked even harder to ensure their customers were happy. The Telsa, while a grand and generous gesture, was simply a small part of this story. The message here in essence is that engaged employees who feel valued and trusted are the cornerstone to your business’s success.

While many people assume that money motivates everyone, several studies in fact prove that simply showing an employee they are valued and appreciated motivates them more than any amount of money ever could.

Another great example is Doug Conant, the previous CEO of Campbell’s soup. When he took charge he did a tremendous amount to change company culture, including making a commitment to celebrate employees at all levels for their individual contributions and achievements.

During his tenure, he wrote over 30,000 handwritten thank-you notes to individuals that worked for the company. Past employees still contact him to this day and express how much that gesture meant to them. A single, handwritten note showed that employee that he appreciated them and their individual achievements. In so doing, he made these employees want to work harder, better and achieve more.

In our industry, where with each passing month sales staff are on a continuous roller coaster of hero-to-zero, it’s more important than ever to ensure that employees feel appreciated, valued and recognized, not just  because of their sales numbers, but also for showing up and working hard. Even something as simple as personally handing out paychecks and thanking each employee can instill a sense of worth and show employees how much they are appreciated.

In doing so, perhaps… just perhaps, they’ll become more engaged, more productive and you won’t have to have a continuously running “Help Wanted” ad.