Have you ever been on the receiving end of an annual review where there were lots of "surprises" and subjective comments about your past year's performance? (Have you ever given this type of review?) If you have, then you know what a confusing, frustrating, painful experience this can be. Rather than being constructive, as reviews should be, they are destructive and can lead to irreparable damage. Feedback should be continuous and immediate, not "saved up" for up to a year after something has happened. Poor management is the only reason for ever having any real surprises in a review, and subjective evaluations are unprofessional, non-constructive and detrimental to both individuals and organizations.

A very sharp, hard-working, successful Internet director I work with recently related an experience she had with this type of review earlier in her career. She came into her annual review meeting sure that she'd done a great job and that she would be rewarded. She had successfully accomplished everything that she and her director had discussed, often at the sacrifice of her personal and family life. But she didn't mind, because she had been assured when she was hired that this was a dealership where hard work and loyalty were rewarded and she wanted to build a career in this type of environment.

Her manager began by thanking her for her time and saying, "We still think you have potential here, but your performance last year was less than we had hoped for." She said she could immediately feel her face turning bright red, her ears burning and a giant knot forming in her stomach. And, most importantly, she was totally confused.

There had been almost nothing but praise from her director about her performance over the past year and she had accomplished all the "goals" they had discussed (verbally, not in writing). He went on to say that she had "dragged her feet" sometimes and that she need to "better understand our customers," with no specific examples or future actions to take for improvement. When she mentioned her accomplishments and the subjectivity of his comments, he told her that the review was supposed to be "subjective." After that, she didn't really hear what else he said. She said it was all she could do at that point to keep from walking out on the spot. By then end, she was already thinking about her next job-- at another dealership.

After the review, she didn't do or say anything rash, and she stuck it out and gave proper notice when she left for her next job, less than two months later. But the experience made a lasting impression on her, both as an employee and a manager.

All humanity and kindness aside, this type of employee review is damaging to the dealership (or any other organization) because it means that you are not accurately measuring what an employee is contributing to the organization. They may be your top performer, or dead weight, but you won't know it because you're basing everything on your gut, one or two specific incidents, hear-say, whether you personally like them or not, etc. It is simply impossible to measure an employee's value to the dealership without tying their performance to pre-established agreed upon measures. And, the measures don't necessarily all have to be quantitative. Pre-established agreed upon qualitative standards can be just as useful. But, they can't be, "I don't like the looks of the newspaper ads you've been running." or "I think you could try harder." or "I don't think you're committed." Who does this help, your ego?

Has this ever happened to you? Do have experiences in turning around this type of management? We would love to see your comments.

Are you familiar with O.M.I.T., the strategic method for focus and unification? I spend a lot of talk discussing tools for pay plans that align employee performance and incentives with the goals of the dealership, and it's true that you should have quantitative measures in place to make sure incentives are aligned. But, we should also always remember that there are important qualitative steps that should be taken to make sure all employees have the proper motivation. Okay, everyone wants to make money. That's a given for both employees and management, but let's move beyond that.

One incredibly powerful (and simple) method to make sure that everyone's motivation and focus matches is the "One Most Important Thing" (O.M.I.T.): "In any collective endeavor, the prospect for success is directly proportional to the degree everyone agrees on what constitutes the One Most Important Thing."

Let's break it down:
One- What is the single focus that will achieve the desired long-term outcome (goals), for the dealership as a whole (not just individual departments)?

Most- What direction of focus automatically means that we will have the highest number of desired results, if achieved?

Important- Here we really mean something beyond money. What is the most important focus that will make everyone at the dealership feel "useful and necessary in the world?"

Thing- In this case "thing" is not an object, but an "aspirational objective," that is larger than a specific business goal. What "thing" will engender the kind of loyalty and commitment that money just doesn't motivate most people to give over the long-term?

While the specifics of an O.M.I.T. plan will vary depending on the individual dealership's goals, as you might guess, plans that have the customer as the center tend to be most successful. It's up to your dealership, as a team including both employees and managers, to determine what will work best for you. Effectively determined, communicated and applied to throughout the dealership, the real power of O.M.I.T. is that it creates a unified culture where everyone always understands what the one most important thing is, even during times when people feel overwhelmed. If employees or managers feel pulled in different directions, everyone knows what the default is. And it's a focus that everyone can get behind and feel good about personally and professionally. O.M.I.T. helps eliminate mixed messages and the frustration they cause. It is a discipline and focus that can help ensure proper motivation, and dealership profit.

Thoughts? Has your dealership ever implanted such a strategy for unification and focus?

This week's post is the third and final component of the SAM tool, the BDC Department Performance and Projection measurement.  This really brings everything home.  Now there is no excuse for not tying all dollars spent on marketing initiatives and staff member pay.  You can now project how many leads you need to have coming in to make the desired number of sales, based on industry averages and your own store's numbers.  Using these tools is more important than ever in today's economic environment.  I don't know anyone who can afford to waste a penny these days!       

Access the complete Sales Activity Management Tool at the following link:
http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=pXHR0EqhMEb03uOYX6nZHYg&hl=en

Be sure to click on the "BDC Proj." tab in the spreadsheet!  And you should have a Google account to access the documents.  In-put cells are highlighted in yellow as with the other parts of the tool.   

Share you experiences with these tools and post others that you have used successfully! 

In our ongoing quest to measure what's working and what's not, I have added another simple yet powerful to tool to help monitor important metrics. This BDC sales activity management (SAM) tool lets you tie your leads and lead sources directly to projected sales activities and results. Using industry averages and your own dealership's data, you can tie all your activities together and measure their effectiveness. Again, the input fields in these spreadsheets are highlighted in yellow. Do not enter data into any of the other cells.

Visit the following link for the next section:

http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=pXHR0EqhMEb2sWCZtXXRnDw&hl=en

Again, you need a Google account to view the link.

Let me know if you're using these tools and/or post similar tools you find useful.

Are you tracking your sales directly back to your leads? And do you also track the cost of the leads and how much you generate in sales from them? In the past this may have been difficult to do, but today there is no excuse for not measuring this. And as more marketing is done online, tracking just gets easier and more reliable. If you're not consistently tracking these metrics, how do manage the pay plan for your ISM and other Internet staff members? If their compensation is not directly tied to Internet leads and subsequent sales, how do you determine their pay plan? How do you know what's working and what's not?

I developed a powerful, yet easy to use tool to help make these measurements, make sales forecasts and much more. Access the first section of the tool at: http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=pXHR0EqhMEb3XkrmF2AWkCg&hl=en.
(You must have a Google account to access it.)

VERY IMPORTANT: The yellow cells are the only input cells. If you change anything in any cells that are not colored yellow, the spreadsheet will not work as it is intended.

Enjoy! Please let me know if you have any questions and share your experiences. More tools will come in this series.

Honestly, I can't believe some of the auto responder emails I've seen from dealerships. I've laughed, I've cried, and in one case I came close to being offended. Any communication with prospects and clients, no matter the channel, requires thought, consideration and courtesy. And using text, IM or email does not mean that grammatical and professional rules go out the window. It's one thing if you're communicating with your friends and family, but it's quite another with clients. In all business communication, all professional rules apply, all the time! Do you think auto responders are trivial communication? Think about it: this might be perceived as the first personal contact your dealership has with a prospect, even if you identify it as an auto-responder. When you think about it like this, it's not a trivial communication at all; it's one of the most important! Your first response to consumer inquiries can blow the deal for you before it even begins; that's how important it is. Actual email auto responder from last DrivingSales newsletter: Dear DrivingSales Editor , Thank you for your email. It has been forwarded to the appropriate person to handle your inquiry as soon as possible. That was it! No name, no contact information, no web link, no logo, nothing. Not to mention the poor format of the greeting. How about this one: I'm not here right now but I'll get back to you as quick as I can! with no signature with contact information (Don't get me started again…) Using a well-crafted, professional email auto responder is perfectly fine, and perfectly simple. Try this one: Dear (name if supplied in submitted information), I am not in my office at the moment but I will contact you with the requested information as soon as I return. We appreciate your interest and look forward to learning more about how we can help with your automotive needs. Sincerely, Your First and Last Name Title Dealership Name Email Office Phone Cell Phone Link to Dealership Website Dealership Logo It doesn't need to be long at all. In fact, a short, direct response is best. Take a few minutes to review your dealership's auto email responders and make appropriate changes. They can quite literally help "make or break" the deal. Post examples of great email responders your dealership uses!

It's very easy to get caught up in the short term: the end of the day, the end of the week, the end of the month, even the end of this quarter. But this short term focus is just that-- short term. Do you want your business to exist just until the end of the week, the month or the quarter? Of course not! Then why would you focus and direct your time and resources over such a short period of time? Short term focus creates long term difficulties in all areas.

For example, let's think about compensation plans. Do they offer any long term benefit to help motivate your employees to stay, or are they merely one time, at the time of sale compensation? A good sales person can probably make as much, if not more, money at a dealership other than your own, at any time. And we all know that employee turn-over is a big issue in our industry. Why not structure a pay plan with a long term component in the compensation? Certainly the sales person should receive the majority of their compensation at the time of sale, but you can also tie a portion of to annual or semi-annual milestones. What if they receive, for example:

1. 5% of their total sales commissions at the end of their first year? Let's say that their total commission for the year was $50,000, then they would have a check for $2,500.00 waiting for them at the end of the year. Assuming you don't have a really terrible work environment, a check like that is enough to help motivate most folks to stick around.

2. Let's say your regular sales commission is 25%. I would start the commission at 22.5 % and allocate an additional 2.50 % towards the sales person's longevity pool, with the condition that sales person completes his 12th month of service at the dealership. Then he will receive that additional 2.50 % on the 13th month's commission check. And once he has achieved that 13th month, on the 14th month sales person will receive his 2nd month's longevity 2.5% and so forth. Once a sales person achieves that every month, he or she will be receiving the additional 2.5 % carrying over from 12 months ago. This should be understood that at anytime salesperson leaves the organization there is no money accrued for him and that this was simply a bonus for the current 12th month's cycle.

Smart dealers (or any successful business people) take the long view and let it guide their short term decisions and activities. Take time to think about your dealership and the industry a year from now, two years from now, even five years from now. Resist the temptation to fall into the trap of policies that address only next week, next month or next quarter. This is especially important for employee retention. You lose so much money each time you lose an employee and it's easy enough to establish compensation plans that help keep good employees at your dealership. You just need to take a little time to determine the best policies for your dealership's needs.

We'll talk more about specific pay plans in upcoming blogs. And please comment with any plans that you've had success with!

Hello again and welcome to the continuation of the 50 Day Timeline for managing your Internet leads. Refer to (links to previous blogs) for the previous Timeline information. Day 12 -14: Attempt a phone call and send an email to the prospect that conveys some new, fresh information. Ex. “I wanted to contact you today Mr. Smith, because we have just received news that Dodge is now offering an additional $500.00 rebate for all purchases made before the end of this month. Perhaps you are ready to take advantage of this offer?” Careful wording like this allows you to keep in touch and gives you a specific reason to make contact again. Set your next contact for 7 days later (or sooner if any special such as financing or rebates is about to expire). Day 21 approx: Phone call and/or email to request information about their purchase status. Have they purchased elsewhere? Are they still in the market? Have they delayed making their decision for 30 or 60 days? Ask open-ended questions to see if you can get the prospect to respond with informative answers. Set the next contact date for 7-10 days later. Day 30-33: Send a next-to-last email and/or phone call. Let the prospect know that you are nearing the end of making contact with them. Phrases such as, “I hoped that I would have heard back from you by now,” or “Would you like for me to delay contacting you for a while,” are professional, but still convey that you are wrapping up your communications. Let the prospect know you would still welcome the opportunity to earn their business and that you would be happy to send them some new information reflecting the new month’s pricing if they are still shopping for a new vehicle (if applicable). Day 50 Approx: Send a final email and/or make a final phone call. Thank the prospect for taking the time to consider your dealership. Ask them to keep in touch in the future, and let them know you will transfer their information to your “Inactive” file. (Ask them if they would prefer to be kept in the “Active” file for a while longer.) Finally, mention that occasionally you like to inform prospective customers of specials the dealership is running and from time to time you may send them an email with this information. If they don’t respond to this, then it is safe to add their name to your list of people who receive your “Broadcast” emails. ***If at any time during the 50 days, the prospect responds back with “stop calling me” or “don’t email me again” you need to comply with that. Mark them accordingly in your prospect management system (CRM, ILM, etc.) as “do not call” or “do not email.” Many CRMs and ILMs include features that let consumers opt-out of your mailing list with a single click. Please check with your vendor to see if this feature is available. This is a great way to help keep your dealership in legal compliance. ***

Let's continue with our 50 day timeline to make sure your leads don't get "lost" or "die" too soon, based on the fact that the average consumer takes about 50 days to make a vehicle purchase, from the time of initial inquiry. Day 2: Today, Tuesday, send your prospect an email that mentions a “perk” they will receive if they purchase their next vehicle from you. It could be a free oil change, or a lifetime of free carwashes…the point is to keep your name visible to the prospect and help set you apart from the competition, as well as hopefully soliciting a response from the prospect. Once you've sent the email, set your next contact date for two days later (Thursday in our example). Day 4: Thursday, call the prospect again. If you talk, ask how their research is going and again, take notes to document the conversation for future reference. Secondly, send a follow-up email today. If you have not personally talked with the prospect at this point, inquire somewhere in the email if they have an alternate number you can reach them at or if they can respond back with a better day/time for you to call them. The follow-up email can be kept very general; how is their research going...have they arrived at any decisions yet…do they have any questions that you can answer for them? Etc. When sent, set the next contact date for 3 days later (Sunday in our example). Day 7: Sunday, (the lead is now 1 week old) send a second follow-up type email, but one that is worded to have more of a sense of urgency. You could mention that the 2008 models are almost gone, or perhaps a financing incentive is about to end. Be truthful, but at the same time convey that the pricing and vehicle information you previously sent them is time-sensitive. Also, as long as the customer has not said or written “don’t call me” then attempt to reach them by phone again. Set your next contact date for 5-7 days later, depending on the feedback you've received from the prospect thus far. We'll follow-up next week with the next steps for the 50 Day Timeline to help you sell more cars!

In my experience (and research concurs), the average customer makes a vehicle purchase approximately 50 days after they initially inquire. So I developed a 50 Day Timeline for handling your leads. The goal is to ensure that leads don’t get marked “lost” or “dead” too soon. And even if they don’t buy now - you want them to remember your name and your dealership. Follow-up is crucial. At the same time, however, you don't want to bother your prospects with too many emails or phone calls. We will begin with day 1, arguably the most important, and follow the process over the next few weeks, somewhat mirroring the time it takes a consumer to make a vehicle purchase. Note: For a proactive customer who keeps in good contact, please modify this system as needed to suit your customer’s needs. This model should remain fluid for each customer; you want them to feel that they are getting individualized answers, not generic responses. The goal is to keep in contact periodically for the first 50 days OR until the prospect “buys or dies” or says, “don’t contact me again.” Hypothetical scenario: Lead comes in at 8:30 am on a Monday morning and you are at home, scheduled to be at the dealership at 9:00. 8:35-8:40 am Day 1: Send the prospect a brief 3 or 4 line personalized response from your BlackBerry, or other hand-held, using the 4 key elements mentioned on my last BlackBerry Etiquette blog. If you have an automatic email responder set-up, it is important to wait a few moments after the lead first appears on your BlackBerry before you send this personalized response. 9:00 am (approx.) Day 1: Assuming you are at the dealership now, call your prospect. (It is also fine to call from your cell phone if you prefer, as this way you will be responding sooner!). If you talk with the prospect make notes and document the conversation. Documentation of all contacts with your leads helps prevent any problems of miscommunication when it comes time for the buying process. After the phone call send a detailed response to the prospect answering all of their questions and addressing all of their comments. Most prospects are interested in knowing the following: Price? Is the vehicle I want in stock? Are there additional costs? Can you offer me a better price than a competing dealership? What is my trade worth? What will my financing rate be, and are there any special offers? How do I qualify for the Loan, Credit Application? When can I take delivery? What type options are available to add to my vehicle? There is no need to address all of these points in your initial e-mail. However, you should be sure to address those that the prospect specifically mentioned in their original request. Finally, if you are successful in reaching the prospect by phone, be sure to thank them in the e-mail for taking the time to talk with you. Conclude with a line that states when you will attempt to contact them by phone again, and encourage them to call or email with any questions they may have. Once you have sent this response, set the next contact date to the following day. Take time to think this process over and we'll continue next time with the next steps. Happy selling!