As a new year approaches and everyone is thinking about resolutions, I humbly offer the following list as possibilities for Dealership Operators:

• Resolve to sell more from stock rather than managers arranging dealer trades all day long.  Are you ordering the correct New Car inventory if dealer trades are a daily activity?
• Resolve to hold your sales staff accountable for product knowledge on your product as well as key competitors.  (Manager’s responsibility)
• Resolve to find the balance between holding respectable gross on new cars and maintaining world class CSI. Remember: CSI = Customer Supplies Income
• Resolve to assure that your Variable Ops departments and Fixed Ops Departments work as a team. 
• Resolve to have the GM or Dealer Principal personally complete a physical inventory monthly.  Your flooring source will love this!
• Resolve to commit to a sustained and consistent training program for your team.  Daily training = A Healthier Bottom Line
• Resolve to tell your Admin Team how much you appreciate them at least once a week.
• GM’s and DP’s: Resolve to work the desk, the parts counter, the service drive, and YES, the wash bay at least once per quarter.  Amazing things happen when the Head Honcho rolls up his sleeves and gets in the trenches.
• Resolve to commit to Digital in your sales, training, advertising, service business, EVERYTHING!  The dealers who cast their nets where the fish are (Online) are the ones who will thrive in market share in 2017.

As a long time car guy myself, I certainly don’t presume that I have all of the answers to market share dominance, however, some of these may be a step in the right direction.

Happy New Year!

One of the popular buzzwords (It's actually 2 words) in the industry when it comes to Internet Sales is "Response Time."  Oftentimes dealers fall into the trap of thinking that managing their response times on Internet Leads is the Holy Grail of Digital Operations.  I was chatting with a dealer recently who was frustrated because they had worked very hard to reduce their response time from an average of 5 hours 35 mins (YIKES!) to 25 minutes.  While 25 minutes is certainly respectable, and a massive improvement from where they were before, it is not anywhere near a best practice benchmark.  Anyway, the dealer was frustrated that the improved response time had not had a measureable affect on their conversion percentage to appointments.  So he and I began to dig a little deeper into what was going on.

Over the next couple of days the dealer and I started to take a look at what was going on in his CRM.  FULL DISCLOSURE:  I have the dealer's authorization to publish these responses as long as I don't divulge the dealership's name or location.  That disclosure gives you a pretty good idea as to the nature of the responses you are about to see.  (responses are word for word including typos and grammar)

Question: What is the "out the door" price on this pre-owned 2010 Civic? 

• The price isn't important unless you're paying cah which I sure you not.  How much down?

Question: Do you offer financing for people with credit problems?

• We can get you bot.  All I need is a 5 liner. What are yor prilems?  (WHAT?)

Question: Dealership XXX has quoted me a slightly lower price on the same vehicle and I was wondering if you price match.

• Dealership XXX is giving cars away to buy market share.  Go buy it there.

At this point I probably don't need to write anything more in this blog post to properly convey my message.  While repsonse time is certainly an improtant and vital piece of the puzzle when it comes to having a top notch Internet process, it is only 1 piece of the puzzle.  Not the only piece.  This dealer was astonished and furious over what we uncovered when we just took a peek into the responses that were going out from his dealership.

The key is Quick Response in conjunction with Quality Response.  

Take a look at the responses that are going out from your dealership and always inspect what you expect.

Let's move some metal!

BUZZWORD ALERT!

TRANSPARENCY.  Love it or hate it, it is relevant and plays a big part in your dealership's strategy.

Let's see if we can look at things from a customer's perspective for a moment.  

1. Google the product you're looking for. (pick anything: a tv, shoes, a lamp)
2. Read through the results on pages 1-5 to narrow your search. (Yeah, right!)  More like, Read through the first 3, maybe 4 results.
3. Visit a couple of the sites to gather information including pricing and availability.
4. Visit 3rd party review sites. 
5. ASSUME THAT NO PRICE = HIGHEST PRICE AND MOVE ON TO NEXT DEALERSHIP.

So is #5 happening?  You better believe it is!  If you aren't pricing your inventory and pricing it "On the Money" you are out of the Internet game.  Remember, we're looking at things from a customer's perspective.  So here's the rub, some dealers dig their heels in the sand and say, "Listing prices online just costs me gross and those mooches who insist on knowing the price before they come in can go see the guys down the street."  

The work I do with dealers affords me the opportunity to review many Internet mystery shops of dealerships all over North America.  It blows me away how many times we ask for a price and get an answer like:

1. We'll make you a great deal. When can you come in?
2. We've never lost a deal over price.  Come on down.
3. What monthly payment were you hoping to get?
4. Do you have a trade?

Let me address #4 specifically.  Now remember, customer perspective.  "Hey honey, did you know the price we can get on the new Tahoe we want is affected by whether or not we have a trade-in?"  "Hmm, I'll never understand the car business so I guess we better go down to the dealership that won't give us the price online because I'm sure they will be much lower than these other 2 dealerships that have been so nice and answered our questions so thoroughly."  

NOT!

The moral of the story here is that as the business owner you certainly have the right to make the business decision to resist transparency and not post prices on your website or with 3rd party vendors.  Whether or not that is a good decision rests with you and your management team, but I would like to offer a suggestion.  Look at it from a customer's perspective when making that decision.  Think about the last time you shopped online for a high ticket item like a tv or a riding mower or whatever it may have been.  Chances are you were looking online for 3 pieces of information:

1. Product info
2. Pricing info
3. Businesses that offered the product

Did you consider going to businesses that didn't offer one or both of the fist two items?

The Dalai Lama said, "The lack of transparency results in distrust and a deep sense of insecurity."

Go move some metal!

The Canadian Dealer Forum: Customer Expectations Have Changed… Have You?

56% of car buyers delay their purchase because they don’t want to have to go through the buying process. 99% of buyers expect their buying experience to be a hassle before they start. These are just a few of the findings from our 16-month research initiative on how customers feel about the car buying process.

Consumers expect more out of buying a car. Other industries from ecommerce to boutique shops have made buying and shopping easier. Those changes impact the car industry as those same consumers come to buy a car, and those expectations are only going to intensify.

We as car dealers have an opportunity to adapt. We can take the best new ideas from other industries and decades of dealership experience to create better experiences for buyers. How we do this is the main topic during our upcoming event The Canadian Dealer Forum in Calgary on June 22-23.

During the Dealer Canadian Forum I will be presenting more information about the DrivingSales Consumer Experience Study and the results that stood out to us. These results drove us to rethink the way cars are sold and how we can influence some of the issues that face our industry today.

Years of work in optimizing sales processes have resulted an increased focus on profitability and less energy focused on customer experience. Although this has helped us maximize profitability while margins are continually tightened, there needs to be equal push the other way to focus on how customers want to be interacted with. If we don’t focus on customers, ultimately we will lose.

The solution boils down to building and strengthening trust with our clients. Unfortunately, our research shows that we have some up hill ahead of us, but the results of the change could increase sales as much as 24% for the entire industry.

Websites, devices and even automated phone systems are focused on becoming responsive to users by personalizing content and process. We need to do the same by responding to the customers’ needs and making the path to purchase a personalized approach.

This responsive selling is the concept of recognizing that the customer is in control of the buying process and that we are there to guide them through to purchase. This means more focus on understanding how each customer would like to be interacted with, where they are in the buying process and adapting to their needs.

Customer expectations really have changed. We need to take a step back and see how that applies to us. Our attention should now be on how we shift the car buying processes to align with how our customers want to buy.

See you in Calgary!

I know that I don’t need to tell you how important training is in a dealership.  Starting on our first day working in a dealership, we are told how important training is, and most dealerships have weekly, or even daily, training meetings. Managers read countless books and websites, dealerships hire consultants, and salespeople and managers are sent to seminars, all in the name of training. A quick search on Google will yield endless results for articles on the importance of training and programs that will help you train your salespeople and service employees. The automotive retail industry is inundated with training programs and consultants.

So we get it: training is important.

And all of this hype around training is definitely warranted, because training is one of the biggest keys to success for any dealership. I’ve seen inexperienced salespeople flourish as a result of a well-executed training initiative, and dealerships with low sales numbers can turn things around with the right training implemented correctly for their employees. But I’ve also seen enthusiastic and talented salespeople fall behind because of a lack of well-executed training. I’ve seen intense (and expensive) training programs fall totally flat and do nothing but cost a dealership money. And I would bet you’ve seen all of these scenarios play out as well.

I have seen different types of training programs succeed and fail, and in my opinion, it has less to do with the training program itself, and more to do with the type of person who is being trained and the how the training is implemented in the dealership.

There are so many different types of learners, and each one benefits from a different kind of training. Some people learn most effectively by watching videos or reading manuals, and some people need to be able to get their hands dirty and actually do what it is they’re supposed to learn. Some people need a lot of guidance and individual attention, while others can work just fine on their own. Deciding on the right training program for your dealership comes down to knowing your team and understanding their training needs.

Another thing that determines whether a training program will be successful is being able to eliminate the “set it and forget it” mentality. A training program is an ongoing process, and it’s important that governance and accountability are established early on. Having a governing mechanism is place to continually check the progress of your employees will help keep the program from stagnating, and holding your sales team and managers accountable for their participation and progress will do a lot to help make a training program successful.

Because we know training is such a big part of dealership life, and because we know that training can be very different from dealership to dealership, we want to know what kind of training your dealership has in place and how things are going with it. We’ve created a short survey, and in the coming weeks we will publish a series of blog posts detailing our findings so that you can learn about the solutions that other dealers have come up with. We would love it if you would take 5 minutes and contribute your thoughts.  

http://bit.ly/DrivingSalesFeedback

We want to use this as an opportunity to shift the conversation from “Training is important,” to “How can you make training work in your dealership.” We all know training is important, but we might not all understand what kind of training our employees need or how we can implement a successful program in our stores.

Let's move some metal.

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Ron Henson, Global Brand Ambassador, DrivingSales

Ron is an accomplished dealership operations expert and trainer and has a passion for the car business that he willingly shares by speaking around the globe. He is a highly acclaimed international speaker and has delivered dynamic presentations for companies such as Google, Toyota, Nissan, Autotrader.com, Dealer.com, NADA, and NCM to name a few.  He brings a diverse perspective and skill set to his audiences having spent over 20 years in retail dealership operations.

As we approach the halfway point of Q4, I imagine that many of you are scheduling inventory audits in the parts and sales departments and getting ready to have your 2015 forecast meetings to discuss the plans for making next year even better.  I would like to propose the idea of making an anonymous Employee Satisfaction Survey part of your planning process for 2015.

Now, let me begin by warning you that the results and comments that come from this exercise will most likely be painful and humbling, but the good that can come for your management team will far outweigh the pain.  I did this in my dealership back in Q4 of 2006.  I broke up the surveys into 3 groups, Fixed Ops personnel, Variable Ops personnel, and Management.  I wanted to hear from the people who made things happen in my store each and every day and there wasn’t anything off limits due to the anonymous nature of the survey. 

• Was it painful?  YES 
• Did I hear about things that I had no idea were going on in my store? YES 
• Did some of the comments make me angry?  YES
• Was I able to make improvements based on the survey feedback? YES, YES, YES!

So, why do this?  Why expose yourself to the ugly underbelly of employee dissatisfaction?  There are certainly tangible benefits that can really help you, your team, and your dealership be better.

1. Your team is more invested than you think and the survey will identify areas where the dealership is doing well.
2. Your management team, no matter how good you currently are, will benefit from a strong dose of reality.
3. Your team will take pride in the fact that they can be heard and it will increase their commitment level.
4. Surveys will help establish accountability in your store.
5. Taking action on survey results can improve morale.

These are just a few of the benefits of going through the process of conducting an employee survey at your dealership.  I’m confident that you could think of many more and that you can use the results to improve your team’s performance in 2015.

Good luck!

Ron Henson is the Director of Dealer Services for DrivingSales & DrivingSales University.  Prior to joining the DrivingSales team he spent over 20 years in the retail side of the industry, most recently as the General Manager of a very successful Honda dealership.  Ron is an accomplished Dealership Operations expert and trainer and has a passion for the car business that he willingly shares by speaking at many industry events, conferences and 20 Groups in the US & Canada.

He is an avid sports enthusiast and spends much of his free time watching his kids play football and soccer.  Ron resides in Bountiful, UT with his wife of 23 years and his 3 children.

Sales Professionals, Absorb this!

"Talent, you have naturally. Skill is only developed by hours and hours and hours of beating on your craft."
"I've never really viewed myself as particularly talented. Where I excel is RIDICULOUS, SICKENING work ethic.

Please comment with your favorite quotes & then go out and break your personal records this weekend!

I often like to reminisce about some of the seemingly lost arts of sales.  When I got into the sales business over 25 years ago, I read everything I could get my hands on in regards to the art of building relationships and selling.  I loved, and still love, reading Joe Girard, Brian Tracy, Tom Hopkins, Zig Ziglar and many others.  Here's the thing.....I often wonder if the art of putting a customer at ease, bringing down barriers, and building rapport has gone the way of rear facing third row seating in station wagons and smoking on airplanes.

Cliché alert!  You only get one chance to make a first impression. This oldie but goodie rings true every single day with every single person that you meet and it truly is an art form to make that first impression as good as it can be.  Guests at your dealership arrive with force fields fully operational, and the sales pros that can artfully and tactfully bring those force fields down are the one's who find success, and most likely the one's who are winning your sales board on a consistent basis.

Through piecing together some of the tips I have learned over the years from pros like I mentioned earlier, as well as many others, I present some ideas on how your team can do a better job in this area.

• Dress for Success
• Smile
• Stop what you're doing and focus on them
• Show rather than tell
• Ask questions
• Be complementary
• Find common ground
• Avoid the overused, "Can I help you?"  
• Get their name(s) and use them

These are just a few items that can provide you with sales meeting content for a solid week!  I know it seems somewhat rudimentary, but I think it gets overlooked when we are teaching sales skills.  How about role playing the meet and greet in your next sales meeting and evaluating where your team's skill set resides in this area?  I'd wager that you may be surprised at the outcome and you just might see that focusing on this topic for a few days could reap immediate benefits for your staff.

A final thought: Building rapport is synonymous with building credibility, and people want to buy from those who are credible.

Let's move some metal!

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Ron Henson, DrivingSales

Ron Henson is the director of dealer services for DrivingSales and DrivingSales University. Prior to joining the DrivingSales team, he spent over 20 years in the retail side of the industry, most recently as the General Manager of a very successful Honda dealership.

Ron is an accomplished dealership operations expert and trainer and has a passion for the car business that he willingly shares by speaking at many industry events, conferences, and 20 groups in the United States and Canada.

Ron is an avid sports enthusiast and spends much of his free time watching his kids play football and soccer. He lives in Bountiful, Utah with his wife of 23 years and three children.

In my 20+ years in automotive retail I was always a firm believer in the notion that the dealerships that spent the most time training their employees were the ones that would thrive rather than simply survive.  I am still a believer in that way of thinking, but with the caveat of “Training for Sustaining.”

What do I mean by that?  Sometimes as a dealer executive it’s possible to get caught up in the egocentric method of training.  Have you ever had a conversation with someone that you could immediately tell really enjoyed hearing themselves speak?  I’m sure it is gratifying to them, but not so much for the person at the other end of the conversation. 

When preparing to conduct a training meeting of any kind (i.e. sales meeting, managers meeting, staff meeting etc.) it is imperative that we keep the best interests in mind of those that will be in attendance. 

• What is the intended outcome of the training?
• Who are the participants?
• Is this session an open forum or lecture style?
• Does the topic have relevance to all those in attendance?
• Do I carry enough credibility on the topic to conduct the training session?

One thing is certain; conducting a training session is much like delivering a speech or performing stand-up.  You have to capture your audience’s attention quickly and show them that their favorite radio station (WIIFM…What’s In It For Me) is broadcasting loud and clear.  Illustrate that the training topic will accomplish one or more of the following:

• Make them more money
• Make their job easier
• Increase customer satisfaction
• Increase employee satisfaction
• ALL OF THE ABOVE

There is little doubt that once your meeting attendee’s realize that there is a benefit to attending the meeting other than being there because you told them to, your training effectiveness will increase right along with your bottom line.

How many times have you returned to the dealership from a 20 Group meeting or factory conference with a list of fantastic ideas that you want to put before your team to get "Buy In" from the troops, only to hear doubt and complaints?  

     "That won't work in our market."  

     "Our staff won't embrace that idea."

     "The way we do it works, so why change it?"

Have you ever considered the possibility that your team doesn't want to embrace new ideas, processes, marketing, or training because they don't want the DP or GM to have an accurate measurement tool of exactly how much they aren't doing?  If you institute a new way of tracking floor traffic, internet traffic or service traffic that really gives accurate data of the number of opoortunites that are slipping through the cracks, it will certainly eliminate some comfort zones, but it will definitely improve performance.

Food for thought.