Adam Robinson is the co-founder and CEO of Hireology.

He sat down with DrivingSales to tell us how much weight you should really be placing on a job candidate's experience when you're looking to hire for your dealership.

We sat down with powerhouse millennial entrepreneur (and DSES 2017 keynote speaker) Kristen Hadeed. Here's what she told us about the management-employee-customer "ripple effect."

Do you treat your employees the way you want them to treat your customers?

We asked CallRevu President Michael Markette how dealers can leverage the training power of recorded phone calls. Here's what he had to say:

Do you use recorded phone calls to help improve your process and train your staff on phone skills?

Shari Fitzpatrick, founder of Shari's Berries, and keynote speaker at #WomeninAuto2017

No entrepreneurial experience but a whole lot of passion, inspiration, and faith = a thriving global brand. You don't have to be an expert to be a huge success in whatever business you're in. 

A key insight from Shari today is that you are going to go through difficult times. When her business hit a major road bump due to a soured business partnership, she held to this statement:  "Unforgiveness does more harm to the vessel in which it is stored than the object on which it is poured." 

A few other key insights that helped Shari get where she is today:
-Get your priorities straight
-Love what you do and be passionate about it
-Put out the absolute highest-quality product you possibly can
-Treat your employees right; the way you treat your employees = the way your employees will treat your customers!

Jody DeVere, founder of AskPatty.com, presented the award to the Hoehn family, of Hoehn Motors and Hoehn Adventures for their spirit of leadership in the automotive industry.

Here's a really AWESOME fact: Of the Hoehn group's 49 executive positions, 20 of them are held by women. BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE: 2 of the most senior executive-level positions are held by women.

Kudos to the Hoehn family on fostering a culture that supports, uplifts, and empowers women.

One more fun fact, shared with us by Johanna Hoehn: The initial loan for the first Hoehn dealership came from two women:  Mr. Hoehn's aunts! 

Some powerful insights about the growth mindset from Cynthia Hiskes, Chief People Officer at Cars.com and opening keynote at Women in Automotive 2017 conference:
 

• Don't feel guilty about investing in yourself. The return on the investment you're making in yourself goes far beyond you.
• Becoming is better than being. Becoming is moving, changing, adapting, rolling. Being is standing still -- and as women in the automotive industry, standing still is not an option.
• Don't let who you are stand in the way of who you can become.
• Successful people don't think outside the box; they live outside the box.
   

#WomeninAuto2017 #WIA2017 #growthmindset

#WomeninAuto2017 #WIA2017 #growthmindset

Kicking off #WomeninAuto2017! Stay tuned -- lots of photos and insights to come!

Do your customers' experiences match your brand standards?

Consumers are continuing to buy more products online – we know that. Does that mean retail experiences are becoming less important? The short answer is a resounding NO. In fact, for dealerships that want to set their brand apart from the competition and develop superior customer relationships, the retail experience is now more important than ever before. In the same way, as e-commerce continues to grow, it is important to create great customer experiences when selling cars online. In short, a customer who wants to come to the dealership should have a very similar experience to a customer who wants to do everything online. If done correctly, all parties in automotive retail – dealerships, customers and vendors – can benefit from this kind of streamlining.

Dealerships should be able to accommodate all types of customers; another word for this capability is responsive selling. Processes need to be in place both for customers who want to buy online without ever setting foot inside a dealership, customers who want to test-drive every car on the lot, and everything idiosyncratic customer in between.

Dealerships should optimize their technology and adjust their processes to sell in all settings to all types of consumer behavior. Your dealership’s brand and “why buy here” message should be portrayed consistently throughout every type of transaction, including online purchases. Consumers expect businesses to adapt to their buying style. The more dealerships can meet those expectations, the happier their customers will be.

Selling a car 100% online doesn’t excuse your dealership from providing an outstanding customer experience. Your brand is still represented online, and the customer will still remember where they bought their car, whether they remember it as an amazing experience or a terrible one. There’s a difference between buying something from Amazon versus buying it off eBay. Both are e-commerce giants, but consumers can have a different, unique experience interacting with each brand. For example, how quickly and easily were they able to complete their transaction? How much information was available to the customer? What is the return policy? The list goes on, and the considerations are every bit as important for your dealership as they are for any e-commerce provider. 

In that vein, the online buying experience you provide should match the in-store process as much as possible. Consistency is key for a streamlined brand experience. If you do something unique to celebrate with a customer who buys a new car in your store, it’s important to find an equally exciting way to celebrate with a customer who purchases their vehicle from your website. Similarly, be sure that your salespeople and BDC reps are cognizant that how they converse with a prospect via chat or email matches the way they’d converse with an up who walked into the dealership – responding in a timely, professional manner, and following a solid, well thought out process.

A better, faster, experience is what today’s customers are looking for, but they’re also seeking out consistency: whether the experience your provide measures up to the brand standards you profess.

A mini-webinar with Ryan Gerardi of DealerRefresh. 

These days, everywhere you look, individuals, businesses, and communities are “going green.” - but should they be "going blue?"

“Blue Zones” refers to Dan Buettner’s best-selling book by the same name. In the book, Buettner details and analyzes the commonalities among five communities throughout the world where people live until age 100 about 10 times more frequently on average than in the United States. These communities are called "Blue Zones," and the common factors that run through each of them are what Buettner refers to as “The Power 9”:

1. Move Naturally.  People in Blue Zones rarely go to gyms or “work out” in the way that generally comes to mind for us; rather, they incorporate physical activity as a natural part of their daily routine, including activities such as gardening or using walking as their primary means of transportation

 2. Know Your Purpose.  According to Buettner, this all boils this down to a simple question: What is the reason you wake up every morning?

3. Downshift.  In the Blue Zones, rest and relaxation, such as meditating or napping, occur daily, and often several times each day.

4. The 80% Rule.  Those living in Blue Zones don’t “diet.” They just live by this rule, which says to stop eating when you feel 80% full.

5. Plant Slant.  Blue Zones diets are plant based; they consist of more legumes and nuts, and less meat.

6. Wine at 5. 1-2 glasses of wine per day, contributes to physical health in the Blue Zones.

7. Family First.  In Blue Zone communities, loved ones are a top priority.

8. Sense of Belonging. The healthiest people, and the ones who live the longest, belong to spiritual communities (the denomination does not make a difference).

9. The Right Tribe. This emphasizes the impact of socializing with others who share and support healthy behaviors. 

A major aspect of creating Blue Zone-certified communities involves incorporating the Blue Zone principles in the workplace. Now, maybe some of these don't and can't necessarily apply for dealerships (I don't recommend providing your employees with wine). But many of them can be implemented on some scale to improve your dealership's culture and make it a great place to work (which, of course, leads to higher employee retention rates).

Because adults in the United States -- and especially in the auto industry -- spend a massive percentage of their lives at work, creating Blue Zones at the dealership is key to fostering them in the community. “To become a Blue Zones official work site required committing to Blue Zones initiatives offered on a program ‘menu,’ which includes options such as ensuring employee vending machines offer healthy food options, offering employees a place to lock up bicycles, or adopting a policy that supports employee volunteer days, in addition to having at least 25 percent of employees to take the Blue Zones pledge.”

But you need not be certified in order to reap the benefits of the Blue Zone principles; incorporating simple changes into your dealership is a great way to make health and happiness an integral part of your employees’ daily routines, thus naturally increasing productivity, engagement, and, of course, retention rates.

You might, for example, provide fresh fruits and veggies for your employees to snack on throughout the day. You could start up a fitness tracker program to get your employees engaged. We all know the average salesperson or service tech does an enormous amount of walking throughout the day, so why not have some friendly competitions to see who can take the most steps in a day, a week, or a month? You can also go out of your way to make sure you support your employees putting their families first. Invite employees' entire families to the Christmas party, or have a picnic just for the purpose of meeting one anothers' families. When someone in an employee's family experiences a tragedy, rally around that person as well as their family.  Allow your employees to leave early now and then so they can catch their kids' sports games. If your employee feels you value them and their family, they will be much more likely to be committed to you in return.

What are some other ways we could apply The Power 9 to improve dealership culture?