You put a foosball table in your dealership’s break room. You stocked the kitchen to the hilt with free food for your employees and bestowed upon them more paid vacation than they could ever possibly use. You probably think you’re nailing the whole “company culture” thing.

So, why can’t you seem to hold onto any good service techs? Why do your salespeople arrive exactly on time -- never a minute earlier than they have to -- and cut out the moment their scheduled shift ends?

The answer: they don’t trust you. Or their supervisors. Or their co-workers. It may sting to hear this, but the reality is that if you’re struggling with engagement, retention, and performance issues, your employees likely aren’t operating in a culture of trust, no matter how many “progressive” perks you’ve thrown at them.

Paul J. Zak, author of Trust Factor: The Science of Creating High-Performing Companies, refers to these types of benefits as “golden handcuffs,” and he’s here to burst your bubble: Without a high-trust culture, such perks may create some sporadic short-term happiness, but they won’t improve performance or increase retention in the long run.

Through years of extensive research on the neuroscience of human connection, trust, and teamwork, Zak has found that:

This may sound like a fluffy chunk of common sense, but the numbers don’t lie -- and they’re eye-opening, to say the least:

 

Stay tuned for the next two installments in this series:

• What High-Trust vs. Low-Trust Cultures Look Like

• How to Create and Manage a Culture of Trust

I recently read an article in HBR titled: Managing Yourself: How to Negotiate with a Liar, by Leslie K. John. In our world we assume that most people come into a dealership/store and think that the salespeople are the liars...when, from my experience, the customers are far from innocent in this respect.  

Here are some of the key takeaways from the article:

1. Encourage Reciprocity.  Humans have a strong desire to reciprocate sensitive information... we want to match their transparency.  A good way to kick start this is to be the first to disclose an issue of importance.  This allows the other side to see you are being fair and more likely to disclose something to you.  Overall we are building trust.
2. Ask the right Questions.  Most people lie by omission. We claim that "If the customer asked me, I would have told the truth."  In a situation like this we want to make sure we are asking questions that can help uncover issues that can help strengthen your bargaining position...i.e.  When was that last time the check engine came on in your car?  What was the last repair you had to have done on the car?  Were there any recommendations that you didn't have done at that time that I need to tell a customer about in the future?
3. Watch for Dodging.  People will answer a question that they wish you would have asked.  If they don't want to answer the question they will steer their answer to answer a question they weren't asked. The best way to avoid this is write down questions then refer back to them to make sure you got your questions answered. 
4. Don't dwell on Confidentiality.  People are more willing to talk to you and share information when you keep the tone conversational.  When we start to ask questions and tell someone "I will keep this confidential" or "I will make sure your answers do not leave this room."  This puts people on the defensive and either causes them to stop talking, or start lying on their answers
5. Cultivate Leaks.  Listen to the questions a customer asks.  If they say "What would happen if I am late multiple months on my payments?"  This is normally an indicator that they are expecting issues on being able to make the payments.  We can encourage clients leaking information to us by giving them options.  If we know a customer likes a vehicle we can propose either them buying the vehicle outright and the payment plan, and propose them leasing the vehicle to show a lower monthly payment.  The option that the customer tells you they like will let you know their priorities and allow you to ask follow up questions and discover what the customer really wants. 

What the author really drives home in this article is that lying surrounds us.  We need to use better tactics, based in science, to bring about the best in both parties when we negotiate.  

Erik Nachbahr, President of Helion Automotive Technologies, talks about the biggest mistake today's dealers make when it comes to their data security.

Employee retention: the notorious and ever-present affliction of the automotive industry. One of the most important components in the quest to win the battle against employee turnover is proactive employee engagement strategy. But what is employee engagement? I mean, what does it look like? How do we know which tactics are truly effective and which are a waste of time and resources? And how do we apply that information to a variety of employees?

The Brandon Hall Group recently released the results of its 2018 Engagement Survey. The report provides an excellent jumping-off point for figuring out how to effectively drive employee engagement: generational differences. The survey shows that there are "some striking differences in attitudes when it comes to valuing activities for engagement among organizations with a younger age-mix compared to older age-mix organizations. The younger age-mix organizations are more likely to consider team-building activities and recognition programs to be highly valuable for their engagement initiatives. The older age-mix organizations are more likely to consider career development, coaching, work/life balance supports, and wellness/well-being to be highly valuable."

The report provided this visual breakdown:

 Of course, it's important to tailor your employee engagement strategy to your particular dealership, and perhaps the best way to do that is to ask your employees themselves what types of activities they consider highly valuable for increasing their own engagement with the organization.

Do you find this to be an accurate summary based on your own experience? Managers, what engagement activities have you found to be more or less successful for your dealership? Non-managers, what age group do you belong to, and which types of activities do you find most valuable?

You can find the full report here.

Scott Pechstein, Vice President of Sales at Autobytel, Inc., talks about the buzzword of the moment: "digital retail."

Jim Roche is the Divisional VP of Marketing & Managed Services at Xtime. We asked him to tell us the biggest mistake he sees dealers making today when it comes to customer retention. Hit play to hear what he told us.

RELATED:  5 Digital Strategy Tips to Boost Customer Retention

If you're like me, you can hardly believe it's 2018. Here's a look at the most popular DrivingSales blog posts of 2017!

5. Top 10 Sales Humor Memes of 2016
    by Maddy Low

4. Can We Guess What Kind of Car You'll be Driving in 10 Years?
    by Andrew James

3. 13 Rules for Social Media Success in the Car Dealership
    by Jason Stum

2. The Truth About CarGurus
    by Langley Steinert

1. Let's "Face It" -- Mind-Reading Works to Close Deals Faster
    by Brad Paschal

What was your favorite DrivingSales blog post of 2017?

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?

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!