Low hiring standards in most dealerships remains a cause for problems they experience in their detail departments.

Almost every dealer I consult with says the same thing about employee problems in the detail department: “It just isn’t realistic for us to have hiring standards for detail shop employees. Detailers are all the same, they are transient, so we take whoever walks in the door when we need them.”

Unfortunately, too many dealers  have long followed this same philosophy in their hiring practices for the detail department. Well, I am here to tell you that if you keep following these same hiring methods, you will continue to shoot yourself in the foot and end up with a permanent limp.

The Great Depression

When the Great Depression hit this country with tornado-like force in the 1930s, many major companies slashed their advertising budgets. Some even stopped advertising altogether. On the surface, this seemed the most logical business decision considering the state of the economy.

There were two notable exceptions to this common practice, the Campbell Soup Co. and Procter and Gamble. They continued advertising and were even the sponsors of the first radio programs.

So what has all this history got to do with hiring detail employees?

Without a doubt, everyone today knows these companies. Their names are household words, and they are two of the largest advertisers in the U.S. Why? They raised the bar in spite of the tough times.

Neither company lowered the bar, so to speak. Yes, they made adjustments while maintaining a high level of performance. That is what I want to tell you, don’t accept as fact that there are not good people to hire in your detail department, or that you have to take what is out there.

This reactionary mindset will continue to undermine any improvements you want to make in your detailing department.

Remember, keep doing what you’ve always done and you’ll get what you’ve always gotten.

Good Employees Produce Profits

You have all heard the cliché so many times it might become meaningless to you. Let’s put it another way: Would you purchase second rate or out-of-date equipment for your service department or bodyshop? When you build a new dealership facility, is it designed to look worse than the competition? Of course not, you try to have the best.

Then why is it OK to hire second rate people for your detail department? Why is it OK to have second rate primitive equipment, and worse, little to no management or operational standards for the detail department?

If you settle for second best, you get second best. Almost every dealership I have visited has a second best detail department.

If you want something better from your detail department, you must first expect more. People who expect more, get more.

We’re as Good as Anyone

So, you might counter, “Our detail staff is just as good as any other dealership.” And that’s fine, if you want to get by as you always have. But is that really what you want?

Wouldn’t you like to have a clean, organized detail department, manned by reliable and dependable employees, who turn out quality work quickly and profitably? Of course you would! But you must set some standards for this problem child — the detail department.

If you don’t know what these standards should be, then get help. There are many industry consultants who can assist you.

Note that I said consultants and not detail chemical companies.

How to be Better Than the Others
One of the best ways to have a detail operation that is better than other dealers is to do a better job of hiring and managing than they do. It’s also better to have the right equipment that saves time and reduces labor.

The single best predictor of a company’s overall excellence is its ability to attract, motivate and retain the best people. You do this in your sales and service departments, so why not the detail department?

More Objections

If I had a dollar for each of the objections I get from dealers about hiring better employees in their detail departments, I could retire.

A common excuse is, “I let my general manager run the dealership and they aren’t convinced that it’s worth it.” Or, “I don’t have anyone willing to manage the detail department. The service manager doesn’t want it, and the body shop manager has got his hands full.” Or, better yet, “The department could not justify the salary a good shop manager would require.”

You, as the dealer principle or GM, must realize that when someone won’t do what you ask it is because they don’t understand what is in it for them.

Yes, you are the owner and you can command them, but you and I both know that no one does anything they don’t want to. They will pretend to cooperate, but as is usually the case in most dealerships, they do a sloppy job of it. Just look at your detail department.

What this illustrates is two things:

1.    This type of behavior is typical.
2.    If you want someone to do something new, you had better take the time to explain what they have to gain.

It is no longer acceptable to say, because I said so. It is futile, and in the end, the inmates end up running the institution.

Conclusion

So, if you want better employees in your detail department you need to get the managers in your dealership to buy into this positive philosophy. If they don’t see that better employees will be better for them, their department and the dealership, then nothing will change.

Detail shops are not profitable because of employee turnover, which also erodes morale. There is also a strong correlation between employee retention and customer retention. Think about it, what will happen if you keep hiring second best people in your detail department?

The greatest cause of employee turnover is not low unemployment or downsizing, it is plain and simple hiring mistakes. And how many hiring mistakes have been made in your detail department?