When discussing the staffing of a professional detailing department in a dealership, you must consider the type of people to be employed in your detail department.
This article will focus on interviewing and hiring of the proper personnel to perform the work quickly, efficiently and consistently.
Yes, detailing is a labor-intensive service, and at this stage of technological development, will probably remain that way. There is equipment and organizational procedures now available to help the dealer maximize the labor, but detailing is still a “hands-on” service that requires qualified people who will think.
Mass Production Principles
Some years ago, an article appeared in the Harvard Business Review discussing the problems of service businesses. It outlined all the problems service businesses faced, including inefficiency and inconsistency from employee to employee, service to service, and in the case of a detail center, inconsistency in the quality of the finished product (the vehicle). Sound familiar in your dealership?
It was this author’s premise that as long as service businesses continue to view things in humanistic terms, they will be plagued with these inherent problems. What is needed, this author said, is the application of the “technocratic” principles of mass production to a service business. In short, this simply means to establish a system of mass production in the delivery of the product or service. In this case, auto detailing services.
How? The answer is simple: Eliminate all employee discretion in the performance of a job. That is, give them little choice in how a job is to be performed. You must provide a very detailed and step-by-step description of how you expect the job to be done.
Is that not what the assembly line approach is in reality? A worker stands on the assembly line and does the same thing, the same way, for eight hours a day. In other areas of your dealership, you operate as much as possible in this way. What is the “system selling” of cars?
How successful you are in any business, auto dealership, detailing, etc., depends upon how well you can implement procedures to provide consistent service to the customer.
McDonald’s Approach
Probably the most successful example of a company applying the technocratic principles of mass production to a service business has been McDonald’s. Anywhere you travel in the world, from Maine to Mexico and from Tokyo to Texas, a McDonald’s burger, fries and milkshake are exactly the same: prepared, packaged and served exactly in the same way, by the same type of personnel.
What McDonald’s did was to set a standard for the type of employee they wanted, interview and screen, and then selectively hire and train them according to a spelled out and detailed set of procedures for every job in the store. Part of the training is, of course, an indoctrination period to help the employee to understand the program, the policies and the procedures of the company.
After a trainee has passed his trial period, he is constantly reviewed and coached in the McDonald’s system. And, if he really moves up in the organization, he can be sent to Hamburger University for managerial indoctrination. The employee knows he can advance in the organization if he follows the rules.
But, the bottom line of their entire program is that the employee has little discretion in the philosophy and methodology of how the job is to be performed. Management spells it out in simple, clear steps to be followed by everyone.
Did you know that McDonald’s has a 125-percent turnover rate in employees per year? Wow! It is their system that protects them.
How many times do you hear that “things are different?” How many times are you the one saying it? The “things are different” syndrome is nothing but an excuse for not taking proper action to remedy a problem.
Detailing is no different from slinging hamburgers or selling cars. There are basics to any business relating to establishing policies and procedures, goals and objectives, standards and job descriptions. If you will not do this, then you can expect that detailing will always be a problem in your dealership. Or, you will even have problems with the outside shops you contract with to do your detailing; you will have to demand standards of performance from them too.
The Interview
Since an interview is a two-way proposition, the applicants should have questions for you.
If they do have questions, your answers are important because they establish in the prospect’s mind what you expect. Remember, too, that if you find an applicant you like and want to hire, you have to sell them on the benefits of working for your business.
Some of the typical applicant questions we have experienced are: What will my job be? Is it full-time? What are the opportunities for advancement? What days and hours will I work? How much will I be paid?
Certainly, there will be other questions, but these will help you prepare for the fact that questions will be asked. How you answer them is important to developing a successful employee.
In order to establish a standard procedure for interviewing applicants and a standard method of evaluation, we developed an interview sheet for our operators to use. Such an interview sheet allows you to evaluate an applicant on an almost totally objective basis.
We have found that those employees hired on an objective basis, using the questions and evaluation procedures outlined on our sheet, have been the most effective.
Operations Manual
If you have given any thought to selective hiring for your detailing department, you know the type of qualified personnel that are needed to meet your performance standards. To insure that these standards are followed, they need to be put into an employee manual. The written manual ensures that what is important does not go in one ear and out the other. It allows you to put into the employee’s head what he must do with his hands. If is not in his head, he cannot do it with his hands.
To begin with, you must let the employee know what the general company policies are in relation to the following: the customer, requirements for employment, general conduct, training, meetings, uniforms, pay, work schedule, payroll and termination.
As with any policies, stick everlastingly to them if you expect them to mean anything to the employee.
Now that you have hired the right personnel for your detailing department and indoctrinated him or her about your dealership, the new employee is ready to be given hands-on training.
Paul Potratz tried to give some background on an online search engine situation that might make dealer principals angry — the store not showing up high enough on initial search tries.
Without getting too bogged down in technical background and jargon, the chief operating officer and founder of Potratz Partners Advertising explained a basic foundation of all search engines: algorithms.
“Search algorithms can be very confusing. It can be actually trying to figure out why someone’s credit score is what it is and how they got there. But let me explain the search strategy behind algorithms at Google, Yahoo, Bing, Facebook are all doing right now,” Potratz said during his latest online video in his series, “Think Tank Tuesday.”
Potratz continued, “The customer is me and you, the individual. The search engines are looking at a long-term gain versus a lot of companies and salespeople who are focused on a short-term gain, which receives a long-term loss. So what I’m really telling you is all the search engines ask, ‘What can we do to be the best search engine in the world?’
“If their ultimate goal is to be a search engine, they’ve got to give great search so when you sit down and search for something, their No. 1 objective is to make sure the paid ad or the organic listing that shows in front of you that’s specific to you,” he went on to say. “In other words, one that you’re most likely to click on. They’re not focused on who will pay more for search. They’re focused on you and me as an individual.”
And with search engines being focused on the individual, Potratz noted that’s where the popular term, “big data” comes into play.
“As we’re searching for things, we’re showing a digital body language. We’re showing a behavior of what is interesting to us and what we want,” Potratz said.
Potratz went in to more detail about how a store’s placement in search engines can be in the video available here.
If I were to offer a two-word outlook for the coming year it would be, “cautiously optimistic.”
Don’t get me wrong, I think 2014 will be a strong year, and perhaps a repeat of the sales and profit success dealers achieved in 2013 in both new and used vehicles.
But I’m also cautious because I believe 2014 will be a little bit trickier for dealers from an operational perspective. In particular, there are four areas that will pose specific challenges and may well separate the truly successful dealers from their peers.
Challenge 1: Demand-based inventory management in new and used vehicles.
In new vehicles, there are signs that the supply/demand equilibrium that dealers enjoyed in 2013 will dissipate. Factories are hungry for more market share, and many plan to step up production in the coming year to meet those goals.
For dealers, this dynamic makes it ever-more important to proactively align new vehicle inventories to customer demand—ensuring every car fits the right color and configuration for the local market. This won’t be an easy task for dealers unwilling to apply the available market data and discipline to minimize the number of slow-selling vehicles in their inventories (e.g., those with high market days supply and low consumer demand).
Thankfully, the advent of new technology and tools will help dealers engineer the demand-based new-vehicle inventories that will sell quickly and deliver maximum profitability.
In used vehicles, dealers will see ongoing signs that the “used-vehicle shortage” of recent years has somewhat abated. In particular, analysts suggest large volumes of off-lease vehicles will ease wholesale supplies. Here again, though, the challenge will be for dealers to accurately assess every used vehicle as “right” for their market in the context of market supply and consumer demand — a task that may be more difficult as factories push dealers to retail a larger share of used vehicles as part of their certified pre-owned (CPO) programs.
Challenge 2: “In The Market” Pricing.
It’s fair to say that most dealers now understand the importance of “in the market” pricing in used vehicles. They know if a car is not priced “in the market” against competing units, it’s far less likely to catch the eye of potential buyers. I still see dealers putting initial “prayer-like prices” on vehicles, as one dealer puts it, but generally dealers have adopted more market-rational pricing strategies.
In new vehicles, however, 2014 will be a watershed year for new vehicle pricing as dealers adapt to the availability of incentive and pricing data and tools that help them price their vehicles “in the market” compared to the competition. My prediction: Dealers who price and promote their vehicles in a credible, market-proper manner will be rewarded with the buyers who want more clarity in new vehicle pricing.
Challenge 3: More Efficient, Less-Hassle Sales Processes.
In the past year, Automotive News and other industry outlets chronicled the growing number of private and public dealers who now offer more customer-friendly, less time-consuming “the price you see is the price you pay”-type sales processes. In 2014, I believe we’ll see more dealers adopt this one-price-like/minimal negotiation retailing approach to meet growing customer expectations for more efficiency and transparency as they do business with dealers. For more tradition-minded dealers who view negotiating the price of a vehicle as a near-sacred right, this shift toward transparency can be a tough pill to swallow. My suggestion: Take the medicine in the coming year to position your dealership for the not-so-distant future where fast, transparent transactions are the norm.
Challenge 4: E-Commerce-like Options.
I’ve listed this challenge fourth for a reason: We’re still a ways away from selling cars the way other retailers sell their goods and services online. But each day brings our industry closer to e-commerce. In fact, some dealers actively embrace elements of e-commerce, offering “I’ll Take It” and “Buy Now” options for consumers with online vehicle listings. In the coming year, I believe such e-commerce experiments will continue to prove profitable and productive for the dealers who undertake them.
If I were a dealer, I’d at least begin exploring e-commerce options to convey my operation as a technology-smart retailer who’s willing to work with customers who have little or no desire to visit my dealership.
As I indicated earlier, I’m cautiously optimistic that 2014 will be a good year for dealers—and a great one for those who embrace the opportunities inherent in each of these operational challenges.
Dale Pollak is the founder of vAuto. This entry and Pollak’s entire blog can be found at www.dalepollak.com
“Oh great. I have to take your turnovers?”
I didn’t even know what those words meant when the business manager said them to me on my first day as a sales representative so many years ago. This fact only served to exasperate the business manager, who had to actually tell me what a turnover was, and what he did with them.
Huh, I thought, that’s nice, he’s already mad at me for not knowing about the business office, and besides, how can I control the turnover to make my people better or worse for him anyways?
A lot has changed since then, and I went on to be a successful business manager prior to becoming a general manager, but I still encounter dealership staff, sometimes even the dealer themselves, who don’t understand the business office and how to sell cars in a way to enhance their F&I opportunities.
With the increased focus in recent years on moving used inventory through new-car stores, we have seen some big fundamental differences in the product, with the addition of off-make and out-of-warranty units. Along with this has come a change in the customer demographic and their needs, with many more cash strapped, payment sensitive buyers with limited insurance protection and little or no job stability. It only makes sense that these two variables will change the total value proposition of F&I.
The reality of Canada’s auto industry today is that dealerships cannot be profitable by selling new cars alone. Take away service and the business office as revenue streams, and the financial statement is outright red for many dealers. So why are so many dealers willing to let the F&I opportunity slip by?
One reason I come across is that dealers question the actual value of the products offered by F&I suppliers. Certainly, there are variations in product, and in the administration of related warranty or guarantee claims and dealers must ask the right questions to determine the caliber of their selected product partner. Picking the right partner, one who has quality products, a good track record of end user satisfaction, and who offers training and other tools to help your business grow as well as good expense allowance or commission to your store, is the first crucial step to making F&I sales add to your dealership’s success.
Another explanation is that some dealers are still afraid that being an F&I focused dealership means that they will somehow hurt their customer’s satisfaction, or even cost them deals. In years past, some methods for offering products in the business office were not exactly customer friendly. Phrases like “hammer them in the box” were a valid description of many customers’ experiences. Today we know that being customer focused in F&I right from the start of the sales process only adds positively to a customer’s dealership and ownership experience.
At the end of the day, there is only one place in your dealership where you can add gross and net profit without any financial investment: no expensive inventory to keep, no salaried staffers to pay and no special software required. Simply give some thought to how you want F&I to exist in your dealership, who you will trust as a partner for products and training, and get ready to make some positive changes in your sales and service department to support a customer focused F&I experience.
Since its humble beginning, advertising in the automotive industry has largely focused on pushing, rather than pulling.
For example:
Radio – Pushes ads out to consumers while they drive to work
Television – Pushes ads out to consumers while they watch their favorite shows
Newspaper – Pushes ads out to consumers while they read up on current events
The reality is, only a very small percentage of people who hear your radio ad or flip past your newspaper ad are actually interested in purchasing a vehicle. Most dealers know this, yet many continue to invest the lion’s share of their marketing budget in traditional channels. But, why is this?
Lack of education? Fear of change? Denial of the modern world?
With more and more people relying on the Internet for information and entertainment, the effectiveness of these ‘push style’ avenues are decreasing year-over-year.
As a member of Generation Y and a fan of technology, I rarely am subjected to traditional advertising.
Radio – I don’t listen to the radio; I stream music via Bluetooth from my cell phone while I drive.
Television – I don’t watch TV commercials as everything I watch is recorded, allowing me to skip right past them.
Newspaper – Are newspapers still around? My parents (and grandparents, for that matter) canceled their newspaper subscriptions many years ago.
While not everyone skips commercials and has kicked newspapers to the curb, it’s undeniable that these mediums are less effective than they were in years past.
So if push advertising is out, how do you pull people in? Focus on giving people what they want: An intuitive, relevant and engaging online experience.
Enter: Inbound Marketing
The core building blocks of an effective Inbound Marketing strategy are as follows:
Search Engine Optimization – High-quality content on your website will improve your rankings on search engines, in addition to providing users with a much better experience.
Paid Search (or Pay Per Click) – Similar to SEO, paid search allows you to pull someone in with relevant content. Avoid driving visitors to the index page of your website; that doesn’t lead to a good experience.
Display Advertising – Display advertising is the modern billboard. With display, marketers can serve Web users contextual and aesthetically pleasing ads based on their search/browsing history.
Blogging – Blogging can be a great tool, and requires less knowledge of search engines than the areas listed above. Blogs index very well with search engines, and can generate results quickly.
Social – Once you’ve got your bases covered with your website, SEO, paid search, display and blogging, the next step is to look at social media. An effectively executed social strategy can further bolster the online presence for a proactive dealership.
What do all of these things have in common? They are all centered on providing value and relevancy to perspective customers.
Three years ago, most dealerships were spending more of their marketing budget on traditional advertising rather than digital. Today, many dealerships have completely abandoned traditional advertising, and have never looked back. In many cases, these same dealers have found that they were able to reduce their overall budget when making the switch to digital, while generating much better return on their investment at the same time.
Radio and print are declining, and the companies are scrambling to retain whatever business they can. Remember, receiving a 50 percent discount on something that doesn’t work really isn’t a deal at all. If you’re inclined to throw your money away, I’ve got some beautiful ocean-front property in Winnipeg I would be interested in selling to you at a major discount. (Disclaimer: Like radio and print – there will be no performance guarantees or refunds on this transaction.)
The days of marketing to the many with the hope of persuading a few have passed.
This is inbound marketing. This is the future of your dealership.
Kevin Gordon is an international speaker and thought leader in the automotive industry, regularly speaking at conferences across North America. Kevin co-founded Convertus, a digital marketing solutions provider for dealers. Learn more at Convertus.com.
I work with car dealers across North America, helping them improve their online presence and internal processes. Regardless of whether I am at a domestic, import, urban, rural, progressive or old-school store, I have found that many dealers share the same struggles.
One such struggle is the ability to effectively differentiate themselves from their competitors. In theory, it seems like a simple task: define what you do better than others, and get the word out. In practice, very few dealerships have done a great job in creating a strong “Why Buy” message.
Your “Why Buy” message is what you communicate to potential buyers when they are in the process of selecting a dealership. This simple, and incredibly important, component of your business likely hasn’t received the attention it deserves.
Whenever I start working with a new dealership, one of the first questions I ask the general manager is, “Why would anyone buy from you?” Time after time, I get the same,canned answer that hasn’t been thought out:
“We have great customer service, a huge inventory, etc.”
If you have the same “Why Buy” message as each of your competitors, why would anyone chose you?
With 72 percent of Google searches involving cross-shopping, it’s important to find a way to differentiate yourself from your competitors.
You are being shopped on and offline against competitors who carry the same make, different makes, non-franchised dealers and private sellers. You’re all out for the same buyer, and it’s up to you to educate that consumer on why you are the best choice.
Set the Baseline
Take a few minutes out of your day and ask your sales and management team why they think customers should buy from your dealership rather than any other. Chances are, the majority of the responses you will get will be listed below:
- We have great customer service.
- We have the lowest prices.
- We have the best selection.
If you want to maintain the viability of your dealership in the new, hyper-competitive and information rich world we now live in, understanding and defining your “Why Buy” message is a must. Once you’ve polled your staff, you’ll have a pretty good idea of the “Why Buy” message that is being served to your customers today. If you didn’t find their responses to be compelling, then it’s unlikely the consumer will, either.
Determining What You Do Best
Below, you will find a few examples of different, tangible ways you can differentiate your store from the competition.
- Top reviewed dealership on Google+ Local
- No-hassle exchange policy on all vehicles within 30 days of purchase
- No -haggle pricing structure, one price
- Non-commissioned product advisers
- First oil change free on every new and used vehicle purchased
- Percentage of revenue donated back to community
- Loyalty program with VIP perks
It’s entirely possible that you aren’t doing anything of things listed above. From here, you will need to decide if your ‘Why Buy’ message is important enough to you (and your customer) to look at making a change within your business.
You are at war every day with your competitors, and they are constantly looking for new ways to put you out of business. You’re helping their cause if you don’t have a clear way to differentiate yourself.
Shout it From the Rooftop
Equally important to your “Why Buy” message, is the way you communicate it. Your “Why Buy” message is worthless if shoppers have no way to find out about it. Furthermore, this isn’t a “backburner initiative” and will need to be embraced throughout the culture of the store — from the top down.
Your “Why Buy” message should be seen and heard:
- Your website
- Homepage
- Vehicle Display Page (VDP)
- Designated page with full “Why Buy” details
- Your dealership
- Stand-up signs on dealership sales floor
- Print-outs on product adviser desks
- Stickers on car windows
- Your staff
- Memorized, test them periodically
- Give them a pocket-sized print out they can carry with them.
If you’re having a hard time identifying why consumers are buying from you, try going straight to the source. Speak with a mix of sales and service customers at the store, and ask them why they chose you.
Start identifying your “Why Buy” message today, and stand out in 2014, or risk getting lost in the pack.
Kevin Gordon is an international speaker and thought leader in the automotive industry, regularly speaking at conferences across North America. Kevin co-founded Convertus, a digital marketing solutions provider for dealers. Learn more at Convertus.com.
It doesn’t matter how beautiful your dealership is or how amazing your sales people are if you don’t have a strong online presence leading them to your doorstep in the first place.
The research from J.D. Power & Associates is well-known; on average, dealership visits are down dramatically. In 2005 the average number of visits to a dealership before purchasing was 4.5, but today it is just 1.4. The study also found that almost eight out of 10 consumers used the Internet as a key part of their purchase decision, and this number climbs year-over-year.
A tidy lot, clean bathrooms and gourmet coffee — none of these will count for anything if you don’t get customers on the lot. In today’s market, every customer is an Internet customer.
So we know our websites are important, but what does that mean? The best way to think about your website is that it’s a digital version of your dealership. The experience they have when searching for you online and browsing your website will ultimately dictate whether they choose to visit you or not.
Are unhappy consumers writing negative reviews about you? They may as well be standing on the curb in front of your dealership telling every potential customer about their poor experience.
Vehicles don’t have pricing or detailed information? Try that on the lot, and see how far you get.
Low-quality pictures or no pictures at all? You’ll have just as good of a chance selling the vehicle parked in the detail bay where it is never seen by a customer.
Everything you do — or more importantly — don’t do on your website, will affect your prospective consumer’s experience.
Sadly, the vast majority of technology providers don’t offer a single piece of help when it comes to this. Sure, they’ll set you up and have your website filled out with some stock content (that’s identical to every other website they provide) — but how good is that?
In order to be successful, you need a strategy — and more than just picking the most ‘techie’ salesperson on the floor and paying him a few bucks to ‘do the website’ and sell at the same time.
There are many good options, both working within your dealership and working with a vendor, but the most important place to start is taking the time to sit down and get serious. Remember, you don’t need to have all (or any) of the answers — just the questions to get you started.
Kevin Gordon is an international speaker and thought leader in the automotive industry, regularly speaking at conferences across North America. Kevin co-founded Convertus, a digital marketing solutions provider for dealers. Learn more at Convertus.com.
Ever heard of the methodology of not having to reinvent the wheel in order to accomplish a certain task? That’s the point Paul Potratz tried to make during his latest online video commentary of dealer advertising.
As he often does during his series, “Think Tank Tuesday,” the chief operating officer and founder of Potratz Partners Advertising asked dealers a series of questions, this time focusing on what sometimes happens at stores when a month changes.
Potratz said, “Are you the type of dealer who says, ‘Hey it’s a new month! We’ve got to go out and create something different. Are you reinventing yourself every single month?
“If you’re like a lot of dealerships, you feel like if you’re not doing a new commercial or reinventing yourself, you’re not doing enough to help your marketing strategy,” Potratz continued. “Well guess what? You’re actually hurting your marketing strategy if you’re doing a new commercial every single month.
“You need to create a commercial that’s going to run until you just can’t stand it any longer,” he went on to say.
Potratz went into recommendations on how dealers can stay the course with their advertising campaigns during his latest video that can be viewed here.
Continue the conversation with Auto Remarketing on both LinkedIn and Twitter.
As he often does during his series, “Think Tank Tuesday,” the chief operating officer and founder of Potratz Partners Advertising started the video off with a few questions for viewers: “Do you have a dealer in your market that’s spending a whole lot of money? Don’t know how to compete?” he asked.
This week’s video touches on how dealers can “dominate competition” by being resourceful with their advertising.
Potratz encourages dealers to “turn their weakness into your strength.”
For example, many high-spending dealerships are focusing their marketing expenses on TV spots.
Potratz said, “Car shoppers are not just strictly on TV. They're using the Internet.”
So if you have one competitor that is using one marketing avenue very heavily; switch it up and search for “where they don’t dominate,” said Potratz.
Don’t just go head-to-head.
For more on this topic, see his latest video which can be viewed here.
Paul Potratz pinpointed the reason why so many dealers might be seeing softer volumes of leads from dealership websites as well as diminishing conversions from those online “ups.”
In fact, Potratz uncovered data that showed 73 percent of online shoppers are abandoning forms that are on a store’s website. For example, a form might give the shopper the chance to share details about a potential trade-in.
“What we’ve seen as far as heat mapping on websites and looking at the visitor flow is that 73 percent of individuals will click that button to go to another page and then say, ‘Whoa! Wait! I’m not ready to commit,’” Potratz said during his latest online video in his series, “Think Tank Tuesday,”
The chief operating officer and founder of Potratz Partners Advertising continued: “Car shoppers are getting smarter and more Internet savvy; because if you look at your sales numbers of what you’re turning month in and month out versus last year, chances are you’re up because we’re seeing this with a lot of dealers across the country.”
Potratz went on to call the move away from forms “an opportunity” for dealers to sharpen their marketing strategies. He goes on into the details as to how in the video available here.
Continue the conversation with Auto Remarketing on both LinkedIn and Twitter.
