On the heels of a recent survey that revealed that millennials don’t see dealerships as the types of places they want to look for careers, I visited a dealership with a giant gong that rang out every time a new car was sold.
It’s not the first gong I’ve seen, and there’s a good chance some of you reading this have a gong in your dealership, so I apologize if this offends you.
Maybe it’s motivating for your sales teams. Maybe it boosts team morale. Maybe some customers say they enjoy the experience.
But in my view, it’s really not a great idea, and there will be many others who are in your dealerships who will hear the gong and think of it as a relic of another era.
I certainly don’t think many millennials — who are already not considering jobs in your dealership — will be excited at being forced to bang a gong in public every time they “ring up” a sale.
The practice itself just speaks to a sales driven and commission-based industry where racking up sales numbers is something to be celebrated via some sort of tribalistic ritual, that resonates through the dealership, drumming up excitement and fueling competition.
Personally, I wouldn’t want to be standing next to the gong when the salesperson rings it out and everyone turns to look at me. Would Starbucks sound a horn when I ordered a caramel macchiato? Would Apple set off as smartphone alarm when I bought a phone? It’s not even imaginable. Why? Because for many, it creates an awkward, embarrassing and unpleasant customer experience.
Now, you might think this is a big to do about nothing, but it really does signal a need for a broader change to the customer experience we deliver in our industry if we are to attract and retain better talent.
I love the auto retail industry, and the people who work in it, and the career opportunities are truly incredible. My stepdaughter attends the Automotive Business School of Canada and I think she’s making an incredibly wise move.
But the industry, has a long, long way to go in changing its image. Fortunately, the industry recognizes that.
The Canadian Automobile Dealers Association, along with their provincial dealer association counterparts, have launched Auto Career Start, a major marketing campaign to boost the image of dealerships, and it’s aimed at attracting new generations of skilled workers to sustain and transform the industry.
“We’re trying to demonstrate that, the way the industry is going, it’s in for a lot of change and there are a lot of jobs as a result,” said John White, CADA President and CEO in an article in the association’s electronic newsletter, Newsline, announcing the Auto Career Start initiative. “There are many more options out there beyond the traditional dealership jobs and they’re ripe for the taking, whether it’s in IT, marketing, finance, administration, or something that is relatively new and that perhaps did not exist before.”
Clearly, the gong is not the only thing that needs to disappear for this change to happen. There are many cultural changes, adjustments to workplace hours, new roles and different payment plans needed to truly make dealership careers a top choice. We can get there.
But the sooner we discard the relics of the past and embrace a better customer and employee experience, the faster we will see the fruits from the Auto Career Start initiative.
