In the summer of 2005, everything in the economy and auto industry had aligned to deliver us the trinity of business success. We had traffic, profit and staff morale. Profits were amazing because customers were hungry for our product and our employees enjoyed some of the largest pay cheques they had ever seen.
We were successful in spite of ourselves, because we also need to remember how many shoppers never became customers that summer. We were overwhelmed and we weren’t prepared for the increase in floor and telephone traffic. Think of the profit that was lost due to a lack of preparation and think of the crash that occurred when that traffic slowed two months later. It is easy to appear successful when everything is going well. But it is when times are tough the truly prepared continue to succeed.
In 2009 shoppers know we are hurting and they expect us to do more to earn their business than ever. There has never been a more important time than now to perfect your process! The unprepared or under-trained will face reduced cash flow and reduced profit during these economic times.
Any business owner knows that when you are faced with reduced revenues, you need to reduce operating expenses. The question is where you reduce without sacrificing your ability to still earn a profit or retain customers?
Outside training is usually the first area that most dealerships cut back in order to reduce overhead and what a HUGE mistake that is.
Let’s see if this makes sense to you: your dealerships traffic of potential clientele has been reduced by fifty percent, so in order to cut costs you take away the training that is necessary to turn shoppers into customers, maximize profits and retain those customers in the long term?
Invest in your team now! Train them, improve them and if they cannot get to the level of expertise your customer demands, remove them before it gets busy again! If you have an employee, who is a diamond in the rough, you have to train that person to their full potential as well.
Your team needs to learn how to gain referral business and to learn the steps they need to take to retain customers for life. Learn how to overcome negative equity. Learn how to properly structure a deal and train them to say “yes we can!” Increase dealership closing ratios and review processes. Look to your finance managers’ approval and profit averages, demand they increase warranty sales to ensure recession- proof service department traffic. Lead your sales managers to properly coach their team and make sure they have all tools required to hold people accountable.
NCAA Basketball Coach John Woodman said “it is what you learn after you know it all that counts”. Including yourself, is there anyone on your team that knows it all? When your customer traffic slows down, you need to use this slow time as an opportunity to have you and your people trained on new techniques to maximize opportunity.
Remember this; you can’t impress a potential customer after you have unimpressed them. For the same reason you can’t buy roses, the day after your anniversary and expect that everything is going to be just fine.
If you think a customer in today’s market is going to accept mediocrity you are wrong. Get your team trained to maximize their knowledge in every area of your dealership, before customers talk to your competition that already has. I call it the “best foot forward process.” And I suggest you adopt this philosophy immediately.
For more training tips, check out the April/May issue of Canadian auto dealer, in print or online at www.canadianautodealer.ca.
Jeff White is president of Peak Training Inc. He can be reached at: jeff@peaktraininginc.com
