Finance and insurance (F&I) departments are doing quite well. According to an Automotive News survey in February, managers were optimistic that 2011 would see even better returns than 2010. Sixty-three percent of dealers responding expected a moderate, even significant increase in profits this year. In a climate like that, don’t look for major change.

Dealers I spoke with concurred. At King Mazda, in Saint John, NB, Business Manager Jim Hanley started the year expecting modest growth and is up three per cent over the year-to-date figures. At Oakridge Ford in London, Ont. Financial Services Manager Noble Supersad anticipated an increase of about 8 per cent for the current year. So far, he says, “we have not only met this target but have seen an increase of about 11 per cent.”

The same survey also found that those who have tried a radical revamp, i.e. building the business office into the sales associate’s job — have found that results are mixed at best. And when Jim Hanley joined King Mazda last January, he quickly reverted to the traditional. Calling it the old school approach, Hanley specifically asked sales people not to pre-sell F&I product. “It just created resistance,” said Hanley, “I’m better qualified to sell these products.” And he urges sales staff to ensure that every customer is introduced to the business office.

Adopt the right approach
Speaking at the BMO’s first national web F&I conference recently, Raymond O’Kane, the National Director of Retail Dealer Finance at the Bank of Montreal advised listeners to use the right techniques to deal with customers.

“Approaching customers is an individual thing. I think you have to try and build rapport very quickly,” said Noble Supersad. “To do that, I use humour. You could call that a technique, I guess, but it’s a fast way to break down a barrier.”

At the same conference, keynote speaker George Angus referred to “social conducts,” saying, “if the right social conducts are employed at the right times, the customer may buy more than initially expected.”

Jenny Pellerin interpreted that for me. “When I first meet a guest, we put aside business for a minute. I want them to see that I’m human too, that I’m not just here to sell them something.” Pellerin’s responsibilities extend beyond her role as the Financial Services Consultant at Spinelli Lexus Pointe Claire in Quebec. “I’m way more than just a sales person. I co-ordinate the whole delivery process and always explain my role and the options we offer. I work hard to adapt to the guest I’m working with.”

Create the right mood
The physical environment of the finance centre creates the right atmosphere for approaching customers. A self confessed pink addict, Jenny Pellerin finds that her pink-themed décor humanizes her. “People like the pink thing; they get it, and think it’s a little bit funny. It’s an ice-breaker.” Pellerin stopped short of painting her office walls pink, but does mention her pink calculator and favourite pastel paintings that are predominantly pink.

Others strive to create a professional atmosphere that is distinct from the showroom environment. Noble Supersad described his office. “It’s tidy, uncluttered and doesn’t feel like a sales office. I don’t have any manuals in sight. I do have a couple of plaques for awards I’ve received, a picture of my family on the credenza and an artificial plant, because I would never remember to water a real one.”

Jim Hanley’s spacious, carpeted office is set up to make people comfortable, but for Hanley, another old school technique is to dress in business attire — shirt, tie and jacket — even on casual Fridays! Business dress enhances the professional atmosphere he wants to create.

New financing options
The F&I office constantly responds to evolving market realities. Paul Ladouceur, co-owner of Boulevard Dodge Chrysler in Montreal, Que. says balloon loans are an attractive option for some customers. Ladouceur likes the 36-month term with buy back ability which gets customers into the store sooner. For Ladouceur, it’s about balance. “We can’t work with 95 per cent finance, we need to get to a more balanced portfolio.” Currently they’re doing 90 per cent financing and 10 per cent balloon loans, but he’s aiming for 20 per cent.

With Chrysler Credit out of the picture, Paul Ladouceur has to work harder to get credit approval. “We used to deal with just one company, and had a relationship with them. Now I have to call four or five banks and I’m just a number to them.” As the workload has shifted, they’ve hired an administrative assistant to handle the mountain of paperwork produced by several sets of contracts and conditions.

Noble Supersad is seeing more customers wanting to pay cash, which usually means using a line of credit. “I discourage that,” said Supersad, “because it tends to come back to haunt them. It’s like a credit card; the onus is on the customer to make the payment, and it’s too easy just to pay the minimum. The car can depreciate faster than the line of credit is being paid off, and when they come to trade it in, they owe more than the car is worth.”

Guests at Spinelli Lexus Pointe Claire, where leasing is at 70 per cent, tend to be business people and self-employed people. One evolution is to work with these clients by email and text. Jenny Pellerin explained: “They know they can reach me any time, although as the only F.S.C. at the dealership, obviously I’m not in the office all the time.” She frequently sends documents by email for guests to read at home. At delivery time they return to the dealership and sign contracts then.

The post Easing financing anxiety appeared first on Canadian Auto Dealer.

Dealer groups continue to grow. What does this mean for you?

The trend towards large dealer groups is spreading from coast to coast. Beyond the synergies and the economies of scales, what’s behind this? And is there such a thing as too big?

Dealer demographics is one simple factor fueling the growth of large groups as older dealers seek to sell their successful businesses. The aging of the Canadian population and the vehicle preferences of prosperous baby boomers are other elements. Factor in Kia and Hyundai as vibrant, vital brands, add major improvements in DMS software and communications technologies and you have the ingredients that have nurtured this phenomenon.

Building a dealer group takes a combination of strategy, opportu- nity and talent. Canadian auto dealer talked with owners of large dealer groups about how and why they do it.

Need good people for growth

The O’Regan Group is a third generation company that dates to 1915 when S.E. O’Regan established a Ford dealership in Parrsboro, N.S.

Grandson Sean O’Regan is now President and CEO. “To some extent, growth is planned,” said O’Regan.“But our ears are always open for any opportunity. A big consideration is having the people to run the new oper- ation. You don’t want to weaken one dealership by taking someone out of it to run the new facility. We’re always watching as our people develop and when they can take on more, it’s time to move them.”

The O’Regans recognized the rising demand for luxury vehicles and acquired a Mercedes-Benz dealership. They could see the Korean automakers coming on strong so they acquired a Hyundai and a Kia point. They saw opportunities on the used car side and now have two independent used car centres as part of their 14 dealership group.

Diversify your portfolio

Groupe Park Avenue developed from a similar philosophy. Its history goes back 50 years with Norman Hébert Sr.’s hugely successful GM fran- chise in north Montreal. But things changed in 1981 when son Norman Hébert Jr. realized his own friends weren’t buying GM products. He saw the need to expand into import brands and knew there was enough talent on staff to manage new dealerships.

“The Japanese and European factories were ecstatic to have my father become a dealer for them,” says Hébert. “And we were lucky, because just then they were opening up new sales points.” It was the younger Hébert’s task to find the right market, and he chose Brossard on Mon- treal’s then underdeveloped South Shore. Within 18 months they opened three new dealerships, Nissan, Honda and Toyota, in their own new auto mall.

Growth continued. “We saw where the demographics were going and we wanted to be in the luxury business, so in 1988 we added BMW and VW/Audi. Our concept for the auto mall was five dealerships, but we have eighteen franchises there now with nearly 500 employees.”

Family dynamics play key role Family demographics have their place in this story as well. When I asked Will Wheaton what the strategy was for building The Wheaton Group he laughed and said, “Start with a large family.” Wheaton has seven siblings, most of whom are in the business. With 34 grandchildren, an entire third generation is waiting in the wings.

Wheaton mentioned that their acquisitions have often been a result of succession planning. Retiring dealers would get in touch, and Wheaton said they’ve built their 20 dealership group by only buying profitable dealerships.

The big get bigger

The largest dealer group in the west is Edmonton-based Go Auto led by Mike Priestner and his son Jared. It too has a family component. At one point Mike and his brother Pat had 10 dealer- ships between them. They went their separate ways and in time Pat Priestner established Auto Canada. Mike developed his share of the original group into 14 stores and with the recent addi- tion of the Ericksen group, he’s at 23 and counting.

Demographics play a role here as well, as Mike Priestner also saw the need to diversify beyond his Ford and Chrysler businesses into import brands, to “round out the portfolio,” as Jared put it.

The Phaeton Group is another story. With seven dealerships in London and the GTA, it is entirely owned by Emain Kadrie who lives mainly in Dubai. While Kadrie is the chief strategist, Mark Thimmig is the hands-on President. Thimmig has all the cre- dentials for the job, with his background in GM dealer development plus three years building Auto Nation.

Kadrie and Thimmig have ambitions to double the size of the group within five years. Currently, Thim- mig is concentrating on “building a foundation of integrity and trust with customers and with employ- ees which we can translate to multiple locations. “ They expect to stay in southern Ontario and want to acquire quality dealerships. “Ontario’s a big place,”said Thimmig. “We can be very effective here.”

More than one approach to success

Naturally, business models vary from group to group. The Wheaton Group, spread widely over three

provinces, is loosely organized. There are multiple part- nerships in all the stores with a family member in each.

Groupe Park Avenue is 100 percent owned by Norman Hébert, as the Phaeton Group is by Emain Kadrie. Both have General Managers in every dealer- ship, people who are expected to have an ownership

mentality. Hébert’s general managers are “empowered to act like owners. They are completely autonomous.” His business model is clear: multifranchise in one loca- tion to provide one stop shopping.

We are family

The O’Regans take pride in their family values, and they’ve been honoured with several awards includ- ing in 2008 Family Enterprise of the Year. We asked how, with 600 employees, they still retain those family values. Sean O’Regan explained that he and his brother Patrick try to be very visible. “We’re on the job every day. And we meet off- site with our managers three times a year. We open the books so they all can see what’s going on.”

Family is the common thread within the Wheaton Group as well. “We’re a very close family,” said Will Wheaton. “We talk every day and we travel together a lot.”

Mark Thimmig puts a high value on consistency. His execu- tive committee meets regularly to craft policy, and they look for the consistent application of those policies across their deal- erships. “But every dealership must retain its distinctive per- sonality,” said Thimmig. “The common processes deal with how you hire, not who you hire.”

These groups will certainly continue to expand, but at a steady pace. Like the Phaeton Group, Go-Auto wants to acquire two dealerships a year over the next five years. For now, acquisitions are not a top priority for the O’Regan Group. “Our motivation is to be the best, not the biggest,” said Sean O’Regan. “For now we’re growing what we have.” Norman Hébert is adding the Rolls Royce franchise in central Montreal and has plans for a dedicated used car centre. He’s the only one who cautioned: “There are limits to growth. One is our capacity to manage a large enterprise, a second is our human capital and third is financial capital.”

The same trend exists south of the border too. In an article in April, the Los Angeles Times quoted industry analysts who say the acquisition business is heating up. “Some big auto dealerships are even spending millions of dollars snapping up independent dealers and smaller chains — a sign of renewed confidence in the industry,” according to the article.

The post The big get bigger appeared first on Canadian Auto Dealer.

The next big thing in infotainment systems, it appears, is Internet connectivity. Ford’s already got it, with MyFordTouch. But Ford got a head start on advanced infotainment a few years ago with its Microsoft-based Sync system.

MyFordTouch has raised the bar. The system permits voice commands for climate control, radio functions, navigation, and phone. There’s also full WiFi capability and a built in browser for use while in “Park”, along with an RSS feed aggregator and text-to-voice reader. And it’s in cars, in Canada, now.

In addition, the manufacturer is doing a good job supporting the new technology. The day I spoke with Lance Fridfinnson (Mid-Town Ford) he’d just said good-bye to a Ford trainer who’d been in the dealership for six hours working with Fridfinnson’s 18 sales and service staff as well as “as many managers as I could get.”

“It takes a bit of getting used to,” said this Winnipeg dealer, “but you can say stuff like ‘I’m hungry’ and it comes up with nearby restaurants.” Ford wants everyone to be up to speed on the MyFordTouch and Fridfinnson argued this was a pretty economical way to do it. “They understand the difficulty of getting people out of the dealership. This way no one was away from the job for more than an hour.”

The emphasis is on simple, safe and smart, according to Fridfinnson. “Our overriding concern is safety. What we tell people is, prepare yourself before you start driving. You have to take responsibility.” Fridfinnson likes the built-in safety features that won’t let the driver access the nav system manually or use the phone directory or the browser until the car has stopped.

Availability gap

Aside from Ford, there’s something of a gap between the hype and the here-and-now. I got all excited when I read about the new Volvo Rear-Seat Entertainment (RSEi-500) system, recognizing Volvo’s time-honoured commitment to safety. But as I explored further, I found that it’s not available at Canadian dealerships, yet. Volvo does have its new front seat Sensus system with built-in navigation including real-time traffic, plus Bluetooth hands-free controls for the mobile phone, park assist camera and DVD player. A key safety feature is that these functions are controlled via the ergonomic steering wheel controls.

A couple of Volvo dealers talked about the impacts of all this advanced technology. Bob Connor, Sales Manager at Carling Motors in Ottawa admits that when he first met the totally interactive system on the S60, it was overwhelming. “I’m an on/off person, but once I got used to it, it was cool.” Connor’s sales team are all over 50, but “when they got into the vehicle and started to fool around with it, they were fine with it.”

Mike Norris, dealer principal at President’s Award winning Volvo Edmonton has a younger sales team. He says he’s lucky that way. “The technology doesn’t intimidate them. And our clients as well are generally tech savvy professionals.” Norris says infotainment systems are definitely driving traffic into the store. Bob Connor agrees. “The ‘me’ generation is now the ‘we’ generation. They’re having kids and they want a safe vehicle. But they are more tech aware than the previous generation.”

In fact, the existing rear seat entertainment system is “crucial to the sale of the vehicle” according to Norris. “These are active families with kids. They travel, they ski, and they want these systems in the back seat. They’re factory-installed and put through extensive safety tests.” Norris has concerns about some aftermarket rear-seat entertainment systems which he says could be dangerous in an accident.

Internet connectivity is coming to Volvo, but it’s literally taking a back seat to the Sensus system. The new rear-seat entertainment system (RSE-i-500) will let back seat passengers surf the Web, check email, listen to music, watch TV and movies and possibly transfer files from one’s personal PC.

More in the pipeline

Other manufacturers have announced sexy new systems but they’re not in Canada, yet. Kia Canada reports its new UVO (your voice)
system will be available in Sportage and Optima models this spring. UVO boasts superior voice activation software. “Powered by Microsoft, UVO provides user-friendly voice and touch-activated experiences for simple management of music files and hands-free mobile phone operation. It’s an open platform that seamlessly integrates with a wide variety of mobile phones, music players and other devices.”

At Eastside Kia in Calgary, new-car sales manager Evan Schindel can’t wait. “We’ve been hearing about the new UVO system, but we don’t have it yet. It will get people talking about Kia for sure. Customers all talk about the Ford Sync so it will be great to have something to compete with that. It’s a new direction for the company and it will help change people’s perception of the brand.”

In mid-February, we learned about Audi’s latest infotainment package dubbed AudiConnect. Certain models can be equipped with an optional UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System ) module that links them with the online world via a connection to the Google search engine to access specific features. An on-line traffic
app provides precise forecasts about traffic situations on selected routes based on real-time information. Availability information
wasn’t available by press time.

Toyota announced its new Entune system in January. Aimed directly

at Ford, it’s wirelessly upgradable, compatible with several phones and has what is claimed to be “the best voice recognition system.” According to Ian McKeen at Calgary’s Canyon Creek Toyota, Entune should be available on select models later this year.

GM’s Onstar is getting major upgrades, but like Toyota, Audi and Kia, some patience is appropriate. The SuperBowl Cruze commercial featuring voice activated FaceBook updates looked pretty nifty.
The revamped OnStar will let drivers remain connected to Facebook, and enjoy email and voice-activated text messaging. The upgrades were announced in Sept. 2010. With an ear to safety concerns, GM is stressing “responsible connectivity.”

While he wasn’t aware of the upgrades, John Hagar, general manager, (Laird Wheaton GM, Nanaimo, BC) says the existing Onstar is available on all GM models now, and it’s great for hands-free communication. Sales of Onstar are increasing all the time.

Additional delivery time

Additional delivery time is imperative to explain all the features of an infotainment system. Typically a delivery would take an hour-and-a-half but now it’s at least two, says Bob Connor. At Volvo Edmonton, the service department gives a brief refresher course when the new car comes in for its first oil change.

The whole delivery thing has Jeff Tosczak looking at hiring a tech specialist at Great Plains Ford in rural Weyburn, SK. Like many dealers Tosczak is blessed with a sales staff of veterans who have been doing a great job with MyFordTouch. “But it would take some of the pressure off them to have a tech specialist fully trained on the system. It would help both during the sales process and at delivery time.”

Tosczak says his customers are very interested and very aware of the Sync system. “It’s definitely been a learning curve for all of us, especially for those who didn’t grow up with computers.”

A learning curve for everyone, but with the amazing developments in the infotainment pipeline, there’s a lot to look forward to in the next year or two.

The post Infotainment Systems evolve appeared first on Canadian Auto Dealer.

Several Canadian dealerships have separate sales teams for new and used but it’s not the usual approach. Opinion remains divided on the issue and evidently the debate has gone on for years.

Back in 1919, Walter B. Zimmerman, a Hudson-Essex distributor in Columbus, Ohio, was lauded in the company newsletter, The Hudson Triangle: “One Hudson-Essex concern which uses a separate establishment is the Walter B. Zimmerman Co., a firm notably successful in handling used cars. Zimmerman’s used-car men, who are entirely separate and unrelated to the new-car salesmen, have created so large a trade in second-hand automobiles that Zimmerman went on the open market and bought twenty additional used cars.” But the practice was immediately contentious. “That opinions differ on the matter is indicated by the fact that the Hudson Motor Co. of Illinois, among others, has recently closed a separate establishment (for selling used cars) because it considered the one-roof plan far more efficient.”

It’s about scale

For Richard F. Libin, President of Automotive Profit Builders, it’s about scale. If you’re selling more than 40 used cars a month, he says, you should be thinking about a separate sales staff. And where possible, consider a separate building.

APB is a Boston-based management consulting and training firm for automotive dealerships throughout North and South America. According to their website, “The company provides a proven process of training, on-going refresher courses, a teleconsulting support system, and data collection and analysis to provide managers, salespeople, and service managers and advisors with a structured plan for continual improvement.”

Jeff Bennett, Associate Professor in Automotive Marketing and Management at Northwood University agrees that in a big store, he’d go for split sales teams. Says Bennett, “It’s hard to keep track of both new and used inventory in a bigger store.”

Both Adam GM in Wetaskiwin and Wheaton GM in Saskatoon have a stand-alone building for used cars. At Healy Ford in Edmonton, the Hicks family built their used-car building when they bought the dealership 20 years ago. They needed to expand and couldn’t do that in the main building.

Split teams

Having a separate building is an ideal solution, but it’s not always doable. It’s entirely possible, however, to split the sales team within the same building. On the other hand, one of the biggest GM Optimum dealers in the country (Capital GM, Regina) has never split their sales team.

Mississauga Honda has operated this way for at least eight years. Used-car manager Daniel Kozlov tells me the concept is encouraged by Honda Canada. It’s a modified split though, as both groups use a central desk, there’a common dress code and they all work from the same showroom.

When Northwood’s Jeff Bennett ran his own dealership, he devised another solution. He divided sales staff into two teams, and the teams took turns selling new or used. Team A would work the new-car side from 9 until 3, then switch and sell used from 3 until 9. Team B did the opposite. The result, says Bennett, was a more co-operative approach.

Several managers commented that the split sales team means both groups know their inventory better. Daniel Kozlov’s used car staff are more involved with Honda’s certified programs and they’re more accountable for various responsibilities on the lot. “If there’s a downside, it’s that the new-car people don’t know the pre-owned inventory as well as they might.”

Individual skills

For APB’s Richard Libin, it’s not simply product knowledge, it’s also about people’s natural ability to sell new or used. “When you don’t separate the teams, you wind up with some sales people who shouldn’t be selling used vehicles, although they may be very good with new inventory.”

At Adam GM, general manager Curt Compton buys into this approach. He finds that sales people have a preference for selling new or used; they’re more comfortable with one or the other. “When I’m interviewing, I can pretty well tell whether a candidate will do better with new or with used.” Beyond that, new-car sales people have to be on top of their game and these days they probably need to be technologically more savvy. Used-car sales people may not be so technologically talented, but every used vehicle is unique, so their product knowledge needs to be more extensive.

And used-car guys need better people skills, said Richard Libin. “The used-car guy is a problem solver. But with split teams, management still has to work together. Sales meetings should include everyone.”

Having a greeter is key to the success of this concept, says Daniel Kozlov. “We have a greeter at all times. It’s the greeter who ensures the floor stays split.” Kozlov has four or five part-time greeters and pays them somewhat over minimum wage. “We don’t use it as an entry level position for potential sales people; that hasn’t worked for us.”

Wheaton GM can manage without a greeter because from their used-car building they have a birds-eye view of everyone coming on to the lot. Used-car manager Devon Collins has created a ‘first in, first up’ system that works brilliantly. He explains: “The first person who arrives in the morning is first up. There’s no strict rotation; the order changes every day. There are no arguments, there’s no whining.” Over in Wheaton’s new-car department, the approach is for the closest sales person to help each customer who comes in. With separate sales teams, they can do what’s best for their respective departments.

Some dealerships report there’s less pressure in the used-car division when there’s a split sales force. As Healy Ford’s Kurtis Hicks put it, “It’s very relaxed over here. We’re not driven by factory quotas, although the factory does keep an eye on our performance.”

Flexibility important

Daniel Kozlov believes that what scares dealers from splitting the sales teams is having to tell sales staff they can’t sell both. And that was Gord Procyshen’s main objection. Capital GM is fully invested in used cars. Their enormous showroom can accommodate 45 vehicles and it’s half filled with used cars. Yet used-car manager Procyshen doesn’t see how it would work, asking sales people to turn over a customer when it’s a repeat or a referral.

Kozlov lets sales staff sell new or used under certain circumstances – i.e. – when it’s a repeat or referral or a switch. He said Honda research has found that a significant percentage of people who buy a pre-owned Honda will buy a new Honda within two to four years.

Flexibility is the M.O. at Adam GM. The used-car people are free to work with a new-car customer or not, depending on the situation. And that’s the way they do it at Wheaton GM. The departments share a lot, with an imaginary road down the middle. Devon Collins explains: “We take a very open approach. If the customer is shopping pre-owned, the new-car salesman will walk him over to our side, where he may choose to turn that customer over to us. But he doesn’t have to.” This way everyone works to their full potential. There’s a good deal of flexibility, and no tension between the two groups.

But at times there is competition between the departments and that’s not always a good thing. Kurtis Hicks says separate departments tend to be a little more competitive than is good for the customers. “Staff feel obligated to push their own department and sales managers are compensated based on the performance of their departments.” Jeff Bennett adds that with separate teams there can be problems over appraisals. Different teams have different goals when it comes to appraisals.

Devon Collins defuses any conflict by doing the appraisals himself, along with the general sales manager. He limits input from the sales staff and doesn’t pay much attention to the sales person who insists, “I have a customer for that car.”

Team approach

Customer satisfaction is a major driver behind all dealership policy these days, and the decision to split the sales force seems to stem from that agenda. Again, there are varying views.

There’s major change ahead for Healy Ford when they move to a single new building in the Sherwood Park area. Kurtis Hicks says there are no plans yet to blend the sales forces, but after the move, the new and used managers will be on one team. “That’s the way things are going in this business. You need to promote a team approach and that will be possible when we’re all in one building. Once our managers are on the same team, we think the customer will get better service.”

Jeff Bennett remains concerned that it’s hard for the new-car sales force to make good money (if they’re restricted to selling new). “Generally, they’d rather be able to sell both, and you gotta have peace in the valley.”

Yet Curtis Compton maintains the customer has a better experience when the used-car division has its own lot. “It’s all better organized, it’s not crowded, and our customers can tell what’s what.”

While Richard Libin advocates for a split sales staff, where practical, he’s adamant that you “can’t stifle anyone’s ability to sell anything. You have to take care of customers first.”

To split, or not to split? It’s still a valid question.

The post Should new or used sales forces be separate? appeared first on Canadian Auto Dealer.

While Steve Quinn (Quinn Automotive Group) has a firm policy of promoting from within, he uses a search firm when he’s making a key hire. “I want to know who’s out there who might be interested in coming to work here,” he says. “A good recruiter goes beyond our industry. He’ll bring me someone with a fresh approach. If I’m hiring a business manager, a good candidate might be someone in banking who’s exceptional. I can’t approach that person myself, so that’s when I turn to the experts.”

Recruiters’ perspective

Chris MacMillan of AutoRecruit Inc. says clients expect a search firm to bring them people who aren’t necessarily looking for a job. “That’s the headhunting part,” he says. “We’ve known some candidates for years, and because they trust us, they listen to us when we tell them about a position of interest.”

According to MacMillan, the choice to use a recruiter depends on the state of mind and the approach the dealer principal has towards his company and employees. Dealers who use a search firm are truly seeking the best person for the position and they realize that they do not always have the resources to locate and identify that person, or the time required.

AutoRecruit Inc. is one of a handful of companies in southern Ontario that specialize in recruiting for the automotive retail sector. For some reason using a search firm hasn’t caught on in the west. I checked with a number of dealer groups and couldn’t find anyone using one.

AutoRecruit Inc. opened its doors in 1997. Partners Chris MacMillan and Steve Bell are “car guys who moved into the recruitment business.” Their number one goal is to place candidates with good dealerships. Says MacMillan, “Our philosophy is, if we wouldn’t work there, we won’t place people there.”

And it’s definitely not a volume business. MacMillan explains that one recruiter can work productively on three searches simultaneously, assuming they’re at different stages of completion. They are usually searching on behalf of five to ten clients and last year did business with 48 different dealerships.

Auto Careers Group Inc. is another recruitment firm, based in Richmond Hill, ON. While President Farid Ahmad has done major projects, like finding all the staff for Porsche’s new head office, 90 percent of his placements are in dealerships. Since 1995, he’s put 1153 people into jobs in dealerships. With that track record, new business comes largely from repeats and referrals. Currently he’s working with 20 different dealers, and has about a hundred on his books.

Anne Swanberg of Networks-HR is a new player in the recruiting business. The upheaval last year prompted her to launch her business in August 2009. Swanberg describes it as a “dating service” approach which is entirely Internet based. Swanberg says her business is growing faster than she expected with five to ten new candidates signing up every day.

At Networks-HR, both clients and candidates start with an online form. When a client has an opening, Swanberg searches her database and contacts appropriate candidates with enough information for them to arrange their own interview. Swanberg doesn’t screen candidates. She merely facilitates the introduction and she’s paid by the employer, once the match is made.

Dealers’ perspective

For dealers, working with a recruiter is all about trust and relationships. For Michael Croxon (NewRoads Automotive Group, Toronto) who works with both of these companies, there has to be a certain level of integrity. “They know my organization, they know my people, and they represent us well to potential candidates.” Croxon has been dealing with recruiters for more than 14 years to fill more than 30 positions, from administrative personnel to general managers, at his five dealerships.

Fred MacNeil is president of the Halifax-based Steele Automotive Group with thirteen dealerships. For ten years MacNeil worked with a local HR consultant who did background checks, provided orientation services, and advised on compensation packages. Six months ago the consultant expanded into recruiting and now has an annual contract with the group. “This is a person we know well,” says MacNeil. “He knows our business, and we trust his judgement. We know he has our best interests at heart.”

“It’s a great relief having him working for us,” MacNeil continues. “Sometimes we tended to move too quickly in taking on a new person, especially when it was a hot prospect coming from a competitor. I’d get excited and I didn’t always do my homework. Now every single resumé goes to our recruiter for screening. He makes a thorough check and picks two or three for us to interview.” Croxon agrees. Using a recruiter saves him the headache of the weeding out process.

Need to know dealerships

MacMillan and Bell’s background in the car business helps engender confidence. “You can’t do this without experience in the business,” says Chris MacMillan. “We do our homework before taking on a new client. We spend a lot of time in their dealerships and get to know the flavour of each. And in a way, we interview the dealer while he’s interviewing us.”

Steve Quinn was looking for someone who would understand the culture of the Quinn Group’s six dealerships. “I don’t want a recruiter who takes so much of my time learning my business that I might as well have done the search myself.”

According to Quinn a good recruiter builds on that relationship by dropping in from time to time, even if he’s not doing a specific search. “He’ll come by just to see what’s happening in the dealership. He needs to know the kind of people you keep, the kind you get rid of, the kind that excite you or bore you.”

And that works both ways. Macmillan and Bell visit their client dealerships regularly. “It always produces something,” says MacMillan, “It may be a manager who hasn’t been thinking about hiring, but he sees me and calls me in to chat. Or I’ll talk to someone we’ve placed, and he’ll tell me about a friend who’s looking for a change.”

Database of candidates

Maintaining a large data bank of candidates is a key asset for any search firm. Farid Ahmad has around 6500 names in his database. These days, new candidates usually come in as referrals from successful placements. Typically someone will get in touch saying, “You found my friend a great job, and I’d like to work with you too.”

Dealers need to know whether a recruiter works on a contingency basis or on retainer. Farid Ahmad only works on retainer and has a rate schedule ranging from $3500 to $12,500 depending on the position to be filled. “We don’t work on contingency”, says Ahmad, “because this is what can happen. A client needs a parts manager. He calls us and we start our search and spend two to three weeks on it. Then someone walks into his dealership who’s perfect for the job and he hires that person. We’ve spent all that time and we can’t collect a fee.”

The Internet has changed the way recruiters operate. Chris MacMillan tried Workopolis. “We have used them to access their resumé data base and to post positions. But we didn’t get much response from our ads, and when we looked at their database we realized we had all the good people with us anyway.”

Michael Croxon appreciates that both firms have a substantial library of people. He confirmed that these days, in the auto industry, when folks are on the market, they sign up with recruiters. And for job-seekers, the service is free. Croxon goes to industry websites for lower level workers, but for management positions, he uses the two recruiting firms.

Both companies publish an electronic newsletter which functions as a kind of passive prospecting. It lets potential clients and candidates get to know the company and the services. MacMillan and Bell e-mail weekly with new positions and a sample of new candidates – all anonymous – to their database of 6000 names.

The matter of ethics

The whole issue of ethics concerns everyone. Fred MacNeil’s contract with his consultant stipulates that the consultant may not work for the competition in the Halifax/Dartmouth area. AutoRecruit Inc. promises clients they will never approach their staff and typically they work with only two or three dealers of the same manufacturer in any one city.

Swanberg regularly defuses dealers’ fears about poaching and is quick to assure new clients that she’s not trying to take a happy employee away from a job.

Whether it’s match-making or head-hunting, there are times when a dealer needs help to find the perfect employee. As Steve Quinn puts it, “I want someone to find me a round peg for a round hole. I don’t want a square peg that I have to plane down, sand down. And square pegs never settle for long.”

The post Get help with your hiring needs appeared first on Canadian Auto Dealer.

The dealers’ perspective on auto auctions

“The auctions are an integral part of our business,” says Fred MacNeil, president of the Steele Auto Group in Halifax, NS “We use them extensively.” Indeed, auto auctions play a pivotal role in most dealers’ remarketing strategy. Readers of Trevor Henderson’s articles in this magazine will be familiar with developments in the industry. Perhaps the most significant has been the simulcasting of live auctions, which has, to some extent, leveled the playing field for dealers.

The auto auction has been around for years, and big city dealers used to have an advantage. Canada’s first auto auction, known initially as the Motor City Auto Auction, was held in 1952 in the Dixie Hockey Arena near Toronto. In due course it became the Toronto Auto Auction (1969), until its purchase by the Manheim group in 1983.

The first-ever auto auction dates back to March 1938, when a certain J.M. Rawls, who was already in the car business, visited a livestock auction in Columbia, South Carolina. He wondered why cars couldn’t be sold the same way, and decided to try it. According to www.rawlsautoauction.com, “the early going was tough, but interest was high, and as the word spread, this first auto auction flourished.”

ADESA came to Canada in 1993 when they bought the Montreal Auto Auction. In 2000, ADESA added to its Canadian holdings with the purchase of the multi-site Canadian Auction Group. The other major player, Manheim, the largest in the world by volume of trade, was established more than 65 years ago with the purchase of the Manheim, Pennsylvania auction.

Internet is a game changer

The auto auction has changed dramatically with the omnipresence of high-speed Internet and dealers’ growing familiarity with the technology. Love them or hate them, live simulcast auctions are now an essential part of the remarketing system and they’ve changed the way many dealers stock their used-car departments.

With the accessibility of the simulcast auction, Jay Chesley, (Park City Toyota, Medicine Hat, AB) stopped making weekly trips to Calgary, he hasn’t been to a physical auction in more than three years. ADESA’s Calgary auction – two hours away from Medicine Hat – is usually held on Wednesday, so general manager Chesley takes a look on Monday and Tuesday to see what’s coming through, and if

there’s something of interest, he monitors that week’s live auction. “I generally buy vehicles that are still on warranty and I’m careful about who I buy from. I tend to stay with Toyota Credit or dealers and groups that I know.”

He saves travel time, but says another advantage to buying online is that he’s not restricted to the Alberta auctions and can keep an eye on Vancouver and Toronto. That way he gets a feel for pricing in other markets, and occasionally gets a better price on a vehicle from Ontario. Online auctions are also a great tool for helping appraise the trades coming into the dealership.

Chesley admits there’s more risk when buying online but that’s an element he accepts. “There’s a less tactile experience, and you do expect to get caught once in a while. But it works both ways. Sometimes a vehicle arrives and I’m happily surprised by how great it is. Another small thing that adds to the risk: you only have 24 hours to lodge a complaint after you buy. But by the time the car is delivered here and we check it out, it’s often way past that deadline,” he says.

Ironically, when it comes to selling, he prefers the live auction. “We recondition our cars really well, and we hope people will be there in person to see them. We think we have a good reputation and we leave our licence frames on.”

Live auctions have their charms

In Fredericton, NB, the O’Leary Auto Group hired a dedicated used-car buyer for their three dealerships. New car manager and wearer of many hats, Shawn Bordage says that buyer hasn’t set foot in a physical auction. “We’ve moved to a bigger inventory of used cars and in his first few months, he bought more than 500 pieces online. Buying that way there’s more consistency and the requirements for full disclosure definitely mean we can buy with confidence. They even tell you when there’s a scratch on the front bumper.”

Until this year Bordage himself made the weekly trips to Moncton, NB, and he admits he loved it. “You’d get there the night before and have dinner with colleagues and auction staff. It was a great opportunity to build rapport. The auction itself is noisy, it’s chaotic. You have to be ready to make split-second decisions. It’s a lot like what you see in the stock market, without the bits of paper flying around.”

Now with corporate changes at O’Leary,
Bordage stays in Fredericton, but misses the excitement of the live auction. “If I could, I’d do it for all three dealerships, but it takes me away from the dealership and from my young family too many days a week.”

On the selling side, Bordage doesn’t use anything but the auction. It’s a lot more efficient than going through wholesalers. “If I send cars directly to auction, I eliminate three or four phone calls, and I can structure the deal according to my appraisal.” Most vehicles go to the ADESA auction in Moncton, but from time to time he uses the local independent auction for very low-end units. “Moncton’s 175 km away, so it doesn’t pay to send the low-end vehicles.”

Over in BC, Steve Davidson owns Kamloops Ford and Kamloops Kia, and sales have been brisk. With more trade-ins, he now uses the auction system less to fill his used-car lots. With fewer cars coming off lease, there’s less to choose from at the auction, and prices are strong. Davidson says he does better buying wholesale and he also buys directly from the public at a trade-in price, whether or not that person buys a car.

He still heads to the ADESA auction in Vancouver to sell cars. “My used-car manager and I want to be there to rep our vehicles. It’s kind of a ‘pain’ to spend that much time travelling and to pay the shipping costs, so we only take six to 10 vehicles a month.”

Strong guarantees

In Halifax, Fred MacNeil observed that when the online auctions started, both Manheim and ADESA provided strong guarantees of customer satisfaction. “That gave us the comfort level we needed. We were all a little nervous about buying online at first, and the companies knew they needed to do something to build confidence.” He finds both auction companies are very service-oriented and very relationship-oriented. In MacNeil’s view, all their services have some value and have been steadily improving over the years.

On the buy side, the Steele Auto Group employs a used-car co-ordinator who works with their 14 stores. Managers research the online inventory to develop a list of the vehicles they’d like to acquire and the price they aim to pay. The used-car co-ordinator wants the staff in every store to be fluent with the system so the Group has used the training offered by the auction companies. He physically attends both local auctions and also visits Toronto and Montreal several times a month. “It’s good for us that both companies operate here. It’s nice to have people compete for your business,” says MacNeil.

The Group generally uses Manheim to sell, running 100 vehicles every two weeks. “We’re big believers in the auction system. You’re presenting in front of hundreds of buyers.” In MacNeil’s opinion, Manheim packages things up well and does a great job of auctioneering. Up-to-the-minute figures from across the country help set prices.

Virtual auctions haven’t caught on with the dealers I spoke with. Steve Davidson hasn’t tried any of the virtual auctions in recent years. “We did dip our toe in the water a few years ago,” he says. “We went to sites that promised direct dealer-to-dealer sales, but it was more a source of aggravation than anything.” Jay Chesley says he was aware of several start-ups of strictly online auctions a few years ago but he didn’t think any had survived. The Steele Auto Group does occasionally buy through OPENLANE.

Dealers have embraced the live simulcast auction with enthusiasm. The vast amount of information now easily available plus the efficiencies of reduced travel should mean more profitable used car departments for dealers everywhere in the country.

The post A is for Auction appeared first on Canadian Auto Dealer.

What the big guys can learn from their smaller counterparts

There’s a lot to be said for keeping a lid on growth! Despite the apparent trend to large dealer groups and mega-dealers, smaller dealerships are thriving in Canada. Why is that the case? And how do they do it, especially in the business office?

According to industry expert Dennis DesRosiers, it’s the larger dealerships that lost market share during the last two difficult years. In a February press release he reported, “Mega dealers accounted for 10.1 percent of sales in 2007 but have since fallen to only 8.4 percent of sales. And large dealers peaked at 24.4 percent of the market but have fallen back to only 19.7 percent. The smallest stores held share and the mid-sized stores picked up market share.”

DesRosiers says the common attitude within some OEMs is to get rid of their smallest stores and let the larger stores become stronger. “But there is little evidence that larger stores will actually get stronger with dealer consolidation,” he adds.

Advantages for small dealers

There are inherent advantages for the owner of a small dealership. For one thing, the dealer is usually in the store. Scot Birnie bought Riverside Ford in Brockville, ON three years ago, and since then sales have gone from an average of 12 units a month to 40-50. Birnie is very hands on, but he also gives staff a lot of autonomy to make decisions. He follows his father’s advice to “always be above fair. In a small store, you have to do everything above board. There’s no room to hide.”

In a smaller business, employees can see how their efforts effect the bottom line. And they often have a variety of responsibilities which in turn enhances their value to the company. As Scot Birnie knows, given the right incentives, everyone on staff starts getting creative. And small business relies more on creativity to improve and grow.

In Cobourg, ON, Mario Pareja (Cobourg Kia) agrees. His dealership has an annual volume of 220 new and used and enjoys a 4.5 percent share of the Cobourg market, substantially ahead of the brand’s national share of 2.4 percent. “We have regular round-table meetings with the whole staff. Everyone comes with their ideas. They all wear several hats, so they are more creative about what they’re doing,” he says. And a small agile company can adapt more quickly to a changing business environment. When you want to make changes, says Pareja, it’s easier to get everyone on side with your decisions.

It’s also important with a small staff to consider an employee’s family needs. Pareja is quite lenient about his people taking time off for kids’ appointments and the like. His reward is a team that works well together.

Close to the customers

Taking good care of customers is the only option and repeat business is critical. “More than 50 percent of our sales are repeat sales. That’s the secret,” Pareja confides. “It’s the personal touch. Big-city dealerships tend to be run by staff. I’m here six days a week and customers like it that the owner is always on the premises.”

Roger Johnson also believes small dealerships do well because they’re closer to their customers. Johnson handles sales and finance at 5th and Carney Subaru, in Prince George, BC. He says customers feel they’re talking to someone who really cares. “This is particularly important when there are issues. They know us and know our focus is their best interest. And because we’re small, we can make decisions then and there. They don’t have to fill out forms in triplicate and they don’t have to deal with layers of management here or at the factory.”

Duane Rath (Blaikie’s Dodge Chrysler, Truro, NS) continues with that theme. “We’re working on a more personal basis and we’re not as rushed. Our service advisers know all our customers by name and there’s a lot more interaction,” he says. And smaller dealers are usually a more important part of their community, he adds. “Towns that have lost their GM dealerships are really missing them. They were often a major contributor to events and teams.”

Business office challenges

There are particular challenges for the small dealer when it comes to managing the business office. According to 2007 stats from NADA, 28.5 percent of the profit made from selling a new or used vehicle is generated by the F&I (finance and insurance) office. Dealers know it’s a key part of every deal. But typically the small dealership has just one business manager. So what to do on his or her day off?

The problem, says Duane Rath, is there’s too much work for one person, but not enough for two business managers. His solution is to always have a back-up. His senior salesperson is cross-trained to do the BM’s job when he’s not available. “I always have someone training for the business office and the bonus is, it can lead to a promotion for that person.”

It’s important to schedule properly, especially for deliveries, and everyone at Blaikie’s watches for traffic jams around the business office. To help out, sales staff might get the credit app going or arrange for the customer to come back another time or otherwise keep the customer engaged while he/she’s waiting. Rath says he has to be constantly inventive, but in Truro, some customers don’t mind waiting a bit. “The important thing is not to panic if it’s looking too busy.”

Flexibility is the answer at Cobourg Kia. Mario Pareja’s business manager officially puts in a 40 hour week, but the day we spoke was her day off. Nevertheless, she’d already been into the dealership to work on a couple of deals. She lives a few blocks away so when things are not so busy, she can take a little extra time off.

At 5th & Carney Subaru, two people are trained to manage the business office, and they work hard at making sure one of them is always in the store. Subaru customers tend to be better educated and often want to get into the financial side early on in the sales process. “And if we’re not available for some reason, our sales people have to be very straightforward and say we’ll email them with the answers.”

Overcoming the tough sell

Johnson admits it’s a bit tricky selling extended warranties to Subaru buyers. Customers tend to resist, asking, “Why do I need that? Nothing ever goes wrong.” So they consider the customer’s driving cycle, and tailor their approach to the customer’s driving habits.

Scot Birnie was looking at ways to improve the bottom line, and in a poor business climate, he decided the best potential for growth and profit was in the business office. “We wanted to keep it simple and concentrate on just two goals – customer satisfaction and extended warranty sales. A secondary goal was to drive traffic into the back shop which in turn, helps build loyalty. Ford’s products, the Extended Services Package and their Ford Maintenance Protection Package, are helping us achieve this.”

Birnie invested $10,000 in a two day training session for his business manager and two service advisors. While it was a big expense initially, this consultant was so confident of the results that he guaranteed a $90,000 increase in net sales in the business office within a certain timeframe, or he’d refund his fee! The trainer showed staff how to present the products in a very structured way, and he had good research material which demonstrated the cost effectiveness of the Ford products. Within six weeks Birnie had recovered his investment, and in the first quarter, Riverside Ford led the region in extended warranty sales. Their penetration had been in the 20-25 percent range and it’s now up to 60 percent for new and 50 percent for used.

Growth is essential

Even though they’re small dealers, continuous growth is still essential. As Duane Rath puts it, “You’re always thinking about growing. If you’re standing still you’re going backwards.” But you have to grow where necessary, not necessarily grow. For the Subaru store in Prince George, that will be the service department where they’re currently adding four service bays to their existing three to handle demand.

And you have to understand where you want to go and why. For Scot Birnie it’s more about time than money. If he can increase his business to 60 units a month it will allow him to bring on a couple more people, and he’ll have more time for his young family.

Mario Pareja’s ambitions dovetail nicely with Kia’s corporate goals. Kia expects to double their volume by 2013, and then stabilize. Pareja is happy to work towards those targets. With the addition of one more service bay, he’ll have the facilities to double sales. And that will be big enough.

Duane Rath sums it up well. “It’s good to be a bigger fish in a smaller pond.”

The post Better, not bigger! appeared first on Canadian Auto Dealer.

Because square pegs don’t fit round holes

W

hen does it make sense to work with a recruiter? When is that the best strategy for hiring new staff? It all depends on the circumstances.

While Steve Quinn (Quinn Automotive Group) has a firm policy of promoting from within, he uses a search firm when he’s making a key hire. “I want to know who’s out there who might be interested in coming to work here,” he says. “A good recruiter goes beyond our industry. He’ll bring me someone with a fresh approach. If I’m hiring a business manager, a good candidate might be someone in banking who’s exceptional. I can’t approach that person myself, so that’s when I turn to the experts.”

Recruiters perspective

Chris MacMillan of AutoRecruit Inc. says clients expect a search firm to bring them people who aren’t necessarily looking for a job. “That’s the headhunting part,” he says. “We’ve known some candidates for years, and because they trust us, they listen to us when we tell them about a position of interest.”

According to MacMillan, the choice to use a recruiter depends on the state of mind and the approach the dealer principal has towards his company and employees. Dealers who use a search firm are truly seeking the best person for the position and they realize that they do not always have the resources to locate and identify that person, or the time required.

AutoRecruit Inc. is one of a handful of companies in southern Ontario that specialize in recruiting for the automotive retail sector. For some reason using a search firm hasn’t caught on in the west. I checked with a number of dealer groups and couldn’t find anyone using one.

AutoRecruit Inc. opened its doors in 1997. Partners Chris MacMillan and Steve Bell are “car guys who moved into the recruitment business.” Their number one goal is to place candidates with good dealerships. Says MacMillan, “Our philosophy is, if we wouldn’t work there, we won’t place people there.”

And it’s definitely not a volume business. MacMillan explains that one recruiter can work productively on three searches simultaneously, assuming they’re at different stages of completion. They are usually searching on behalf of five to ten clients and last year did business with 48 different dealerships.

Auto Careers Group Inc. is another recruitment firm, based in Richmond Hill, ON. While President Farid Ahmad has done major projects, like finding all the staff for Porsche’s new head office, 90 percent of his placements are in dealerships. Since 1995, he’s put 1153 people into jobs in dealerships. With that track record, new business comes largely from repeats and referrals. Currently he’s working with 20 different dealers, and has about a hundred on his books.

Anne Swanberg of Networks-HR is a new player in the recruiting business. The upheaval last year prompted her to launch her business in August 2009. Swanberg describes it as a “dating service” approach which is entirely Internet based. Swanberg says her business is growing faster than she expected with five to ten new candidates signing up every day.

At Networks-HR, both clients and candidates start with an online form. When a client has an opening, Swanberg searches her database and contacts appropriate candidates with enough information for them to arrange their own interview. Swanberg doesn’t screen candidates. She merely facilitates the introduction and she’s paid by the employer, once the match is made.

Dealers’ perspective

For dealers, working with a recruiter is all about trust and relationships. For Michael Croxon (NewRoads Automotive Group, Toronto) who works with both of these companies, there has to be a certain level of integrity. “They know my organization, they know my people, and they represent us well to potential candidates.” Croxon has been dealing with recruiters for more than 14 years to fill more than 30 positions, from administrative personnel to general managers, at his five dealerships.

Fred MacNeil is president of the Halifax-based Steele Automotive Group with thirteen dealerships. For ten years MacNeil worked with a local HR consultant who did background checks, provided orientation services, and advised on compensation packages. Six months ago the consultant expanded into recruiting and now has an annual contract with the group. “This is a person we know well,” says MacNeil. “He knows our business, and we trust his judgement. We know he has our best interests at heart.”

“It’s a great relief having him working for us,” MacNeil continues. “Sometimes we tended to move too quickly in taking on a new person, especially when it was a hot prospect coming from a competitor. I’d get excited and I didn’t always do my homework. Now every single resumé goes to our recruiter for screening. He makes a thorough check and picks two or three for us to interview.” Croxon agrees. Using a recruiter saves him the headache of the weeding out process.

Need to know dealerships

MacMillan and Bell’s background in the car business helps engender confidence. “You can’t do this without experience in the business,” says Chris MacMillan. “We do our homework before taking on a new client. We spend a lot of time in their dealerships and get to know the flavour of each. And in a way, we interview the dealer while he’s interviewing us.”

Steve Quinn was looking for someone who would understand the culture of the Quinn Group’s six dealerships. “I don’t want a recruiter who takes so much of my time learning my business that I might as well have done the search myself.”

According to Quinn a good recruiter builds on that relationship by dropping in from time to time, even if he’s not doing a specific search. “He’ll come by just to see what’s happening in the dealership. He needs to know the kind of people you keep, the kind you get rid of, the kind that excite you or bore you.”

And that works both ways. Macmillan and Bell visit their client dealerships regularly. “It always produces something,” says MacMillan, “It may be a manager who hasn’t been thinking about hiring, but he sees me and calls me in to chat. Or I’ll talk to someone we’ve placed, and he’ll tell me about a friend who’s looking for a change.”

Database of candidates

Maintaining a large data bank of candidates is a key asset for any search firm. Farid Ahmad has around 6500 names in his database. These days, new candidates usually come in as referrals from successful placements. Typically someone will get in touch saying, “You found my friend a great job, and I’d like to work with you too.”

Dealers need to know whether a recruiter works on a contingency basis or on retainer. Farid Ahmad only works on retainer and has a rate schedule ranging from $3500 to $12,500 depending on the position to be filled. “We don’t work on contingency”, says Ahmad, “because this is what can happen: A client needs a parts manager. He calls us and we start our search and spend two to three weeks on it. Then someone walks into his dealership who’s perfect for the job and he hires that person. We’ve spent all that time and we can’t collect a fee.”

The Internet has changed the way recruiters operate. Chris MacMillan tried Workopolis. “We have used them to access their resumé data base and to post positions. But we didn’t get much response from our ads, and when we looked at their database we realized we had all the good people with us anyway.”

Michael Croxon appreciates that both firms have a substantial library of people. He confirmed that these days, in the auto industry, when folks are on the market, they sign up with recruiters. And for job-seekers, the service is free. Croxon goes to industry websites for lower level workers, but for management positions, he uses the two recruiting firms.

Both companies publish an electronic newsletter which functions as a kind of passive prospecting. It lets potential clients and candidates get to know the company and the services. MacMillan and Bell e-mail weekly with new positions and a sample of new candidates – all anonymous – to their database of 6000 names.

The matter of ethics

The whole issue of ethics concerns everyone. Fred MacNeil’s contract with his consultant stipulates that the consultant may not work for the competition in the Halifax/Dartmouth area. AutoRecruit Inc. promises clients they will never approach their staff and typically they work with only two or three dealers of the same manufacturer in any one city.

Swanberg regularly defuses dealers’ fears about poaching and is quick to assure new clients that she’s not trying to take a happy employee away from a job.

Whether it’s match-making or head-hunting, there are times when a dealer needs help to find the perfect employee. As Steve Quinn puts it, “I want someone to find me a round peg for a round hole. I don’t want a square peg that I have to plane down, sand down. And square pegs never settle for long.”

The post Getting help with hiring appeared first on Canadian Auto Dealer.