The “change” we as an industry are experiencing is going to require us to step it up with how we hire, who we hire and the way in which we manage our Sales, Internet and BDC personnel. In the past we have not given the attention needed to attracting, hiring and managing our sales and customer service people effectively, we have done it by the seat of our pants.

We cannot afford any longer to over look these critical areas in our stores, it’s costly, time consuming and frustrating to everyone involved, management, employees AND the customer.

How we hire and recruit our Sales, Internet and BDC professionals, sets the “tone” for the entire store and how it performs as an employer and a place to do business.

I can walk into a store anywhere in the country and in less than 30 minutes, be able to identify -with uncanny accuracy, if the store has a hiring and employee management process in place that management religiously follows (Employee Life Cycle Management System). Here are the clues:

Clue #1  ATTITUDE
WITHOUT a hiring and management process in place: There is a “feel” to the store of dishevelment, chaos and negativity observed through the actions of the employees. Smiles are not in abundance and seriousness prevails. This is due largely in part to the “uncertainty” that being an employee in the store brings to their lives. Few minimum requirements are established with a solid performance game plan for employees and management alike to follow in order to achieve these goals.

Clue #2  SALES
WITHOUT a process: The stores sales are not anything to write home about, the struggle is constant, and the “struggle” is sensed in the “attitudes” of the employees in the store. Management and employees are stressed due to frustration and fear. Lack of a game plan leaves employees feeling out of control.

Clue #3  CUSTOMER SATISFACTION LEVELS
WITHOUT a process: The stores CSI and SSI scores are below minimum requirements. This is due largely to the fact that stores employees are NOT satisfied, do not feel valuable and operate in fear and uncertainty most of the time. This “fear” and uncertainty is always passed on down to the customers.

Clue #4  CUSTOMERS
WITHOUT a process: Customers in the showroom and or service department do not appear to be at ease. Customers are in the dark as to “what to expect next”, this creates anxiety. Since the sales people are not “managed” consistently, they do not interact consistently with clients.
FACT 1 : Wrong hiring choices and mismanagement of employee’s are the leading factors in unsatisfied employees. Unsatisfied, mismanaged employees is the leading factor in low sales and low customer service satisfaction scores (CSI)

FACT 2 : It typically cost a dealership between $2500~$20,000 to recruit, hire and train a Sales, Internet or BDC professional, not to mention the hidden costs of lost sales, low productivity, poor customer satisfaction, and lack of repeat business.

THE CAUSE: Lack of a CONSISTENT hiring and management plan/process that they follow when hiring and managing Sales, Internet, and BDC professionals

We are notorious for “hoping” that we hired the right employee and that a manager will instinctively know how to manage…hope is not a plan! A simple Employee Life Cycle System is all the average dealership needs to hire more effectively as well as manage and develop employees consistently.

What is an Employee Life Cycle System (ELCS)?

An ELCS is a step by step process that is used to consistently, objectively and fairly recruit, hire, manage and develop employees- from the time they are recruited until the time they leave, voluntarily or involuntarily.

Dealerrefresh.com and HireRite, Inc. will present to you as a four part series a complete “PLAN” or “Employee Life Cycle” to hire, manage and develop your employees more effectively and efficiently. Once implemented you will:

1. Attract better qualified job applicants
   
2. Decrease your recruiting time
   
3. Conduct more effective interviews
   
4. Effectively motivate, develop and manage your employees (in less than 2 hours per year per employee!)
   
5. Decrease the cost of your recruiting
   
6. Decrease your turnover and the high costs associated with it

The 4 part series will cover:

Part 1- Recruiting effectively- how to attract qualified sales and customer service professionals- to our industry and YOUR jobs.

Part 2- Interviewing and screening consistently and objectively- get the information you need to make, educated hiring decisions.

Part 3- Managing as well as developing ALL of your sales and customer service employees in less than 2 hours per year per employee! - eliminating “seat of the pants” managing and therefore “seat of the pants results”

Part 4- Employee retention- how to keep the talent you have AND the new talent you found.

Lets get started...stay tuned!
About the Author: Wendi Venable is the author of Finders Keepers “How to find and keep the best automotive sales and customer service professionals” and President of HireRite, Inc.

AutoUSA Implements TARGUSInfo On-Demand Lead Verification Solution; Improves Quality of New and Used Online Customer Leads for Automotive Dealers

AutoUSA, the industry's leading provider of the highest quality, Internet-generated consumer leads to auto dealers nationwide, today announced it has entered into a definitive agreement with TARGUSInfo, the leading provider of On-Demand InsightSM about prospects and customers, to provide On-Demand Lead VerificationSM services for its new and used online vehicle leads. The new process of making sure each online customer lead is reachable is one of several best-of-class initiatives recently implemented by AutoUSA to ensure its automotive dealer customers continue to receive the industry's highest quality vehicle leads.

Fort Lauderdale, FL and Vienna, VA (PRWEB) September 2, 2009 -- AutoUSA, the industry's leading provider of the highest quality, Internet-generated consumer leads to auto dealers nationwide, today announced it has entered into a definitive agreement with TARGUSInfo, the leading provider of On-Demand Insight (SM) about prospects and customers, to provide On-Demand Lead Verification (SM) services for its new and used online vehicle leads. The new process of making sure each online customer lead is reachable is one of several best-of-class initiatives recently implemented by AutoUSA to ensure its automotive dealer customers continue to receive the industry's highest quality vehicle leads.

"After a competitive review of our options, we found TARGUSInfo is not only a leader in on-demand intelligence, they have the largest repository of consumer data attributes in the nation, including providing the most robust data on wireless, VoIP and other hard to find information," said Phil DuPree, president of AutoUSA. "By integrating their lead verification service with our existing processes, we'll be able to drive even higher quality leads to our dealers that increase lead response effectiveness."

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By integrating their lead verification service with our existing processes, we'll be able to drive even higher quality leads to our dealers that increase lead response effectiveness.
We are thrilled to help AutoUSA pass online consumer leads that are highly contactable to its more than 3,000 automotive retail franchises across the US
Each year, our on-demand delivery network identifies, verifies, scores and locates billions of prospects and customers at the moment they interact with businesses. No other provider gives lead buyers and sellers such in-depth insights to make real-time decisions when needed the most--when consumers inquire.

Through a patented process, the TARGUSInfo On-Demand Lead Verification Solution checks individual pieces of a consumer's contact information such as a phone number to not only ensure accuracy, but verify linkage to that consumer. The real time solution automatically verifies phone numbers, including wireless, for all leads received by AutoUSA from sources such as Edmunds.com, Kelley Blue Book, AOL Autos, MSN Autos, Yahoo! Autos, NADAguides.com, AutoVantage.com, and AutoUSA.com.

"We are thrilled to help AutoUSA pass online consumer leads that are highly contactable to its more than 3,000 automotive retail franchises across the US," said David Wengel, general manager of interactive markets, TARGUSinfo. "Each year, our on-demand delivery network identifies, verifies, scores and locates billions of prospects and customers at the moment they interact with businesses. No other provider gives lead buyers and sellers such in-depth insights to make real-time decisions when needed the most--when consumers inquire."

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About TARGUSinfo
TARGUSinfo, the leading provider of On-Demand InsightSM, provides unique identification, verification, scoring and location solutions that enable communication service providers, retailers, call-center operators, Web-based marketers and others to dramatically increase the quality of their services and the effectiveness of their marketing. A privately held company, TARGUSinfo is headquartered in Vienna, Va. For more information, visit www.TARGUSinfo.com.

About AutoUSA (www.AutoUSA.com)
AutoUSA, Inc., is headquartered in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and a subsidiary of AutoNation, Inc. (NYSE: AN), the largest retail automotive company in the United States. AutoUSA is an independent third-party provider of leads to more than 3,000 dealerships. The company has built its success on a combination of advanced web-based technology and a network that includes the country's most well respected online automotive resources, including Edmunds.com, Kelley Blue Book, AOL Autos, MSN Autos, Yahoo! Autos, NADA Analytical Services Group, AutoVantage.com, AutoNation.com and AutoUSA.com. The vast majority of Ward's Top 100 eDealers use AutoUSA. More information is available online at http://www.autousa.com.

Cash for Clunkers Helps Drive Over 15 Million Visitors to AutoTrader.com for 8th Month in a Row

ATLANTA – September 3, 2009 – The Cash-for-Clunkers or CARS program brought some of the best sales so far this year for automakers, but also some of the highest average asking prices on new vehicles. As dealer inventories of new cars shrank due to the overwhelming success of the Federally-funded program, average asking prices for new vehicles generally crept up across the board, with only a few models noting slight declines. Some of the largest increases in pricing were registered by Ford, which saw a 16% average price increase on the new F-150 full-size pick-up, and a 13% average price increase on the new Fusion midsize sedan.

“With inventories having been cleared out by Cash-for-Clunkers, consumers will find that the playing field between dealers and shoppers is more level than it was six months ago,” said AutoTrader.com President and CEO Chip Perry. “But it still remains a good time to buy a car, both in terms of manufacturer incentives, and the demand for quality used vehicles, which provides consumers negotiation space when trading in a car or truck.”

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While Chevrolet Camaro once again topped AutoTrader.com’s most viewed list for August, the bigger success story for General Motors remained the Chevrolet Equinox, which saw views increase almost 290% year over year. This moved the newly-launched Equinox crossover from the 89th most-viewed vehicle in August 2008 and the 18th most-viewed vehicle last month to 7th place this August. More importantly for Chevrolet, the average asking price of the new Equinox increased nearly 6% over the previous version to $27,334.87 – more than $600 more than the average asking price of new Ford Escapes on the site and nearly $2,000 more than that for the Honda CR-V, vehicles which GM has directly targeted with the Equinox.

Kia saw the largest increase in popularity on AutoTrader.com among major automotive brands, with views of new Kia models increasing 176% in August compared to August of 2008. This pushed Kia from the No. 20 most-viewed brand on AutoTrader.com in August of 2008 to the No. 8 most-viewed brand in August 2009. Ford and Hyundai, both winners in August’s sales race, also saw views for their brands rise, almost 29% and 27% year over year, respectively.

Cash-for-Clunkers drove site activity on AutoTrader.com, with August marking the eighth consecutive month that the site saw its unique monthly visitor count top 15 million. In August, AutoTrader.com attracted a total of 15.5 million unique monthly visitors, a 10% increase in traffic compared to August 2008.

Used & CPO Car Activity

Demand for used and CPO light trucks and SUVs continued strong growth in August, with many such vehicles recording double-digit increases in views year-over-year. Ford saw used F-250s up almost 47% in views, while average asking prices rose 7.89% year over year. Similarly, CPO Ford Explorer SUVs rose 45 % in views, and 17% in average asking prices year over year.

Fuel efficient used cars saw some average price declines year over year, but those declines were more a function of the high prices these used cars commanded last year at this time due to high gas prices, not a reduction in these cars’ general popularity. For instance, used Honda Civics and used Volkswagen Jettas saw price declines of 12% and 13%, respectively, when compared to August of 2008, while maintaining their popularity on the site. The Honda Civic was the No. 6 most-viewed used car this month, last month and in August of 2008. The Jetta was the No. 19 most-viewed used car this month, the No. 18 most-viewed used car last month and the No. 18 most-viewed used car in August of 2008.

Both the new and used car shopping activity on AutoTrader.com seems to indicate a return to more normal auto shopping habits and patters. “Over the past year or so, we’ve seen spikes on our top 20 lists in demand for specific types of cars – fuel sippers, then for specific manufacturers and then for less expensive vehicles,” said Perry.

“I believe those spikes were being driven by car shoppers responding to fluctuating gas prices, impending manufacturer bankruptcies and other uncertain or challenging economic news. This month’s lists, where a wide variety of brands and models are represented, may show a return to normal car shopping activity as the economy rights itself and shopping and buying behavior isn’t as strongly impacted by other wildly fluctuating factors.”

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About AutoTrader.com
AutoTrader.com, created in 1997 and headquartered in Atlanta, Ga., is the Internet's leading auto classifieds marketplace and consumer information website. AutoTrader.com aggregates in a single location about 3 million new cars, used cars and certified pre-owned cars from thousands of auto dealers and private owners. The site attracts about 15 million unique monthly visitors. Through innovative merchandising functionality such as multiple photos, videos, detailed descriptions and comprehensive research and compare tools, AutoTrader.com unites new and used car buyers and sellers online to improving the way people research, locate and advertise vehicles. AutoTrader.com is a majority-owned subsidiary of Cox Enterprises. The venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers is also an investor. For more information, please visit www.autotrader.com.

Innovative Program Boosts Auto Dealers’ Sales and Profitability by Increasing Number of Opportunities Available Each Month

Redwood City, CA, September 2, 2009 — Dealix, the leading provider of automotive customer leads for new and used cars, today became the first automotive marketing company to back every one of its new and used car sales leads with a quality pledge. The company, a division of Cobalt, announced today that it will only charge its customers for leads that meet a specific set of criteria for leads that can turn into sales. The company also announced Hassle Free Lead Return, a new feature that allows dealers to effortlessly return a lead that does not meet Dealix’s Quality Pledge criteria, and to have that lead taken off their bill and replaced with a new one.

The Dealix Quality Pledge defines the characteristics of a valid lead as one that:

• Have a working phone number for the person who submitted the lead
  
• Represent an active, in-market consumer
  
• Originate from an adult who is 18 years of age or older
  
• Not be a duplicate of a lead provided by Dealix in the last 30 days
  
• Not be a duplicate of a lead previously delivered by a source other than Dealix in the last 30 days

“The Dealix program is unique in the market,” said Kim Clouse, CEO of I Auto Consultants, an automotive training and consulting firm. “The program is dealer-focused and quality-driven, which should enable Dealix customers to have greater confidence in their lead supply. That, coupled with the time factor saved, will allow dealership staff to focus more on their sales process, which will create more sales and increase return on investment.”

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With Hassle Free Lead Return, dealers are encouraged to identify and return any lead that fails one of the Quality Pledge criteria within seven days of receiving the lead. Dealix provides all customers with access to its Dealix Dealer Extranet through which they can identify a lead for return and specify the reason for the return. Dealix’s Lead Quality Team then follows up with every lead returned, personally contacting the consumer to validate information and confirm whether they are actively in the market for a vehicle.

The return confirmation process takes three business days. If the Dealix Quality Team is able to confirm that the returned lead represents an active, in-market buyer, the dealer is notified immediately with detailed information so they do not miss an opportunity to sell a vehicle to that consumer. If the Dealix Quality Team confirms that the lead does not conform to its Quality Pledge standards, the return is accepted and the charge is immediately removed from the dealer’s invoice. In addition to the Dealix Dealer Extranet, dealers may use most customer relationship management (CRM) tools to return a lead with Hassle Free Lead Return.

“The goal of the Quality Pledge is to align Dealix directly with our dealer customers and their goals,” said Anna Zornosa, general manager of Dealix and executive vice president of Cobalt. “Dealix leads the industry in technology and supply investment, but it’s still hard to guarantee that every lead will be good 100% of the time. With this new program, we are the only marketing company in the auto industry who is saying to dealers, ‘In the event you get a lead that does not represent a real opportunity, return it to us hassle free, and we will not charge for the lead.”

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Other benefits of Dealix’s Quality Pledge include:

• Enabling dealers to optimize sales every month. By encouraging them to quickly identify and return leads that can’t be sold, Dealix creates an opportunity for the dealer to receive more good leads immediately so they can hit monthly sales goals.
  
• Encouraging dealers to contact their leads quickly. The seven-day lead return window motivates dealers to contact each lead promptly, preferably upon receipt. Research repeatedly shows that dealers who launch a fast response upon receiving a lead have a much higher rate of selling a car to that consumer.
  
• Allowing dealers to understand whether less than expected sales results are attributable to poor lead quality or a flawed sales process, as 100% of leads returned undergo follow-up verification by the Dealix Quality Team.
  
• Giving Dealix valuable information on lead supply quality in order to provide dealers with superior products.

The Dealix program has been available to 30 franchise dealers in a beta test for four weeks. “We became a pilot dealer for the Quality Pledge because we like the goals of the program: to help us get more good leads each month,” said Merick Sherline, fleet and Internet director for Stokes Brown Toyota in Beaufort, South Carolina “So far we have found the program to be straightforward and useable. We’ve gotten a speedy response about the status of the leads we’ve submitted, with about half of them being accepted as valid returns. I’m optimistic this program will help us turn more leads into sales.”

The Quality Pledge is only the latest in a series of enhancements that Dealix has made to its new car and used car lead programs. In the last 12 months, the company has improved new car lead supply through exclusive agreements to power the dealer selector and price quote platforms of Yahoo! Autos, MSN Autos, and AOL Autos, as well as improving its used car lead supply with the re-launch of its flagship portal UsedCars.com. In April 2009, the company announced a major overhaul of the Dealix Leads Platform, including technology upgrades to deliver leads faster and the addition of lead verification through an agreement with Targusinfo.

“Dealix can offer this Quality Pledge because we have the strongest lead supply network in the market, comprised of the top auto sites, and the most powerful lead sourcing, verification, and delivery technology. This, combined with our decade of experience delivering over 300,000 new and used car sales leads monthly to dealers and OEMs, gives us total confidence in the value our products bring to dealers,” continued Zornosa.

The Dealix Quality Pledge with Hassle Free Lead Return is available now. For more information, visit www.Dealix.com or call (800) 903-1965.

About Dealix
Dealix, a division of Cobalt, is the world’s leading provider of quality leads for new and used cars for dealerships, dealer groups, and automotive manufacturers. Dealix is the only Internet marketing company that backs its new and used car leads with the Dealix Quality PledgeTM: a distinct set of criteria that defines a quality lead and an invitation to use Hassle Free Lead ReturnTM if a lead lacks any one of those criteria. The company can offer this Pledge because it has the broadest reach and the highest quality lead supply network in the industry, including Yahoo! Autos, Kelley Blue Book, Edmunds.com, AOL Autos, MSN Autos, and others. Dealix powers the dealer selector and price quote platforms on Yahoo! Autos, AOL Autos, MSN Autos, and NADA Guides; represents Edmunds’ Premier Dealer Program; and places dealers’ used inventory in the Kelley Blue Book Trusted MarketplaceSM. Dealix connects dealers with the millions of car shoppers who prefer independent Internet sites when shopping for new cars and used cars online. Dealix’s all new Leads Platform quickly matches thousands of serious new and used vehicle buyers to the most appropriate dealers daily, delivering a quality car buying experience for consumers and providing dealers with one of the most efficient methods available today for marketing and selling cars.