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How to attract Gen Y sales people

Matthew Pollock

Green Pea
Mar 29, 2014
3
0
First Name
Matthew
Hi everyone, 1st time posting here! Phone Ninja, I went to your class at NADA in New Orleans just a short while ago. Enjoyed it.

I am trying to hire some Gen Y employee's to work at my dealership. It's been quite a challenge so far. I would be happy to hire them as a customer service/BDC style employee, Internet Dept. team member, or sales floor depending on their preference. Many of the people that apply are the grizzled veterans who are not very receptive to using a CRM like Vinsolutions and cant email effectively. I want to start fresh and train my way!

How/where can you attract these type of people? What industries have you all pulled from and had success? Is there a stigma to having a used car lot for the younger crowd?

- Matt
 
Why? This is the entitled generation where everyone got a trophy no matter how poorly they performed. I've had High School graduates that can't fill out a job application. If they dumb down the SATs, any more, a talking monkey could get in to Princeton.

I have always gone after veterans. The military is going to be dramatically scaled back. Veterans are used to following orders, long hours, and hard work. They understand teamwork and they tend to be competitive. Stay away from senior NCOs. You won't be able to tell them anything. I like the E5s and below and preferred infantry.
 
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Matt,

To Gen Y, car sales is the Buick of a career (no Gen Y would ever get caught driving a Buick ;-). Gen Y's would look at Doug's comments, roll their eyes and say to themselves "that crusty old dude must drive a Buick" ;-)

I'll walk around your site and offer some thoughts off the top of my head.

BRB
 
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Matt,

You're a one price store. You're selling an experience. This is a perfect gen y setup. IMO, your site doesn't communicate your shopper experience beyond a 'no haggle' purchase. If your store has a unique personality (that comes from it's leadership), I dont see it.

I need to see Fun. Satisfaction. Long term relationships. Great deals. Less Risk (i.e. your tranny warr). A commitment to your community. It can't be a veneer. It's got to come from the top and make it all the way into the pay plan.

Suby of Wichita calls their reps "Non-commissioned Tour Guides". "Commission Free, Information Rich Sales People".

Use of video is VERY important
 
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It's one of the greatest challenges in digital marketing is to bring your culture out into the shopping experience.

If your looking for examples, no one does it better than LingCars.com ;-) Sewell does it. AutoDome.ca does it. CityAuto.com does it. MB Motorsports & AuctionDirect does it. CarSense, RonTonkin, H-Team, Prestige Volvo, and more.

Find ways to capture your company's spirit (aka video) and PUSH IT out to your site and social. Always end the video with a good vibe recruiting message.



HTH
Joe
 
I watched a Siminar about GenY somewhere. The big issue with them is the hours for a car dealership, most want to come in at 9 get off at 5 take a long lunch, etc. Not saying you have to do this to get them. If I was in your shoes I would also want to hire some, with technology going the way it is you almost have to get some young blood on the floor. I would almost do something like 2 shifts so that they are not having to work 10-12 hour days which is what they will not do. And then follow Joe's advice.
 
I watched a Siminar about GenY somewhere. The big issue with them is the hours for a car dealership, most want to come in at 9 get off at 5 take a long lunch, etc.

That might have something to do with their unemployment statistics. The highest is among 20-24 year olds followed by 25 to 34 year olds. As far as computer literacy, I have never had a problem finding people that could send an email. Being able to play video games and texting from a phone isn't being computer literate.

Do you want to compete with Walmart for employees or do you want to train some salespeople? I haven't seen a dealership seriously training salespeople, anywhere.

Joe, how many stores does the average customer visit? 1.2 or 1.8? I want someone that will ask for the customer's name when they call. I want someone that can close their eyes.
 
The 'Skills Gap' Called a Myth

It's referred to as the "skills gap" — the idea that millions of jobs are unfilled because employers can't find workers with the skills to tackle them.

But is there really a skills gap? That’s the question posed by Aaron M. Renn, founder of Telestrian, a data analysis and mapping tool.
"In select cases I'm sure there's a mismatch in skill, but for the most part I don't think so," he said.

Renn cites "one random example" of the perpetuation of the skills gap myth, an article in U.S. News & World Report last year that asserted: "Some 82 percent of manufacturers say they can't find workers with the right skills. Even with so many people looking for jobs, we're struggling to attract the next generation of workers."

But Renn declares: "I believe the purported inability of firms to find qualified workers is due largely to three factors: employer behaviors, limited geographic scope, and unemployability.

"It's in the best interest of employers to claim there's a skills gap. The existence of such a gap can be used as leverage to obtain public policy considerations or subsidies."

Employer behavior includes insufficient pay. "If you can't find qualified workers, that's a powerful market signal that your salary offer is too low," Renn writes in an article that first appeared in The Urbanophile. "Higher wages will not only find you workers, they also send a signal that attracts newcomers into the industry."

Other employer behaviors contributing to a perceived skills gap include extremely picky hiring practices — often used to legally justify hiring someone from offshore who can be paid less — and an unwillingness to invest in training.

Referring to "limited geographic scope," Renn asserts that America often has solved unemployment problems through migration, and people need to be willing to move to where the job opportunities are.

A third problem is unemployability. "If you're a high school dropout, a drug user, etc., you are going to find it tough slogging to find work anywhere, regardless of skills required," Renn observes.

He concludes: "I hope this gives you a sense of some of the trends that explain why there can be persistent unemployment with many job openings without recourse to a skills gap to explain it."