My New Adventure - Al West Nissan
- Thread starter BillVaughnAlWestNissan
- Start date
I actually stole the idea from a dealer on a CDG podcast. I'm not smart enough to come up with my own ideas, but I'm smart enough to know that I'm not smart, so I just steal good ideas instead. Ha.
I just started with a small amount to give them some leeway. So just $500. I wanted them to see how serous I was about taking care of the customer, but I didn't want to be too bold to start.
Day Two:
This likely won't surprise anyway, but I received brushback on straightening rows. At my previous dealership, we straightened one row a day. Sometimes that meant moving around up to 20 vehicles. Our team would do this regardless of the conditions with no complaint.
Here it was 45 degrees out and they said that it was cold and that the rows didn't need to be that straight. They made this complaint to the desk manager. One of them stated that it was the porters job.
So here is what I told them:
I let them that I will never ask them to do anything that I wouldn't be willing to do. I told them that to demonstrate I will go out with them to straighten the rows every morning for the rest of the winter.
We discussed that no one could or should take more pride in the presentation of the lot than we as the sales team.
I said that they should understand that my expectations for them will be high, but that I am also the boss that tells them when they do a good job. I was once taught a valuable lesson: look for things that they are doing right harder than you look for things that they are doing wrong.
I explained to them that they need to know that my perspective is that no job is above or below anyone. I explained to them that I believe that so much that I believe that the typical business structure triangle should be as flat as we can make it. Additionally, I explained that my philosophy isn't that employees support management or the business and that I believe the triangle should actually be upside down with the leader acting as the support for the team.
I told them there was no reason to be upset with the desk manager for telling me. I let them know that my feelings about their reaction was completely neutral, that I wasn't upset, that I wasn't judging them for that, and that I actually completely understand where they are coming from. Change can be hard and when you maybe feel like you're being asked more to do essentially the same job that I could understand them questioning the change. There is nothing wrong with asking questions and I believe that they should have no problem questioning me. Just that in the future I ask that they utilize the open door that I promised them.
The hard conversation: I asked them to please take the following statement at face value and that they should not read into it, take it as a thinly veiled threat, or anything else. That statement was that I believe in employee satisfaction so much that I needed them to know that the expectation will be the expectation. That I expect a row to be done every day. That I expect everyone to take pride in the presentation of the dealership. And that no one should think of themselves as above or below anyone else. I told them that if they struggled with any of those things that this wasn't going to be the place they would be satisfied to work at. I don't mean that to be mean. I mean that I truly want them to be happy and if they weren't good with those things that they wouldn't be and if that were so we would come up with an exit strategy and I would take care of them in the process. I told them the story of how I once terminated a salesperson and then let them keep working in the detail department until they found a new job. So far, everyone is still here.
New note: I have made a purposeful effort to focus some attention on the most experienced salesperson and made sure to compliment and defer to them at times secure their buy in. I believe that to get everyone's buy in you usually have to get that person's first.
This likely won't surprise anyway, but I received brushback on straightening rows. At my previous dealership, we straightened one row a day. Sometimes that meant moving around up to 20 vehicles. Our team would do this regardless of the conditions with no complaint.
Here it was 45 degrees out and they said that it was cold and that the rows didn't need to be that straight. They made this complaint to the desk manager. One of them stated that it was the porters job.
So here is what I told them:
I let them that I will never ask them to do anything that I wouldn't be willing to do. I told them that to demonstrate I will go out with them to straighten the rows every morning for the rest of the winter.
We discussed that no one could or should take more pride in the presentation of the lot than we as the sales team.
I said that they should understand that my expectations for them will be high, but that I am also the boss that tells them when they do a good job. I was once taught a valuable lesson: look for things that they are doing right harder than you look for things that they are doing wrong.
I explained to them that they need to know that my perspective is that no job is above or below anyone. I explained to them that I believe that so much that I believe that the typical business structure triangle should be as flat as we can make it. Additionally, I explained that my philosophy isn't that employees support management or the business and that I believe the triangle should actually be upside down with the leader acting as the support for the team.
I told them there was no reason to be upset with the desk manager for telling me. I let them know that my feelings about their reaction was completely neutral, that I wasn't upset, that I wasn't judging them for that, and that I actually completely understand where they are coming from. Change can be hard and when you maybe feel like you're being asked more to do essentially the same job that I could understand them questioning the change. There is nothing wrong with asking questions and I believe that they should have no problem questioning me. Just that in the future I ask that they utilize the open door that I promised them.
The hard conversation: I asked them to please take the following statement at face value and that they should not read into it, take it as a thinly veiled threat, or anything else. That statement was that I believe in employee satisfaction so much that I needed them to know that the expectation will be the expectation. That I expect a row to be done every day. That I expect everyone to take pride in the presentation of the dealership. And that no one should think of themselves as above or below anyone else. I told them that if they struggled with any of those things that this wasn't going to be the place they would be satisfied to work at. I don't mean that to be mean. I mean that I truly want them to be happy and if they weren't good with those things that they wouldn't be and if that were so we would come up with an exit strategy and I would take care of them in the process. I told them the story of how I once terminated a salesperson and then let them keep working in the detail department until they found a new job. So far, everyone is still here.
New note: I have made a purposeful effort to focus some attention on the most experienced salesperson and made sure to compliment and defer to them at times secure their buy in. I believe that to get everyone's buy in you usually have to get that person's first.
That's why I'm following along here! Hoping to steal some.
@BillVaughnAlWestNissan You know this but KILL THE CANCER FAST.
Many ppl that hate change and 'like it the old way'. There will be sales reps that will be 'passive aggressive' talking shit behind your back. They can't help themselves as 'misery loves company' and they look for anything negative and then amplify it.
Many ppl that hate change and 'like it the old way'. There will be sales reps that will be 'passive aggressive' talking shit behind your back. They can't help themselves as 'misery loves company' and they look for anything negative and then amplify it.
100% agree, sir. I'll give them a chance, but the leash is short. I have two beliefs: 1. Hire slow and fire fast 2. No one ever made name for themselves by firing people I think you have to find ways to marry those two beliefs.
Lot of differences seen already. No mandates on vendors, but strict standards for whoever you use. Incentives are done way different than I'm used to. Ordering is actually easier. And yes, I plan on sharing all of the challenges that I know that I'll see.
Day 3 (I won’t post every day):
I haven’t mentioned this yet, but I have an incredibly inexperienced staff. My partner has only been in the dealership world for 3 years now. She’s not sold a car before. My sales manager has been in his role for 3 months. He was in sales for less than a year. He had never sold anything before this job. My finance guy has only even at the dealership for a month now. He was the fill-in finance guy at his last stop. Mostly did CAC deals. I have one salesperson with 10 years of experience who has been back at the store for a week. The second most experienced rep has 5 years, but he’s been at the store for less than two months. 3rd rep has been there less than 2 years. 4th is less than a year. I have too many salespeople.
So far, about every finance deal is being returned or held because of errors. I’m now requiring multiple set of eyeballs on each deal.
Some good news: two of the reps have shown themselves to be industrious by at least making an effort to contact people selling cars on Facebook Marketplace. Are they just trying to impress me? Maybe.
Strange thing: buying cars is easier here. Although it’s a small town, there is a little around it and more dealerships. So it seems to me that the market values are higher here. There seems to be about an almost 5% difference between pricing in my last location and this one. That’s a huge difference!
A new challenge I could use help with. Because of our size, we only have one detail person. Obviously they probably won’t want to work 6 days a week. What are some ideas for a workaround? Currently, salespeople are washing their own cars. The detail guy is probably used to having Saturdays off, so even if I had someone cross-train and do detail, that person isn’t going to want to work every Saturday either.
I haven’t mentioned this yet, but I have an incredibly inexperienced staff. My partner has only been in the dealership world for 3 years now. She’s not sold a car before. My sales manager has been in his role for 3 months. He was in sales for less than a year. He had never sold anything before this job. My finance guy has only even at the dealership for a month now. He was the fill-in finance guy at his last stop. Mostly did CAC deals. I have one salesperson with 10 years of experience who has been back at the store for a week. The second most experienced rep has 5 years, but he’s been at the store for less than two months. 3rd rep has been there less than 2 years. 4th is less than a year. I have too many salespeople.
So far, about every finance deal is being returned or held because of errors. I’m now requiring multiple set of eyeballs on each deal.
Some good news: two of the reps have shown themselves to be industrious by at least making an effort to contact people selling cars on Facebook Marketplace. Are they just trying to impress me? Maybe.
Strange thing: buying cars is easier here. Although it’s a small town, there is a little around it and more dealerships. So it seems to me that the market values are higher here. There seems to be about an almost 5% difference between pricing in my last location and this one. That’s a huge difference!
A new challenge I could use help with. Because of our size, we only have one detail person. Obviously they probably won’t want to work 6 days a week. What are some ideas for a workaround? Currently, salespeople are washing their own cars. The detail guy is probably used to having Saturdays off, so even if I had someone cross-train and do detail, that person isn’t going to want to work every Saturday either.
Updates:
Sometimes it’s the simple things. Several customer facing issues. Things laying around for no reason, no one responsible for coffee in the customer waiting areas, other amenities not taken care of, dirty floors, etc.
Also, listened to some phone calls. Clearly no phone training and probably minimal training period. Installed the phone script that I built and trained on it today. Will be watching for the follow through.
Threw the old "price them when they are through recon" out the window.
Pushing for 3 to 5 days recon time.
Making sure we review used vehicles after recon rather than just throwing them on the lot.
Notified the sales staff that we will be extremely CRM focused. We will establish standards and monitor performance.
Sometimes it’s the simple things. Several customer facing issues. Things laying around for no reason, no one responsible for coffee in the customer waiting areas, other amenities not taken care of, dirty floors, etc.
Also, listened to some phone calls. Clearly no phone training and probably minimal training period. Installed the phone script that I built and trained on it today. Will be watching for the follow through.
Threw the old "price them when they are through recon" out the window.
Pushing for 3 to 5 days recon time.
Making sure we review used vehicles after recon rather than just throwing them on the lot.
Notified the sales staff that we will be extremely CRM focused. We will establish standards and monitor performance.
