F&I and Showroom, January 2016

www fi magazine com 24 F I and Showroom January 2016 delivery of information in repeated bite size pieces They are able to measure the level of confidence and mastery of key skills easily reinforcing knowledge in each individual of a company They recently assisted Toyota Motor Sales in improving the level of knowledge of their sales consultants in the dealership by engaging through gamification and peer competition Toyota realized that customers were more knowledgeable of the product than sales consultants in the dealership They are expanding this learning method into fixed operations for all dealerships which will provide a competitive advantage for their network Fords Customer Experience Movement which uses a different methodology is being directed at dealers who wish to voluntarily participate Ford is taking this initiative global and the curriculum is not limited to product knowledge The OEM wants sales pros to be able to intelligently interact with customers at all moments of truth A key driver of this initiative is the development of management as a support mechanism for employee success The role of the dealership management team is changing Traditionally we promoted the people who sold the most and were strong closers However many often are not trained on how to properly manage and coach others on a daily basis The traditional sales path was a series of promotions from salesperson to the executive team It was the same in fixed operations As president of a large dealer group I learned that as we expanded we needed to instill our culture in our managers for the future I discovered that many salespeople were really interested in becoming career salespeople We were also losing salespeople that would opt for a management position at another dealership because they thought they werent moving up the career ladder fast enough We designed a management development curriculum and created a set of criteria for admission Course content covered all hard and soft skills required to become a successful manager We found that many of the salespeople who entered the program decided the management role was not for them once they really learned what was necessary to do that job They would self select to remain in a career position in sales service or general administration of the dealership many finishing their careers and retiring from the dealership with a nice profit sharing and retirement plan We see many corporate initiatives dedicated to perfecting the work life balance Ultimately that is often something the employee must define As we move forward Millennial staff will desire a different work environment than the one we grew up in Prior to getting all wound up in a major initiative take a hard look at your current dealership culture and realistically document opportunities and barriers to succeed at your store Who has ownership of this The obvious answer is the dealer principal however your managers especially those in remote stores must share your vision Have you developed learning tracks for your employees and managers Do you have a budget for learning and development Dealers who are able to effectively address the issues previously mentioned have experienced significantly lower turnover I have reviewed dealerships that have annual turnover of less than 15 and they generally perform at more than two or three times the national average for return on sales They are also tracking return on gross above 30 some above 40 I think those financial results justify spending some time on your human capital investment I hope that you are able to better understand where your dealership may be headed in the coming year and beyond I am also interested in learning more about the issues you plan to prioritize for your stores in 2016 Please feel free to email me I am always eager to hear about new and innovative practices that creative dealers are working on ABOUT THE AUTHOR David Nathanson is a former multifranchise dealer principal and current head of the consulting practice for motormindz Contact him at david nathanson@ bobit com OPERATIONS In October 2014 the eyes and ears of high stakes investors around the world turned to the U S automotive retail industry when billionaire Warren Buffet and his investment firm Berkshire Hathaway agreed to purchase the Van Tuyl Group in a multibillion dollar deal Last March Buffet headlined the 2015 NADA J D Power Automotive Forum when he took part in a special Q A session In August 2013 the National Automobile Dealers Association issued a 14 page memo to members containing guidance on how to police vendor access to non public personal information It also warned that dealers could run afoul of the Gramm Leach Bliley Acts Safeguards Rule and Privacy Rule if they provide NPPI to DMS providers third party vendors and even manufacturers without taking certain precautions Pictured is an addendum to the guidance the NADA issued in January 2014 It included a sample agreement dealers can issue to their software vendors