B+: Social responsibility through heliotropic leadership - AutoSuccessOnline

B+: Social responsibility through heliotropic leadership

Positivity is contagious and it can benefit your customers, employees and business.

How do we make a positive impact other than just selling cars? Not just in our attitudes but in our actions. What does it mean to be positive? When you read words like cheerful, active, high-energy, optimistic or outgoing, does it make you think of positivity? 

My personality is my blood type, B+ (positive). Bing is “the opposite of negativity.” B+ is a blood type that is not only rare, it holds tremendous power. It is estimated that only about 7.6% of the population has a blood type of B+. 

The power of positivity

Mark Twain once wrote, “kindness is the language the blind can see and the deaf can hear.” This ties in with positivity when it comes to genuinely connecting with your community. When this happens, people rally behind you and support your cause and your business.

The cause I’m talking about is your corporate social responsibility, specifically — hosting a community blood drive. I recommend doing this twice a year at your dealership. Once in the spring and once in the fall. This is an authentic and genuine way to exhibit heliotropic leadership inside your organization and your community, and the pay value is immense.

I watched a TEDTalk given by Dr. Harry Cohen recently and discovered the term heliotropic effect/leadership. The heliotropic effect is the tendency for all living systems to move towards energy which is life sustaining and away from energy which is life depleting. Heliotropic leaders are positive energizers that can make people feel great. You feel good in their presence. These are leaders who often share qualities like being a good listener. They are compassionate, forgiving, vulnerable, real and they smile. It is the definition of “us, at our best.” These leaders are the organizers of dealership blood drives.

The sobering reality is that the need for donors to donate blood never really goes away. In every community across this country, there is a person who is in need of blood every day. Coming out of a global pandemic, there has also been an increased demand for a diverse blood supply.

Going the extra mile

As automobile dealerships, it is not expected for us to do anything else besides sales and service, or is it? Do we have to take that extra step and do more? You decide. Either way, it certainly bodes well for your dealership if your organization does more than just have a case of commission breath when dealing with your community. The optics are great and it makes people feel better about doing business with you. Let’s face it, what customer wouldn’t want to support a local business that shares their same values?

Hosting a drive really helps the blood supply, but it is also a very selfless way to bring people into your facility, and participate in something selfless themselves. Part of the pay value that comes from hosting a blood drive, beyond saving lives, is bringing people in to your store that otherwise might not have considered ever setting foot inside your establishment.

While there, they may look around and test drive a vehicle. They might see how your amenities are set up and want to give your service department a try for an oil change. They may order a set of all weather floor mats or get an old battery replaced in their car or key fob while at your store. These are just a few ways to introduce them to your capabilities, all stemming from a simple blood drive.

Take a moment to reflect on what you are doing to set yourself apart from the competition not only in terms of your pricing and retail strategy, but also in terms of your social responsibility strategy. It’s not enough to know what you have to do — you must take action. You can give blood to make a difference in the world. One in three of us will need blood in our lifetime yet only one in 30 of us actually gives blood.

If you are looking for an easy way to tap in and make a difference by leading heliotropically, give my idea a try and I don’t think you will be disappointed at the way you are left feeling at the end. I always say give 100% in anything you do. Unless of course you are donating blood. Then definitely don’t give 100%. A pint will do just fine, and you could save up to three lives in the process. Happy organizing.

You May Also Like

How Generative AI Is Impacting Auto Lending Compliance

What is often left out of recent headlines, is the extraordinary power of AI to reduce harm, including fair lending and discrimination risks.

By Tom Oscherwitz, VP of legal and regulatory advisor for Informed

Auto dealers and lenders, like leaders in other business sectors, are grappling with the current wave of excitement over generative AI. Many professionals have already seen a coworker or vendor pitch a generative AI use case. It seems as though half the room is significantly impressed, while the other half is waiting for a negative consequence or reaction knowing it was computer generated. The safe bet is that this technology will bring significant changes to auto lending.

5 Predictions for Front-Line Chat Solutions

In the next few years, prepare for a chat solution that must act like a personal greeter to every customer who visits your digital showroom.

Maximizing Fleet Uptime: A Dealer’s Guide

This guide provides actionable insights for dealers to ensure their fleets are always on the move.

Your Service Department’s Undervalued Opportunity: Streamlining RO Stories

Consider how much time repair event stories take to write. Now, multiply that by the number of technicians employed at your dealership and you could easily be wasting hundreds of technician hours every month.

Ways to Save on Credit Card Merchant Transaction Fees

A processor should lessen your workload by handling merchant processing. They should free you up to focus on the customer, while feeling confident that your processing remains compliant and safe.  

Other Posts

Deliver the Promise. Fulfill the Commitment.

Poor customer support will damage buyer satisfaction and retention. The same is true of poor vendor support. Partnering with a committed provider is a must in today’s world.

How End-of-Year-Sales May Impact Auto Finance Digital Transformation Strategies

We still have a very paper-driven culture but we need to continue to shift focus to digitization to reduce risk and liability.

The ROI of Giving Back

The key place to begin for any type of giving-back initiative is to determine what drives you and inspires you.

5 Technologies That Have Transformed Automotive Transportation

Recent advances in transportation offer efficiencies for drivers and carriers and provide peace of mind for customers. These improvements often offer cost improvements, as well as reduce liability for the carrier.

car carrier Ship.Cars