What’s Your Store Culture and How’s that Working Out for You? - AutoSuccessOnline

What’s Your Store Culture and How’s that Working Out for You?

You will have created the process driven and engaged culture that will create the revenue you dreamed of, knew you were capable of, and you will have created the culture that accomplished just that.

I’ve been inside hundreds of dealerships in the last year and I’ve had the opportunity to experience first-hand some great store cultures and some not so efficient store cultures. What’s the difference some may ask? That’s the million-dollar question and when I say the million-dollar question, I don’t use that term figuratively…

Process-Driven and Engaged Culture
This is the culture that creates the most of their opportunities. The process driven and engaged culture is the one that creates results and revenue. You can use the trendy vendor tagline ROI all day long, but at the end of the day, revenue is what matters. These are the sales staffs and departments who know what their role is, what is expected out of them, they fulfill their daily tasks, and have the management and leadership to give guidance and assistance when needed.

A few months back I was in a dealership demonstrating my virtual sales training platform and told the GM I use the words culture and process more than any other words in my virtual sales training. The GM responded back to me stating that he believes culture and process are the two most important words in creating a successful and highly profitable dealership. He had taken the dealership from a double-digit in the state rated Ford dealership to top three dealership in less than six months. He was able to accomplish this by communicating everyone’s roles, expecting accountability from each team member and overseeing the departments working together.

The Hope Culture
I hate to admit, this is the culture I probably see the most of, where leadership hopes they found and hired the diamond in the rough; you know that salesperson who will figure it all out on their own, get along with everyone, deal with pay plan cuts and be happy as long as they get some mediocre job title enhancement. These stores usually have one or two solid veterans, a couple seasoned mid-level producers and a 50 percent or higher revolving door of new hires multiple times throughout the year.

This dealership relies on the Hail Mary … no training, no role communication for each employee and department, just a lot of hope.

“I really hope this new guy works out,” “Wow that new girl is really sharp, I hope she makes it!” No basics taught, no telling them what to do or showing them how to do it. There is no ongoing training, internally, externally or virtually, it’s all hope … I hope they figure it out, I hope they do well, I hope if they’re good they don’t move on.

If You Build It, They Will Stay
We all remember the movie Field of Dreams, where Kevin Costner plowed down a producing field to make a baseball field so his heros from the past could come and play. Well they did come and play baseball on the field he built for them. This isn’t a movie trivia game, yet a metaphor on what may seem crazy, may very well satisfy what you want to accomplish.

My point is, if you build a culture — one where each department knows their roles and top producers aren’t scrutinized nor evangelized, a culture where departments don’t steal from each other, or try and take credit for one department’s accomplishments, nor pile on other departments’ failures; a culture where each and every individual has a purpose, a set plan, processes to follow, knows what actions are expected of them, and has the proper training and guidance on how to implement what they’ve learned in the beginning and ongoing — you will have it. You will have created the process driven and engaged culture that will create the revenue you dreamed of, knew you were capable of, and you will have created the culture that accomplished just that.

So I ask you this, What’s Your Store Culture, and How’s That Working Out For You?

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

Everyone Has Something to Teach Us

Don’t let pride keep you from learning and expanding your skill sets. Create a “learning zone” where knowledge is freely shared.

Everyone Has Something to Teach Us
Navigating Shrinking Margins: Acquisition Lessons from the Stock Market for Dealers

Initiatives are being developed to ensure that dealers can access the necessary vehicle data without facing prohibitive costs, aiming to make vehicle data more affordable and efficient.

Navigating Shrinking Margins: Acquisition Lessons from the Stock Market for Dealers
Critical Thinking with the Genius Club

A lack of critical thinking is responsible for the success of every con that reaches epic proportions. We must think critically to protect ourselves from evil geniuses.

Critical Thinking with the Genius Club - Remora
Don’t Be ‘Nice’ to Your Team — Be Caring

Here are four steps to take to lead a team that minimizes critical actions and will put our team members on the path to success.

team leadership