The first part is getting all of your managers on board, and that involves getting them together in the same physical space, or at least that’s what I do. I start every Monday morning with what I like to call my “Leadership Meeting,” which involves every department head and myself.

I set the agenda for the week, looking at the calendar to confirm visits from any guests from corporate or our vendor partners, in-store or offsite training, vacations or other items that everyone needs to know about. Here I’m trying to avoid the “no one told me” response later in the week when something important is about to happen. No surprises.

Next, we move on to general business items

…including where our results stand for the month. In this business, we’re measured on a month-to-month basis and I think it’s important that all department heads know how each individual department is doing. If we’re having a good month in a particular department, I want to call out that manager in front of their peers (but in a good way), encouraging them to keep it up and finish strong. If we’re lagging, I want everyone to know so that they might be able to lend some brainpower to improving the situation. Let’s say the new car department is behind the forecast and we talk about it. Maybe the service manager has heard a couple of technicians talking about needing a new car. He or she can inform the new car manager and they can plan a follow-up discussion after the meeting to go over new car incentives and talk with the employees. The point is, every little bit helps.

The last part of the Leadership Meeting is the most important, 

…as we go around the room and everyone gets to speak whatever is on their mind. This is meant to foster a sense of collaboration between the managers and work out any conflicts that may arise departmentally during the week. Let’s say the used car manager thinks his department pays too much in reconditioning the cars and getting them ready for sale (don’t they all think that?). The service and parts managers will, of course, be very protective of their turf, but maybe there is a discussion that can be had about ways to lower costs. Even if it only results in a plan to meet separately later in the week, hopefully, it provides a forum where managers can interact and not feel threatened. I am the moderator, however, and have to make sure things don’t get out of hand. In the rare instance where people are too emotional or argumentative, I shut off discussion and plan a follow up with the affected parties after the fact.

One more thing: the meeting doesn’t take that long, typically lasting 20 to 30 minutes. Any longer and you’ve lost their attention anyway and people won’t think it’s a valuable meeting. The key is to keep it short and meaningful in your managers’ minds.

After this meeting, the rest of the week can be spent making sure the department heads are disseminating any required information to the rest of the team and my working with them individually. Going around the store and observing what is or isn’t happening gives me the opportunity to work with that manager and employees further, and it also provides potential topics for general discussion at next week’s meeting.

Getting the rest of the staff on the same page only occurs when they see the managers do the same. I’ve seen cultures where the managers say things to their particular employees that take away from our mission. It does no good to have the service or parts manager tell a technician that the used car manager is “cheap” and “doesn’t want to spend a dime” or have the new car manager tell a salesperson that service and parts are “ripping them off” on accessories and installation. It sends the message that the departments don’t (and can’t) get along and that ultimately gets back to the external customer. Trust me, our guests don’t care about internal conflicts, they just want their problem solved.

And that’s really what it’s all about, right? We have to have our stuff together to provide a unified front to the guests. For example, we don’t want salespeople promising something for a customer, only to not tell service what’s going on and have the customer show up on the service drive expecting to be taken care of, do we? How unprofessional do we look there? Whereas if we develop a system or process to communicate “we owes” internally, we can provide a much smoother experience for the guest. That’s what earns us repeat business from guests. Not low prices, not 10 minute, $9.95 oil changes, but an actual, factual good customer experience.

What do you do to get your people on the same page? Do you do something different to internally set yourself up for success? I’d love the feedback.

Make it a great day!

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And the number of vendors out there servicing the automotive industry is overwhelming. When you consider there are over 16,000 franchised dealers in the United States, there is plenty of opportunity out there for them. And the rapid pace of change in our business, especially over the past 20 years, has brought many more potential partners into view.

I use the word partner intentionally because that’s what vendors are. If you treat them like second-class citizens, you are going to find yourself frustrated and always chasing the latest craze. If, however, you approach it as a mutually beneficial relationship, you’re bound to have better results.

So, how do I make a decision about a vendor? Here’s my process:

1. What is the need I am trying to fill? And what is the desired result or continuing outcome? For example, let’s say I want to sell more cars out of our existing customer database. There are numerous companies that will mine your database for you to find more sales opportunities (full disclosure: my favorite is Auto Alert). One can argue that if our salespeople stayed on top of opportunities there wouldn’t be a need for this, but that’s probably a topic for another column. Anyhow, let’s say I’m agnostic on the vendor and want to sell 20 cars per month.
2. Next, are we staffed properly to achieve this goal? Are we going to have salespeople in charge or hire more people to assist? If the staffing isn’t correct, it won’t matter which vendor you choose because you’re set up to fail off the bat.
3. Which vendors are in the space and what do they have to offer? I find sites like Driving Sales are very helpful in comparing who is out there, including dealer reviews. I also read a lot of industry publications like Dealer Magazine and Dealer Marketing magazine to see what others are doing and what changes are happening in the “vendor world.”
4. Then I like to get references from other stores that are currently using the vendor, specifically people who represent the same brand we do (in our case, Lexus). The goal here is to get an “apples to apples” comparison from another dealer in the same situation. I generally don’t like to be the first one of my brand to try something out (been the guinea pig too many times!). Let someone else work out the kinks. Some might argue that you can get a leg up on the competition if you are first, which is a valid point, but at this point in my career, I prefer to wait. I ask the GM (or another responsible executive) how long they’ve been working with the vendor and how it affected their business. Were they looking to solve the same problem as us? What insights can they give? And I try to get hard numbers if they’re willing to share. Not saying that it will guarantee I get the same results, but at least you can (sort of) measure their ROI.
5. At some point, whether before or after the references, you need a product pitch, demo or webinar. This is where I like to get my managers involved, the ones who are going to have the day-to-day responsibility of using the product or dealing with the vendor rep. If it’s a service, website or app, how easy is it to use? If it’s a product, what does it do for you, your people and/or the end customer? What is the value proposition? What support will they provide after the sale? Everyone should ask tough questions (but not insulting) and play devil’s advocate to their pitch. They’ve rehearsed it thousands of times and should either be able to answer or get you the answer within a short time frame. Ask about their agreements. Most vendors these days have a month-to-month or 30-day out clause. If someone wants a longer agreement, there is usually a large capital investment involved (think uniforms, oil dispensing, etc.).
6. Finally, it’s decision time. I like to have a consensus among the managers. If everyone’s not on board, the likelihood of failure goes up immensely. If we have an agreement, the last thing is the price. I know this may be sacrilege for some, but the price is actually irrelevant. The ROI is more important in the long run. After all, if the product or service doesn’t work, we’re going to fire them anyway. I don’t want to buy something because it was the cheapest on the market, I want to buy it because it makes my business better!

After choosing which vendor to go with, then the hard part begins – implementation and measurement. People need to be trained properly and the “why” of the product or service switch will have to be explained. This is where the dreaded word of change comes in – people need to understand that you’re doing this to improve things, not make them worse. Getting buy-in quickly helps so much.

Then you have to measure how the product or service is doing. This is where I think a vendor ultimately succeeds or fails. If we have a good rep, I guarantee we’re going to stay with that vendor longer than one with little to no follow-up. We figuratively need our hands held, especially in the beginning.

I hope this helps. Feel free to leave some feedback. How is your process different? I’m always on the lookout for better ways to do things.

Make it an awesome day! (it’s a choice)

Dan

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