Employee turnover in auto dealerships has reached a new high partially due to the consolidation in the auto industry that has forced auto dealers to reduce expenses -- and compensation packages -- in addition to reducing staff and advertising budgets in a self fulfilling prophecy causing a downward spiral in sales and profit.

Job descriptions and compensation packages for ISM's and/or BDC Managers are often arbitrarily assigned due to a lack of understanding of senior management of the day to day activities of these central positions and/or their inability to apply areas of responsibility and accountability assigned to the positions with compensation packages based on established goals, performance standards and/or the ability to monitor performance sourced back to the employee.

Part of my own areas of responsibilty for the affiliated automotive advertising agencies of Ad Agency Online is to assist our auto dealer clients in their P&L Analysis and related expenses with compensation packages often representing the biggest h*** in the bucket. I also focus on Human Resources to fill key positions -- especially in Internet and lead/follow up related activities -- and I often discover that the solution started with problems in the hiring process that didn't properly define the position and/or assign compensation packages with the proper mix of salary and percentages of profit or similar performance goals assigned to the new hire. The revolving door started before it was even opened and the solution lies in the planning before the hire - not in seeking the replacement.

I have a number of job descriptions and related performance based compensation packages and R.O.I. analytics tied to the positiions using both processes and technology that have worked for me and mine, however, I don't know what I don't know so I was hoping to get some examples of best and worst job descriptions and compensation plans from my friends on DealerElite.

Please share your experiences if you have been terminated or resigned due to the confusions I described or the frustration of not being compensated proportionate to your contributions to the team. Of course if you are happy with all of the above -- sharing what made you that way would be even more appreciated!

After all, what are friends -- and DealerElite -- for!