Service and Sales Departments .....Friends or Foes????

For years it was the business philosophy of Dealer Prinicipals and General Managers to pit departments against each other, with the belief the competition would do each good... Is this still the case??? Should teams within departments not only work together within the department but connect with the teams in the other departments bonding all of their focus and energy in the same direction? Pure physics,,,, isn't it????

0 members like this

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Rachael Schulz Dunbar on October 6, 2010 at 3:39pm

You would think so!
I have seen some stores where the two work in conjunction very nicely! Spiffs are provided to sales staff in exchange for scheduling the first oil change or introduction to the accesories departments or a turn from an ASM onto the sales floor. Usually what it comes down to is "what rolls down hill". If your principle, DFO, GM, or GSM puts pressure on department heads individually and in seperate meetings then eventually each department head wants to control thier own environment. In the store where all depts supported each other it was so because there were regular meetings with ALL dept heads to discuss ALL dept's productivity and how they could each support each other and thier dealer. When you find a dealer that either lacks meetings all together or conducts them without input from those who actually work in them you eventually find a general disgruntlement for further cooperation. (bingo...think I just solved my own problem there) A very wise GM used to say "The more you know the more you grow", he would say this everytime one of those all department meetings were conducted and someone expressed a distaste for another departments comments. Hate to say it....but it always comes down to ego as to weather or not meetings are conducted in this manner. If they would just ditch the ego to the curb and concentrate on total growth they would learn more about how to effectively use each member of each team. Listening starts with leaders. Good co-hesion constitures better retention in all. Yet, sometimes, poorly taught ego-centric leaders seem to think every single decision rests on thier head and don't value input from anyone else as they are the last say so anyhow.
In a dealership we are all family! We spend more time together than with our own family. If one spouse made every decision for everyone in the family and would hear no objections in return then that would eventually end in divorce right? Over-controlling daddys tend to create over-reactive teenagers....look out, I am in my rebellion phase right now!