If you're a dealer not satisfied with current performance, these ideas may be useful.

Honesty and Ethics Rankings

A November 2010 Gallup poll asked consumers to rate the level of honesty and ethics of various professions. Nurses, military officers and pharmacists were at the top. Lobbyists and car sales people were on the bottom. (See graph below) There are many highly honest, ethical and good dealers in the business, yet these polling results have remained consistent for years.

Change is Easy

If you are a dealer who is looking for better results; and don't want your dealership sullied by a perception of dishonesty and lack of ethics, then I have some other ideas for your consideration. Forget trying to change your organization, you must transform it. 

If you want your sales team to bring up their sales numbers, it is really not that difficult to accomplish. Want CSI to increase?  You can make that happen. We have several "carrot and stick" approaches to influence staff behavior. However, if you want sustained success, it won't happen from that type of change.

Transformation is Required

Transformation is a much deeper than "outside in" driven change. Transformation is based on intrinsic motivation. Dealership transformation has a number of characteristics.

• Transformation is systematic - it has a strategy based on values, executed according to a plan and measured for results

• Transformation creates and sustains a high performance culture - one in which values, not expedience, guide decision making

• Transformation builds employee value - that means employees are your number one priority. You hire them based on character, as much as competence. You pay them so money is not an issue. You invest in their on-going training. You mentor them and give them decision making control over their sphere of influence. When you create employee value, they in turn, create customer value.

•  Transformation creates customer loyalty - each consumer touch point is engineered to create a desired outcome. Employees choreograph these engagements and add "unexpected delight" to certain phases of the experience to surprise and please customers. Your staff is expected to bring new ideas and continuous improvement to the design of consumer experiences.  All processes in the experience are engineered for functionality and convenience - designed so customers tell their family and friends about their dealership experience.

A "transformed dealership" will stand out. You certainly won't be lumped in with all the other "low trust dealers". You and your high performance team will be too focused on delighting customers and driving profits to even think about the competition.

More Information is Available

If you are open to these "other ideas" and want more information about how to create transformation in your dealership, contact me.