Pre-pandemic I was not a Luddite. I ordered my fair share of material goods from Amazon. My spouse buys and sell stuff on eBay. I did a lot of Christmas shopping via the Internet. What I had not done was purchase local items online. That is my new normal. I have experienced what it is like when local businesses make buying easy and I like it.

Local shopping that consumers embraced: ordering groceries online for pick-up or home delivery, nice restaurants offering online ordering with curbside pick-up, liquor stores running your order out to your car, automobile service departments offering pick-up and delivery and total online purchasing. 

People want to spend money with a business that makes it easy. This has always been the case we just did not know easy could be in our own backyard. I believe we have accelerated the acceptance of virtual, local transactions by 3-4 years.

With this in mind a number of the dealerships I work with are rethinking staffing levels and the desired capabilities of those staff members. Sales people who are only good face-to-face may become less valuable during this time. You will still need those folks however you will need a larger percentage of people who can communicate effectively via phone, text, video and video streaming. The concept of Service Kiosks in lieu of advisors and off-site mobile service suddenly look more plausible. Dealers believe a segment of our population has experienced and now likes being able to get products delivered to the safety and comfort of their homes and they intend to have the processes and team to meet that demand.

Proactive dealers are already making the shift to address this new consumer awakening. They have started hiring this week. They needed people before the pandemic. They believe there are some amazing people, with strengths that will be needed, who are currently out of work. They want to get first crack at them.

The “new normal” is not going to be dramatically different. We were already headed in that direction we just accelerated forward. Let’s go!