it's not necessary to change. survival is not mandatory. - Media ...

survival is not mandatory — continued
Most employees are tuned into that old radio
station WII – FM (What’s In It – For Me)
A new process or technology may indeed add thousands of
dollars per month to a dealership’s bottom line. That’s great for
the dealer, but what do the employees get out of it?
Take the service manager, for example. Switching to a new
DMS would definitely be a pain for him because he probably
gets paid a bonus based on the amount of gross profits he generates
in the service department. If a new system is implemented,
it’s going to take a lot of time to learn it, which takes time away
from other activities that generate profits.
Office managers are notorious for objecting to a DMS
switch. Their life can be pretty miserable throughout the entire
process, and is their pay changing for the better? Probably not.
So where’s the incentive to change and learn a new system?
Extrapolate these examples out to everyone else in the dealership;
the parts manager who is used to the inventory system,
the salespeople who are used to and like their CRM, etc. No
wonder there’s an uproar, and no wonder dealers throw up their
hands and say they can’t change.
Yet, wouldn’t a more profitable dealership ultimately benefit
all the employees too?
By Changing Nothing, Nothing Changes
Dealers, your name is on the sign and you are the decision
maker. Yet you are also part of a team. You want to do what’s
best for you and your bottom line, but you don’t want to upset
everyone else on the team. Is it possible to do both?
Of course, but the trick is to find and offer something unique
to each team member that will help them accept the change.
Tell them what is in it for them. For service managers, the extra
savings or revenue could be used to purchase more lifts and hire
more technicians. For parts, it could be extra cash to stock more
inventory; for sales, it could be more money spent on advertising;
for the office manager, it could be a bonus.
One thing’s for sure. By changing nothing, nothing changes.
In today’s increasingly transparent world, dealers must be
proactive in looking for ways to increase profit margins. More
efficient processes and new technologies are the way to do it;
but buy-in from the team is necessary to make them—and your
dealership—successful.
Mike Esposito is President and CEO of Auto/Mate Dealership Systems, a
leading provider of dealership management software (DMS). Mike can be
contacted at (518) 371–4331 or via e-mail at mesposito@automate.com
or follow him on Twitter at @AutoMateDMS. Auto/Mate is a DMS “designed
by car people , for car people,” and features easy-to-use, fully integrated
modules to suit all dealerships.
“My focus is running my dealership—not
worrying if my business is protected or
how to generate income in my finance
department. Zurich lets me do that.”
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