- Performance
- Teamwork
- Communication
- Hiring
As soon as a customer encounters your dealership doors, they’ll be able to instantly tell whether it’s a welcoming environment or if they’re about to be preyed on by salespeople only after their money. Your dealership’s “vibe” permeates from every employee and ultimately affects your customers in an undeniable way.
We’re talking about company culture: the very essence of what determines a dealership’s success and your customer’s satisfaction. New York Times best-selling author and entrepreneur, Gary Vaynerchuck, once said, “company culture is the backbone of any successful organization.” If you look at the highest-performing dealerships, they have effectively established an influential company culture that can withstand the possible triggers of a poor dealership culture. Some common examples are:
- Management changes, sometimes resulting in disrespect to employees who aren’t in leadership positions.
- New hires who are unskilled, making seasoned employees feel disregarded and unmotivated.
- No organization across different departments, which doesn’t allow your employees to be heard, valued or appreciated.
- Little to no opportunities to grow together as a company, to understand what areas need improvement, and where the strengths are.
These all happen far too often and the result affects your dealership’s performance. Your customers can distinguish when a business has a strong foundation or is struggling to keep it together. They know as soon as they walk in your doors, which is why you must make your dealership’s culture a priority. Here are some of the benefits of creating an excellent dealership culture:
Improved work performance: When employees feel motivated, it’s because their supervisors and managers have instilled different ways to motivate their employees. The dealerships that have a strong company culture are that way because they make the well-being employees a priority. Naturally, your employees will feel more positive and motivated, which will reflect in how they treat your customers.
Teamwork: Although vehicle sales bring in revenue, one department is not responsible for the overall success of a dealership. When each department knows the critical role they play in delivering the results you want, it cultivates a teamwork mentality.
Open Communication: Where a lot of dealerships fail to reach a certain level of success, it’s because they don’t have open communication between departments. As mentioned above, no department is more important than another. Efficiency and morale are casualties of finger-pointing and blame between departments. Open communication cultivates teamwork, which can lead to the results you want.
Better Hires: When you have a positive culture, you’ll gain a reputation as a place people want to work. As a result, you’ll be able to hire new employees, some from more toxic dealerships, that will want to contribute to your dealership’s success instead of a temporary placeholder job.
These are just a few of the many benefits when you make the culture of your dealership a priority. The success of any company comes from within, so ask yourself: How can you create a positive dealership culture?