Look Up!
Some of us are familiar with the YouTube video ‘look up’, if you are not, check it out here; Look up. This short five-minute video had me consciously thinking about all the moments that pass us by without notice. I saw this video about a year ago, and since then I have been trying hard to consciously put the phone down and interact with those around me. I am glad I did that day in Key West. I walked out of the Key West airport in Florida on a sunny Thursday afternoon. Dressed in all black (surprise, surprise 😜) with my hat pulled all the way down to cover my eyes and my dark sunglasses on. I was tired from my 7-hour travel and was ready to get to my hotel with the hopes of catching a bit of vitamin D (and a tan!). Well, my Uber driver had other plans! He pulls up with a massive smile on his face and instantly my ‘tired mood’ had lifted. I decided to put my phone away and have a conversation; I am so glad I did. We got to talking about what I did for a living (I explained that I was a speaker) and he asked: “like motivational speaking?” I answered “something like that” then he quickly followed by telling me that he also did some motivational speaking for Narcotics Anonymous (NA). He went on to say that he finds such joy in giving back and using the gift of recovery to help those who struggle with addiction like he once did. I was blown away by his bravery, honesty, and venerability. This conversation hit a chord having grown up with addiction all around me. Not many people know my life’s tale (I will share it one day), but it is my life’s mission to give back to families that suffer from addiction. I felt that Thursday afternoon was a sign to keep moving forward with my plans to start a not for profit foundation to help families of Addicts, as my Uber driver says (and I believe); addiction is a family disease. I am glad I put my phone down that day and looked up. I met an extraordinary person and felt the world aligned so I would know that the path I am on is the right one. Look up every once in a while; there are defining moments to take in all around us.
Train for EQ!
Editors note: This is the fifth article in a series called The Decision Maker Although the auto Industry is slowly moving away from attracting and hiring the typical ‘car guy’, and towards more customer service-focused employees, including women, the change isn’t happening fast enough to keep up the increased expectations of your male and female consumers. The only way to combat this is to train for EQ! Until we can make the industry an attractive place to work, training for EQ is our best bet for creating more positive moments when interacting with our customers, especially the female consumer. What is EQ? EQ is that good stuff like having self-awareness, listening skills, and empathy. Emotional intelligence is having the capacity to blend thinking and feeling to make optimal decisions —It’s critical to building your sales to women. One of the main reasons women walk out is because they don’t like the way they were approached or treated. Sales associates with high EQ can read people’s nonverbal cues and adjust their approach based on the needs of each consumer. How Do you Train for EQ? Focus your training on soft skills (EQ) and layer in the IQ (product knowledge) as you go. Here are the skills you’ll want to train for increased EQ Enhanced Emotional Literacy & Recognize Patterns Get your team to accurately identify and interpret both simple and complex feelings by frequently acknowledging recurring reactions and behaviours during interaction with customers. Consequential Thinking Have your team practice evaluate the costs and benefits of their choices when interacting with customers. Give your team scenarios to role play through; they can talk through the cost or benefit to reacting in particular ways. Optimism Take time to have your team practice taking a proactive perspective of hope and possibility in all situations. Positive behaviour breeds positive behaviour and an optimistic outlook is the fuel to an optimistic culture. Increased Compassion & Empathy I saved the best for last! Recognizing and appropriately responding to others’ emotions plays a significant role in how EQ comes full circle. Understanding how to flip the lens, show compassion & empathy for situations will go a long way in customer satisfaction. At the core, emotional intelligence is something you need to own and essentially BE. By being smarter with feelings, you will more accurately recognize emotions in yourself and others. This knowledge will help you make decisions and craft effective solutions to the customer interactions you face each day. Watch Magic Happen! When you blend EQ and IQ, you will receive maximum engagement from your female consumer. The EQ skills you provide your team members will go a long way to turning transactional moments into interactional experiences. Magic happens when you can blend both the world of transactions and experiences.
Create a Female Friendly Atmosphere
Editors note: This is the fourth article in a series called The Decision Maker Creating a female-friendly atmosphere may seem like an obvious solution to making your female customer base feel comfortable in your dealership. However, it’s usually the most overlooked opportunity. Ask yourself (and answer honestly), “Is my dealership female friendly?” Having a dealership that speaks to the woman and not just the men we usually appeal to will go a long way. You want to make her feel at home, creating an atmosphere that is comfortable, warm, and inviting. Here are some things to look for: Is the music appropriate? How vast is your magazine menu selection? Do you have flowers in your waiting room? Is the scent of your dealership appealing? What is the temperature in your dealership? Is it too cold, and if it is, do you have blankets or heaters available? There are many ways to create a more open and friendly environment. To do this, you must be willing to flip the lens and look at the atmosphere of your dealership through another POV – her point of view. Get your Team Involved! (especially the ladies) A great exercise to do with your team members is to do a walk through from her, The Decision Makers, point of view. Walk your team from outside the dealership and through the entire consumer journey (you can do this for both sales and service) and ask them the following questions: What do you see that could be changed to improve the atmosphere of the dealership, specifically, what would make it more female-friendly? And have them point out where the opportunities are. What would your mother, sister, wife, daughter like to experience when they are at our dealership? In your experience, what do other retailers (outside of automotive) to enhance their atmosphere, making it more female-friendly? Encourage and empower the female team members in your dealership to speak up and have a voice! The improved atmosphere will also make a considerable impact on the work experience for your female employees. Actions Speak Louder Than Words Once you have suggestions, don’t stop there. Make an action plan to implement the changes and make the difference come to life! “Everything Speaks”. Take the actions you need to evolve the experience female consumers have in your dealership from her POV. Creating an atmosphere that is comfortable for her, will only benefit you. She will take notice, and it will make an impact on her overall satisfaction with your dealership.
Build Real Relationships with Female Consumers
Editors note: This is the third article in a series called The Decision Maker Companies with high trust levels outperform companies with low trust levels by 186% (Watson Wyatt, Work USA). Building trust with your female consumer base is essential when it comes to referrals and their desire to purchase a vehicle. Real Relationships = Trust Let’s talk about the importance of building real relationships with your female consumers. I believe You have a zero-balance trust account with every customer. It’s up to you on whether or not you make deposits in their trust account…or go into overdraft. According to the Nobel Prize-winning scientist Daniel Kahneman, each day we experience approximately 20,000 moments. A moment is defined as a few seconds in which our brain records an experience. The quality of our days is determined by how our minds recognize and categorize our moments—either as positive, negative, or just neutral. Rarely do we remember neutral moments. Once her brain has registered that she’s had a negative experience, it will take 12 positive experiences to make up for that one. It’s why building a trust account with your female consumer is essential to creating loyalty and a lifetime referral source. “ In every interaction or moment we have with a customer we increase or decrease trust.” You Can’t Argue with Science! One of the best ways to establish trust is to form real relationships. I use the word ‘real’ intentionally, as women can sense when someone isn’t sincere and will walk away. Knowing the way the female brain is structured (compared to a mans) can be very valuable in cultivating a relationship with your female consumer. The adage “men are from Mars and women are from Venus” is a very accurate statement. A woman’s brain is built differently than a mans. If you wonder why we need to talk and be heard consistently, it’s because we use both our right and left the side of our brains to communicate. Unlike men, our emotions run high, but there is a physiological reason for this as well. Our limbic system is approximately double the size of a man’s. The limbic system is the emotion and memory hub of our brain. We have to feel good about a situation to move forward with just about anything. The popular Simon Sinek states that we make decisions based off of emotions. He’s right –, especially in the female consumer. Use Science to your Benefit! Get to know your female consumers through actively listening, showing compassion and empathy, and genuinely taking an interest in what they need or want – even if it’s outside purchasing a car. Uncover what she wants or needs at that moment; it will make you a mighty force because you’ll be delivering an experience that is tailored to her. Use this new science-based knowledge to your advantage. Create a real relationship and build trust with your female consumers; she’ll be the first one to tell everyone about the experience you provide her. The Big Take-a-ways: Get to know her as a woman first and a consumer second. Taking the time to get to know her first before diving right into the required needs assessment will break down the walls she has put up, and start to put deposits into the trust account; ultimately forming a bond and relationship with her. Establish a real relationship, speak to her limbic brain and earn her trust. If you don’t, there will be a lack of trust. She will feel you are insincere in your approach, and she will spread that message like wildfire.
Consider Life Stages to Understand the Female Consumer
Editor’s note: This is the second in a series, entitled “The Decision Maker.” Without a thorough understanding of the female consumer, you won’t be able to personalize and tailor the experience you provide in your dealership. So how do you go about understanding The Decision Maker? To truly understand The Decision Maker; the woman you will want to create female consumer persona’s. Creating a consumer persona is a great exercise to do as a team. Not only will it provide a greater understanding of the “Chief Purchasing Officer” – remember, that’s the female in the household – but it will allow your team to be part of the solution. It’s important to remember when creating a persona for the female consumer that she wants to be understood first as a woman and second as a consumer. You are probably thinking, “How do I create a persona for the female consumer?” The three steps below will give you a head start. Step One: Separate your female consumers into Life Stages Age is no longer an adequate way to segment your consumers. 40 is the new 30, and 30 is the new 20. Women are getting married later in life are having kids into their late 40s. By looking at your female consumers through their life stage, you will have a better understanding of her wants and needs at that moment in her life. And remember, the female consumer wants to be understood as a woman first and a consumer second. Harbinger has created six life stages for the female consumer, which is a great place to start when building female consumer personas. That, when paired with your dealerships demographic and geographic information, will prove to be very valuable in understanding the female consumer. Step Two: Define the goals and challenges she has in each life stage Once you have your female customer broken down into life stages, the second step is to define the goals she has and the challenges she faces at each life stage. You will now be able to determine how your dealership and its vehicles can help her fulfil her dreams and resolve her challenges. It’s also great to define the objections she’ll have when shopping for a car or bringing her car in for service. Step Three: get personal! Don’t stop there. Take your female consumer persona one step further by uncovering some personal details about her too. I like to use acronyms to help teams do this. For this, I am going to use WOMAN as my acronym. • Wants • Occupation • More (dreams, family) • Activities • Needs Uncovering these details will allow your team to have a holistic view of your female consumer persona at each life stage. *This is also a great exercise to complete for the male consumer- he also has some say in the vehicle purchase! What’s next? Once you have developed your female consumer personas, put them to work! Create a training document that each existing and new team member is required to know. You can train your team through daily huddles, group or department meetings and on-the-fly coaching.
A Series on The Decision Maker; The Woman
Most of us who work in the Automotive Industry is aware that only one in five employees in dealerships are female. We are also aware that the majority of decision-makers when purchasing a car are female, and that’s a huge disconnect. What we might not be aware of is this; 85% of the world’s executives are male. Ultimately, the car-buying experience is designed by men, delivered by men, for men. A Tailored Experience for the Decision Maker So why would you want to take the time to create ways to tailor your Consumer Brand Experience to the female consumer? Of course, there’s the obvious: she’s the Chief Purchasing Officer in her home. Women also hold 80% of the influence when purchasing a vehicle and approximately 65% of buyers are women! And that if that isn’t enough reason, she is also your number one referral source. Carl Sewell, the author of ‘Customers for life,’ states that the lifetime value of a customer equates to $517,000. By not curating an experience for the female buyer, not only are you losing her lifetime value, but you are also losing the potential of her referral network. Perception = HER Reality Here’s the kicker: the female customer is built differently than men. It means the excellent experience you think you are providing actually isn’t – not in her opinion anyway. Perception is the reality, and it no longer matters what you think is exceptional service. It only matters what she feels is exceptional service. When it comes to perception and seeing, feeling, hearing, and sensing things, there is no such thing as objectivity. The consumer sees, hears, and feels from where they stand, not from where you, the sales associate, stands. There is often a big gap between what experience we are providing and what the consumer -especially the female consumer – thinks he or she is receiving. A study by management consulting company, Bain, calls this disparity the “delivery gap.” In a study of 362 firms, Bain found that 80 percent believe their business offers a superior proposition or experience. However, only eight percent of customers held that same view. The extent of this difference is extraordinary. We may think we are providing an experience that is welcomed by our consumers when in fact we are offering them an experience that we feel is right for them. The golden rule that Grandma preached as we grew up – to treat others the way you would like to be treated – is a thing of the past. The higher standard that is demanded by customers in this day in age, especially the female consumer, is the platinum rule – treat others the way they want or need to be treated. By designing your consumer brand experience from her point of view, you will be able to speak to what she sees, hears, smells, and feels and ultimately close the “delivery gap” between perception and reality. So HOW Do you Close the Delivery Gap? In this four-part series, we are going to unpack one tip each week on how you can tailor the consumer brand experience in your dealership for the woman consumer. We will give you excellent ‘how to’ knowledge that you can take back to your dealership. If you’re not leveraging your female customer base to increase loyalty and referrals, then you’re missing out on top line sales. Join me next week for the second blog post on The Decision Maker Series!
Pay Attention- your team will tell you if they are falling out of engagement with you!
Retail Automotive suffers from an insanely high turnover rate. According to the National Automobile Dealers Association’s (NADA) most recent Dealership Workforce Study (2016), the annual turnover rate for all dealership employees is 43%, that is a three percent increase from the previous year, and for women; the automotive industry loses 96% off their female employees each year. Turnover is a big problem that costs dealerships a ton of money. A recent articled called Employee Turnover Costs Dealers Billions states that a 10-percentage-point increase in turnover would cost the average dealership $7,500 in gross profit per employee per year. There are a few things retailers can do to reduce this number and keep their people happy. Attract and hire the right candidate Attracting and selecting the right candidate is very important and requires a recruiting and hiring strategy. Getting the right person on the right seat on the bus is a significant first step to ensure the success of the employee and the dealership. Now that you’ve got them; retain them! Having an employee engagement strategy should be top priority! Give your team members a reason to come to work every day. Curate a people first culture and be the best part of their day; after all, they spend more time with you than their own families. Check out last week’s blog post The Investment You Must Make to Survive for some great information in creating an employee engagement strategy. Get good at leading and seeing the warning signs Develop your leaders, and ensure they are paying attention to the warning signs their team members are giving them! I am going to expand on this point. As important as attracting the right candidate is, and curating a world-class internal culture will aid in retention of your team members; it is the leader that impacts employee engagement. The leaders in your dealership should be able to tell if an employee is falling out of engagement with you. Lack of Time is No Excuse As leaders, we are always ‘busy’, to busy sometimes to see the warning signs that our team members give us- telling us they are falling out of engagement with us. We often don’t notice this until it’s too late and our team members are disgruntled, unmotivated, and their work is slipping in quality and accountability. If you are reading this and you are a leader (pssst…we all lead in some way, form, or fashion) remember it is your job to PAY ATTENTION to your team and the warning signs they give you. “People work for people, not companies”, we MUST lead with a servant’s heart and take notice of the little things our people are telling us. Be Present- a best practice. As I mentioned earlier, we all get busy! It is easy to miss those warning signs. As you climb the ‘corporate’ ladder, it is important to remember what you needed from your leader and learn from the mistakes of past leaders; these can be the best lessons! In my experiences, a common mistake made by most leaders is not being present in the moments they spend with their people. Because we are so busy, there are always meetings to run to and ‘to dos’ to check off that list, we forget to make time for the people making everything tick. As I have stumbled along the path towards becoming a leader those want to follow, I have learned that you can’t do it all, but we must make time to be there for our people to be successful. In the many leadership positions, I held I always did this; I arrived at the office at least two hours before my team arrived. Why do you ask? I got all my nitty gritty ‘to dos’ done, organize my day, and set my daily priorities. The beauty of this is that once my team arrived, I was present for them, my day had been planned, and now my door was open; I was available to support my team in any way they needed. Coming in early did two things for my team’s engagement: My team felt supported and guided leaving me open time to coach on the fly and, I was free to see the warning signs of slipping engagement, so I could ask probing questions to uncover ‘why’ before it’s too late; I was Present. Did You Know? A study conducted by Gallup showed that although organizations with a high level of engagement do report 22% higher productivity, it yields so many more rewards. In the article, Employee Engagement Does More than Boost Productivity written by John Baldoni for the Harvard Business Review shows that “Strong employee engagement promotes a variety of outcomes that are good for employees and customers. For instance, highly engaged organizations have double the rate of success of lower engaged organizations.” What to Pay Attention to I can hear the little voice in your head as you read this… “What are the warning signs I should be looking for..” Great Question! If you are present and are paying attention, you will have a pulse on your team engagement at all times. However, there are a few telltale signs that a team member is falling out of engagement with you. Warning signs to keep an eye on: Team members disengage Is a team member unusually quiet in meetings? When people are excited they want to talk about it; if you notice that a team member is less talkative or open to getting involved in a project or initiative, there is a good chance that something is going on. Team member disengagement can also show up as lateness or calling in sick more than usual. If you catch this early on you can pull the team member aside and ask him/her if there is anything you can help them with, probe and find out what is bothering them and then readjust their scope to reinvigorate them! They start missing deadlines Often if a
The Investment You Must Make To Survive
“An organization can only become the best version of its self to the extent that the people who drive that organization are striving to become better versions of themselves ” Matthew Kelly. I sat in the audience of a panel discussion Digital Dealer 24 Conference last week. The panel was full of brilliant gentlemen who have not only survived the ups and downs of Retail Automotive but hold a thought process that will keep them standing. This panel was titled The Future of Automotive Retail: Changing & Evolving Roles. The overarching message that each panelist conveyed was this: if we don’t evolve we will become extinct. Retail Automotive needs to get on board with a new way to lead, a new way to develop culture and ultimately a new way to treat their people and customers. It is refreshing to hear these point of views. However, when I look at many of the retailers I work with I see teams full of bright ideas, waiting for someone to permit them. They (especially the few female team members) are afraid to make decisions or offer new and innovative solutions due to the lack of leadership that fosters an environment around employee engagement and empowerment. I have started to ask myself why anyone would want to squash such innovation and further to that, who would want to work in an environment that doesn’t empower and engage their people? The scary reality, most retailers have no idea they are cultivating a powerless climate. Research shows that only about 25% of business leaders have an employee engagement strategy. (Source: Dale Carnegie) And my educated guess says it is even lower in the automotive industry. As leaders we must pay attention to the culture we are fostering and start investing in our people, after all, they are the reason your business functions on a daily basis, and they are the reason customers buy from us. Dare To Be Different And Watch The Top Line GROW The good news, this can change with you! More and more organizations and their leaders are starting to think differently, becoming increasingly more progressive and starting to ‘chase the people’ before the dollar. They are beginning to realize that without engaged front-line team members, top-line revenue will not sustain. The culture you design reflects the comfort and satisfaction of not only your team but your customers as well. A study conducted by Workplace Research Foundation shows that increasing employee engagement investments by only 10% can increase your profits by $2,400 per employee, per year and that highly engaged employees are 38% more likely to have above-average productivity. The saying “take care of your people and the money will come” is a new way of thinking and often disregarded because it is a significant investment that doesn’t produce a dollar off the top- right away that is. Deciding to invest in your people is the first step and the easiest. We have to start somewhere. However, the hard work that follows is where most organizations fall off and go right back to the old way of thinking, $$$. Is Automotive Ready For This Change? Walking the talk requires time, processes, and patience. If you plan to take a stance and be forward thinking, be prepared to live up to it and own the hard work that lies ahead. Don’t give up when the going gets tough, keep at it. Your people will thank you for it and will return the favour through hard work and increasingly growing results. Imagine a culture where you empower your people to strive for greatness, where your people are free to think outside of the box and share their innovative ideas. The possibilities of future growth and success become endless. In an industry that focuses (almost solely) on volume, sales, and profit this transition won’t be natural. However, if you don’t prepare yourself for change, talented employees will make a change, and your customers will follow. What Are You Waiting For? Transforming a culture that has been around since the beginning of time will take time! Following these six steps is an excellent start to improving Internal Culture, employee engagement, and top-line revenue. 1. Decide to take on the challenge to make your people top priority- YOU have to believe 2. Gain 100% Executive sponsorship- without this, you won’t get far. 3. Develop the ‘how’- plan it, make an actionable step by step plan on how to make your vision come to life. 4. Make internal culture part of your yearly strategic initiatives- make it a focus, not a fad. 5. Measure success through critical metrics like deceased attrition, increased employee retention, employee engagement survey scores, achievement of yearly strategic plans, and top-line revenue. Remember, what gets measured gets managed. 6. Share the successes! The most successful organizations are fantastic storytellers, positive behaviour breeds positive behaviour- share the positive transformations at every level of your organization and watch how it multiplies before your eyes. Instant Gratification or Sustained Success? Most of us are familiar with the adage “one cookie now or 2 cookies later?” Ask yourself, do you want short-term, unsustainable success, if so chase the dollar. If you’re going to create a legacy, then invest in your people, nurture and empower them. The return will not only come in a monetary form, but in loyalty, hard work, and brand evangelists who will promote your business like it is their own. If Retail Automotive wants to survive, change must happen. Invest in your people and Internal Culture; you won’t be sorry you did.
Action Speaks Louder than Words.
A few weeks ago I wrote an article called Inspiration Just isn’t Enough! That outlined the vast gender gap in the automotive industry and how inspirational words just isn’t going to cut it. If we want to make a difference, we have to be the difference. The definition of insanity is “to do the same thing over and over again and expect a different outcome”. If we were to put the automotive industry up against this definition, it is clear as day that we are insane! No one is going to come with a magic wand and cast a spell that makes automotive dealers, and OEM’s the top place to work for females or a place where female consumers feel comfortable; we have to choose to do something different and action the changes necessary to see a different outcome. GM is Breaking the Cycle There is one brand that is taking a significant step in the right direction, and I wanted to take a moment to outline who it is and what they have done! In a recent article The ‘Extra Oomph’ that changed GM, Auto News featured GM’s Mary Barra, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer who is the first female CEO of a major global automaker. Barra states “Corporate culture doesn’t change quickly, but it’s critical to have a strong culture to motivate employees and to cultivate an environment that breeds success.” In her effort to build a strong culture for females in automotive GM has established the GM’s Women’s Retail Network. Recently, GM has also developed three core values for the company: The Customer is our Compass, Relationships Matter, and Individual Excellence is Crucial. Having core values like these is a step in the right direction to attracting female candidates and ultimately female consumers; these values outline that people come first, decisions are made with the individual in mind and culture matters. I challenge you to think about this: If women don’t want to work for you, why would women want to buy from you? GM understands this, and is breaking the script! What Can We Learn From GM? More Automotive Brands need to create a network of tools, resources, and pathways that support women in the industry to grow without worrying about the glass ceiling that has been above their heads for decades. Programs such as: Employee resource groups for women that support women in the current environment Female-driven 20 groups Education for personal development and succession and; Mentoring programs that connect other male and female executives with up and coming female team members Programs like these will help bring more women into the workforce and keep them there, a classic tale of “if you build it they will come”. Having more of a female presence at the dealership and executive levels will, without a doubt, attract women consumers to your brand. It is in the best interest of the Automotive Brands to build a culture that women can get behind; if you do this both female employees and consumers will take notice! I will drive my point home by reiterating this “The purchase share of women around the world will continue to rise, and with the lack of women at the table, decisions will remain to be made by men, delivered by men, for men. Continuing to lead in this manner will proceed to affect dealerships lack of or decrease in loyalty, retention, referrals, and overall all top line dollar. It’s in your best interest to be ready to serve the women who are purchasing your vehicles; every day of the year!” It’s time to take action. Let’s stop talking about all the incredible ways women can help move the automotive industry into the 21st century and start breaking the insanity cycle by doing what needs to be done to make it happen.
9 Ways to Grow Your Team’s Confidence…In YOU!
It is your sole responsibility as a leader to build and grow the confidence of your team. Your team’s performance and engagement is a direct reflection of your leadership. Follow these nine tips to help you cultivate a team that is confident in you (as their leader), themselves and their abilities: Trust first, give your team the benefit of the doubt. Listen actively, pay attention to your team’s needs. Praise in public, let your team be the hero. Coach in private, coaching is a positive thing when done in a private setting and framed around growth and development. Play to your team’s strengths; put the right people in the right seat on the bus. They will feel, much more confident and successful in their role. Show compassion & empathy; no one is perfect. Show that you care and create a safe environment for your team members to come to you with anything. Let your team in! They want to be a part of the big picture. Ask them their opinion, show them it matters. Create a safe environment where it is ok to fail, making mistakes/error is ok; this means they are trying. Own it, if you do nothing else do this. Celebrate your team– ‘we’ when you succeed and own the failures– ‘I’ when we fail, don’t place blame. Let your team know you have their back no matter what. If you are doing one or a combination of the above, then you are off to a great start! I challenge you to look at your reflection as a leader and ask yourself, honestly, if you positively contribute to the confidence your team has in you, themselves and their abilities.