Data Be Darned, Do It Yourself

Technology has fundamentally altered how we sell and service automobiles.

This 21^st century truth is self-evident. However, many fundamental aspects of the automotive industry have remained steadfast in the midst of it all. Some facets of the business haven’t changed at all.

A consistent challenge dealers have faced in any era is implementing new processes and getting staff to adapt to them. At no point in history has a dealer principal or manager said, “Gee, that was easy. I instructed the staff in what to do. They did it right away. Now, everything is better.” 

Change is hard for people. It always has been. This is why we need leaders to help guide people through the processes of change while helping them understand the logic behind business modifications.

Unfortunately, our modern-era ability to extract and analyze data from just about every conceivable stream of information associated with our customers and our business has dulled the leadership instincts of many people. 

Too many managers who should be leading and inspiring their sales and service teams are instead burying themselves in an endless myriad of report printouts or are staring vacantly at their computer monitor watching another software application spew out bar graphs that likely tell them what they already know. 

If you have a bad employee, how much data do you really need to verify what you already have seen with your own eyes? It’s a safe assumption low sales numbers generated by a lousy service adviser or an inept salesman aren’t going to look any better on the sixth report.

So why do modern-day managers waste valuable time focusing on the minutia of obvious data when they should be leading and helping the staff change for the better?  

The short answer is simply because they can. The software has been created, the data has been downloaded and a menu of reports allows access to countless statistical formats. 

The longer answer is this access to cascades of data has given the managers an excuse to avoid the heavy lifting of addressing staff shortcomings and trying to give an employee the tools to improve performance.

“Paralysis by analysis” has never been truer.

Last year, I wrote a WardsAuto account of how our dealership successfully adopted a “Dealer Currency” customer-loyalty program. 

Our strategy was to take a cash discount that would have been given to a customer and transition that into dealer currency put in a virtual account in the dealership’s virtual bank until the customer returned to use it in either the sales or service departments.

Once the concept had been proven, it was the proverbial no-brainer way to do business.

However, while presenting it to an array of dealers who could benefit from the idea, a surprising number of them became preoccupied with a desire for data that could statistically prove why the program would help them.

Has data and technology dulled our entrepreneurial instincts to the point where we need to statistically prove that replacing cash discounts we give to customers today with dealer currency they will spend at our dealership in the future is a good thing for customers, dealerships and the automotive industry as a whole?

Or are we hiding behind the need for data because getting the staff to do things differently is hard and requires a lot of follow up? Do we prefer to wait until the data can prove something has to be done rather than do it ourselves?

Some things we need to do ourselves. I’ve been in the automotive industry 24 years. I have yet to see a computer run a sales meeting, wash a customer’s car or have a cup of coffee with a salesman who has had a bad day and needs some reassuring.

Doug Shorman is general manager of Granville Toyota in Vancouver, BC. He can be contacted at [email protected]