Unemployment is low; workers have options. Your onboarding process better engage, encourage, and accelerate your team members’ career path from the get-go. Here are some guidelines to make it better.
- Facilitate a meeting with direct managers on day one. Business leaders have to focus on making positive first impressions on new hires from the start. It’s the direct manager’s responsibility to provide new hires with solid foundations for success. Meet with candidates during their first few days on the job to review all of the standard operating policies at your auto dealership.
Then, share a 30-60-90-day plan that clearly outlines job expectations. The first 30 days should be dedicated almost entirely to information gathering and learning. New hires should have access to product and service training and resources to understand the local and regional market better.
Plan job shadowing during the first 60 days, too, so that candidates can see your strategy and develop successful routines early. Effective employee retention plans are proactive. They start early and always focus on keeping engagement strong throughout the onboarding process.
- Train them on administering, using, and seeing the value of tools and resources. Dealerships continue to evolve with the addition of new digital tools that make sales quicker and easier. From sales-ready automotive CRM to inventory optimization systems, knowing how to use all of the latest tools and resources is essential to the success of new hires. Making them easily accessible and including technical training during the onboarding process is vital.
- Provide a mentor who is seasoned and a people person. Mentorship is still one of the best ways to instill perspective, guidance, and advice in new hires. It doesn’t have to be the person with the best sales record. Strong mentors should be experienced sales managers that are patient and willing to help new employees succeed.
Some common characteristics of excellent mentors for onboarding are career enthusiasm, positive attitude, good listening skills, and empathy. A mentor can also encourage new employees to embrace constructive criticism by providing positive feedback before pointing out mistakes.
Some final onboarding guidelines include:
- Building strong connections at all levels of your dealership
- Encouraging open communication and offering career growth opportunities.
If you want to build a team of salespeople who genuinely understand your customers and values, improving onboarding should be the priority. Otherwise, you’ll continue to pay the costs for high turnover.
So when you’re ready to have the recruitment team at Autopeople in your corner, give us a call at 1-800-659-9501, visit our website at www.autopeople.com or email us to discuss what Autopeople can do for you.
