Summer is here, and customers stream into the dealership to get their vehicles ready for summer travel. Is your dealership busy? Do you have the right personnel in the right positions to handle your customers? If not, perhaps it’s time to take a new approach.

Personnel can make the difference between an enjoyable experience that leaves customers happy to return to your dealership OR a bad experience that causes them to vent to their friends and colleagues or fume over various social media channels. Excellent management has a pulse on their entire staff and anticipates the needs of their customers as the season changes.

During the summer months, dealerships may see an increase in out of town customers. These customers may be stressed due to car problems or in a hurry due to time constraints. Their treatment should not be any different than your loyal customers. Every member of the staff should be in the mindset that every customer is essential to the health of the dealership. A strong management team will make this philosophy part of the culture.

Great managers that lead by example and inspire their employees will have less absenteeism and less turnover. But not all managers are good with personnel decisions. Sometimes managers have amazing organization skills, work very hard, and are overall visionaries. And although it’s a good idea to have these sorts of people in an organization, a dealership is a people business and needs management that can lead their personnel to create the best customer service experience.

So, if your dealership isn’t as busy as it should be, perhaps it’s time to do your own summer tune-up. Give Autopeople a call and see how we can help you gain a competitive edge. To get started, visit our website at www.autopeople.com, call 1-800-659-9501 or email me at dadragna@autopeople.com.

Autopeople has hundreds of dealers in our network who are actively seeking the best automotive talent.