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The Magical Disney Moment That Wasn’t Even Mine

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I’ve visited Disneyland many times. As an Annual Passholder, it was close to my house and a great place to get my (at the time) two-year old, out of the house for a spell. Even if we didn’t go on any rides, the ambience, energy and magic that attracts and maintains brand loyalty and excitement for Disney captured her mind and heart. Even to this day, now as an almost 11-year old, when asked what she wants to do in the future, her answer is to work for Disney. She literally studies, consumes and wants to be knowledgeable in everything Disney. In her words, if she wants to work there, she needs to know everything about Disney, all the movies and everything.

In 2008, we visited Disneyland. On that visit, I captured a magical moment. And it didn’t belong to me.

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As I took this picture, I started making up stories in my head. This young boy had probably been sitting for upwards of almost 2 hours with his family in order to get that front row spot for the parade. It was probably hot (it was SoCal in June). And he was probably bored out of his mind wishing that he was on a ride rather than sitting on concrete.

Being a little older now since that picture was taken (by 9 years) and a little wiser to the fact that everything at Disney is by design, the picture has morphed in my mind into a Disney success story. I’ve read the book “Disney U” by Doug Lipp (which I recommend) and I also attended the first Disney Institute Customer Experience Summit in 2016 (which I also recommend). As I now reflect on the things I have learned from both Lipp’s book and the Disney Institute, I believe this Cast Member recognized the same things I did and, in his own way, attempted to bring happiness, joy, some personalization and what I would like to think is a smile beginning to form on that young boy’s face during that parade.

And while I have no photographic evidence of that smile, I can tell you that this Cast Member’s actions did, indeed, produce a smile… my own.

I have hundreds, if not thousands, of pictures at Disney properties including Disneyland, Disney World, Disney Cruise Lines and the Disney Institute Customer Experience Summit. This, however, will always be my favorite, as I believe it encapsulates all the “keys” that Disney trains its employees to embrace and it illustrates action on those philosophies making them more than just words… gives them life, if you will… and shows that it’s not just about teaching employees your business beliefs but having them also embrace and act upon them.

I have to admit, however, that I lied in the title. Even though this moment didn’t happen to me, it was my magical Disney moment. And that’s why I will always be a Disney fan.

2016 Disney Customer Experience Summit: Review

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I’ve always been a big Disney fan. My family and I had season passes to Disneyland in California for about 8 years before moving to North Carolina. Now I can’t get my Disney fix on as often as I’d like to but still manage to go once a year or so. Being in the automotive industry with my business being focused on three main areas: content writing, social media and conferences,  I’m very often dealing with topics revolving around customer loyalty, customer retention and customer experience. I was first introduced (legitimately) to the Disney Institute at a Driving Sales Executive Summit (automotive industry conference) about 4 years ago with Bruce Kimbrell as a keynote speaker. I was aware of the Disney Institute previously but that was my first taste of some actual Disney Institute education. I was hooked. After that conference, I studied up and wanted to continue learning from the Disney Institute. Keep in mind that I’m a “gotta have it all” kind of guy so, of course I wanted to take every Disney Institute course offered. Of course, through my research, I discovered that to do so would cost upwards of $30,000+ just in tuition (not including travel, lodging, etc.). So when I came across the ad for the Disney Institute Customer Experience Summit in my Facebook feed, I was intrigued. I called and promptly grilled a poor guy named Chris at the Disney Institute for about an hour asking countless questions. In typical Disney fashion, he was very patient with me and answered them all. Considering the registration was $4,000 for a 2-1/2 day event, I wanted to know exactly what I would be learning. Satisfied, I registered. Disney graciously opened up the room block to include the 3 days pre and post-conference so my family and I decided to make a little vacation out of it as well… then I waited.

When the time came for us to travel and begin our adventure, we checked in to Disney’s flagship resort, the Grand Floridian Resort & Spa. It was an excellent experience considering we really only planned to drop our bags and head to the park seeing as we showed up at 9am and check-in was 3pm but Disney was ready for us and had our room waiting. We then spent the Friday, Saturday and Sunday melting visiting the parks. We went to Epcot on day 1, Hollywood Studios on Day 2 and then the Magic Kingdom on day 3. It was a great, but very hot, time.

Now that the background story and personal story are out of the way, let’s get into the meat of the review.

Day 1 of the Disney Institute’s Customer Experience Summit

Check in began at 3:30pm so I promptly went and did so. After getting a pretty cool computer bag stuffed with goodies including a personalized Disney Institute pen, I was legit.

The curriculum began at 5:30pm with Vice President & General Manager of the Disney Institute, Jeff James, taking the stage to welcome us and introducing Bruce Jones, Senior Programming Director as our event MC.

 

Bruce proceeded to give us an overview of what to expect, some information about the mobile website and our personal agenda (on our smart-computers… cough… phones) as well as some ground rules regarding evidence social media content… mainly that they encouraged us to utilize social media but that no video  or audio recording was allowed and no social media whatsoever while we were in any backstage (non-public) area within the parks. [Side note: For the remainder of the conference, whenever Bruce talked about social media, he always mentioned my name in some way. For attendees: Yes, I was THAT Arnold.]

Bruce then brought onto stage all of the facilitators and staff that would be educating us over the next few days and introduced them to us. Now if you know me at all, I’m a social media monster. Having been involved in over 45 conferences now most of which involved (at a minimum) social media marketing, I was ready. [Note: If you’re really interested in all of the content I tweeted, you can check out my Twitter profile here or you can view everyone’s tweets by searching the conference hashtag #DisneyCXSummit. For the meat of the Summit content, check out tweets between August 23-25, 2016]. I think Bruce summed up the Disney Institute’s goal for Summit attendees when he said:

After that, we had our first general session learning an overview of Disney philosophies and a preview of what we’d be learning over the next few days by Kathy Van Tassell (KVT), one of the Disney Institute facilitators. She brought us some great content. I wish I could embed all of my tweets here but that would just be overkill (albeit interesting.) One of my favorite soundbites was this:

“Leadership is when your employees look forward to their drive to work just as much as their drive home from work.”

After the opening general session, we were off to our first networking reception Disney-style led by Mickey and Minnie. The networking reception featured an open bar, TONS of food and character meet-and-greets. Now let me tell you this, I’ve been to a TON of conferences (mainly in the automotive industry) and have worked 45 of them. NEVER have I experienced what I did at this networking reception… it seemed as if you needed Fast Passes for the character meet-and-greet lines while there were absolutely NO lines at the bars! I guess in hindsight that’s not too surprising but still… [and yes, of course I stood in those lines.]

Day 2 of Disney Institute’s Customer Experience Summit

Day 2 of the Summit started with an early breakfast at 7am followed by a keynote speech by Walt Disney World Resort President, George Kalogridis. As he discussed some of the ways in which Disney immerses their guests into the Disney experience, the first thing he did was hand out Magic Disney ears to everyone in the audience so we could experience it. He then played a video which synced up to the RFID chips in the ears and the whole crowd started blinking and changing colors in unison. Remarks I overheard from Disney employees was that this brought tears to their eyes.

Image courtesy of Jake Massey
Image courtesy of Jake Massey

We were then split into groups – some groups would learn the customer experience curriculum for the day while the other groups would learn about employee engagement. Needless to say there was way too much content to publish everything here (and I don’t know that I would want to potentially spoil things for others) but the day was filled with a ton of great education, insight and immersive experiences. The one thing I do want to share was the simplicity of Disney’s common purpose which, may I add, they have thus far achieved with resounding success.

And, I would be remiss in my reporting if I didn’t include the answer to the question of what the most asked question in Disney parks is. (Image on right) Why? Guess you’ll have to take a Disney Institute class to find out why and what it really means.

Then we got to go on our first field experience. There were four to choose from which we pre-selected prior to the Summit. The one I chose saw us visiting the Magic Kingdom. We were grouped and had an activity to perform which we were to identify examples of the Four Keys (I’ll get to that later) and we took a behind-the-scenes tour of the “Be Our Guest” restaurant which, apparently is sold out 190 days in advance. If you’re planning a trip to Disney World in the next 6 months, you’re out of luck. Plan early if you want to eat at this uber-cool restaurant.

Then it was back to the Grand Floridian’s conference center for the rest of our day and the closing general session with Karl Holz, President of New Vacation Operations and the Disney Cruise Line. His keynote was focused primarily on employee engagement and the importance of your “cast” in creating an excellent customer experience. It was fantastic. He also stressed the importance of, and Disney’s view, of employee empowerment.

This was one of my favorite soundbites from his session:

Oh, but was the day over? Far from it. Bruce Jones closed out the evening with a question for the audience that really got me thinking and was really pretty profound:

“What matters most? The little “wows” or  the big “wows”?

We got serenaded by two cast members with music from the new Disney Cruise Line show “Tangled” where we not only saw the light but heard it, then we were whisked off to Hollywood Studios for a first class dinner at Club Villain featuring the Divas of Evil (and Dr. Facilier). [Note: the character meet-and-greet line… yeah, they actually had TIMES set for you (a’la Fast Passes… perhaps someone was listening to our tweets from the night before) while, again, the bar line was completely empty.]

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Was the “Disney Magic” over? Heck no! After the dinner, we were escorted to a reserved viewing area to watch the new “Star Wars: A Galactic Fireworks Spectacular” show. Here’s a teaser (Hey, it was a public place):

Day 3 of the Disney Institute Customer Experience Summit

Day 3 began with a keynote by Paul Richardson, Senior Vice President Human Resources for ESPN and the Chief Diversity Officer for the Walt Disney Companies. He gave us information about the quantity of programming that ESPN produces (amazing!) and brought along a surprise guest speaker, former Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach and current broadcaster, Jon Gruden!

Coach Gruden spoke about winning and teamwork while Paul Richardson spoke about the importance of taking risks. A key illustration from him was of ESPN’s “Body” issue which has artistic nude images of athletes. As a “lawyer in recovery” and Human Resources VP, you could see where there was concern but this issue has become their most popular ESPN magazine issue every year!

Of course, the exclamation point to his speech was this:

I then began my second day of classes and was extremely thrilled to be reunited with the former DrivingSales Executive Summit keynote speaker as a facilitator for the day, Bruce Kimbrell! (Take that, DSES peeps. You got him for 50 minutes. I got him the. whole. day. BOOM!)

Day 2 for me and my group was all focused on employee engagement and how that affects both retention and customer experience. Again, there was so much content that this blog article/review would be super long if I tried to repeat it all so I’m gonna stick with a couple of my favorite highlights. Oh, but first, I failed to mention that the Disney Institute has swag for those who participate in the classes! If you ever attend a class, PARTICIPATE!

We learned the “Four Keys” philosophy in more depth and how employees, management and leadership use that to guide their decisions. (Patience… I’ll get to the Four Keys.) Loved the following soundbites:

 

“People don’t generally leave companies. They leave leaders.”

“You can never take your company culture for granted. You can lose a good one a lot faster than you can create one.” 

“When you give your employee less reason to leave you, you give your customers less reason to leave as well.”

but this was my favorite (by Bruce Kimbrell)

“There is not one bit of magic in anything Disney. Everything is method. There is nothing done unintentionally. Everything is by design.” 

One of my FAVORITE parts of day two was the Disney Institutes’s “Wonderland” activity. First, let me tell you that while it was MY favorite part, there were other people ready to cut [as in with a knife] someone. It was a very educational and illustrative immersive type activity. If I told you more. I’d be spoiling it for you should you ever encounter it, so I won’t. Just know that it seemed as if attendees really enjoyed it or really hated it. In the end, however, they all understood and learned from it. It was only during the moment that emotions ran high. I must admit that I got WAY into my role as a negative dispenser though. (You have to do the activity to understand.)

Another very cool educational method was through the use of illustrative immersive live-action examples. Video? Forget that. They brought in actors to illustrate points. Just let me say that the “Ice cream shop” story/illustration left me teary eyed (in a good way).

Then we were off to our second field experience! This time, I got to visit the Magic Kingdom again. I thought we were going to experience ride operations backstage but what did we do? We got to ride! Yeee haw! [Note: If you ever sign up for an in-park experience for the Disney Institute and they ask whether you prefer kiddie classic rides or thrill rides, understand that you are choosing which types of rides you want to go on.] I met up with a fellow attendee at the end of day 1 who was kicking himself for not picking thrill rides. You’ve been warned. We had a VIP Tour Guide who walked us onto the rides (which was way cool and available to the public at a reasonable rate of $400 per hour with a 7 hour minimum). When we got to the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train ride, there was a 130 minute stand-by line wait. That was partially because they were filming an episode of the ABC show “Blackish.” Their train actually stopped… right… in.. front.. of me… but, sadly, I wasn’t fast enough with my phone to snap a picture of the actors. Then we rode the Haunted Mansion [I totally brought back the hitchhiking ghosts], Space Mountain and Buzz Lightyear.

We then returned and, following a little more education, we were off to our final closing session which was a very cool experience with a Disney Imagineer, Emily O’Brien and Food & Beverage Experience & Pairing Integration VP, Beth Scott. They shared the story of the creation and teamwork involved in creating the new restaurant and bar at Disney’s Animal Kingdom, Tiffin’s Restaurant and Nomad’s Lounge. One of the really cool things that happened was that they introduced us to the Flavor Lab where a Disney bartender(?) mixed a new drink live on video then.. ouila’… Disney cast members came out and delivered samples to everyone! Then a chef came on live video and showed us how they made a rib and black-eyed pea fritter which was then also brought out for everyone to sample!

At the close of the closing general session… well, I have to tell you the story. Apparently, people REALLY love Dole Whip. There was this whole group obsessed with Dole Whip. Chances are that Disney could have just served Dole Whip the whole conference and people would have been happy. Don’t know for sure but they Screen Shot 2016-08-29 at 7.13.44 PMnot only had a dedicated hashtag but a freaking mascot idol thingy. Bruce Jones came on stage and told us, after the closing keynote, that our badges would get us a free Dole Whip at the Polynesian Resort (just a short monorail ride away) but, in addition, the Disney magic makers had created a special Dole Whip inspired drink for us – and only for us – that would be given to us as we left. [And, skipping ahead just a tad, the funny side of me couldn’t help but ask this group whether… now that they had “whipped” if they were going to “nae nae”… well, guess what… I talked them into it.]

And by left, I mean they said “Get out!” Why? Because they had something special waiting for us and, while they pretended they were giving us some extra time to change and relax, they really needed time to prepare. You see, they had TAUGHT us about Disney magic for 3 days, now they wanted us to EXPERIENCE it. So we left.

When we returned, we were the Disney Institute’s guest. Dinner was all “Beauty and the Beast” themed and first class. When I say first-class, I’m talking caviar, etc. We had visits by Lumiere, Cogsworth, Beauty and the Beast along with a beautiful centerpiece (in the middle of the dance floor) of a rose in glass. All of the tables and napkins were stuffed with fresh red roses as well. We were serenaded, fed and entertained. When we left, we left to another gift of the book “Be Our Guest” by the Disney Institute. [Note: If you like great books and Disney education, pick up a copy of “Disney U” by Doug Lipp.]

And, that’s the end of my story… or is it?

I forgot a couple of things… first, the Four Keys. The Four Keys are the foundation of Disney’s philosophy. They represent, in this order, Safety, Courtesy, Show and Efficiency. In simple terms, think of it this way. Safety is the highest priority and it moves down the chain from there. Courtesy is… well… courtesy. Show? This represents the fact that Disney is putting on a show. That’s why employees are “cast members”, visitors are “guests”, public areas are “on stage” for employees and private areas are “back stage.” It’s way more involved than that, however, and I recommend either attending a Disney Institute course, the next Customer Experience Summit or reading Doug Lipp’s book to learn more but let me leave you with this…

Not only did I LOVE the event, experience, education, activities, and experiences and felt like the event was worth every penny, but when I got home, I made sure that I would never forget the experience nor the philosophies that I learned. Ciao for now and shout out to my tweeting friends Luigi Casanova from Peru, Rich Vallaster and the Disney Institute’s social media person, Amie Gorell as well as all of the facilitators (especially the two Bruces – Kimbrell and Jones).

And finally, this is how I made sure I would never forget what I learned and the impact this event had on me. (Yes, it’s a real tattoo.)

A Big Old Can of Nonsense: Who Needs Loyal Customers Anyways?

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With all of the recent epiphanies that thought leaders in ours and other industries that businesses should be spending time and effort cultivating relationships, spending money and basically treating customers right, I thought it time to re-visit this whole “customer loyalty” phenomenon. Customers don’t really care about car dealers, do they? I mean, dealers are ranked below Congress in surveys about trustworthiness. They don’t like coming to dealerships for ANY reason much less to buy a car. In fact, companies are popping up out of the woodwork with the sole benefit of making it possible for people to buy cars WITHOUT going to dealerships.

We know through many articles and trends that customer loyalty is dead. The Gen Y and Millennial generations could care less who they do business with. Sure, they’ll show up for that $19.95 oil change special but is it because they’re loyal? No! It’s because it’s a deal. And believe me when I say that they will eagerly go to another dealership the next time they need their vehicle serviced that offers a coupon or special when you don’t have one at that time.

People need to buy – and service – cars and regardless of whether you’re a franchised, independent or buy here, pay here lot, dealers are all they have. It’s way too much work for consumers to obtain financing, process paperwork and facilitate a private party sales transaction. In addition, most of these are “as-is” transactions so they’re essentially throwing the dice hoping they aren’t getting a lemon.

As for service, there’s a Jiffy Lube or other independent auto service center promising convenient, fast and friendly oil changes upon demand. Sure, maybe they’re using generic parts that might not fit perfectly but are serviceable. Who cares? They’re cheaper, right? Who needs certified technicians, nice waiting areas or free coffee? They’d rather go buy a $12 Triple, Venti, Half Sweet, Non-Fat, Caramel Macchiato than drink the Keurig produced coffee dealers provide for them.

As a business, dealerships have been wildly successful acquiring new customers for the past decades. It’s easy. Sure, maybe it’s gotten more expensive over the years but what’s $640 per customer when dealers can high gross them on the huge profit margins manufacturers give them to work with.

And rewards? Really? Dealers are seriously expected – yes, expected – to give away free stuff to customers who happen to give them money? Get serious.

The bottom line is that dealers sell and service cars. Dealers have this industry so tightly wrapped up and in control that even Elon Musk with all his money, influence and consumer backing can’t even manage to convince many states to let him sell his cars direct to consumers. The new companies promising excellent customer experiences and complete online transactions account for such a small percentage of sales that they’re inconsequential. Consumers HAVE to buy their cars from a dealership and they certainly have a monopoly on warranty and recall work, too.

So let’s all just calm down and sit back while OEMs take used car inventories online and auction prices skyrocket (goodbye used car grosses), the NHTSA opens up recall work to independents (see you later recall revenue), the CFPB begins to regulate consumer financing (so long F&I reserve), new car front end margins shrink (you didn’t have these anyways) and complete online buying experiences become the preferred car purchasing experience…

Wait a minute. Who needs loyal customers? Dealers do.

If You Can’t Keep What You Have, Getting Bigger Isn’t Going to Solve Anything

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There is little doubt in anyone’s mind that the millions of recalls are going to increase the demand for technicians while straining existing franchise dealer’s service departments. Manufacturers are desperately trying to convince dealers to take on expensive expansion projects in their service departments in an effort to avoid losing service business to independents. To this point, according to an article in Automotive News, FCA US announced that it will be launching on online analyzer that will allow dealers to calculate the potential revenue increases of additional service capacity and technicians. Dealers will be able to play with variables such as number of bays, technicians as well as toggle shift lengths to see whether the expenses involved will be fruitful. Of course, with the massive amount of available recall work in and of itself, my guess is that the calculator is pretty much going to show numbers in the  black in most instances. The one piece of this article that really got my attention wasn’t the fact that a manufacturer is trying to get its dealers to expand their fixed ops capacity… no, it was this:

“Now, almost two-thirds of customers who buy new vehicles from FCA US dealerships are no longer visiting the dealerships for service one year after purchase.”

Wait. What?

So, FCA US is telling us that 2/3 of their new vehicle buyers defect from their dealerships’ service departments with, at minimum, two years left under warranty? Now, they’re trying to convince their dealers that they should expand their service departments? Something doesn’t add up here.

Sure, it makes sense that with almost 10 million recalled vehicles since 2014, FCA US is concerned about wait times for consumers to get their warranty work completed. The more completed recall work, the less liability for the automaker and a chance at retaining some brand loyalty.

FCA US has made some great strides and breakthrough initiatives in our industry as relates to employee retention by offering free college tuitions to all FCA US employees and dealership employees. They recognized that employee turnover in dealerships is unacceptable and hurts customer loyalty and stepped up to the plate to help dealers retain more employees by offering this one-of-a-kind benefit.

Perhaps FCA US should now shift it’s focus to what I see as a huge problem right now – the fact that, by their own numbers, their dealers only have a 33 percent customer retention rate average in service. It would only be logical to assume that the retention rate naturally decreases as more time passes. Wouldn’t it be easier to try and retain the 66% of the customers they are losing within a year of a new vehicle purchase before asking dealers to spend millions to expand service operations?

So now the dilemma, do you focus on retaining the water in the dyke frantically placing fingers in the holes just to see new ones appear? Or do you build a larger dyke?

I would suggest that perhaps increasing the size of the dyke would only create more holes in the long run. There may be more recall work but if dealers expand the sizes of their service departments, have a great run of service revenue for 3-4 years taking care of these 10 million vehicles only to find empty bays once everything settles down, that might hurt financially.

Just as FCA US saw a problem in employee retention and took initiative to fix it, perhaps they should now shift their gaze on what I see as a huge problem in customer retention in service. I’m pretty sure that if they don’t they will eventually run out of fingers and be forced to watch as all of the water leaves the dyke.

A Seamless Buying Experience Trumps the Race to the Bottom

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Business man with the text Good Service Makes The DifferenceLarge companies seem to be adopting the mentality that an excellent customer buying experience will lead Millenials and other car shoppers to rethink the old stereotypical process of buying vehicles. In the past, customers had retail experiences filled with Sharpies, high-pressure sales tactics, long waits and upsells in finance which ended up filling entire days in many cases and left consumers with bad impressions of the buying process. As the Internet evolved and offered consumers with alternatives, transparency in information and ways to circumnavigate as much of that process as possible, dealers found themselves altering their strategies.

A wide spectrum still existed amongst dealers in exactly how far they were willing to take the process with some willing to be completely transparent & provide information online to those who only pretended to be helpful but truly only offered invitations to the dealership disguised as transparency. Some large dealer groups are trying to transition as much of the buying process online as possible now (a la MakeMyDeal etc.). Of course, the largest complaints I hear from dealers is the whole “race to the bottom” involved when encountering cross-shoppers. It’s always another $100 that it would take to make the deal on vehicles already being quoted into holdback.

What if, however, instead of transitioning the process online to make it more efficient for consumers, you transform the in-store process instead? Both would achieve the same goal of offering a pleasant and efficient buying experience without the involvement of Sharpies and countless trips to “talk to the manager.”

A solution may already be available.

I had the pleasure of sitting with Jason Barrie of DealerTrack who showed me some incredible innovative technology – some of which is available now and some which is coming soon – that would essentially transform the buying experience into one of consumer choice and efficiency. This tablet based sales process completely and seamlessly integrates everything from the initial pencil – leases and purchases – with multiple options for a consumer to choose the one that best fits their financial budget. Yes, I understand that this is very close to e-pencil products that have been around for quite awhile. What makes this unique is that it eliminates the back-and-forth that most consumers hate and transforms the buying process from adversarial to one that is consultative. All of the options are configured by the sales managers prior (in the sense of how much leeway – if any – they allow the salespeople to have in the process) so there is no loss of control and/or fear of a salesperson ditching gross to win a sale taking the easy path.

Since the customer’s information is already in the system, soft pulls on credit are performed and, once a deal structure is chosen, they are automatically submitted for approvals by the dealer’s lenders.

The process continues into F&I as all of that information is immediately available to the F&I manager via tablet and aftermarket products, including explanations and videos of the features & benefits of each, are available via a menu based system. Customers can pick and choose the products they are interested in which instantly shows them how additions/subtractions of those products affect their payments.

Once the consumer has solidified his or her choices, the contracts are immediately produced WITHIN THE TABLET for the consumer to sign without the phone book of paperwork necessary currently. Of course, compliance requirements still allow dealers to have physical copies for records but it creates a more pleasant and interactive experience on the consumer facing side. After all is said end done, deals are then submitted for e-funding through the chosen lender.

There’s no doubt that individually many of these products exist. What impresses me most is the seamless experience this complete integration brings to the in-store buying process and it’s potential to create a customer experience that is enjoyable and pleasant. Ultimately, whether we are talking about shifting car sales (and processes) completely online or transforming the in-store experience, it all boils down to one thing – consumers want a more efficient, faster and enjoyable buying experience.

Rather than shift focus to an online buying process, why not make it easy and pleasant for consumers to buy from you in whatever manner they want – online or in-store.

I’m writing this from the 2015 NADA Convention and felt compelled to urge dealers to go check this out at the DealerTrack booth #2219S – You don’t have to join the race to the bottom to create a better customer experience. You just need the right tools and this, my friends, is an excellent tool to implement.

[Note: In no way was I paid or otherwise compensated for this opinion nor was the article written at anyone’s request.]

How to Be Sensationally Successful As A Manager

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Young businessman acting like a super hero and tearing his shirtBuilding employee loyalty is almost as tough as building customer loyalty. If you’re not able to instill loyalty in your employees, how can you expect to be able to in your customers? According to Inc. magazine, in almost every exit interview, one of the top reasons for an employee leaving is a bad manager. HubSpot Founder and CTO, Dharmesh Shah, wrote an excellent article titled “10 Ways To Be Sensationally Successful At Your Job.” In thinking about the tips he gave, it occurred to me that while every one of his tips is fantastic advice, they would only be successful if a manager noticed and reciprocated, when necessary.

The best employee in the world can go unnoticed without attentive managers. This led me to turn those steps on their head and ask if some of these steps to being “sensationally successful” could be turned around and applied to management as way for a manager to be… well… sensationally successful at managing.

  1. Be a Manager who is helpful, not one who tells people what to do – Too often, managers get so caught up in goal-oriented tasks that they fail to really see what’s going on around them. In the performance driven world of car dealerships, top performers are easily identified and rewarded. There are very few directions that a manager could give an employee that couldn’t be phrased as a request for help rather than a directive from the boss. By changing how you give direction, your employees perception of you can change to one in which you are viewed as someone that is there to help them succeed rather than simply someone who tells them what to do. It will also build a relationship with your employee in which they don’t feel afraid to ask for help and, ultimately, that is what you want. By encouraging employees to ask for help when they need it and nurturing the relationship to one of a mentor, you will be more able to manage and train effectively. By being someone that cares about them they, in turn, will care more about you.
  2. Let performance build relationships – In this context, I’m not referring to your top producers but rather to those employees who make an effort to perform and/or increase their performance. Employees who are actively trying to better their performance are invested in your company. That’s the first step for an employee in developing company loyalty.
  3. Watch for those who go the extra mile and reward them – The second step for an employee towards company loyalty is becoming engaged with the success of your business. The best way to identify these employees is through their actions. These are the employees that are going out of their way to assist a customer that is above and beyond. They’re the ones who stay late when you need them to; the ones that come in early or on their day off for an appointment rather than have another salesperson assist a customer that they have built rapport with. Your employees have lives outside your dealerships and when they give up more than the large amounts of time they already invest in your business to personally assist someone, they should be recognized above and beyond normal. If they give above and beyond, you should reciprocate for them and show them your appreciation.
  4. Find the employees who mimic your top performers – These employees are exceptionally important as they are the ones that are actively seeking to improve themselves by identifying your top performers and mimicking them rather than hanging out with your average or sub-par performers. Just as good managers recognize the value in training, your future superstars will develop out of employees who are seeking to better themselves and further their success.
  5. Identify employees who stand out – These employees are the ones that are providing not only exceptional customer experiences but are the ones providing exceptional company culture experiences. They are the ones who are bringing positive energy into work; the ones that their peers like to work with; the ones that you like having around and, most importantly, the ones that your customers like to deal with. Most of the time, these employees will also rank amongst your top performers naturally.
  6. Identify employees who help others – Employees that actively seek to help their peers become better are engaged in your company. They are the ones who want their peers and your dealership to succeed. An engaged employee is actively showing their company loyalty whether they realize it or not. They are invested emotionally. These employees are not only satisfied with their job but are also actively working to make your dealership better both for customer and their co-workers.
  7. Don’t forget why you hired them – At some point in time, employees came into your dealership needing a job. They all possessed qualities that you felt important to be successful and you made a decision to hire them. Always remember what those qualities were and seek to assist them not only in retaining those qualities but also in improving qualities that may need improving.

Employee loyalty is something that must be earned by a company. In this day and age of high turnover, businesses need to recognize that the days of an employee earning the loyalty of a company are no more. As the Internet has opened up the world to employees and job-hunters alike, employment opportunities have expanded from strictly local ones to national and even worldwide possibilities. Great employees are a dime a dozen and by showing that your company is loyal to them you will vastly increase not only employee retention but also create employees that are engaged in your business’s success and are loyal in return.

Your employee’s loyalty is crucial to developing customer loyalty and retention. If your employees don’t like working for you, you’ll be hard pressed to build the excellent customer experience needed today to differentiate yourself from your competition.

Identifying Loyal Employees Can Be Counter-Intuitive

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Businessmen at loggerheadsA few weeks ago, I presented at Fran Taylor’s “30 Sales a Month” workshop in Philadelphia, PA. The presentation was mainly focused on my retail sales “story”, if you will. Part of what made me successful, however, was that I questioned… well, just about everything. If I saw a better way to do something, I said so. If I disagreed, I spoke up. My sales managers got so fed up with me that, at one point, both the GSM and Sales Manager walked into my GM’s office and announced that they “washed their hands of me”. My GM’s response was that I could report directly to him then. The fact that I had a great leader and mentor that believed in me and was willing to give me leeway was what allowed me to go to the next level in my career.

I remember what he used to tell me every time I came to him with some crazy idea, “I’ll give you all of the rope that you want. You can either hang yourself with it or make a basket to carry all of your money.” I never hung myself. While my presentation was mainly geared towards salespeople, I wanted to leave the dealers and managers present with a takeaway encouraging them to change their perception of employee loyalty. Attendees really liked the message and shared it on social networks with their peers so I thought I’d share the origins of that and explain it for those who couldn’t attend.

Many experts have extolled the fact that the genesis of customer loyalty lies in first ensuring that you have employee loyalty. Your employees are the front-line people that can make or break the best designed and intentioned customer experiences. The porter washing that new car just purchased could send those otherwise happy customers leaving with a slightly less wonderful taste in their mouths. The receptionist who sends a customer off into on hold limbo can send a service customer elsewhere. Don’t think that just because you care that your employees do. I believe most successful businesses, however, intuitively understand this concept. The trick is identifying these employees and sometimes that can be tough.

In a recent article, Hubspot founder Dharmesh Shah listed what he believed to be the 7 qualities of a truly loyal employee. In that article, he illustrates that while it may seem easy to identify loyal employees based on things like how long they’ve worked for you, some of the traits of a loyal employee are the same traits that may actually lead you to firing them. It’s a fact that, in general, there is high employee turnover at dealerships. Some managers are also not the most sympathetic people to work for either. It was easy to see how some of these traits could be easily have their intentions misunderstood.

The first quality he lists is the display of loyalty through integrity. In his opinion, the employee who openly disobeys you to “do the right thing” actually has your long-term best interest at heart. Secondly, they generate discussions. Shah explains that a loyal employee knows what peers understand and assists them in learning how you think by asking the questions others are hesitant to. Third, they praise others. They recognize hard work or a job well done and care enough to verbalize their praise. Fourth, they disagree with you and share their opinions because they want to improve the company and doing so leads to better decision making. Fifth, they support your decisions regardless of whether they disagree. Six, they tell you “what you least want to hear… especially when it’s awkward or even painful to do so.” And last, they leave when it’s time to. That last one would seem to particularly illustrate disloyalty but, according to Shah, when your best employees leave, they help you fill their places while doing so.

His article was very thought-provoking and certainly presented a compelling argument listing qualities that many would deem insubordinate and reversing them into qualities of a loyal employees. At one point in all of our lives, we’ve all had that boss that exhibited the “my way or the highway” method of supervision. They weren’t much fun to work for.  I certainly displayed many of these qualities and, while I may not work for my mentor anymore, when I left, it was simply my time to do so.

In the turnover challenged industry that is automotive retail, managers must pause and take a moment to reflect on these qualities. List first the employees that you would say were your most loyal. Afterwards, reassess everyone using the qualities presented by Mr. Shah then compare the two lists. Are they the same? Chances are that some different names will suddenly appear. Loyal employees are key factors in business success. Identifying and understanding employee loyalty can assist you in not only increasing customer satisfaction – but also in identifying your future leaders.

A Lesson In Leadership from An Unlikely Source

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Stairs-on-ski-trip“While everyone ran in panic, Roselle remained totally focused on her job.”

Sometimes life gets hectic. We try to focus on and accomplish too many things at the same time. We have deadlines to meet, customers vying for our attention, fires to put out and countless voicemails and e-mails to respond to. In a world where employers consider multi-tasking a desirable trait, we’re taught from a very young age that this is a necessary skill. Sometimes, by focusing on too many things at once, we end up not focusing on anything at all.

A customer’s experience in your dealership is completely dependent on your focus. They can’t multi-task their way to a solution. Only you have that. I realize that on a busy weekend at a dealership there are times when you’re being pulled in multiple directions. To a customer, however, they are the sun that everything revolves around.

“While debris fell around us, and even hit us, Roselle stayed calm.”

The most successful business people know that you must treat each customer as if they are your only one. Customers intuitively know when chaos is present – whether by observation or intuition. No matter how busy you are, by stopping and giving a customer… any customer… your undivided attention, not only will you be more effective in resolving their problem but you will also instill in them a feeling of gratitude and, if you’re lucky, loyalty.

“We were forced to stop often and we took those opportunities to encourage each other with a quiet word, a joke, or a gentle pat on the back.” 

Don’t forget that you have a team. Teamwork is crucial in these moments of chaos. The ultimate goal is to provide a solution that is satisfactory to the customer. Maybe you aren’t the right person to efficiently guide the customer down the path to a resolution. In these times, what typically happens is that you’re forced to get someone else involved. A great team knows each other’s strengths and weaknesses. Each member knows the best player for every situation and gets them involved immediately.

“…we must choose to trust those leaders who must also work hard to earn our trust through wise and timely decision making.”

As a manager, sometimes you are the one being asked to resolve problems. You are the ones being asked to multi-task. You are the one who is focusing on so many things at once that you lose focus. Your team looks to you to guide them in these moments of chaos. You must be able to focus on the single most important task you have: the customer standing in front of you. If you’re trying to desk and close deals while answering the phone and helping customers, you’ll accomplish a little bit of everything but a lot of nothing. Be a leader who shows customers that they are the most important task at that moment and follow through with that promise. Not only will you end up with a happy customer, you will also become a role model for the future managers on your team.

“Don’t stop until the work is over; sometimes being a hero is just doing your job.”

Be a hero to your customers and your team. That’s what great leaders are. Every one of us has someone in our lives that we consider our mentor in life. Be that mentor to your team and guide them through the chaos by remaining calm despite it. Teach them that the customer in front of you is the only one that matters. Reinforce it by following your own advice. They will notice and they will buy in.

These lessons originated from an unlikely source. Roselle, you see, is a dog. Her owner is blind. He also happened to work in the World Trade Center and was on the 78th floor when planes flew into the building. There were an estimated 17,400 people in the Twin Towers when this horrible event occurred. Not only did Roselle guide her owner down 1,463 flights of stairs to safety but she was also “giving doggie kisses to each and every firefighter who climbed past us up the stairs.”

“While debris fell around us, and even hit us, Roselle stayed calm.” 

In the midst of all of this chaos, Roselle focused on a single task. She led her owner outside and, despite the chaos and falling debris, found the nearest subway station and led her owner underground.

Roselle was honored as the American Hero Dog of the Year. While she isn’t with us anymore physically, her memory and lessons stay with us to this day. Roselle wasn’t just any dog. Roselle was a highly trained guide dog that had a single job to do for a single customer – her owner. Had she not been trained, she couldn’t accomplish this task with the laser focus that she must have had to navigate down one of only three stairwells along with 17,000 other people for 78 floors to achieve her goal.

“Sometimes the way is hard, but if we work together, we will make it down the stairs.”

Never forget.

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 Roselle

[Credits: The Today Show, Fox News and Wikipedia]

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