{"id":99,"date":"2020-03-31T17:30:04","date_gmt":"2020-03-31T21:30:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.profits4dealers.com\/blog\/?p=99"},"modified":"2020-03-31T17:25:06","modified_gmt":"2020-03-31T21:25:06","slug":"make-effective-communication-at-your-dealership-a-priority","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.profits4dealers.com\/blog\/?p=99","title":{"rendered":"Make Effective Communication at Your Dealership a Priority"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Dale Carnegie, the author of \u201cHow to Make Friends and\nInfluence People,\u201d said, \u201c90 percent of all management problems are caused\nby miscommunication.\u201d  <\/strong>Everyone\nreading this article can think of at least one time (or maybe one time a day)\nwhen miscommunication created a problem at the dealership or at home.  The following are best practices to reduce issues\nthat arise because someone didn\u2019t know what you meant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Communicate With Co-Workers<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Think before you speak, and speak with the desired action\nin mind.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you haven\u2019t clearly defined what you want to say, wait\nuntil you can be concise before you speak. \nIf you are rambling or adding unnecessary words, you are confusing the\nsituation, and the listener may not hear the intent of your words. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

An example of unclear intent: \u201cWhen you get a chance<\/strong>,\ncan you see<\/strong> how many titles we\u2019re waiting for from trade-ins?\u201d  Well, who knows when he\u2019ll \u201cget a chance\u201d and\nwho knows what he\u2019ll do with the information? \nFor the desired results: \u201cTom, before lunch<\/strong> could you give me<\/strong>\na list of how many titles we are waiting for and how long it\u2019s been since they\nwere paid off?\u201d  Clear instructions along\nwith a deadline will ensure you won\u2019t want to strangle Tom at the end of the\nday when you realize you never got the requested information.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just because we know what we want to say doesn\u2019t mean the\nlistener understands.  We can be the most\nsuccinct speaker, but if the other person (or people) isn\u2019t listening, we are\njust wasting time.  For complex conversations\nand instructions, ask the listener to repeat back to you what needs to be done\nand then clarify any misunderstandings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Educate the Customers<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

For your customers\u2019 sake, every dealership employee should\nknow that the customers don\u2019t deal with the same things they do, so the\ncustomers have no way to know how long it usually takes to get a license\nplate.  Keep in constant touch with\ncustomers to encourage them to ask you questions instead of broadcasting their\nconcerns over the internet. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

You help your customers when you eliminate dealership\nacronyms and jargon.  Our \u201csecret\nlanguage\u201d could end up confusing and alienating customers.  Think about a Body Shop Estimator reviewing\nan estimate with a customer.  We have\na DRP agreement with your insurance company, we\u2019ll R & R this and here\nwe\u2019ll R & I, we\u2019ll use aftermarket parts<\/em>, etc.  We have an agreement with your insurance\ncompany so you’ll have no worries.  For the fender, we will replace\nit with a new one and we’ll remove the bumper when we paint the vehicle and\nreinstall it.  Your insurance company wants us to use generic parts, not\nones produced by your vehicle’s manufacturer.  When we drop the jargon, we provide the customer\nwith a more comprehensive explanation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Communicate with Customers<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

You can learn a lot from the internet; you can really learn\na lot from Google Reviews.  I saw that\nmost of the dealership complaints came from miscommunication or no\ncommunication<\/strong> between the customers and the employees.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When\nyou practice concise communication skills and hone your listening skills you\nwill experience fewer mistakes, and have happier employees and customers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI bought a used car a week ago and still don\u2019t have the\nlicense plates I paid for.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This comment shouldn\u2019t have even been a complaint;\nnevertheless, it was.  Even if the\nsalesperson had told the customer how long it could take to get the permanent\nlicense plate, it doesn\u2019t mean the customer remembers.  According to Google \u201cWhat to Expect When\nYou’re Expecting\u201d is the most widely read pregnancy guide in America.  It provides the reader with answers to\nquestions they may not know they have. \nThink about a Q & A Guide for your customers: \u201cWhat to Expect When\nYou Buy a Vehicle\u201d.  Based on the most\ncommon questions, common issues could be explained in an easy-to-read (Q &\nA) format.  The sequels could be \u201cWhat to\nExpect When Bring Your Vehicle In for Service\u201d, or \u201cWhat to Do In Case of an\nAccident\u201d.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPoor customer service. \nI tried calling them like 20 times. \nLeft message, no one called back.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I call dealerships to speak with the department\nmanagers I’m in the same situation as the customers, after four rings I get\nfrustrated and I hang up.  It doesn\u2019t\ntake a genius to see if dealerships want more customers – Answer the Phones<\/strong>.  If I hang up, imagine someone who is calling\nyou \u2013 to BUY from you \u2013 who gets put on hold, whose call is transferred from person\nto person, and\/or has to leave an unanswered voicemail message.  The only solution to this communication\nproblem is to Answer the Phones<\/strong> and at the very least follow the Parts\nDepartment\u2019s response, \u201cParts, could you hold please?\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sometimes you just need a 2×4 to fix a problem (just kidding \u2013 sort of) such as these two Google Reviews revealed:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI was looking for a used truck and found one here. The\nsalesman that waited on me was too concerned about his phone to help me…\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy salesman was very laid back and seemed to have no\nmotivation in selling me the vehicle, and he couldn\u2019t have cared less if it was\nme or the next person in line.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

All the communication in the world can\u2019t fix the lazy or\nthe unmotivated but it can put people on notice that you \u201cexpect better\u201d <\/em>or,\njust to be clear, at \u201cParadise Motors the policy is that when an employee is\nwith a Guest\/customer the employee does not look at his or her phone.  All of our customers are to be shown the same\ncourtesy we would like to be shown in the same situation\u2014understand?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When\nyou practice concise communication skills and hone your listening skills you\nwill experience fewer mistakes, and have happier employees and customers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dale Carnegie, the author of \u201cHow to Make Friends and Influence People,\u201d said, \u201c90 percent of all management problems are caused by miscommunication.\u201d  Everyone reading this article can think of at least one time (or maybe one time a day) when miscommunication created a problem at the dealership or at home.  The following are best […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-99","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dealership-best-practices","category-general"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.profits4dealers.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.profits4dealers.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.profits4dealers.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.profits4dealers.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.profits4dealers.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=99"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.profits4dealers.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":100,"href":"https:\/\/www.profits4dealers.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99\/revisions\/100"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.profits4dealers.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=99"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.profits4dealers.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=99"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.profits4dealers.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=99"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}