Selling Online #39.2 : You Get What You Pay For : Hiring Pt. II

Last month I laid out my thesis that a lot of the problems at dealerships are a result of a lack of hiring competent, educated, and professional people for roles that should be contributing more positively to the success of the shop. I finished up last month with my projection for how the dealership market was going to shake out over the next two years. One group at the bottom just goes away never to be heard from again, and a group at the top merge into larger groups that are run more by professionally educated businessmen and less by “enthusiasts.”

So what happens to you guys in the middle? The X% that makes up most of the market. If one of the above does not describe you, then you’re the one I’m writing this for.

1) You’ll fail. You’ll fail most likely because of poor management and poor execution. You’re overstaffed because you need all those people to keep rolling the rock up the hill, but none of the people you have either posses the ability or the time to move you to the next quantum state. You can’t cut headcount because all of those people are needed as they are propping up a rotten structure on a broken foundation. You can’t or won’t recognize the problem and replace those “props” with more useful people because you’re too busy fighting fires. You never get your head above the water so you never get a chance to focus on developing the processes that will keep all those fires from happening in the first place.

2) You’ll get it, and you’ll survive. Not only will you survive, but you’ll begin building a new structure that will allow you to become an outstanding mega-achiever when the economy and other environmental factors allow it.

I’m thinking that #2 sounds a little more fun.

As a manager you need to keep in mind that the only three things you can really do as a leader to enable a successful outcome are: 1) recruit, hire, or acquire the best people you can, 2) educate and train them to be as good as possible, and 3) create or enable the creation of the processes and environment that will allow them to make the most of their abilities and education.

You have no real control over anything else. So why are you spending any time on the stuff you can’t control? I know why you’re doing it now. Because most likely you’re surrounded by people that would have a hard time getting hired at Starbucks. Do some research into the hiring process at Starbucks. Is making coffee harder than anything you do? Are the people that are working at Starbucks coffee “enthusiasts?” Do the people working at Starbucks need years and years of experience in the coffee industry to make Starbucks successful? Then why do they pay better and offer better benefits to their people than most of you do?

When you consider how much more your dealership’s individual success depends on having the best people, why are you hiring any ol’ mouth-breathing meth-head that stumbles into your dealership from a craigslist ad?

When I manage people, if they don’t provide at least one better alternative way to do a task that I assign, I make a negative mental note of it. I don’t want staff that is just there to do a task I don’t have time to do myself! I want staff there to do a task because they can do it better than I can! If they don’t have the mental capability or desire to do that, they’ve just begun the process of looking for a new place to work.

Why are you hiring three people at $8/hr. that contribute $X to your company when you could be hiring one person at $20/hr. that could contribute $X*5 if they were educated, intelligent, motivated, and surrounded by other educated, intelligent, and motivated people?

I know why. Because you would never even consider paying $20/hr for that position and letting three other people go because you can’t “afford it”. Or you need the people to just keep beating out the fires. Or you think that if you did bring that person on they would get “bored” or they wouldn’t fit in because they would be the only person there with a degree, or whatever…

Well, here’s my prediction: if you don’t do it you’ll be out of business shortly. Either because of your own businesses “problems”, or because another dealership (local or online) that is doing what I’ve talked about this month drives you under.

Of course the next big challenge you’re going to be faced with if you’re still around in two years is learning how to manage and motivate highly functioning people that are interested in doing more than just “turning the crank”. You know what… There’s education and training for management too.

Epilogue: What do I have to say to all of you working stiffs that are reading this? Start making yourself invaluable. I’m not talking about the B.S. that typically passes for invaluable at most shops; “We can’t get rid of Ol’ Pete back there… He’s the only one that knows how all those 3×5 cards that we keep all our customer records on are organized” or “we can’t get rid of Ol’ Pete because he’s got 40 years of stuff locked away in his head.”

I’m talking about doing things that are going to be indispensable in two years that no one in our industry currently has a clue about. Like taking night classes to get a degree in things like internet marketing or e-commerce. Or joining organizations like The American Marketing Association and getting training in things like social media marketing. I’m talking about demanding that your boss provide you with education and training at places like Dealership University, or provides the resources to attend the Dealernews Live sessions at Indy, or attend in-depth educational opportunities like the one I’m going to be providing in Orlando for Leverage this October (face it… If you want to learn how to use the internet in this industry you can do a lot worse than learn it from me).

And if your boss is not reading this, is not following my directions, and you don’t start seeing some radical changes at your dealership in the coming months, then I’d suggest you start looking for a new place to work, because one way or another, you’re going to be doing that anyway in a year or two.

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