Empathy: The Missing Ingredient

Car dealerships are often the backbones of the communities they serve. They provide well paying jobs and the opportunity for career advancement. You would be hard pressed to find local businesses that contribute more to the tax base, charitable organizations, sports teams and fundraisers than dealerships. With all of the opportunities dealerships provide, it begs the question; why is dealership turnover such a persistent problem for our industry?

The good news was that dealership turnover came down from 2021-2023 due to the vehicle shortage creating an easier selling environment and higher commissions. However, judging by my LinkedIn feed announcing the number of moves taking place on a daily basis, it seems that persistent turnover has started to gain steam again. As inventory levels start to normalize and margins begin to compress, more and more employees are starting to look for greener pastures.

During my career, I conducted hundreds of exit interviews. In the vast majority of those interviews, the #1 reason for an employee leaving the organization was because of a manager. The old saying really is true, "People don't quit their job, they quit their boss." Yes, the hours, the pressure to perform and the absence of work/life balance are all contributing factors but at the end of the day, it's "The Boss" that pushes them to pack up their desk and leave. The annual turnover rate in the sales department of a dealership hovers around 67%. For the BDC, it's closer to 90%. There is nothing that costs dealerships more money on an annual basis than high employee turnover.

Why do dealerships have a "Boss Problem?" For starters, no one wants to work for a boss. People want work for leaders and coaches who encourage, train and develop them into productive team members. Simon Sinek talks extensively about developing "trusting teams" where teams are not a group of people that work together, instead, a team is a group of people that trust each other. That trust manifests itself in many different ways. A manager playing the role of Bill Lumbergh and asking an employee to work their day off is one of the many ways we violate that trust. As managers, we have made the decision to make the automotive industry our career. We understand that our mission is to get the job done. We sacrifice our time and effort to overcome the daily obstacles put in front of us. However, most of the people you supervise have not made that commitment. To them, it is a job. Jobs have schedules and if we want to keep our people, those schedules have to be sacrosanct. Think about it, would you rather be short staffed for a shift or for a month when the employee you made come in on their day off quits?

Empathy is defined as the ability to understand and share the feelings of another. Many of our managers have an empathy problem. It's not their fault, they likely have an empathy problem because their managers likely had the same problem and passed it down. When you lack empathy for those you supervise, you quickly become a boss. A "boss" is an employee turnover machine that grinds your sales team into the ground and has you posting on Indeed on a daily basis.

There is no quick solution to developing a team of empathetic managers. Too often managers only have one way of motivating, the age old "carrot and stick method" of offering or removing spiffs. A much more effective and long lasting method is to genuinely care about the people you supervise. Spend time with them. Get to know more about them, their families and their interests. Train them to get more proficient at their jobs. Lay out their path for advancement.

Three simple questions will make a world of difference in how your team perceives you:

"How is your day going?" (Be an active listener and pay attention)

"How is everything at home?" (Let them share their personal challenges)

"What can I help you with?" (Pick up the phone, help to resolve an issue or spend time training them)

When your employees know that you care about them as individuals beyond what they produce, you won't need spiffs to motivate them. Become an empathetic leader and watch your turnover rates plummet!