Note: In response to the COVID-19 crisis, all standard MRAA educational courses found at MRAATraining.com will be available free of charge to any dealer who wants to use the content from now through May 31st. Between now and then, we will be posting regularly to highlight courses that may be useful during this time.

During the current pandemic, one piece of advice we’ve heard from several experts is to focus on what you can control. At its most basic, one of those things is how we chose to manage our own time. Of course, this is frustratingly something that most of us struggle with even in the best circumstances.

At Dealer Week, Professor Art Hill of the University of Minnesota delivered a session focused on how we can all learn to better use our time. “The Managing Me Workshop” helped attendees evaluate their personal productivity in six key areas, identify principles to increase productivity and reduce stress, and improve productivity within their teams.

I would encourage you to take time to watch the session, which is available via MRAATraining.com to all dealers through May 31. It’s tempting to continue to barrel forward in a crisis, putting out fires. But if you have a moment to step back and watch, you may pick up some tips that will help you be more productive as we move through a challenging period for businesses and our personal lives.

Expert trainer Valerie Ziebron joined MRAA for a special service-focused webinar in response to the COVID-19 virus. During the webinar, Ziebron offered advice on how to adapt to the coronavirus pandemic as a dealership and as a service business.

Ziebron noted that we are operating in a stressful environment and we need to both be aware of that and prepare for it. Right now, businesses should be looking for ways to adjust and adapt to our “new normal.”

These changes need to start at the top. Leaders should be asking themselves how they can best serve their customers and best serve their teams in the current environment. According to Ziebron, that means focusing on what you can control and letting the rest go.

Some of the things that are in your control include new social distancing policies. These can be applied to pick up and delivery of boats, online scheduling, texting or emailing communications, and implementing staggered shifts for the team (possibly with fewer hours). Another thing that can be controlled is your new cleaning and disinfecting processes. Ziebron encourages dealers to adjust their boat detailing processes and then market them.

Also in your control is how you adjust your business. That means focusing on revenue generating tasks and revenue generating positions. You don’t want to make “knee-jerk” reactions and cut positions that are making the dealership money. However, if people are not focused on activities that generate revenue, you should adjust your job descriptions so that more positions are revenue generating. Unfortunately, Ziebron notes that some positions that are not generating revenue – up to and including management positions – may need to be furloughed.

Additionally, you need to look at your pay plans and incentives. Right now is not business as normal, and it is an important time to communicate with the team what needs to happen to keep your doors open and how they will be paid as we are getting through the current crisis. Pay plans should be adjusted so that as much of the essential team can be retained as possible so that when businesses come out on the other side, they are positioned to take advantage of pent up demand.

One lesson from the last recession that Ziebron noted was the need to strengthen your cash position. She told dealers to focus on getting paid now and going after receivables.

Ziebron also stressed the importance of communication, both internally and externally. Things are changing so quickly that it is crucial for dealers to stay in contact with their teams and their customers. That means sharing both what you are offering and how best to do business with you.

The entire webinar is available to view here. To download the slide presentation from the webinar, click here.

Selling right now isn’t easy. People are scared to go out in public. Some have lost their jobs or have lost money tied up in investments. Others are just nervous, unsure of what’s next. And some dealerships are being forced to shut down by the government.

But that doesn’t mean it’s time to throw in the towel. In fact, it’s time to demonstrate your leadership, rally your team and cause door swings (even if people aren’t physically walking into your building). That was the message behind MRAA’s Ask the Expert Webinar: How to Sell in Today’s Environment by Sam Dantzler of Garage Composites.

In the webinar, which ran long due to a productive question and answer segment, Dantzler breaks down how to sell right now into four steps.

Step 1: Tell them you’re open. If your physical dealership is open, let customers know. You can do this via social media, email or other forms of communication. Dantzler recommends using video on Facebook Live because the sincerity you can express about staying open to serve their needs and continue to employ your staff will ring through via video. If your doors aren’t open, but your website is, or your service department is, or your marina is, let people know. Continue to let customers know your status, so they’re aware.

Step 2: Reassure them: We’re being socially responsible. Follow all Centers for Disease Control and World Health Organization guidelines and share with your community that you’re doing so. Some dealers are being harassed by the public for staying open. Inform your customers that you’re staying open, so your staff can continue to receive an income, and so your business can survive.

Step 3: Explain how you can safely serve them right now. Offer alternatives to walking into your building. Provide curbside pickup for boats coming in for service. Offer one-on-one appointments for those looking to buy. Perform live video walkthroughs for customers interested in your boats or accessories. Prep as much paperwork as you can in advance to make the buying process quick, easy and contact-free, while staying within legal compliance.

Step 4: Overcommunicate. This goes along with Steps 1-3. Frequency sells, Dantzler explained. Keep your messages positive and upbeat, and share often and through any and all of your communication methods. As things change, communicate that as well. A little bit of levity, when appropriate, also goes a long way in your message being seen and heard, such as using toilet paper as a door prize giveaway. Liz Walz of the MRAA offered a lot of dealers’ communication examples within the webinar. These efforts will “cause the door to swing” and get customers interested in buying from you now and in the future.

In addition to these four steps, Dantzler covered tips for your Customer Relationship Management, dealing with employee relations, creating an opening and closing checklist and more. To watch the full webinar for free, click here.

Note: In response to the COVID-19 crisis, all standard MRAA educational courses found at MRAATraining.com will be available free of charge to any dealer who wants to use the content from now through May 31st. Between now and then, we will be posting regularly to highlight courses that may be useful during this time.

 

Have you ever looked at your online reviews or your CSI results and noticed they’re sometimes lopsided? Maybe some customers had a great experience, especially as they interacted with a specific employee. But maybe another customer had a horrible experience because they worked with someone who was not focused on the customer experience.

 

It’s mind-boggling and frustrating.

 

What if you could work toward a more seamless customer experience at your dealership? What if your porters knew how to greet customers when they walked in? What if that customer gets the same treatment from the receptionist, their salesperson, their service advisor, the tech that walks by and management?

 

Now that would be great! But building such a culture takes a little work and a lot of practice. In this unique workshop, originally created as an e-learning course for Continuous Certification, and then presented live at the 2019 Dealer Week, hospitality expert Theresa Syer gives you a plan for creating that consistent customer experience throughout your dealership.

 

Two key points Theresa focuses on are Emotional Motivators and Key Emotional Drivers (KEDs). The Emotional Motivators are what drive customers to take action, such as making a purchase, and the KEDs are how you can influence those Emotional Motivators to get customers to close on the sale. Theresa will show you how to create your own KEDs, and she’ll give you a set of KEDs that she’s developed, if you’d rather implement those instead.

 

She also offers a plan for rolling out the KEDs in your dealership, with constant reminders and practice, so you can get your whole team rowing in the same direction and remembering to stay the course. 

 

I had the opportunity to attend this workshop in person at Dealer Week, and I can tell you people were excited and energized to make changes to the customer experience at their dealership as they walked out. And, this workshop was one of the most highly-rated courses at the 2019 conference.

 

Now — pre-season for much of North America — is the time to start thinking about how you can amplify your customer experience and create an environment where people will want to buy.

Note: In response to the COVID-19 crisis, all standard MRAA educational courses found at MRAATraining.com will be available free of charge to any dealer who wants to use the content from now through May 31st. Between now and then, we will be posting regularly to highlight courses that may be useful during this time.

Innovation is always important, but during times like these it becomes absolutely essential.

At Dealer Week in December, Samantha Cunningham Zawilinski presented a course titled “Intrapreneurship: Developing Early Adopters & Harnessing Innovation in Your Company.” The point of the session was to create a culture that empowers innovative thinkers to apply their smarts to making your business stronger.

Right now, business as usual isn’t possible, whether we like it or not. But that hasn’t stopped some retailers from getting creative. We saw one dealership – Norris Lake Boat Center – offering a “Canceled Vacation Sale.” The deal is, anyone who brings a receipt from a canceled vacation can get that amount off any new boat. I doubt you’ve seen that offer before, and I’m sure two weeks ago they had never considered having a sale like that. But they’re adapting to these strange times.

In her presentation, Samantha lists a number of ways that cultivating intrapreneurs (i.e. people who bring an entrepreneurial spirit to your internal operations) can benefit you in the long term.

If you’ve got some employees who might benefit from that kind of attitude, or you want to instill that type of culture in your business, I’d encourage you to watch the course while it’s available free to the industry.

Just log in or create an account here on MRAA.com. Instructions for adding staff to your account are here. Instructions for creating a free non-member account to access MRAATraining.com are here (creating) and here (accessing).

Note: In response to the COVID-19 crisis, all standard MRAA educational courses found at MRAATraining.com will be available free of charge to any dealer who wants to use the content from now through May 31st. Between now and then, we will be posting regularly to highlight courses that may be useful during this time.

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Are you open? Are you closed? Are you providing video walkthroughs of your boats? Are you offering early delivery of stored boats? Customers want to know this information, and by providing it to them, you can probably sell more boats and get more of your customers out on the water using them.

But how do you share this message in our current COVID-19 world?

Text messaging may be the easiest way to get a hold of customers. Even in times of crisis, we all have our phones on us 24/7.

But there are a lot of considerations.

First, do you have the technology to text? This may be through a service that provides texting from a computer or mobile device, or it could be your staff using their dealership-provided or personal cell phones. You have to work that out.

Second, are you prepared with messaging? You need to make sure you have people on staff who have the spelling and grammar skills to text with customers. And it helps to have some planned responses to common questions ready to go.

Third, you need to be prepared to respond. We know from 2018’s online mystery shop that follow-up isn’t always frequent or well-planned out. If you’re going to start texting, customers are going to text back, and they’re going to want a quick response. Make sure that once you send a text, you’re ready to reply in a timely manner.

Fourth, have you asked permission to text your customers? This is extremely important. Before you start sending a barrage of texts to your customers, you need to ask them if you can text them and only text them if they say yes.

Just the other day, I was looking for an electrician, and as it was off-hours on a Sunday evening, I saw there was a text option, so I thought I’d use it. The whole experience was awkward. The person texted back, but nothing was in complete sentences, and the person didn’t even introduce him or herself. It was uncomfortable, so I didn’t book with that electrician.

There are so many ways texting can go right or wrong. If you do it right, the service can be extremely beneficial, and you can communicate with customers, even when they’re quarantined at home.

To get the most out of texting, I suggest you watch “Texting Customers: Do’s, Don’ts and How to Make It a Win-Win,” in which Bob McCann of the MRAA and Graham Anderson of KENECT, discuss texting tips, best practices and more. Bob even shows you how to create a text signature, so everyone you text with will know who you are and which company you represent.