This episodes kicks off the KPI Cafe season, featuring the show's first-ever panel of experts on three stigmas that still affect retail automotive: gender, pressure, and sales. To help discuss the problems — and solutions to — Fleming Ford, Sabrina Erskine, and Laurie Halter join host Dane Saville to offer real-world perspective and actual solutions to help dealers break the chains that may be holding back diversity in their employment, causing issues with recruitment, and overcoming the caricatures companies like Vroom paint them to be.
Throughout the content, you'll hear ideas that should challenge and inspire you to elevate how you approach dealership operations. Whether you're a Dealer Principal or have aspirations to run or own a dealership, the insights within will provide genuine benefits for running a modern, inclusive business.
Here's what to expect:
4:45 Automotive Origin Stories
Sabrina Erskine
Fleming Ford
Laurie Halter
7:00 Context of the Episode
7:40 The Gender Stigma
Biggest Obstacle to Gender Equitable Employment
Ways to Ensure Comfortability in the Dealership
Is the Gender Imbalance Felt at the Dealership Level?
Resources Dealers Have to Ensure Diverse Employment
Other Diversification Tactics
Establishing a Positive Connection with Interviewees
Removing Bias from Promotion Process
25:02 The Pressure Stigma
Policies or Processes to Communicate a Positive Culture
The Changing Retail Automotive Landscape
Understanding Individuals
30:30 The Sales Process Stigma
Ways to Combat a Negative Image (Think Vroom)
Marketing's Role in That Battle
Teaching Fundamentals to Salespeople
Other Tactics to Promote a Positive Image
Embracing the Evolution of Consumer Shopping Behaviors
The 5-Hour Process Issue (and a Defense of!)
A Discussion of Dealership Processes
Educating Consumers
How to Upend the Process
53:00 Let's Play Pittsburghese!