Dealer: Dustin Walters

Dealership group: Friendship Family of Dealerships

Full-time employees: 38

General Manager Roy Mullins on lessons from the pandemic about being a better employer:
“We have to be more understanding during this time of COVID because anything can change or happen at any given time. We have learned to be more gracious and patient because we are all in this together, and being there for our team helps them be more productive.”

Walters on evolving compensation structure in the COVID era:
“We have not had to change any team member’s compensation. We have maintained all of our team members’ pay.”

Mullins on changing hiring and training because of the pandemic:
“We have implemented social distancing, as well as wearing masks, checking temperatures and cleaning high-contact areas more frequently. Both the hiring process and training process typically require close contact with others due to paperwork and one-on-one training. With the precautions we have implemented, we are making sure to keep team members safe.”

Mullins on how the accelerated shift to digital retail changed staffing strategy:
“We have shifted and trained our more ‘traditional’ salespeople to be able to handle more online traffic, including completing a sale completely online. Our salespeople have learned to successfully perform a virtual ‘walk-around’ with customers so that the customer feels like they are actually there in person.”