Dealers get nimble on hiring, training amid crisis

From digital recruiting to virtual finance and insurance training, dealers say the coronavirus pandemic has led them to be nimble and shift the way they hire and keep their staffs learning.

Dealers and an executive from a dealership training company said during a virtual Automotive News Retail Forum: NADA panel discussion last week that hiring and training changes made a year into the pandemic likely will continue to evolve, but some aspects are here to stay.

Walser Automotive Group of Minneapolis shifted to a greater use of video in both training and recruiting, said Sherry Schultz, the group's chief human resources officer. Walser has about 25 stores in Minnesota, Kansas, Illinois and California, including stores through a partnership with Hello Auto Group in California.

"When we recruit for salespeople now, we recruit with the submission of a video," Schultz said. "And so if they can do a video to us, it's a realistic job preview of what to expect."

Walser also is piloting having service technicians sell work to customers who then book their own appointments, boosting shop capacity, she said. That frees up service adviser time to help with more concierge-type vehicle services.

"We're not quite as productive yet, but ... our [customer satisfaction index] is through the roof because people want to talk to one person, want to hear it straight," Schultz said.

Some dealers said the shift to more online sales in the past year meant different skill sets were needed.

Aaron Wallace, president of the nine-store Schomp Automotive Group in Highlands Ranch, Colo., has taken time to "reevaluate our staff and top rank them for what we need today versus what we needed in the past. So I think we came out of it with a much stronger, I guess I'll call it, digital team."

That evaluation meant firing some of the group's top salespeople who thrived in the traditional selling environment, Wallace said. But Schomp's vehicle sales per person are up by three to five cars, he said.
"We actually got more productivity out of a different group of people," Wallace said.

Other dealers also reported higher salesperson productivity.

Another change is the increase in virtual training, where employees can even view lessons from home, said Kevin Hull, manager of dealer talent services for JM&A Group, which provides finance and insurance products, training and consulting to dealerships.

Hull also predicted that a virtual F&I process will change dealership staffing models and allow for a centralized office with fewer people needed to cover F&I for multiple stores.

Williams Automotive Group in the Tampa, Fla., market trained F&I managers to complete a virtual F&I deal.

"Heaven forbid your whole F&I department got quarantined," said Michael Speigl, president of Williams Automotive. "If somebody in your F&I department got COVID and you had to suddenly send all your F&I managers home, we needed to still be able to do a transaction."

Speigl said his group also is using technology and data more in its hiring and recruiting.

"We've had to be more efficient as salespeople have become more and more valuable, going from 10 to 12 to 15, 16 sales per sales associate," he said. "We need to make sure that we're making the right hires. And then we need to make sure that we're retaining and developing the hires that we do have."

Judith Schumacher-Tilton, president of Schumacher Chevrolet Auto Group with five Chevrolet dealerships in New Jersey, also stressed the importance of finding the right cultural fit with hires.

She tries to "hire for character and train for skills, more so now than ever."

Schumacher-Tilton, who also is chairman of the New Jersey Coalition of Automotive Retailers, said she also likes to promote from within.

"When you hire someone out of college, they need to know that they're going to project on a path that's going to lead them to a better life," she said.

Jackie Charniga contributed to this report.