3 Best Practices That Are Changing the Industry — From Dealers Just Like You

The automotive industry never stands still. It’s constantly evolving because of forward-thinkers who put bold ideas into practice, deliver real results, and share their stories with others.

In 2024, the Automotive Amplifiers Contest was launched to celebrate the individuals who are leveling up dealership operations through innovation and insight. Hearing best practices from these Amplifiers was inspiring, and I know their ideas will make a lasting impact on the industry.

These are just a few of the ideas that stood out to me:

Strengthening Sales Skills

When it comes to sales, it’s not just about the car, but the experience of buying that car from your dealership. I sat down with Kayla Sheridan, marketing director at TommyCar Auto Group, on an episode of Connected to get more details behind their group’s quarterly walkaround competition. Representatives from each store have five minutes to present a vehicle walkaround for the opportunity to win a prize — and bragging rights.

“We wanted to create a solution that would really help our team consistently communicate our value and why somebody should buy from us versus our competitor — but make it fun and a team bonding experience at the same time,” Kayla shared.

The result? Better sales performance, enhanced team unity, and a strengthened approach to customer engagement and communicating value. There’s something impactful about how TommyCar has turned this idea into a consistent and energizing practice.

Recruiting Technicians Locally

Technician shortages have been a growing problem impacting dealerships across the country. Instead of waiting for talent to appear, Westside Lexus started growing their own. They developed a program to recruit and train technicians from local high schools and colleges to build their technician pool. Jeremy Reardon, service production manager at Westside Lexus, spoke with me about how they built up this program and what impact it has had in their shop.

“70 percent of the shop is what I would call homegrown. They started out in high school or college. There’s not really a special sauce to it, just participating with the schools, being there, going to different committee meetings they have, not just showing up on that job fair day saying ‘gimme gimme gimme.’ You want to participate.”

Jeremy highlighted the importance of investing not just in the lives of the students you’re recruiting but also in the people who influence them, like their teachers and families. After starting this program, the culture of their service department completely changed for the better. It’s encouraging to see great support passed down from the experienced technicians to the next generation.

Paperless Operations

Paper processes are slowly going the way of the fax machine. In today’s retail and service environments, customers expect digital experiences, and relying on paper creates clutter that can be hard to track. Beau Townsend Ford has made great strides in creating completely paperless service, sales, and financing processes. James Dieli, warranty administrator, and Justin Rash, F&I manager, were both winners at the 2024 contest, sharing the process of going paperless in their departments.

“The predictive nature of the system when it’s functioning without paper is tremendous. While it’s on paper, you’re only as good as your paper route sheet, or you’re only as good as your memory. If you just press some keystrokes, not only will you remember it, the advisor next to you will remember it, your management team has it, parts department, everyone is communicating in this one living document.” — James Dieli

There were countless benefits to making the switch — less time spent fighting with forms, decreased costs invested in paper and toner, and just an overall reduction in misunderstandings and inaccuracy. By going paperless, they could reinvest the time saved back into other work, further improving operations.

There are people like you all across the industry who are striving to make operations at their dealership better every single day. Do you have a best practice of your own to share? Be sure to submit your contribution to this year’s Automotive Amplifiers Contest. I can’t wait to see the next wave of ideas that will revolutionize automotive — and the Amplifiers who’ll bring them to life.

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