7:03 am, January 22, 2023
The Christmas and new year holidays have finally come to an end after months of anticipation and build-up.
As Big Ben struck midnight on New Year’s Eve and the river Thames reflected the thousands of fireworks heralding 2023, many people were making new year resolutions and hoping the coming year will bring prosperity and change for the better.
As I have mentioned on many occasions, despite the challenges the UK has faced in recent years, there is no industry more agile and adaptable to these uncertain times than the automotive industry.
Change has been the only true constant in the past few years and there’s no escaping it; it’s one of the few things we can count on, and in an uncertain world it’s interesting to observe how people and organisations adapt to it.
But change is something that shouldn’t be feared, nor is it advisable to simply wait for its arrival.
The best thing to do is to embrace change and even initiate it yourself, as doing so can reap the biggest rewards.
One good example of this is when First Response Finance reorganised its sales department last January.
The structure and management of the sales teams hadn’t changed in nearly 10 years, and while there was nothing inherently wrong, it was time to see if we could improve our services to our dealers and make our staff happier in their daily roles.
We started by asking our staff which aspects of their roles they preferred, and any skillsets they had that they believed were being underused.
We then realigned our people by matching those skills to the different roles available within the sales department.
While this change wasn’t without its challenges and teething problems, it has meant there is more variation within our people’s day-to-day activities, better skill sharing and teamwork.
These changes also ensured that our dealers have the best salesperson to look after them based on what they are good at, and all of this has had a positive impact on staff morale.
If we hadn’t adopted an openness to change and doing things differently, none of this would have been possible.
These changes have contributed to significant growth for First Response Finance in a constantly changing and challenging market.
I would certainly recommend talking to your own staff, asking them about their roles and if they have any skill sets that your business may be missing out on.
You do not have to rewrite the rule book or restructure your entire business, but applying small incremental changes in your business can have a huge impact on your staff, your customers and your bottom line.
Change always presents opportunity – with 2023 now well under way, make sure you don’t miss out on the benefits of it.
This column appears in the new edition of Car Dealer – issue 179 – along with news, views, reviews, interviews and much more. Read and download it for free here!
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