Dealership remote work? Yes, it's possible, and here's how to do it.

Speaker 1:
0:01

Hey, it's Kathleen and Shannon here, and this is Get In Her Lane.

Speaker 2:
0:05

We are two automotive professionals diving deep into why women are so underrepresented in this industry and trying to make a positive change.

Speaker 1:
0:12

So right along with us as we discuss ideas and takeaways that can help everyone further this effort in the automotive world and beyond. Hello Shannon.

Speaker 2:
0:22

How are we doing? Hey Kathleen, another episode. We are back. This is going to be so much fun. Back in biz. How are you? I'm good. I'm actually doing one of our favorite activities. Can you guess what it is? No, what might that be? It is working from home, baby.

Speaker 1:
0:41

I love that for you, for both of us actually, because I am doing the same thing, which is good, because I look like a crazy person when I record in remote places. I am thankful it's audio only.

Speaker 2:
0:53

You know, I have actually seen Kathleen record this podcast in public and the hand motions that she somehow makes while we're recording it is, let's just say it's good that we're both recording from home today.

Speaker 1:
1:05

We're really into the conversation. We are really into the conversation we do it for the listeners.

Speaker 2:
1:09

But speaking of working from home, what do we got going on today for this episode?

Speaker 1:
1:15

Yes, so I'm so, so excited we're going to speak with a special guest, Michael Alf from St Charles Toyota, who is not only a personal mentor of mine, but who also has been a remote work advocate and trailblazer long before it became popular in recent years.

Speaker 2:
1:34

And as a special little bonus surprise, we're also talking to a couple of his team members. We're going to be hearing from Nikki, who is his BDC manager, and she works from home sometimes and manages employees who works from home sometimes, so she gets to see both sides of that and Christine, who actually lives in a different state, so she's going to talk to us a little bit about her experience too.

Speaker 2:
1:57

Yes, we are so, so excited to hear from the St Charles team and I know what our listeners might be thinking and before you roll your eyes or maybe think you're going to skip this episode, we know that the idea of remote work in a retail automotive space can sometimes be a little scary Maybe something we haven't ventured into yet. But just trust us, michael and his team, you can do it Exactly. Michael and his team are going to take us through how they got started with this, the highs and the lows and kind of where they're at today, and I think it's going to be really informative, but also a little bit inspiring, if you let it be.

Speaker 1:
2:35

Let's get into it. Hey, michael, we are so excited to have you and the team here today to discuss the value of remote work. So, to start, would you tell us a little bit about your journey in automotive and maybe how that's shaped your philosophy on remote work and how you manage your dealership?

Speaker 3:
2:53

Yeah, I'd love to Thank you so much for having us on here. This is a great experience we're going to have. I kind of started out more of a technology person. I was always going to get in the computer field, is what I thought, and when I started with the dealerships, I always looked at technology as a way to solve problems. Everything I did was like how can we make this easier, faster, better for my employees and for my customers? So that's really more of you.

Speaker 3:
3:19

That's really where I started things out, because I always looked at why do it the way we've always done it? So come up with different ways to handle things. And when it came to remote work, I looked at like we're spending a lot of time in the dealerships. All of us are spending hours and hours, and I would hear these horror stories of 80 hours a week and seven days a week, even though we were closed on Sundays. People are coming in to just do some final paperwork or something like that. So I realized quickly how do you create that quality life balance with working? So, instead of just coming in for something quick and simple, I wanted people to be able to do it when they could and not when they had to. It was really what it came down to.

Speaker 2:
4:01

Like Kathleen said, we need more of you and it's just so interesting how saying you wanted to go in technology but landing an automotive and then seeing technology is still a solution somehow in our space is just something like we said more people should think about. So with the remote work piece, I guess can you share the journey of what that looked with implementing that actually in the dealership and kind of the steps and I'm sure some trials and tribulations you had to go through there?

Speaker 3:
4:26

We really started the process I'll start with, that is, back in the late 90s. Early on I always tried to figure out ways to connect to the dealership and just kind of check up what was going on. I wasn't in the beginning, I was working every single day. I was working bell to bell. I check in and just felt uncomfortable even it was my day off so I just show up at the store here and there. So I wanted a way that I could do that without having that drive back and forth from work to home or I wasn't taking vacations so it made it really hard for me to get away from the store. So I figured there's got to be a way for me to look at what's going on, interact with my people, and this is before really email took off. We had our website back in the early 90s. We had some email, but not everyone was really into that. So this was a way I could just kind of check on what was happening in the store from a remote situation. So that's where we really started out. And then, as I started to do it, a few other employees wanted to join in and we started implementing it more, just so people could check in on their day off or check in when they were on vacation, just to make sure they felt comfortable.

Speaker 3:
5:44

As a progress, then we realized you can actually do more work from home. So we started allowing a few of the managers and people to work from home remotely, and then we even allowed them to start taking a day or so a week to where they could work from home, because they might have a project they need to get done. So it was easier to do that from home. So they weren't bothered and had people coming in out of your office Every time. You've got to switch modes from just working on a project to someone has a quick question. Oh, I just got a quick question. I got a quick question and then you're disturbed. You got to restart over again. So that was really why we started implementing this.

Speaker 3:
6:21

And then we had situations as things progressed where people had health situations or they had other things in their lives where they were either going to have to take a leave of absence or it was going to be really inconvenient. So I started to add that to their remote working situation and we really was. Before it was called remote work, it was just here's how you can get your job done while you're not at the store. That was really what it stemmed from. And then, as we continued to move forward, we had one of our employees who we'll talk to, christine.

Speaker 3:
6:58

Her husband at the time was offered a position multiple states away up in Minnesota and she was looking at me like I'm going to have to quit. And she came into my office with my office manager and said oh, my husband's moving, I'm going to quit, I don't want to. You know they're all upset and everything. And I was like well, I'm not going to let you quit, you don't have a choice, you got to stay working for me. And they're looking at me like I'm completely a weirdo and I'm like, no, you're just going to work for both.

Speaker 1:
7:24

She's like. I thought I was done with you. Yes, I thought I was free of you, michael, you are not getting away from us that easy.

Speaker 3:
7:31

We are keeping you until forever. And she actually was completely shocked and I said, no, we'll figure this out. We'll just adjust some of your duties and we'll figure out how you can work from home. And she'd done it a little bit before when she was in our BDC, so I didn't think this was going to be a problem. And the key to remote work, especially with employees, is you've got to trust your employees and if you don't have that trust with your employees, it's never going to work. You know, this is somebody who's been working for me a while. I knew she would get the job done, whether she had been in the office or away from the office. So that made it really easy.

Speaker 3:
8:07

Since I trusted her, she trusted us, we transitioned her right into remote work and we didn't really have any hiccups or any missteps. It was ready to go. We adjusted some of our processes allowed for. We were a big dealership on going paperless, so that really helped out. Since everything was digitally archived, she never problem. We need to move a few other things that we normally didn't keep in archiving so she would have access to it more digital. So we continue to Improve upon that paperless aspect of our dealership. But once we got that smooth out there was no issue. She was like working right at the store when she was states away.

Speaker 1:
8:49

I have so many thoughts on Christine's journey, which is really great that you are able to retain her before we go there. So you were talking about, you know, just the ability to do your work at home. What does that look like? I know we had heard you created your own VPN box. Will you tell us a little bit about the details of the legend?

Speaker 5:
9:08

of what that?

Speaker 1:
9:09

looks like, which is For the average person to understand yes, so I'm.

Speaker 3:
9:16

The key to working remotely is having a secure connection to the store that you're connecting to. You don't want to just Open things up and not have it encrypted and not having Everything secure, because you're dealing with customer information, you're dealing with financial information, so you need to make sure that you have a secure connection. Plus, it's a consistent connection. Back when I started this VPN, which is a virtual private network, no one really knew that was. Now, with remote work, we're starting to understand that. But we actually had to create tools that allowed you to build a VPN, because you could just buy it off the shelf product. Nowadays you can find some VPNs built into routers and other devices, but there was nothing available, so we had to come up with a way to do this, and we started just with a small computer building a VPN that created a connection. It opens up a port on your network and connects to their and you know, can I? Just your home, and allows for that traffic to be secure, whether you're at your home network or in a coffee shop or something like that. And I wanted to build a device that was portable, not something server rack, which is what you need. It you need like a big Cisco rack that costs ten thousand dollars to make this happen, and I made it out of a basically started as, even before it started as a small little Mac computer that I built a VPN, and later on I made it more portable.

Speaker 3:
10:37

When Raspberry Pis, these little thirty five dollars computers, came out, and that was the VPN in a box that I was able to hand out to customers, which Was great because we had these were giving my employees just if they needed to work home. But when the pandemic hit, it was great because you can get a hold of some of this hardware and I had a dozen boxes under my desk that I could just hand out to an employee and say here, take this home, plug in your network and it doesn't matter what network you're on, this will traverse the network, it will figure everything out. You just connect to the wifi in the box or plug a ethernet cable in there and you're up and ready to go and it's like you're in your in the store with no configuration whatsoever. That was the key to designing something that was simply plug and play. And then another company in the area took that as a product they were selling during the during the pandemic, as they call the bill, that executive box and they were able to hand it to executives for companies that could just plug this in, just work.

Speaker 3:
11:32

You know it wasn't complicated to set up. There was nothing set up. You can hand the box out, just just work.

Speaker 2:
11:38

So that's kind of where we started our network like you said for coven nineteen, you guys were pretty primed for the shift that so many us had to go into thrown into happens happened Exactly, but a lot of ways you were pretty set up for that. But even then, do you feel like there were any learnings that you had in the remote workspace during coven nineteen that, just even though you were kind of already there, you were able to enhance or grow?

Speaker 3:
12:06

I really wanted to have more of a remote workforce. Even before coven this before coven most people thought I was crazy about wanting my people not to be in the store. I thought to be easier. More work like balance. Like I said, you're more productive, I feel, especially in certain positions. Now I still figured out how to do a tech from home, but I can get some time that. That yeah little star trek technology, some transport industry can find out, but you know.

Speaker 3:
12:36

So I think it's great that you can wake up in the morning, roll out of bed and start your day without having an hour commute and wasted time truly.

Speaker 3:
12:46

Exactly and where you can have time during your day. It's like I can go run those errands, I can make sure my kids get off to school, I can show up for school for the kid to have lunch with them or something. Where would be possible if you had to go back and forth and commute. And that's the way I looked at this. I wanted that even before when the pandemic hit, that all of a sudden everyone had to remote the kind of scrambling ok, we can do this. And then the culture in the dealership also shifted towards like, oh it's, we can work from home and it's easier.

Speaker 3:
13:17

And they didn't feel like there was a little stigma behind that yeah, that was some of the things when I when I love people to work for home like, oh well, they're special or they get extra treatment and I'm like, well, I'm offering that to anyone. If they can figure out how their job can be handled from home, you're more than welcome to work from home. I don't Require you to come into the store, I just require you to get your job done, and that's the real different mindset we have. It's as long as you can do your job, I don't care if it's At home, if it's in the store or if it's on a desert island in the middle of the specific or something you know. That's whatever you want to do. That's great for you.

Speaker 1:
13:52

When you look at the scope of your dealership right now, how many individuals are taking advantage of some piece of remote work and what? Obviously not techs? What positions are they? I assume some BDC members. Is there anyone specifically in the sales staff and what does that look like?

Speaker 3:
14:09

Yeah, so we have. We're smaller dealerships so our numbers that work remote are pretty low, but percentage-wise it's high. The people who are currently working remotely, either full-time or part-time I have BDC people, some which are full-time, a couple are part-time. My office manager works remote, part-time, although she really only comes in two days a week and the other days she's working remotely. Christine, who's one of my office employees, she's been remote for almost, I think, a decade or so. It's been quite a while that she's been gone from us and that's completely full-time. We have a number of my service manager works remote on at least, yeah, he works remote one day a week. My parts manager does the same. He works remote one day a week. Gives him an opportunity to work on warranty. It gives him an opportunity to work on parts and things.

Speaker 1:
15:05

It's administrative stuff done.

Speaker 3:
15:07

Exactly, and that's typically on those management positions. What they're doing is getting that administrative work done Figuring out new pay plans, doing employee reviews as far as getting them set up. So they're not there being bothered as people come in and out of the office and if you're working on an employee review, you don't want someone walking in your office while you're writing up on another employee and having to cover up the paperwork or something like that. It just gives them a free space to work remotely. All of my sales managers have access to working remote and they pretty much check in, especially on their day off or something One of the things that we do at the stores. We have four-day work weeks, which is a huge benefit, but a lot of people, when you're gone three days a week, you kind of feel a little anxious are things getting done or how do you follow up on something?

Speaker 1:
15:53

Yeah, you feel more behind, yeah.

Speaker 3:
15:55

Yes, and that's exactly why working remotely, even though it's their day off, and people are like, well then, you really don't have a four-day work week. They're only checking in, is what it comes down to. They just feel comfortable. It's like if we knew we had a customer coming in. They can check in and see what's going on and make sure something was handed off properly to the other manager, or they can reach out to the salespeople and have a video conference call with them, or just go into the computer system and check up on a few things that it's nagging them in the back of their mind. That's why we have it, for pretty much the only people who aren't working remotely are my tax and I seldom figure that one out and the porters, that's the other one.

Speaker 1:
16:34

Keep us updated.

Speaker 3:
16:34

Yeah, I think that'll be great, but, yeah, everyone has access to it. More people take advantage than others, and some people my service manager specifically I might have to look at putting some screen time on his remote because he tends to work more than he should, so I might have to cut that off a little bit. That is the disadvantages. If you are that type of person who can't disconnect, that can be a problem. You need to set some definite boundaries with one that you should connect and not and I monitor that and I have some conversations with them. Everyone's in a while saying hey, Sean, you're checking in on Sunday afternoon. You really shouldn't be doing that. It's coming too often is what it breaks out to be.

Speaker 2:
17:16

So when did you make the decision to kind of go from just like you said it sounded like it started as a case by case basis where people could come do with their situation or their desire to do it, but primarily existing employees, to when you are seeking out new employees, presenting, hey, anyone who does this job can work remote. And then have you seen any differences in how you recruit for people? Because I know this industry we sometimes have difficulties hiring and retaining, so with the hiring piece have you seen any differences for your store.

Speaker 1:
17:49

It opens up your talent pool dramatically.

Speaker 3:
17:53

That's one thing I would say we haven't taken advantage of is using that as part of our recruiting process. A lot of that stems from like is that you have to trust the employee before you go on, get to know their work ethic.

Speaker 3:
18:05

And also so they. I think the most difficult thing with hiring people and starting out remotely is they don't understand your culture. You know, I really feel you have to bring somebody in and make sure they understand why we do things, how we do things. So they're going to be the ones especially in like a BDC situation. They're going to be talking to my customers. So you know, we really need to get that training period in and as we start to go through the process, then we can offer that up as a remote position to this employee. So all of the BDC people who have transitioned to a remote working situation, they really started in the BDC and then, yeah, and then job or life situations have allowed them to work remote. So we're not recruiting people doing that way. That's something as the sales process starts to get there. We're doing quite a bit with online transactions. I could see that having our sales staff hiring people all across the country to just work remotely and handle that but it's not something we've been able to kind of accomplish right away.

Speaker 3:
19:13

As I mentioned, it's changing your culture to. You know. It's like well, why do these people not come into work? Are these people really working? You know that's what you've got to get your other employees I mean management, understands they're working because they can see the productivity. It's making sure the other employees say well, so-and-so. I've been here for four days. It's like are they still working? It's like, oh yeah, they're working from home. So it's changing that culture within your dealership is the main thing, and that's a harder transition than just using technology.

Speaker 1:
19:41

From the BDC perspective, obviously you have a high level of trust that they're getting done. What needs to get done? Do you guys have specific KPIs that you're tracking on a daily basis for your BDC or monthly, and is the expectation that they're checking in or they get done what needs to get done?

Speaker 3:
20:01

Yeah, I would say the BDC is one of the easiest of the departments to monitor, because if the phones aren't being answered, then you pretty much know they're not doing their job. And the same thing with following up on emails. I mean, we have metrics in place to where they need to respond to leads in a certain amount of time. How are they following up? What are their closing ratios? We can monitor everything that they're doing. So that's the easiest one of any position. I would recommend moving your BDC first, because you can tell whether they're working or not. You can see the quality of work, and the reality is it's better to have a remote situation for most of the BDC because they don't have people coming in and bothering. If you're on the phone and someone walks in or another conversation is in a nearby cubicle, that might overlap with what's happening on the BDC. But if you're, in your own office.

Speaker 3:
20:56

Nobody's interrupting you. You can have a great conversation with somebody and you can quickly chat on the background. If you've got questions you need from a manager or from another employee, or if you need to get a hold of a service writer or a tech, you can use. We use Microsoft Teams a lot for that and they can just quickly type in whether on phone conversation, say with the customer, and have that communication is actually easier than being there In the dealership because you know you have to use the chat. You can't just get up and go ask a question for somebody. So remote work works really well for the bdc and there's really no reason other than that making sure they understand the culture the dealership. How we got to put customers ahead of everything else is long as we got that Instilled into them, it works well like you said, I think bdc is the most natural position I think People could start with.

Speaker 2:
21:47

I think it's so impressive. You have service and your parts manager doing it to you. That's awesome. Well, and even when listening to you talk about it immediately when you said someone popping into the service manager's office to ask a question, I mean I can picture how that happens all day long and just thinking about the ability of if they have that day dedicated to the admin piece Right then the other days when they're in the store, just how much more present and almost like proactive. And that's when I train and I have to be managing yes.

Speaker 2:
22:16

Kind of freeing it up there. What feedback have you gotten from your management team about not necessarily their employees, but just how they feel as managers being able to do this?

Speaker 3:
22:27

That's the best part about it, because they can handle that admin work one their way. When they're at the store, they're not stuck in their offices. They can be out with their employees, training them, answering questions, working with the customers. The worst part about is all I need to speak to manager. Well, he's In a meeting right now. He's doing something that we try to. We try to have that remote session when they get all that work and then when they're there, they're engaged with her employees. Which is the real crux to being a manager is the interaction and engage with your police. It's not doing reports, it's not doing things like that, and I don't want them to go home and having to do that work At night. You know when they should be with their families. Let's set aside a time when you can do that from home and you know my office managers are perfect.

Speaker 3:
23:13

Example when she just payroll before she did payroll In the store it would take her hours to do payroll because people come in and ask questions and the she was always interrupted. When you're dealing with people's pay, you wanna make sure you get it right. So she have to like double check, triple check work. When she does it home, she can pop it out right away, it's all paid in their bank accounts and everything is done in a fraction of the time. And so she only does payroll from home now because it's so much simpler and she can be completely distraction free. She puts everything on and do not disturb and she just pop it out, get it done and move on, and she also can start it Earlier in the morning, you know, since she doesn't have to have that hour long commute to get to work. She can just wake up, have a cup of coffee, do her payroll and then, before everyone else even gets in to give her an opportunity to bother her, she's got it completed and done.

Speaker 3:
24:05

I would say that's the other thing With Christine. She's a very early riser and she has reports done at like five o'clock in the morning, you know, and everything's kind of Pushed out there really early in the morning to where she gets a lot of her job done before after story shows up to work. So it's great to have all that information Before you even walk in the store, before you know when she come in. At a normal time, you know, it was a good hour into the day before we start to see those reports. This way, I'm not even leaving my house and also got all the reports I need to go and I know when I'm at for the day before I walk into the store. It's great to have that pop up on your iphone and I can see where the cash situation is, everything.

Speaker 1:
24:44

So, speaking of christine, we are very excited she is going to join us today, as well as nicky, two individuals from the saint charles team. So, ladies, welcome. Would you guys like to introduce yourselves and Just give us a quick blurb about who you are, how long you've been with saint charles?

Speaker 4:
25:04

Yeah, so I'm Nikki and I've been with St Charles for eight years now and I started in service just doing calls and now I am the BDC manager, so I do service and sales.

Speaker 1:
25:17

Very cool. Welcome, nikki. Thank you, christine.

Speaker 5:
25:20

So I'm Christine. I've been with St Charles Toyota just shy of 10 years. I started out in sales, transitioned to BDC internet sales, worked from home for a short period doing that, then I transitioned up to the office and I moved to Minnesota in 2017 and been working from home ever since. I do a little bit of everything. My official title is a biller, but I process some warranty. I do a lot of product invoices, a little bit of everything.

Speaker 2:
25:49

So exciting to have you both. Could you both just speak a little bit about kind of your personal experience with working remote and then what benefits have you gotten from it, but also maybe some unexpected things you had to learn along the way. As you know, all of a sudden you're trying to do your job from home.

Speaker 4:
26:07

Yeah, so one. I'm really bad with technology, so I'll just start off there.

Speaker 1:
26:11

The opposite of Michael.

Speaker 4:
26:14

See he made. It was very simple and I was panicking. I remember I was like, oh my gosh, it's almost midnight, I'm going to call Michael and literally he just told me, like, plug it in, like where it's kind of working. Plug it in. Like I just couldn't figure it out. But it was really simple. I mean the phone started working instantly. It was connected to the computer. The best part about it is like we have cameras too. So like if I was to take like a service call, I could see Brian and services available so I could send it to him. Or who in my BDC staff is actually at their desk right now? Like that I love, because at some point like the phones would ring and I'd be like where is everybody? Like are you actually working today? So that was really nice. I liked that.

Speaker 5:
27:00

So it was a really easy transition. When I first did it I was only an hour from the dealership, so that panic wasn't there. So when this opportunity arose to do this in Minnesota, it was a fairly smooth transition. I really didn't. My biggest concern now is my internet connection, so I have to take that into consideration wherever I go. I live in rural Minnesota. I don't live. I live in Podunk 2200 people. That's always something that I do have to consider then if I'm talking about making a move, when I first moved up here, we were living with family that was way out in the middle of nowhere and they were in a dead zone. I struggled to get my work done some days, but I did it Then when we moved into town, that internet is a lot easier.

Speaker 1:
27:45

Christine, michael mentioned, I think you said your husband needed to move to Minnesota. I guess how did this make you feel on a personal level that the St Charles team and Michael supported you on a personal note to make that move and keep your job?

Speaker 5:
28:05

It was the last thing I expected. I had worked from home for them before but I never imagined it would be an opportunity they would give me 450 miles away. So it was tears of joy. Let's be honest. It took that pressure off of moving as stressful enough. Moving that far away from home is very difficult, but it took that pressure off for me of having to worry about finding a job and going to interviews and stuff like that. So it was huge. It reinforced the trust and the loyalty is there in both directions.

Speaker 1:
28:39

Yeah, that's incredible.

Speaker 2:
28:41

That is beautiful. I can tell even just the joking between you and Michael. It seems like that decade you've been together.

Speaker 3:
28:47

You guys have gotten close.

Speaker 2:
28:48

That's really cool to hear Nikki as a manager. What does it look like for you to have team members that are working remotely? I know you said sometimes you pop on the camera just to see who's at their desk if the phones are ringing. But I guess bigger picture, was that an adjustment for you to have to start to manage that part as well as just managing the regular roles of the BDC?

Speaker 4:
29:09

I mean it was pretty awesome for the fact that I have an employee in the BDC that is working remotely now too, and I had experience with it, first because I started one when the pandemic started, and then maternally. I'm so thankful that I was able to work from home, because babies are expensive, okay. And then they sleep all the time as newborn, so it's like I'm sitting there like I could work. So if I'm so thankful for that, especially because they're so expensive. So I needed the money.

Speaker 4:
29:43

But I knew how it worked working from home. So when my employees started working from home remotely, I could help her with little things like adjusting and how to do stuff. So that's a huge benefit of this as well. And then I mean we have phones we screen share, so everything was.

Speaker 1:
30:00

it's really simple and laid out for you. So okay, michael mentioned earlier. You know a lot of people in the automotive space can be skeptical. Obviously, you are the best example of the success of it. What would you say to those skeptics that think it's not possible?

Speaker 4:
30:17

It's definitely possible because I could do it. They can, especially with the whole technology side of it. Like it's easy. You just have to have the technology in order to do it, and for me I just had to plug in it. It was easy.

Speaker 1:
30:31

Is there anything from like KPIs management perspective in the BDC that you feel is necessary? If you have a remote team, Obviously technology is the foundation there, but anything else you found to be helpful.

Speaker 4:
30:43

I mean with what Michael said. So like entering in model numbers and stuff of like the 2024 vehicles that came out. It's very distracting doing it here. So like that is something that I like to do at home because I'm not getting interrupted every five seconds with people walking in. You know, I could get the stuff that I need to do at home and then just be more helpful when I'm actually here in the store and interactive with everybody. But I could actually get the stuff that I need to do at home, yeah.

Speaker 3:
31:15

Nicky, how about you talk? You went into a little bit about maternity leave and kind of handling that. And then we got trish, who one of your employees that you're talking, when they were talking about kpis. It's like how do you monitor those people? How do you tell that they're getting their job done? Maybe, and go into a little bit about that.

Speaker 4:
31:32

Yeah. So I agree also what michael said earlier that the bgc is probably the easiest to start off on from working remotely, for the fact that everything is Trackable, with responding to customers, like I can see when the customer sent the email and if you replied or not. And if you didn't reply, like well, why haven't you seen this in an hour? What have you been doing? Or with, like service calls. Like if they're coming in and all of a sudden we're getting a bunch of voice mails, then obviously you're not answering the phone. So I mean it's really really easy to track face just simply off of that, like if you're answering the phone and if you're responding to the customers.

Speaker 4:
32:11

Also, like if, like, a new internet lead comes in, like how long has it been sitting in the box for? Has it been sitting there for a couple hours? Has it been sitting there for five minutes? So I mean that's the best way to track. It's so simple to track that to, especially with having teams. You answer service call. They want a visor. You can see in our teams group like hey, christin, can you take this call? They're also talking in the teams.

Speaker 4:
32:36

every, almost every service call customers always have a lot of questions, so we're like who's available? So, like you could see, like Every call that they've taken, basically like is anybody available or is this person? And that's the best way to track, track everybody.

Speaker 1:
32:51

So niki question obviously it sounds like a lot majority of the task for bdc can be done remotely. Is there anything On the other end of the spectrum that you see is necessary in person from a management perspective, in the way you kind of run the team?

Speaker 4:
33:07

Basically, the only thing that I feel like you have to do in the store is Closing, like pd I bags really. But I mean, you can technically train anybody to do that if you really needed to. Yeah, but I do think that everybody should start in the office, because that's how you get to know people like yeah, that's just.

Speaker 4:
33:26

Creating that relationship, absolutely my sister moved to Kentucky and she was supposed to be working like in the hospital but then they had a working remotely for a year and she never got one single person like yeah, nobody. Like yes, you're on teams with them Every day, are you doing calls, but you don't know who they are because you don't have that interaction. So I think, like to actually genuinely know somebody's personality or how they are, you gotta work together especially with like training wise. Like maybe this customer or this employees not gonna be that nice to customers. I need to know that?

Speaker 2:
34:00

Yeah, you know.

Speaker 4:
34:01

so I get your training together you'll be able to figure that out. And then it is a trust thing, like I have to be able to trust them to know that they will do work, because if they're not doing work here, they're not gonna do it.

Speaker 2:
34:15

I think it does sound low that most of the kpis of what you would track when they're home your track. Those are the same things you'd be tracking if they were sitting in the room with you. It's just like you said, trusting that they'll do it and then. But you would have the same conversation either way if if they were hitting the kpis. It's just they get to do it.

Speaker 4:
34:34

So it's really simple to track. I do it here with them or when I'm at home, because it's just, it's that simple.

Speaker 1:
34:42

Nikki, you had you briefly mentioned earlier a little bit about maternity leave. Would you talk just a little bit about how how you felt supported during that process with the ability to work from home, how it allowed you to get things done during that downtime?

Speaker 4:
34:58

Yeah, it was literally like a weight off of my chest because, like I said, they're expensive and they call me like, only if you could get in like an hour or two hours, like whatever you could do, you don't have to feel pressure if you want to do every other day, and Newborns they sleep all day and I'm just like, okay, like I'm getting antsy. So it's like, yeah, I want to work, I want to make money. Basically, I was just so thankful that I had that opportunity because otherwise I'd just be sitting there twiddling my thumbs, probably working anyway, like I had the opportunity to do it. I was very thankful for it and it was really simple because I have the whole set up the phone, the computers, the cameras, everything was already there. So it was very simple for me. And then if she wakes up, all right, I'll be back. Guys, put on my be right back sign and that.

Speaker 4:
35:51

I'm not disturbed the rings a lot and it was just.

Speaker 1:
35:55

It was really simple and easy to do yeah, and, similar to christine, I was gonna say that's really neat that you are able to be supported on such a Important time in your child's life by your, by your team, by your company, so that that's really cool.

Speaker 2:
36:12

I think at this point in the conversation, you guys have sold us. We love everything. I mean, it's just so clear how it's helped your team dynamic in the store. So, michael, it's not as simple, for everyone else is just plug it in, right. So for any of our listeners, could you give some advice or tips of how to Start to successfully implement this at their store? What would your first step be if if you've never considered this ever, and then, besides plugging it in, what technology wise also, they would need?

Speaker 3:
36:44

Yeah, the first thing. Niki brought up a point on how you gotta trust your employees first. So the first key is to create that culture with your employees. You gotta know you trust the employee. You gotta know you gotta set the proper expectations with what we expect from the employee. Really, the expectations are if you get your job done, it's okay to Go run errands during the day, so that's that's very important. You know, I don't mind is long as your phone call you can. We can call your mobile phone if we have a quick question during the day, so our business stays In flow. But once you set those expectations, once you have a customer employee that you can trust, that's what you gotta handle first. Culture is everything that's gotta be. The key point to this Is to get the trust and the understanding of what the job expectations are. So technology can solve problems, but we've got a first hand of the people before we handle the technology.

Speaker 3:
37:36

The next thing when it comes to technology, back when I started this, there really wasn't any technology available or was just Completely too expensive for us to consider. You know where? Smaller toy to the ship in the chicago suburbs, and we're not some Mega organization that has multiple dealerships all across the country. So for us we needed affordable, easy to use system. That at the time we had to build, you know, and with my background that was not A challenge for me. The great thing is is since then, twenty years later, there is this technology that's available pretty much for everyone.

Speaker 3:
38:13

The key is you gotta look for technology that's going to be secure. You gotta make sure that you're not just buying some basic no-name router that has VPN technology. You've got to make sure it's end-to-end encrypted. You've got to make sure that you're not creating additional problems in your dealership's firewall, that you're opening up ports that you shouldn't open. So you really need somebody who can handle that opening the right ports and setting things up. But from a technology standpoint, there's plenty of off-the-shelf products. As long as you're going with a quality vendor that they can buy and you don't have to buy the $20,000 Cisco VPN system, you can look at some smaller companies like Synology and Ubiquiti that can offer these VPN boxes that are in the hundreds of dollars instead of the thousands of dollars, and if you get an IT person that sets it up properly, you're going to be as secure as you would be with any of the other systems. That's really the key.

Speaker 3:
39:11

Start with your people. Then look at the technology to meet that and be open-minded. Look at different jobs. Think of jobs that you wouldn't necessarily think can be remote. Or start with a few of your people that do a lot of admin work. Have them work a day or two from home and kind of test that and use into it. Yeah, that's the way it started and it's just relieving a little pressure off your employees. If you can give them a little bit of freedom to where they can work from home a day or two a week, then it works out. The biggest problem I have with having somebody completely fully remote is if they start to lose engagement with the dealership. You need to come up with things to bring them back in every once in a while.

Speaker 3:
39:56

Be a part of the team Exactly, make sure that they can come down. Not long ago we had our 25th anniversary and Christine came down and totally surprised us and came for our 25th anniversary party, which was great and it was amazing. It's things like that. If you can do some type of an event, especially if you have more off-site people, if you can pull them back in and make sure you have some type of team building events with your employees, that we can have face-to-face interactions, because we need to work with people. We want to talk to people, we want to.

Speaker 3:
40:26

You don't want to be stuck in a room all the time. I mean I would probably go nuts if I was fully remote every day because it'd be like I don't get to see any people, I don't get to interact. But those face-to-face conversations are important just to build the relationships with people and if someone's been with you a while, you can have less of that because you've already built that groundwork. But moving forward, you still need to have a time or two. So 100% remote's fine, as long as you have some type of events that you can bring your people back so everyone gets to socialize and interact with the people.

Speaker 3:
40:59

It's hard when we're having these teams meetings or something like that, to really engage and to feel connected. So I'm just making sure that when people move to this model, they still do engage with their employees. Just don't forget about them and also make sure that you're giving them raises and such, because they're out of sight, out of mind. It can be too. It's like oh, I forgot that Christine's been working with us for so long and we haven't done anything for her in a while, because you're not there interacting and when you see somebody on a day-to-day basis, you can remember that.

Speaker 1:
41:29

You're reminded yeah.

Speaker 3:
41:31

Yeah, and it could be difficult for those remote employees to ask for things like an extra time off or something like that. They might feel guilty. It's like, well, I'm never at work, so I ask for an extra time off or something because I have something going on. You have to be open to that, too, and make sure you have those great lines of communication so they feel comfortable asking you for things even though they're not in the store. So those are really some of the items that you need to look at when you do remote work. But the key is start with your people, do the technology and then make sure you have check-ins where they're still feeling engaged, they still feel part of the team, because if they get disconnected, even though they're not having to come in, they might not feel like it's a worthwhile job for them. We want to make them have a great experience away from work, just like we do when they're at work.

Speaker 4:
42:20

That was my thing. We get antsy at home Like I want to see everybody. It's not the same. So I would just pop in with the baby like hi, it's me.

Speaker 1:
42:29

Well, I was going to say, yeah, we're such a people-first business, like it's interesting that Michael said you kind of start and end the process with the people, create the culture, create the foundation, but then, even when they're remote, you have to keep that connection, which is, yeah, a unique but very, very valid perspective.

Speaker 4:
42:47

Yeah, and I mean we're just all really like half the people here are roommates.

Speaker 3:
42:51

So I want to jump while you see her live with me for two years.

Speaker 4:
42:54

We're really close. So like I was just like oh OK, I'm going to pop in. I miss my friends.

Speaker 2:
43:00

Yeah, exactly. Yeah, that is so cool to hear Because I feel like, if you think of the lore around the industry, right, everyone's working bell to bell. I'm sure, as soon as people finish it for the day at some places, they want to leave and they don't want to come back until they have to for the next shift. Right, but, like you said, you're just looking to pop in even when you're not working, because you want to be around, because that's just. It sounds like there's just so much balance there and so people want to be there and fully there. Versus, you know, my time is my time. I'm not going to think about work. You want to check?

Speaker 4:
43:30

in. Exactly, and that's the best part about it is like even the people that I used to live with at work here we don't try coming to work Like we don't Like. I like coming to work honestly. So it's just like I wouldn't want a job where I dreaded going to every day.

Speaker 1:
43:44

Well, and I was going to say and the fact that you guys have the ability to get personal things done amidst the workweek makes it so that you know you don't get out of work and you're like now I need to accomplish all 900 personal items I have until before I go back tomorrow to work, so it gives you that freedom a little bit. Yeah Well, cool guys, we really appreciate all of your time today Wrapping this up. Michael said in the beginning don't be afraid to think differently. It sounds like you guys did it a long time ago Challenge the status quo a bit when we think of jobs that have traditionally been in person. And so I think to all of our listeners out there, don't be afraid to think differently. And yeah, we're so glad we got to chat with you guys today. We really appreciate it.

Speaker 2:
44:28

Yeah, thanks for having us. Thank you all, yeah.

Speaker 3:
44:31

Thank you so much. This is an amazing podcast. I'm so glad you're all doing this. It's definitely opened my eyes.

Speaker 1:
44:36

Thank you, Michael. Thanks Michael, we appreciate it guys.

Speaker 2:
44:39

Thank you. What a cool deep dive into the world of remote working in the retail space. So so grateful for Michael and Christine and Nikki for breaking down all of their perspectives. I think that it made it seem super approachable and maybe we're a little more open-minded now that we've heard that conversation. Kat, what was your?

Speaker 1:
45:02

biggest takeaway Love the conversation. I think for me I really liked when he discussed what I will call the people sandwich. Michael was realistic with us that it starts with engaging the employee before you set them free in the remote workspace and bringing them into the culture of your dealership, how you guys work as a group, and then also making sure you reconnect them once they're fully remote, because it can sometimes be difficult to keep them engaged and I just I love that perspective.

Speaker 2:
45:35

I agree, and I think that's the part of Michael's experience of doing this over so many years that you could really see come through right, like the, just the idea of hey, you know, really easing into this and starting small, like you said, like that sandwich, because this change should not come at the sacrifice of your culture and what makes your business your business. It should be something that just kind of adds to it. But I like at one point he said, think of remote working as a way to really relieve pressure for some of your employees. I think we can all picture maybe a coworker that sometimes comes to work and you can just tell how stressed they are and you can just see the pressure.

Speaker 1:
46:16

So much on their plate.

Speaker 2:
46:17

Oh yeah, you can see the pressure almost on their shoulders, and so thinking of remote work as a way for them to take the time away from kind of that environment but still be productive, I think is a good way to think about it, yeah, and you know, in the example of his service manager, that individual was able to get administrative work done and then be more of a leader, a coach, in person with his staff when he's there.

Speaker 1:
46:44

So you know he's ultimately getting more productivity out of that individual by giving him that, you know, freedom and autonomy and trust.

Speaker 2:
46:51

So and I think it wouldn't be a conversation with Michael without that little technological deep dive that he gave us.

Speaker 1:
47:00

He really brought it down, though, for the normal folk to understand.

Speaker 2:
47:03

Yes, but as soon as he mentioned the raspberry pies, I did. He did lose me for just a second, but he brought us back, which I appreciated. So he definitely gave us, you know, and our listeners, ways to really dive into this if they wanted to. Like we said, just start in small and being very intentional about how you go about this.

Speaker 1:
47:21

Yeah, absolutely, you know. We would just encourage everyone out there. As the world and technology and customer expectations continue to evolve, I think we in automotive also need to constantly be doing the same, and this is just one way we can do that. So great conversation today. As all of you guys know, you can find us on Instagram, at getinherlane or our website, getinherlanecom, or you can reach out to us directly and of course, we would love to hear from you, kathleen, myself and our entire team.

Speaker 2:
47:55

It makes our day when we can spend our time reading the reviews and how much you guys are enjoying this podcast, giving us feedback. It's just, it's everything we could want to engage with our listeners. So, thank you, and make sure to subscribe on Apple, spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.