Embracing Transparency?

[ryan.leslie]

Thought I'd pass along another Reddit AMA from a dealership employee claiming to "take the lid off of dealership operations." I was planning to use this picture to demonstrate a different point, but it fits here.



Here's the link:
IAMA Car Salesman. Ask me anything you wanna know about what goes on behind the scenes : IAmA

Like before, I'm sharing this as a pseudo focus group. It is interesting to see what the consumer will ask when some level of anonymity is assumed. 300+ comments thus far and growing but it seems to share the same themes as the last one I shared:

• What are these fees?
• Why does it take so long?
• Do women really get a worse deal than men?
• "How do I screw the dealer, because I KNOW they are screwing me?"

I know most of you "do your business" in the open already with transparency in mind. I found this to be an interesting skim and hopefully something that will allow you to build strategies for CX that will diffuse these fears of yesteryear.

 

[ryan.leslie]

Refresh,

I'm not going to explain it to try to preserve some anonymity, but I was able to identify the dealer and reached out to them to make sure they knew about this so they could redirect the employee. I just spoke with them and asked if they wanted me to take this down, but the dealer would like to hear from you instead. How would you handle this situation?

Pertinent Facts:

• The employee has since left the industry. They posted this on their last day at the dealership.
• The dealership treated them well and wished them well on their way out the door, this was not an ugly departure or a spiteful post
• The employee worked in the industry for a relatively short period of time
• The dealership has a "social media policy" that was endorsed by the employee at time of hire
• This is a "good dealer," they do things the right way and had I have known who it was I wouldn't have posted this (it always seems to happen to the good guys, doesn't it?)

How would you handle this? Let it go assuming relative anonymity (those of you that know reddit know that the comment feed is degrading by the minute, not many will wade through 700 comments, it is however still in position 2 of r/IAmA), or would you attempt to contact the ex-employee and remind them of the social media policy they endorsed, or would you ????

The dealer is monitoring this thread and really wants to hear from you. Those of you that read and post here often would want to help this person if you knew who they were... it isn't kcar!

 

[joe.pistell]

Contacting this guy is a bad idea. He'd just use that to validate his rant. I read it for 30 mins and saw no reference to any store or what town he worked from. IMO, its a tempest in a tea cup. ignore it.

 

[yagoparamo]

I think that you can change a few key words and the thread would apply to unhappy people from many industries (health care, food, etc).

It stuck with me reading it how people complain about the DOC fees. If people just knew how many hours an loss of birthdays, family days, etc an FI person has to put in. How much training, liability, paperwork. The risk the dealer takes on each transaction, etc.

 

[JessicaRuth]

Just out of curiosity, what were you going to use that pic for instead?

 

[ryan.leslie]

Just out of curiosity, what were you going to use that pic for instead?

To me this photo illustrated a quality product implemented to solve a problem it wasn't designed to solve or a quality employee that was failing because they were stuffed into the wrong role. We've all seen that happen.

This is a smart group of people that are passionate about whatever part of the business they represent, I'll give you the potential caption title, you write your own application text!

Here are a few of my frontrunners for titles:

Elegance is irrelevant when the solution doesn't meet the need.

Just because a solution fills a hole doesn't mean it solves a problem.

Never lose sight of the REAL problem while planning your solution.

My favorite:

Settle for the wrong solution and you'll eventually show your ass. (That's a southern euphemism for "look a little foolish." See what I did there? )