Check your employees’ progress. My responsibility as an employer is to assist, guide and encourage a person to accomplish what they want to in life. You have to make sure that when you are delegating to a person, No. 1, you give them the freedom to do the job, and then you have to monitor it. You have to offer them pointers along the way.
I ask them. Not only do I ask them, [but] if I want to generate so much revenue in a month, I can monitor that through our computer system; I can [get the] report as to how the used car manager’s doing this month.
A lot of times, I may not let the used car manager know that I’m asking for that report. If I look at the report and it looks like he’s on track, then I will go to him and say, ‘It looks like you’re doing a pretty good job. Keep up the good work.’
If he’s behind, I’ll find a way to say to him, ‘How you doing this month?’ If he doesn’t say anything, then I’ll say to him, ‘Well, I was looking at the reports this morning, and it looks like you’re having some problems. You want to talk about them? Is there something you need? What do we need to do to get you back on track?’
A lot of times, employees are afraid to admit that they can’t get something done. I try to remove that fear — in other words, ‘Let’s talk about this. Let’s discuss it and see what we can do.’
Reward employees. There has to be opportunity for them. If you’re growing and you’re making all the money and they’re not growing and they’re not making any money, they’re not going to continue to be happy people. They have to grow along with you.
And it’s not just all about money; it’s about the job, the status and things of that nature. Some people are motivated with things other than money. Some people can be motivated with time off. Some people can be motivated by receiving a plaque or recognition. Money’s a big part of it, but there are other ways to motivate people.
How to reach: Bill Perkins Automotive Group, (586) 775-8300 or www.merollischevycars.com
