One of the biggest issues facing dealers in 2022 is staffing. There doesn’t appear to be much change on the horizon, but there are ways to keep revenue up while dealing with employee shortages.
A new U.S. Labor and Statistics report shows more than 40 million people quit their jobs in just the last year. The reason for this is mainly stress. Around 57% of workers reported feeling stress on a daily basis over the past 12 months.
What Is Causing the Stress?
There are a few factors leading to employee burnout among employees. The main issue is staffing itself.
People are quitting, but on the backside of that, employers are not finding enough people to hire for those empty positions. The recruitment pool is just not as big as it was.
Meanwhile, the current workers are having to do more work with less help, creating burnout. This will lead to more people deciding to quit, or you may see several employees start to underperform because they are too stressed out.
It also comes at a significant cost. According to the Annals of Internal Medicine, the economic impact of burnout is costing the U.S. about $4.6 billion every year.
How to Fix Burnout?
While it may seem daunting, the fixes are simple.
Establish a plan to make you and your employees happy. Make sure you listen to their concerns and find out where they need the most help.
Ask yourself: “Is there an easier way to do things with the tools we have now?” Are there simple things you can add, such as a texting platform or a payment system, that can take some of the burden off your employees?
Once a basic plan is in place, then you need to make sure you have the tools to help your employees. One of the best solutions is to come up with a more automated system throughout your company.
Texting is one of the best ways to limit employee workload while still communicating with your customers. Texting is also not new for customers. Many prefer it. Around 89% percent of customers say they would rather interact with a business via text message rather than a phone call.
Our data shows a 55% increase in text volume year over year for dealerships using a texting platform. Businesses also said they are completing entire transactions, from lead to purchase, via text.
This will also help your staff reduce the time they spend on the phone and take some of the pressure off of them when dealing with customers. Employees can set up automated responses, so they don’t have to be waiting by the phone all day.
During the pandemic, we have also seen an increase in text-to-pay systems. This may have seemed unlikely even just a few years ago, but in 2022 customers are now expecting businesses to have this product.
By offering text-to-pay, you are going to have an easier time collecting. You can send someone a text in seconds, and they can respond with the payment. Through our research, we found dealerships are reporting a 400% revenue growth year over year by adding text-to-pay.
This also takes another task away from your overworked staff. With customers filling out the payment information themselves, it reduces the amount of time they need to spend on accounts receivable.
Customers can now pre-pay for service and come in for pickup whenever they like. This allows customers to limit in-person interactions, and it allows your service bay to keep things moving faster and increase revenue.
The texting trend is not going away, but it can help you avoid burnout with your employees by creating a system that eases the pressure on them and allows the customer to keep in contact at any time of the day.
Ben Leighton is a Content Marketing Specialist with Kenect. He previously worked in the journalism industry for over a decade, creating multimedia content on various platforms. You can find Ben on Linkedin and Twitter.
Kenect helps businesses connect with their customers. We build simple texting tools that are elegant and easy-to-use. Thousands of companies across North America use our platform to text their customers, generate online reviews, gather leads from their websites, video chat, and collect payments. Based in the Silicon Slopes of Utah, our team is committed helping businesses improve their customer experience and customer communication. To learn more about Kenect, visit kenect.com or text us at (888) 972-7422.
