Today on CBT News, host Jim Fitzpatrick is joined by Jason Frampton, Market President of Ken Garff Automotive Group. Frampton joins the show to provide an update on his business and share his thoughts on trends currently happening in car dealerships.
Frampton kicks off the interview by sharing what Ken Garff Automotive Group has faced in the last year. Like all other car dealerships, Ken Garff had to make business pivots based on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the auto group also faced many natural disasters in several of its markets. Frampton says the company’s Houston locations were severely impacted by the winter freeze in Texas and its Utah stores dealt with an “inland hurricane” that caused major damage throughout the state.
Through COVID, Ken Garff Auto has relied on each other as a staff to overcome challenges. Frampton says that many monthly meetings moved to weekly Zoom calls to ensure nothing was being overlooked. The car dealerships have overemphasized the need to communicate with one another. COVID motivated automotive teams to focus on good habits. These new habits must continue to be revisited through training to ensure that dealership staff continues to practice them when sales are both good and bad.
Frampton then discusses what his dealership group is doing to reduce turnover. Around 8 months ago, Ken Garff Auto began putting together a headcount budget. This has limited the number of new employees being added to the staff, allowing senior management to invest more in the people they currently have on staff. Frampton says this has led to their dealership group operating at 22% turnover rate.
