Many car dealerships don't consider how behavioral psychology should affect their hiring practices, but Niemann Profiles, a consulting firm out of Salt Lake City, hopes to change that.
"Let's face it, people are our greatest resource," Art Niemann, president and owner of Niemann Profiles, told Mega Dealer News from the floor of the 2018 NADA Show in Las Vegas. "They're the most expensive resource that we have. So we're trying to put the right person in the right place the first time to reduce the cost of turnovers."
The crux of Niemann's success with automobile dealerships is their self-reporting assessment tool. Applicants log onto the Niemann website and answer a few questions about themselves. Then, Niemann takes their answers and matches their behavioral assessment with open jobs.
"We developed behavioral standards for each job," Niemann said. "So, if you're hiring for a salesperson, you have certain benchmarks that you're looking for, or certain behavioral traits, which are going to be different than someone sitting in an office doing accounting work."
According to Niemann, his company's services are guaranteed to reduce turnover, increase worker productivity, build stronger teams, and build employee engagement. They also offer human resources management services including teaching, training and hiring skills.
"By assessing behavioral styles, you're putting the right person in the right profile in the right job," Niemann said.
One of the company's biggest success stories is Morrie's Automotive Group in Minneapolis. There, groupwide turnover among the several dealerships were over 120 percent. After using Niemann Profiles for just one year, turnover dropped to 20 percent.
The company also works with J.M. Lexus in Florida, and Royal Auto Group in Arizona.
"The costs saving, when you consider what it costs to hire, train, and work with someone only to have them leave, obviously that goes right to the bottom line," Niemann said.
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