"What keeps customers loyal is when they walk into a store, they're being handled properly. There's somebody there that understands their needs and concerns. You have to have highly motivated people to do that every day because that conversation might start with a problem. So you need problem-solvers working for you.
"How do you keep them? Well, I think you need to have flexible schedules. You have to have incentivized pay plans that steer them in the direction they need to go. And they need to feel valued. If you have the right staff, then they are going to adapt to what the dealer wants to communicate to his customers, [which is,] 'We are here to take care of anything that has to do with your driving experience.'
"And that's where the customer loyalty comes from. And once the customers are loyal, your business is going to continue to grow, and it's not going to be taken by somebody else."
— Jeff Liebler, vice president of the East for database marketer APC Integrated Services Group, on what it takes to retain customers and employees on the "Fixed Ops 5" podcast, hosted by Corey Smith
