A Visit from HQ’s Top Management

I recently visited a car dealership showroom that shall remain nameless. I’ll just say that they’re one of the largest dealerships in the world. The purpose of my visit was to browse around in hopes of finding a suitable vehicle to consider.

My overall experience at the dealership from the moment I parked my car was unpleasant, to say the least. In short, I couldn’t find parking, no one greeted me as I entered the showroom even though there were two greeters both playing with their phones and did not even look up as I walked in, I browsed around for 10 minutes until an attendee finally approached even though the showroom was almost completely empty, the attendant didn’t know much about cars and hence was not useful in any way, all the cars on display were locked and the employee with the keys had not arrived yet, all the sales people seemed grumpy including the showroom manager, no one collected my contact details to conduct a follow up sales call. In summary, the showroom was inhospitable, and no genuine attempt was made by the showroom to make a sale. Even though there was a car I liked, needless to say, I did not consider any car from that showroom simply because my overall expereince was unpleasant.

Now, let’s imagine this situation; The same showroom is paid a scheduled and announced visit from the dealership’s regional headquarters top management team for the purpose of a general observational tour that also serves as a performance review. The showroom manager would have worked tirelessly days in advance of the visit to make sure the showroom is in perfect operational condition and would also ensure that the standards are observed and maintained ‘for the duration of the visit’. He will ensure that every employee, including himself, have huge smile on their faces, every one is on time and attentive and that the customer experience is flawless from A to Z. Had I been lucky enough to visit on the same day as the team from HQ, I would have witnessed a hospitable environment, I would have had the experience I’m entitled to and might have even made a purchase or at the very least made a serious consideration to come back for a car I liked. However, this excellent expereince would have been a fake one, a fa?ade that lasted only for the duration of the top management’s visit. As soon as their visit ends, the operation would revert to business as usual and to the exceptionally low standard I encountered.

This situation is not confined to showrooms of the automotive industry. Throughout my lifetime as customer, I’ve been a witness to this situation numerous times across various establishments I frequent across most countries I’ve visited. I saw this in supermarkets, retail showroom, fitness centers, hotels, etc. Basically, this can be seen in any almost any physical location where trade takes place.

When I asked other customers about this situation in general, it seemed that this matter came as no surprise. They would simply say that that this is the norm, that it’s not right, but the norm non the less.

My questions are, why is this universal? Why is it the norm?

Senior management from HQ certainly knows that what the showroom looks and operates like during these preannounced and scheduled visit does not reflect the actual day to day operations. So why do they do it with full knowledge of its ineffectiveness? Why do showroom managers care more about what the boss thinks than about what the customer deserves? That customer that pays these salaries.

If a visit by top management form HQ is the only way they prefer to evaluate performance, which should never be the case, then at the very least ensure that the visit is unannounced, a surprise. It’s then and only then that you’ll get an accurate representation of what the day-to-day performance is like.

Showroom managers who fake performance for a day of course shoulder some of the blame here. But the burden falls on these top managers from HQ who choose to allow this charade to go on by simply announcing to the show room that they will visit on this or that date. To an extent, this phenomenon can be attributed to leadership failure or a general failure in organizational management practices amongst other reasons as well. However, since this phenomenon is a global norm, the main culprit, I believe, is mindset, values and deeply ingrained hierarchical ideas. Caring more about the hierarchy (Headquarter Management) than about the creator of the hierarchy (the customer) is a deeply rooted and flawed notion. Addressing organizational leadership and implementing sensible management practices will tackle this to a great extent. However, eliminating this phenomenon at its core will only happen once this paradigm is shifted. Once mindset and core beliefs are changed.

Ahmed Basaad

Stakeholder Expereince Consultant