Mike Anderson: Appreciation is Key to Retention

June 14, 2015
Educational session opens Day 1 of CARSTAR's annual conference

CARLSBAD, Calif., June 13, 2015—Longtime industry consultant Mike Anderson opened CARSTAR Auto Body Repair Experts’ 26th annual national conference with a direct message to the franchisees in attendance: Appreciate your team, or you will lose them.

Anderson delivered the first educational session of the four-day conference on Saturday at the Park Hyatt Aviaria in Carlsbad, Calif. The conference, which included the company’s annual awards banquet Saturday night, runs through Tuesday and features a vendor expo, as well as presentations from industry leaders such as Marcy Tieger of Symphony Advisors, Vince Romans of The Romans Group LLC, and I-CAR National MSO Manager Doug Schlueter.

Monday and Tuesday’s events are not open to the media.

Anderson’s enthusiastic session set an early tone for the attendees.

Borrowing from the Gary Chapman book, “The 5 Love Languages,” Anderson described how understanding a person’s preference for receiving appreciation can have a significant impact on one’s relationship with them.

While it may sound better suited for building a strong foundation for marriage or a personal relationship, Anderson said that appreciating staff is critical to retaining quality team members.

Consider this stat from the U.S. Department of Labor: Roughly 64 percent of people leave their place of employment because they don’t feel appreciated.

Anderson outlined the five ways people feel most appreciated: 1) words of affirmation; 2) quality time; 3) receiving gifts; 4) acts of service; and 5) physical touch.

Anderson had all in attendance take a 30-question self-assessment to understand their own preferences for appreciation, and suggested doing the same for staff. Anderson did when he owned his own multiple-shop operation, and said leading through appreciation led to a high retention rate with his staff.

Anderson offers sample tests and more information on the topic on his website.

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