Buy-In Bloom

From crisis to growth: How involving employees helped a dealership thrive during industry-wide disruption.

When looking out his window, Chris Hemmersmeier was accustomed to seeing parking lots filled with gleaming rows of new Buicks, Cadillacs and Chevrolets in every color and model imaginable. He is the largest shareholder and CEO of Jerry Seiner Dealerships, a multistate automotive retailer. The 40-year-old chain, headquartered in Salt Lake City, seemed like it was on a continual growth trajectory.

That all changed in 2020, as the chain endured three successive blows. First, General Motors, Jerry Seiner’s top brand partner, reduced shipments by 80% because of computer chip shortages. Trade-ins, a major source of used inventory, dropped by 80%, as customers realized it would be next to impossible to buy the new cars they wanted. And with the COVID-19 pandemic in full swing and few cars to sell, key employees — worried about both their health and their livelihood — were quitting.

Hemmersmeier, who’d been with the company for 30 years, knew he and his leadership team had to act quickly. To make the most of the little inventory they could still obtain, they began taking preorders for new cars weeks before the vehicles arrived. They also went into overdrive, promoting the fact that they had plenty of used cars to sell. At the same time, they stepped up the company’s service business, bringing in much-needed revenue.

Their high-stakes “rewiring of the plane” at 20,000 feet paid off, and by early 2022, Hemmersmeier reported the company had its best year ever. That rapid growth has continued. Today, the company, which grew during the pandemic, has 13 franchises in Arizona, Nevada, California and Utah and 500 employees — and is once again primarily selling new cars.

So how did Jerry Seiner grow at a time when dealerships across the country saw their sales of new cars plummet? The crucial step to achieving extraordinary results was learning techniques to engage every employee at the dealerships in solving problems and to tap each team member’s unique abilities — so they not only took part in finding solutions but also supported them with enthusiasm.

But Jerry Seiner didn’t take these steps in isolation. The leadership team worked actively to shift the company’s culture in subtle ways that allowed them to truly connect employees to the company’s purpose and values. That led to additional energetic efforts to do what the company was there for: to sell cars to people who needed them.

Building a Culture of Buy-in

Many leaders believe that if only they could achieve more engagement among their teams, they'd be able to solve the pressing problems at hand and accelerate growth. What they really need to do is solve the buy-in crisis: When their teams don’t support the strategies they’ve introduced because no one asked them for their ideas, or if those ideas were offered, they disappeared into a black hole.

To tap the incredible potential of people and teams who are aligned, energized and empowered, companies must actively seek the buy-in of all their team members on how to achieve game-changing results within a company — and put a process in place to act on them. When they do, they build trust and can benefit from what we call the “buy-in advantage.”

To achieve this, companies must embrace a structured approach to culture building that conveys that changes to the workplace are being done with every team member, not to them. It is an intentional approach to problem-solving based on the premise that all of us are smarter than any one of us. And it isn’t the result of occasional town hall meetings or all-staff emails; it has to be baked into everyday moments and the culture at large.

Why I Became Obsessed with Buy-in

I began working with leaders on achieving buy-in after two decades as a CEO of rapidly growing companies, followed by another decade of coaching, advising and delivering workshops to thousands of leaders around the world. In the 8 million miles I’ve logged on airplanes in that time, I’ve seen firsthand the problems faced by small- and medium-size organizations. In fact, I’ve either experienced the most imaginable problems myself as CEO, coached others through them or discussed them as a board member for companies such as Ameritrade.

Some of my clients run multibillion-dollar companies, many lead startups, and some lead divisions within bigger companies. Regardless of industry or title, most face the same day-to-day challenges of juggling their “must do now” list while identifying and implementing new ideas that will hopefully drive long-term growth. And they all spend a lot of energy trying to figure out how to motivate their people and align everyone’s priorities to make “great” happen. While some individuals may have a passion for their own parts of the business, or the people they work with, there may be a lack of collective passion, clarity of direction and intensity. They don’t have an agreement on how to create game-changing results.

Over the years, I’ve heard the same concerns over and over from these clients: How do I get my people to stay focused on the most important stuff and not get bogged down with side issues? How do I get them to reach across silos and cooperate to achieve our key priorities? How do we balance the need for short-term results while not losing track of initiatives that will drive significant improvements in the long run? How do we create time to grow people — and what does growing our people even look like?

Right after sharing such frustrations, they are usually quick to point out all the things that are working well. In reflecting on their wins and successes, it’s easy for such leaders to dismiss their frustrations as fleeting and conclude that things are probably as good as they could ever get. However, working with thousands of leaders has proved to me the gap between potential and actual performance can be significantly narrowed.

What’s missing for many is the “how?” Here are five takeaways on what we’ve seen working for many companies to gain buy-in:

1. Achieving buy-in starts with leaders asking team members for their input. Seek their ideas about a problem or challenge before offering your own. Employees may not feel comfortable speaking up if they know the boss has a different point of view.
2. Holding meetings specifically focused on seeking employee input is essential. Slowing down to create the space for this allows for great ideas from the people most familiar with the work. One great solution from an employee could save a company days, weeks or months of wasted effort, or greatly improve profitability.
3. Seek out ideas for new and existing issues. Asking about what’s not working often leads to new processes and procedures that greatly improve efficiency. An employee engagement survey can spark ideas for discussion if it includes a question on what they might have been thinking about when they responded to that question in that way.
4. Keeping these discovery sessions small. Teams ideally will include three to seven team members, facilitated by a team leader, manager or supervisor. That way everyone has a chance to speak.
5. Create a space and utilize tools that allow all ideas to be heard.  Gather to collect the ideas team members come up with. See if any can be combined or need further clarification. Prioritize the ideas using voting and, once you’ve decided on the one that will move the needle most toward the company’s biggest goals, ask team members for the criteria for a solution (for instance, “Implementation costs less than $1 million annually”). With those criteria in mind, ask the team to brainstorm solutions. Involving employees in creating solutions builds buy-in that supports implementation and results.

Ultimately, when employees know that their ideas count and the company is willing to act on them, it is easier for companies to achieve the buy-in they need for innovation and growth. The buy-in, in turn, leads to the Holy Grail for many companies: engagement. That’s a hard thing to achieve these days, but it’s not impossible if you have buy-in.

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In the Lead magazine is a collaboration between the Buccino Leadership Institute and the Stillman School of Business’s Department of Management. This edition reaffirms Seton Hall’s commitment to fostering innovative, ethical and impactful leadership. Stay ahead of the curve — explore the Fall 2025 issue of In the Lead.

Categories: Business