Desks out in the open

It can be such a distraction when there are desks out in the open. One of such desks is actually sitting in the customer area of a dealership. The desk I think is where you can talk to a staff member about trading in your vehicle, but I am really not sure. I think the desk is really just a spot where the staff come and hangs out and make lots of noise.

I understand that part of the dealership isn’t large enough, but then there are the times when you see that maybe if they can put this desk closer to the cars instead of in the waiting area from the service department it might be better. Where it is, it seems that the staff thinks it is a great spot to just hang out and laugh and all of that. I understand that they need to have a person to talk to about trade-ins but considering all the noise that they made it doesn’t sound like it is a great place to talk about trade-ins. We were in one time, and they were talking to a person about doing a trade in, and we could hear all the conversation, so things that should have been private were not private because we knew everything about the vehicle that was being traded in as well as how much the payments would be and everything else.

If a dealership wants to have an area where they can discuss trade-ins, it should be able to be enclosed or at least in an area that isn’t right in the middle of where customers sit while waiting for their vehicle to be serviced. I am thinking that just moving this area to a different location would be better for the business. Seeing where the desk makes it a location that I wouldn’t want to discuss any business because right beside a four-foot wall is a table where customers are sitting waiting for their vehicle to be serviced.

The desk also makes it difficult to sit and enjoy the time while waiting for service because the noise is something that is a lot louder than even a bunch of customers sitting and having conversations. Staff need to understand what it looks like when they are back and forth to this desk, and it is basically just having personal conversations and not business. The move times someone comes back to this location, the more it shows that they aren’t busy enough, and that doesn’t help.

A trade-in desk at a dealership should be in a location where business can be discussed and not in the middle of customers. We have mentioned the situation to the staff, and they understand the frustration, but there isn’t anything that can currently be done to deal with the situation. I think the biggest thing that they need to do is make sure that the conversations are kept at a lower volume, and that might help.