CARY, N.C. -

If you ever get the chance to visit the offices of Auto Remarketing parent company S&A Cherokee, you may hear variations of the word “franchise” from time to time.

One reason is obvious: “franchised” dealerships are a big part of our reader base and news coverage.

Another: we’ve got quite a few football fans around here, so you may hear one or two of us mulling over whether our favorite pro team should have used that “franchise tag” on this player or that one.

But there’s a third reason.

We’re in the publishing business, where having a few “franchise” editions of the magazine each year can be quite beneficial. In other words, instantly recognizable hallmark issues you can expect year after year.

In our case, those would be editions like our Power 300, Women in Remarketing, Top 100 Used-Car Dealers and so forth.

That’s what we’re aiming to do with our “Best Auto Auctions to Work For” edition.

But we’ll need your help. And the clock is ticking: there’s just a month left for you to opt in and participate.

For individual auction locations to participate, the general manager/leader of that auction needs to opt in at this website,www.bestautoauctionstoworkfor.com, by April 22.

So, why participate? How do these “best places to …” programs benefit participants, and why have they gotten so popular?  
 
To get a sense of that, Auto Remarketing talked with Peter Burke this winter.

Burke is the president of the Best Companies Group that Auto Remarketing has partnered with to manage the “Best Auto Auctions to Work For” study.

This isn’t their first rodeo — you may have seen similar studies that BCG has done in your area.

Burke shared some insight into how organizations participating in his company’s surveys have benefitted both from an internal/ human resources perspective and from an external perspective.

He said that organizations that choose to participate typically will do so for one of two reasons.

First, he said, companies that participate and end up earning the recognition tend to see a big impact when it comes to general marketing, recruiting and promoting their branding as an employer. That can lead to applications climbing and turnover dropping.

Second, it’s a chance to better understand the viewpoint of your employees and see how you stack up against your peers. To be clear, this Auto Remarketing-specific project is 100-percent free to participate, employees remain anonymous and there are no rankings.

Auctions that participate in the study will be provided a high-level digest of information gleaned by BCG. However, as an added-benefit, participants will have the unique opportunity to purchase the full “BCG Employee Feedback Report” from the Best Companies Group that outlines metrics like key confidential feedback and benchmarking data.

To learn more and opt in, visit www.bestautoauctionstoworkfor.com.