John Fox wants to speak his customers' languages, even the nonverbal ones.

He has identified close to a dozen employees at his Fox Automotive Group in Rochester Hills, Mich., that are fluent in 16 languages, including French, Spanish, Arabic, Croatian and Hmong. They stand ready to translate for customers who want to conduct the purchase of new and used vehicles or parts and service in a language other than English.

In mid-2015, Fox began touting his multilingual staff on his website, autobyfox.com ,and in his TV commercials. Fox appears in the 30-second spots along with General Manager Rick Hodges who interprets Fox using American Sign Language. Though "it's hard to quantify" the multilingual staff's impact on sales, Fox said there is a customer in the dealership "almost every day" who needs some translation help from an employee.

The dealership group generates five to 10 new- and used-vehicle sales a month from customers who are deaf or hearing impaired, as a result of promoting Hodges' sign-language skills.

It's all about using communication to put his customers at ease and set the dealership apart, Fox said.

"In today's extremely diverse environment, if you're not keying in on the assets that your employees have, you're not doing right by your customer base," Fox said. "In anything, it's all about communication. We try to key in on the assets each of our employees brings to our organization that makes us different."

Fox, 49, a second-generation dealer, joined his family's Bill Fox Chevrolet in 1989 as a used-car salesman. He became that store's dealer principal in 1995 and added Fox Toyota and Fox VW to his holdings in 2004. The group collectively sells about 350 to 375 new vehicles and about 120 used vehicles per month.