Better Have One Or It Will Be Like Raking Water – Difficult
Recently, I conducted a survey identifying what various dealers really felt was needed to increase their business. First, I asked how things were going for them. I most often heard, “Well, we are holding our own.” That reminded me instantly of General George Patton’s response to his troops in World War II when his officers radioed back from the front lines saying essentially those same words; “We are holding the line.” The General’s response was, “I don’t want to get any messages saying that we are holding our position. We’re not holding anything, we are advancing constantly, and we’re not interested in holding onto anything except the enemy. We’re going to hold onto him by the nose, and we’re going to kick him in the ass. We’re going to kick the hell out of him all the time and we’re going to go through him like crap through a goose.” That was pretty clear as to how Patton felt about pushing forward and advancing towards victory. Isn’t that how we also need to inspire our dealership’s troops as well? No more sitting still, just pushing forward? Holding on is for the other guys and not for a store that wants total dealership growth and success.
I am not suggesting that we act anything like the various car guys you have no doubt seen on YouTube ranting and raving, belittling people, discouraging and destroying sales people’s spirits. Frankly, I think these types of people should be hung on the flag pole by their heals for all to clearly understand what a poor leader they have become. How could anybody in their right mind ever think that negative input like this could ever produce the best positive results in people? Sure, you might scare them into a short term ‘fear of failure’ action, but it is just that, short term. You are not growing people. You are tearing them down and believe me, they will hate you for it as they patiently await their next job opportunity and take great pleasure in telling you to shove it. I get crazy when I see this nasty behavior because this is the major contributing factor for what is and has been creating such a bad reputation for the car business. Remember, our prospects are watching this garbage as well and in doing so they are developing personal opinions about YOUR dealership and are ready to share those opinions.
In these interviews with dealers, whether it was selling or servicing vehicles, it became rather obvious to me that most dealers have the exact same problem when it comes to developing a “Navy Seal”-like trained and motivated team. They all needed to have at least one “catalyst” in the store to be in charge of the growth, training, and well-being of the team. Someone not just in charge, but completely accountable and responsible for the increase in knowledge and training, motivation, encouragement, assistance, goal setting, personal development, consistency, vision, team building, and process fulfillment. Big list. Real “catalysts” are not shy about the grand prospects of goal attainment and have an unshakable faith and expectancy in shooting for the gold medal podium, so why would this task give them any reluctance in the least? However, faith without corresponding action is dead in the water. It will take you nowhere except disappointment. Faith and action together can provide immeasurable good works.
A dealership catalyst will be your leader for planning the route, showing the route, and leading the team to the right successful destination.
Remember David and Goliath? David, a shepherd boy, was faced with an incredible challenge; to fight to the death one of the biggest, well-armored men of his time and beat him. David came forth with a full faith and expectancy, boldly stating he would not only kill this giant but he would put his head on a stake for the birds to eat. He would do it with a slingshot and a stone. Talk about having faith amidst facing such a huge challenge and at the same time expecting his goal attainment. Sort of pales our problems a bit. Having faith and expectancy that we can reach new goals successfully is the ignition or starting point for this adventure. Following through consistently and expecting it to happen is the engine to make it happen. All too often, these dealerships were believing one thing but their actions were demonstrating the opposite.
The formula for success is:
Consistent Expectation + Action = Goal Attainment
The problems standing in the way as stated by these dealers were, for the most part, the same. Who in my store should become the catalyst? What resources should the catalyst have at his/her disposal to create business improvement? Will they stick with it?
Who in the store should be the Catalyst? Any Leader — the GM, Sales Manager, GSM or dealer/principle who get things done successfully, thus separating themselves from those who merely dream about it. The difference? An attitude of total faith, commitment, and action that seeks un-compromised expectant success in the face of any problem and is willing to pull out all the stops to go for the gold. I particularly like the following quote regarding leaders:
“Leaders are pioneers – people who are willing to step out into the unknown. They are people who are willing to take risks, to innovate and experiment in order to find new and better ways of doing things.” – James M. Kouzes & Barry Posner
The catalyst needs to know how to work well with his or her people. As a consequence, the people will be eager to be led to new soaring heights of success. They have to understand the dynamics of their group and be flexible to the multitude of personalities. If I owned the store, I would compensate this catalyst to take on this significantly important role. When all the tools are implemented properly, you can expect a three-to-six-unit increase per sales professional along with higher gross profits quickly. So compensating the catalyst is a small price to pay and keeps he/she in the groove.
What resources should the catalyst have at his/her disposal to create business improvement? If you want a total team development program solution you better start by throwing out all the old training manuals from yesteryear and begin with the today’s progressive techniques. What got you here will not keep you here. A few dealers showed me some of the programs they were using and I had to laugh. Nearly ninety percent of the material was dated, useless and frankly riddled with very old approaches. “If I could would ya” or, “Hi, welcome to ABC Motors my name is Chuck and you are?”, stuff is way dead and has been replaced by the new communication approaches which get us to where we want to be and where the customer wants to be. These new approaches have better grosses and happier customers. The new techniques intertwine all the skill elements: floor sales, phone sales, follow-up, Internet, email, prospecting, and people skills to enable sales people to be more efficient with their time, yielding greater results in units sales and gross profits while developing better customer relations.
Nothing up the sleeve here, just solid leading edge developmental skill sets that have not been in place before. These development sessions need to be conducted on a regularly scheduled day and time. Not to be confused with ‘sales meetings’ where we hand out rebate information. No, these are “think stretching” times with no distractions. Split half of the team for a couple of hours then the other half so that you have total floor coverage. Once you get them accustomed to these events, they will look forward to them, especially when you are well prepared with the good stuff. I do enjoy going into dealerships for two or three days every two or three months to help with these development and leadership sessions. However, your staff needs this every week or at least every other week to become foundational so you have to have a catalyst to carry on. You wouldn’t allow Derick Jeter to only have batting practice once a quarter would you? No — so keep your team practicing frequently and watch their batting averages improve.
Will they stick with it? If you are piloting a fully loaded oil tanker moving forward and you immediately shift it to full reverse, it will take the ship thirty minutes to actually come to a stop before it actually starts reversing direction. Keep that in mind when managing your dealership. Don’t keep changing your direction. Your organization will not be able to cope with it. Stick with the good long- term stuff and make it your store’s long-term plan and have patience in getting there.
If you are a senior manager or dealer/principal, it is your responsibility to say we are changing to a new store culture and we will be training and implementing new ways of doing things that you want everyone on board for the journey. If you have some that want to abandon ship, let them jump — you have to have everyone on board for it to succeed. Failure is contagious but success is infectious. Say: “I’m proud of you guys.” “You’re a bunch of winners.” “We’re getting better every day.” “You’ll do better next time.” Reinforce success and correct for mistakes. You must reward success and lead for improvement when needed. Expect some failures. Remember you’re dealing with human beings. Give the people the latitude to learn and grow but remain firmly planted on the pathway for new and enhanced growth. There is a vast difference between knowing and doing. Just make sure you know what you are doing and then do it!
My concern is that if you don’t implement these catalyst changes then some other dealership will see this as a great opportunity to initiate those changes, improve the customers’ buying experience, and by then it could be disaster for old-school, change-resistant dealers to recover.
Once you catch the scent of these new improvement methods you will never let go. I have amassed tons of material on the above and would be more than happy to share with you some of my most important observations and a couple of planning guide ideas for you to achieve your new and improved in-house solution. Write me a short email requesting “solution” and I will send you a guideline to get you started in accomplishing a total in-house development solution so your store can begin reaping the rewards right now.
“There’s a difference between interest and commitment. When you’re interested in doing something, you do it only when it’s convenient. When you’re committed to something, you accept no excuses, only results.” – Ken Blanchard
Chuck Barker
Chuck Barker has been CEO of his two companies, Impact Marketing & Consulting Group, LLC and Impact Summit, LLC, for the last 24 years, both located in Virginia. His experience ranges from an executive with Harris Corporation (16,000 employees) one of Fortune Magazine’s largest companies to the automobile industry where he has performed all executive positions. His companies specialize in growing businesses, dealerships and people. He delivers unparalleled sales & service development programs, management leadership workshop programs and dealer/principal business & profit improvement ideas for automobile dealerships. He has recently published the first comprehensive ‘in-house’ sales training solution program for dealers entitled The Dealership Success Guide.
You can email Chuck at chuck@impactgroupcrm.com