This is a follow-up to last month’s article “You Cannot have Faith and Fear at the Same Time”.
It appeared fitting to again challenge leadership with another step in conquering obstacles placing themselves in the way of personal and dealership growth.
The above title has been around for some time; and at the same time has been ignored by most when it comes to consistency. The phrase was coined by the German physicist Werner Heisenberg whose name will always be associated with his theory of quantum mechanics, published in 1925, when he was only 23 years old. Heisenberg was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics for 1932.
Heisenberg’s principle tells us that we must continually be heightening the importance of measurement toward any experiment or project in order to have success. This speaks to the concept that you cannot improve what you cannot measure, so standards must be developed based on the priorities of the strategic plan and then do something about it. Loosely translated, he tells us that the success of any experiment is directly dependent upon the precise measurement of the parts that are added to the equation.
In attempting to make this a simpler concept, it came to me this past weekend while observing my wife preparing to make a cake for a gathering of friends that evening. She had the following items out on the kitchen counter: All purpose flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, cocoa, water, canola oil, eggs, vanilla, powdered sugar, unsweetened cocoa, liquid flavoring, vanilla, chocolate chips and butter. Now outside of just a few of these items, most would taste terrible if eaten alone. However if managed properly with precise measurement it could produce a terrific cake (and it did). But what is missing? The proper measurement of these ingredients, oven temperature, cooking time and pan size are all missing. If the recipe provided these measurements alone without listing the ingredients assigned to the measurement, do you think the cake would turn out ok? Nope, it would be a mess if we guessed. What would happen if we overlooked a couple of ingredients and left them out? Again, the end product would suffer. So my wife followed precise measurements with the recommended ingredients and it came out awesome.
This concept is very simple to grasp but very difficult to implement and sustain. Inspection requires not only the creation of a standard but also the discipline to observe and audit on a regular basis. If done correctly, it will help to create constancy of purpose, the development of a work culture and will lift your team to an all-time high in the income and morale category.
How many times have you or your dealership started a new initiative (sometimes with great fanfare), only to see it slip away over time. This generally occurs because the expectation was created, but no follow up was established. This confuses your workforce, lowers morale, and makes people skeptical of any future changes. Before any new initiatives are started, you, as the leader, must decide what is important and be prepared to stay the course. The goal is to set a standard and change behavior.
The following are a couple of key leadership steps (as Chef Emeril Lagasse says, “Bam!”) and how you can apply them to processes. I have provided a template suggestion to get you started:
- Pick something important: incoming phone inquires. This area should be called gross profit enhancer because it is.
- Involve your people. Find out who in your organization does the best job with solid phone skills and put them on phone coverage shifts. You could make this a promotable position to grow and rise into.
- Establish measurable requirements like 70 percent appointment show ratio. Yes, this is and has been achievable with the correct training. Better have your team ready.
- Make it visible. Post appointments on a white board including names, appointment time, and vehicle interest along with results (sold).
- Set up an audit frequency. Leadership checks on progress three to four times a day and makes immediate appointment confirmation calls to prospects.
- Have the discipline to stay the course. Inspect the process several times every day and make adjustments as needed. Then, profess to all that this is our new store culture.
Put some ‘bam’ in your store and watch things improve quickly.
Another part of this is remembering that the enemy of great is good. So many dealerships tell me, “We are doing good” or “holding our own”. I visited a few stores in the Northeast recently and heard exactly that. Remember the “You don’t know what you don’t know”? Well all these stores had salesmen hanging out in the smoking, joking and spitting circle. All were grumbling about something: weather, inventory, pants didn’t fit, lack of lot traffic, etc. Nothing better to do? No strategy or plan or most importantly leadership? And, no one greeted me much less said, “Boo”. Wow, here I am the only non-employee human being on the entire lot and I am ignored? I also called each of these stores before visiting and performed a mystery call to see how they handled the big money phone inquiry. On a scale of one to 10, 10 being the best call performance, they all scored two to four. Same old thing, “Sure, we got one, come on down and ask for me”.
I would have eliminated all of these stores from my potential “dealership buy from list” due to poor call performances.
All of the GSMs or GMs however told me they were doing good. Help me define what the word good means because I am still struggling with their comments. Unfortunately, these are the guys who will never deliver their dealership to the promise land of “doing great” because they simply do not get the big picture required to see the little pictures. Just another car dealership. How many have you sold today, Jimmy?
Where has the leadership gone to anyway? Did they never get it or just stop trying? Give me one week in those stores with the owner’s blessing and I could set the stage for greatness and then watch the difference. We, not the economy are our greatest enemy. It is time for a little corporate process leadership training in this business. Survival of the fittest means those who recognize they need to know how to become the fittest. Bust through those old school paradigm anchors and refresh your store to become great and bring newness to the way you do business.
Lastly, as the leader, you must develop the discipline to stay the course. Whatever you audit not only needs to be done on a consistent basis but also over a long period of time. If you picked an important activity (follow up, Internet, floor up, owner base, etc), this commitment should be easy. People need and want the stability that this type of inspection brings. Remember, the best days in a successful dealership are like the movie Groundhog Day: predictable and repeatable. Your ability to sustain what you start is the essence of inspection. I have put together a responsibilities list for various positions in the dealership as it relates to CRM/BDC processes. If you wish to receive a copy, e-mail me and I will get it out to you. Bam.
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.