In taking a detour this month I want to share with you something I have been observing in some dealerships which frankly are holding back business achievement. This article will be a living testament as to why it is so

important to establish certain things first. Just this past month, I spoke with several dealerships regarding their latent and unfulfilled attempts to establish a solid CRM strategy and see business growth.  Actually, it astonishes me to see what some stores think the answer is and what is involved in establishing a disciplined  solution.

Go slow, yet be deliberate with your quest to identify processes and training needs, locate solutions, purchase elements, implement them and finally, put in play developing your store’s growth potential.   Just like writing a book; one word at a time (or step) is the best method. Of course, before all this occurs you remember we do have to develop certain processes for every nook and cranny of CRM and then maintain a vengeance in adhering to those principle processes.

Let’s take store number one for now; Wow, newly upgraded CRM software tool. They just went out and purchased everything they possibly could which looks, smells and tastes like it has anything to do with how “I define” technology and CRM. I mean this store was ‘wired up’ with every gadget, software, camera, monitor, wireless headset and computer you could wildly imagine. Initially, I felt like I was in Best Buy but then migrated quickly over to  more like CIA headquarters as they began boosting about and showing off the sundry of ‘stuff’ they had acquired to really take this initiative towards a successful solution. With pride, the Dealer sat back as he rattled off technical narrative descriptions of all the ’stuff’ which he espoused would deliver his store to the promised land of eternal enhanced business. Well, gotta tell ya, he won’t see that promised land for a while due to the fact that he sinned on his conquest towards it. How do I know this?  Upon the conclusion of his orchestrated, well rehearsed symphony of harmonic technical descriptions of the specific products and ‘what it can do,’ I asked a few questions.

Well, Mr. Dealer, (We were not yet on a first name basis, yet)….

Question:
To what degree have the new products rendered a Return on Your Investment and how are they assisting your team?

Answer:
Well, I really can’t tell you that yet because we are still attempting to figure out what all this stuff is and everything it can do.   It is really remarkable what all this technology can do. 

“YOU CANNOT SIMPLY TURN ON TECHNOLOGY AND EXPECT REFRESHING RESULTS WITHOUT A SOLID PLATFORM FROM WHICH TO BUILD UPON.”

Question:
I see, well who or what company is responsible for training your team on the proper usage?

Answer:
There was not one company who could deliver all the products so we have different vendors for most of them and they offer their services.  And, of course that creates a problem because of various scheduling problems and making sure everyone who should be working is working so they get trained.  I know we need to get on that.

Question:
So, who in your organization coordinates this training?

Answer:
That’s a good question.  I think it should be the GSM or one of the managers but they are just tooooooooo busy to really get around to it so we are winging it right now. 

Question:
How’s it going overall in your opinion?

Answer:
I can sort of tell how many telephone inquiries we are getting and how many appointments we are making and who shows and who doesn’t and which ones sold.  It will also tell me who calls and how long the conversations were and lets me listen to a recording of it. But honestly speaking, even though I do love all the new toys  our numbers really have not changed.  That part is a little disappointing.

Question:
Why do you think that is?

Answer:
Not sure.  But if I had to guess it would be because my managers haven’t’ quite bought in yet.   

Question:
How about their subordinates?

Answer:
No, they are the same way.  Kind of waiting for someone to make them do it I guess.  I don’t really think everyone is putting in the information all the time.

Question:
What elements went into your decision making process to purchases these various products?

Answer:
I wanted everything I could get my hands on to help us grow this business.  We had all kinds of vendors with stuff you would not believe.  We just selected the ones we felt could work for us.

You can see how this was going, right?  I wanted you to get a feel for what is going on out there in some stores.  If we continued this conversation, Q & A by Q & A, Dealer Magazine would have to allocate a full magazine for its content so let’s abbreviate it to the messages which needs to be heard. In the few questions and answers above, you should be able to construct what was going wrong and what measures should have been taken to get the ship righted.

What would you say is the number one reason for failure at this juncture?  You got it; Lack of Leadership or better yet, a Champion for the processes cause who was in possession of Leadership skills.  Sounds like too many Indians and not enough Chiefs to me.  What would be next?  Right again; No Plan of Attack.  Ready shoot aim seems fitting here. You have to be developing people and processes to make it fly; product selection team, training manager, leadership, monitoring and then reaping the benefits, right? Simply stated, if you don’t have a map to get you to where you want to be then you will usually end up somewhere but not where you want to be. Then, tomorrow just becomes today but a day later.  Most of the managers in various stores essentially do not feel it is their job to get off the tower and actually “develop” their team. Sitting and waiting for someone to approach them with a deal is usually their ideal job description. Manager’s limitations are not what they don’t have its what they are not doing. One cannot occupy leadership space without seeing and building a solid foundation of growth for their team.  When you succeed at one level you either keep going or stop.

Key Point: Don’t stay where you started if you are not growing. An Oak tree planted in a pot will only grow as far as the pot allows.

I, along perhaps with you, sensed the excitement of implementing new technology by this Dealer yet a blatantly absent sense of excitement  revolving convicted leadership to make things happen and improve his business.  The tell tale sign was “my managers haven’t quite bought in yet.” Not bought in yet, give me a break.  Who runs the show and should have established buy-in a long time ago and made them a part of the process?  No, this is not the way I speak to my clients, just what I am thinking.  Usually I prepare a diplomatic delivery for the problem resolution.  I do believe in being candid with folks and identifying the unspoken harsh truths but in a professional deliverable.

This Dealer actually went on to tell me stories of how he cannot get his managers or employees to do things.  He tells them, they acknowledge,  and then they do whatever they want (business as usual). We all call it the ‘Can Do’ vs. the ‘Will Do’ ‘Can they,’ the skill set side and the ‘Will they do it,’ is an age old problem in this business. Lots of talented unsuccessful employees out there. Please don’t misconstrue my approach to this problem as using Gestapo tactics because we have all witnessed over the years how awful and unproductive that can be. And, it only produces temporary short-term, fear-based tactical results.

I would begin with the “Can Do.” Let’s make sure we, as the management team clearly understand all the necessary training, reasoning, processes, technology, buy-in and procedure pathways for attaining the best overall strategy towards the successful fulfillment of where we want to go. Then, and only then is the management team ready to deliver the same quality understanding and education to the team. The key will be what I call the “who’s watching” theory. Meaning, the managers of the store have to develop an unwavering devotion to monitor, check, assist, suggest and develop the individuals under their helm.  Don’t just tell – do. Let the team clearly see and understand the importance and benefits of following processes and accomplishing timely tasks.

We must all suffer one of two things: the pain of discipline or the pain of regret or disappointment. – Jim Rohn
In the dealership I described above, essentially there were no clear cut processes and everyone including managers went along with a ‘business as usual’ approach with nary an appreciation that there were new production tools around that just happen to be costing the store thousands of dollars. There is no quick fix or short cuts because most short cuts I have seen are really the long way around and not short cuts at all. You cannot simply turn on technology and expect refreshing results without a solid platform from which to build upon. The good news for today is; always, always begin with the tightest controls possible because you can always loosen them but if you start loose it is very tough to tighten those control standards and procedures. Be strong in your Leadership roles. They will eventually thank you and it will grow your business.

If you would like a few “processing guidelines” email me and I will get them out to you and your team.

Author: Chuck Barker for Dealer Magazine

Chuck Barker is President & Founder of Impact Marketing & Consulting Group, located in Virginia. He has assisted dealers & corporations across the country in sales & service development training programs, management leadership workshops and business improvement consulting. He is a pioneer in BDC, CRM, Best Processes and Team Member Development since the early ‘90’s. He worked in Corporate and International Executive positions. Chuck has been a monthly contributor for Dealer Magazine for over 11 years. His recently published project is a comprehensive ‘in-house’ sales/leadership training solution program for dealership entitled The Dealership Success Guide. Email: chuck@impactgroupcrm.com

Take your most popular selling make and model and pick your very best zip code.

• Do you know how many of those particular vehicles were sold in that zip code in the last quarter?
• How many of those were used?
• What year was the most popular?
• Who sold those vehicles?
• What color were those vehicles?
• Did they finance?
• What was the average advertised price?
• What did those buyers look like? Young? Female? Income?
• Where can you find similar consumers?
• Where do those consumers shop?
• What beer do they drink now that Earnhardt has gone to AMP?
• How has the data changed from last quarter?
• Extra credit: Which vehicles will be the most popular used vehicles 90 days from now?

What would you do if you had all of this information? Could you use it to make better decisions regarding used cars, mailings, Internet leads, service, finance, training, etc.? All of the answers to the questions above are pieces of data. The trick is to find a way to quickly pull this data together, think about what the data means and how it has changed, and then take meaningful action. How do you know if you have used data correctly? Easy, cash flow!

Try this. You have decided to use direct mail this month; you’re going to send out 5,000 pieces offering free groceries for a month. Who are you going to send the piece to? One of your staff is now shouting “five-mile radius, five-mile radius.” It’s a shame your store is one mile from the Atlantic Ocean. Someone else is telling you to mail your customer base…again, another wants to mail to all minivan owners. How do you know which criteria to use to get the best results? Which mailing list do you buy? Your own data (CRM) combined with local market vehicle sales and consumer demographic data will yield your answers. You will be able to target local families, with two-plus kids, which shop nearby and have a minivan that is at least three years old. Or is that the wrong filter? Do not let direct mail companies from thousands of miles away choose your mailing list without your oversight and direct input. Watch for rivers, mountains, seasons, and road construction – all will impact your ROI.

Important safety tip: All direct mail pieces should have your store’s return address. Do not throw the returns away, keep them, count them, update them and you will thank yourself because it will improve your ROI next time. You must appoint a point person for this task in order to assure thoroughness and correctness.

Refer to the title above. (Data + Thought + Action = Cash) Action, however, is the key component for any success. You can look at data all day long and have nothing to show for it unless you develop a proactive action plan toward using it. The question is how to implement the action to put things in motion.

Recently I was sitting in a very successful dealer’s office; he had a stack of lead provider and Internet-related invoices sitting on his desk. What he confessed next was stunning, “I have no idea if any of these invoices made me any money last month.” He followed that up with a reasoning that kills the income line on his balance sheet, “but I know we had a pretty good month, we sold 157 cars.” In a dealership, “but we had a good month” is an excuse and is used to remove data accountability as well as other good sense “discipline processes.” The enemy of great is good and for years we have hung our hats on good enough and that philosophy simply does not work anymore in this market climate.

If the dealer is not going to hold himself or someone he/she really trusts responsible for managing his money, it is certain no one else in the dealership will truly care about managing his money. He asked, “What can I do to get a better handle on the effectiveness of my monthly expenditures?” My answer stunned him, “Become a better leader and train your people how to perform.” Who would have guessed that leadership, profitability, and data (ROI) were so closely linked?

ROI, return on investment, is an accurate measure of your short-term financial success. What you spend versus what you earned. As an owner or general manager, ROIs provide monthly feedback on your decision-making – good or bad. Advertising, inventory, and service equipment are straightforward ROI calculations. You are wasting your own money if you do not have these calculations as part of closing out your month. When it comes to advertising, track everything. Have your staff justify, with data, each advertising expenditure. We spent $3,250 with this lead provider and we sold three vehicles with a total gross of $6,211. Expensive. If you have a dealer management system and a customer relationship management system, then you have all the tools at your fingertips that can give you the answers to your ROI questions – provided your process requires your people to maintain your systems. Remember: Garbage in, garbage out, create a process that requires you and your staff to enter information accurately. Once again we have circled back to leadership and accountability.

Most ROI calculations are useless unless you have some meaningful way to compare the results. Baselines (not a baseball reference) are a standard set of values created over time. Use baseline data to determine your results. Be aware that your baselines are yours when you first establish baselines make sure you compare your results to industry results. NADA is a great place to find useful data/metrics.

Important safety tip: Just because your DMS system has 126 different reports available, it doesn’t mean you should run them all! The interesting thing about CRM reports is that you can very effectively run your business with maybe 20 percent of them. Try hard to avoid the analysis paralysis syndrome by getting bogged down on trivial reports and remain focused on the one that moves the needle on ROI, additional training needs (because of inferior performing salespeople), inventory, sales ratios (the phone to appointment to delivery or Internet conversion processes). ROI calculations based on training, people, and process are more difficult. How do you know if your training is effective? What should you measure? How long until the training takes effect? How long until the training wears off? How do I hold my managers accountable for implementing training and standing steadfast on discipline?

Worst case scenario: your best salesperson, 30 cars a month, does not want to take the time to follow your CRM process. “I’m too busy with customers to take the time to enter all of the customer’s information.” Consider a policy of compensation based on procedure compliance with escalators built in for repeat offenders.

How about an ROI calculation for leadership? Hmmm…

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.

Back to the case in point, this week I spoke with a dealer who is getting ready to change all his Internet departmental platforms, including a new web site (again), new CRM software (again), new lead providers (again), new location in store (again), new approach (again), and a new ISM (again).

One year ago, we wrote and trained for all the standard operating procedures and processes inclusive for the ISM, management support and sales personnel as they interface in building the department. The processes included Internet management, incoming and follow-up telephone calls, owner base management and total CRM software practices and procedures. The management team at the time in our initial meeting was all too happy to agree to adhere to the standards for success we laid out. All vowed to practice leadership to ensure the processes were carried out by the ISM, the sales team and it all relied on the management team to make sure it occurred.

The second month after the install and training took place the store hit record numbers both on the floor and the Internet department. In fact, the new enhanced processes we installed yielded a 330 percent increase over any month ever reported for Internet sales. OK, one would think that the good news finally hit the management team in that processes and training are keys for the success toward growth. On the contrary, it was as if the feeling was, “wow, we have finally made it all work over the last 60 days and it will continue to do so all on its own so we (management) can go back to doing the mundane desk stuff where we are really comfortable.” Leadership went away and the department was left without a rudder and consequently began drifting to far away places.

My subsequent re-alignment meetings and conversations via telephone with the dealer were always directed at the fact that the ISM was sailing off to these distant lands (concentrating more on finding new improved mousetraps and software complements to the existing system) because management stopped leading the basic processes and leading the personnel to  ensure fulfillment of those things. The management team completely fell off the leadership wagon and actually ignored the fact the ISM and salespeople were not complying with the agreed upon processes, which gave them initial successes. Why? My feeling is sometimes management does not want to invest themselves by learning new practices and processes and then becoming accountable enough on a daily basis to adhere to the new standards. And, what does that do to the sales team? Just like kids whose parents do not exhibit good parenting leadership, the kids find their own activities to become involved with and they are usually not the right ones. Management cannot employ and mandate new processes and usage of new training techniques without practicing them themselves.

So, now the dealer is starting all over again as if a new magic potion will revive and make it all well. Unreliable leadership is the reason for failing, nothing else. The processes fell apart and management allowed it to happen. This is one example of leadership failing to do its duty.

I have said over and over again that the software is there only to facilitate well-trained people and good solid processes. The formula is 10 percent CRM software and 90 percent CRM based people and processes. Yogi Berra used to say, “Baseball is 50 percent physical and 90 percent mental.” We should say that CRM is 10 percent technology and 212 percent leadership. Become the leader that consistently leads because that is the only way you will experience store growth.

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.

Before we continue, it is imperative that you are comfortable with the fundamental differences between management and leadership. Management is about serving processes, while leadership is about influencing people. Managers build rule sets through which their subordinates are forced to follow through a given process. Leaders build desire in people so they, the followers, choose to utilize a given process. In our industry, managers are often concerned with making sure everyone is jumping through the appropriate hoops, while leaders are concerned with growing people who prefer jumping through the right hoops in order to grow.  Leaders create the vision and make it become reality.

To help concrete your understanding of leadership versus management, picture Bill Lumbergh from the movie Office Space, coffee cup in hand, explaining to Peter Gibbons that according to a recent memorandum, Peter is in error and thus in trouble because he failed to attach a cover sheet to his latest TPS report. Instead of focusing on why Peter failed to attach a cover sheet, Bill Lumbergh proceeds to send Peter another copy of the memo. This is management – focused solely on processes. If Bill Lumbergh had only practiced leadership versus management, his goal would have been to help Peter build internal motivation to always attach the appropriate cover sheet while pointing out why it is important. I hope this paints a better picture for you to conceptualize leadership versus management.

So are you ready for your paradigm shift for the day? I hope so because if you can embrace what I discuss in the rest of this article, you will be better and your dealership will be better. Ready… CRM is now CRL. Customer relationship leadership is the future of our business because building value in people will produce the greatest long-term success for everyone involved in your dealership.

Customer Relationship Leadership Fundamentals

Lead Yourself First

One of the most important leadership fundamentals is to lead by example, and it’s a cornerstone at every level of your dealership. This starts by holding yourself to a higher standard. If you are required to spend three hours per week in the business development center, spend five or six. When you receive an e-mail lead, call the prospect immediately to schedule an appointment. When you are shooting the breeze with co-workers, reallocate some of that time to learning more about your products or to increasing your sales skills. Regardless of your position, people will take note.

Leadership Is Not Reserved For Your Boss And Your Boss’s Boss

If you are the boss, your opportunity to lead is obvious. However, if you’re not the boss, it may be more difficult to understand how and where you can lead. In this case, your leadership opportunities will either reside with leading your peers or leading your bosses. In both situations, influence is vital. Be willing to invest in your working relationships and spend time developing friendships throughout your dealership. As you gain emotional influence with your peers, they will respond to your higher standard, and as a result, the bar will be raised.

Because it makes good business sense to engage our employees, what is the most effective way to make this happen? If we can’t use our benefits program to differentiate ourselves, because our program looks so similar to everyone else’s, and if we can’t use our pay plan options, then what lever can we pull, what discipline can we institute, what process can we install to beat our competitors at employee engagement?

Leadership Is Being Creative

An example of creativity could be to capture the stories of your best performers in each role.  Start by conducting CRL focus groups with performers who consistently excel on every or at least most performance levels in their position. During these focus groups, listen for stories, vignettes, and detailed examples of why they are so very good at what they do. Record these stories on video, then use them in training classes for the team to see, broadcast them at all-company gatherings, re-cut them for use at job fairs and other recruiting events, and where appropriate, insert them into your advertising campaigns. It is not important that your employees are articulate in describing their successes – in fact, the more unrehearsed they appear, the more compelling they will be. What is important is that you capture their “excellence-in-action” vividly and authentically.

This disciplined study of your top performers will serve a number of purposes. First, it will build an understanding of best practices. Studying internal best practices has received a good deal of play recently, and right that it has. In the ‘90s, many organizations chose to conduct external best practice studies. While some gleaned intelligence from these studies, today most organizations have redirected their focus internally. They have realized that examples of their own employees excelling are more relevant to their employees than examples skimmed from other organizations.

These are just a few of the methodology ideas for creating a more CRL focused store.  The more you push in these directions the more you will reap the benefits.

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.

Once the concrete dries on the aforementioned and is firmly a part of your foundation, it is time to announce to store employees that CRM is coming their way. In addition, this explanation must also describe for them what CRM will do for them and what benefits it will generate for them and the store.

Given how important it is to establish such a solid CRM foundation and then to communicate to staff what it will help them achieve, why then do we spend so little time, if any at all, describing to employees, individually and summarily, how the store will benefit from an active CRM implementation?

Sell Your CRM Initiative

So why don’t we sell our CRM initiative? After all, a CRM department will bring a multitude of benefits to the store, but for those benefits to happen the CRM function must be supported by the right processes and practices. A CRM function will impact transactions, staff, management, your customers, and your relationship with them.

Begin selling CRM to your sales department first. You must gain its buy-in. Sales consultants will be most wary of CRM, especially those whose view of CRM will be “I’ve been selling for 10 years my way.” A masterful sales presentation to this group is imperative and it will be your toughest stage performance. Yet, surprisingly enough, once this group has bought in your sales consultants will be CRM’s best cheerleaders.

To best reach this group, let money do the talking. Here’s an effective talk track: Each sales consultant is essentially an independent consultant, with no individual more interested in his or her income than the consultant and his or her spouse. Each sales consultant is also the CEO of his or her own personal corporation, and whether the consultant is aware of it or not, is also his or her own CFO, VP of sales and marketing and more mundane titles and responsibilities.

Having thus expanded the group’s vision and broadened (as well as personalized) its sense of corporate responsibility, the group will now be more receptive to the CRM message you will deliver. I then like to ask this group, “If we were to hire for each of you your very own personal vice president of sales and marketing to handle most of the encumbering paper and organizational sales-related efforts required to run your personal corporation daily, would you be interested in hearing about it?”

Then continue, “Of course, this new officer will report to you and would be directly responsible for increasing your income through obtaining more unit sales at greater gross profit margins and assisting and showing you how to increase the opportunities to resell your owner base both directly and indirectly through referrals.” Finally, close with, “OK, who wants one of these VPs?” And don’t be surprised by the following replies, “I do! Where do I sign! “Count me in!”

Congratulations; if you’ve gotten to this junction in your CRM selling process you’ve planted an important seed – open mindedness to perform the new processes, which are going to be different than the business as usual around your store. Note: The forthcoming beneficial highlights of CRM will only be as good as the paper you receive from your sales professionals. Accuracy and completeness are paramount for successful CRM. Good paper provides for good process! I’ll cover these paper detail requirements later, but for right now we’ll concentrate on the buy-in.

Benefits To Be Gained

Let’s explore a few of the tangible and intangible benefits that sales professionals in your organization can expect to receive in operating their corporations utilizing a well seeded CRM implementation. (I use “can” and not “will” here because we have to secure the processes first.)

Remind your sales staff that CRM software – their own VP of sales and marketing — will provide each of them with a personalized daily work plan that will show them an organized (yes, organized) approach to running their business. It will essentially plan their daily work effort by providing them, in writing, with the following valuable information:

• Every contact: Includes every floor-up customer who visited them, with such key data as name, address, telephone numbers, vehicle interests, trade information, target budgets, next contact date, future appointment made, assorted notes detailing the customer’s family members and special dates.
• Every phone inquiry: Includes such information as interest, equipment preferences, time frame for purchase, customer name, phone number, specific date and time of appointment to visit the store, and next contact date if appointment was not made.
• Every follow-up: Reminders to make floor- and follow-up calls, including prospects that visited the store and did not purchase on the first or second visit. The target is to get them back in on an appointment.
• Every retention call: Includes data to ensure that every customer is contacted for continued customer retention and referral obtainment. This is a very important call and needs to go beyond the standard “How is your new vehicle doing?” Your owner base should be contacted on a three, 30, 60, 90 and 120-day schedule, and then at least quarterly.
• Every appointment: A list of customer appointments detailing specific dates and times along with customer information acquired from one or more of the above areas.
• No-show list: A list of every customer no-show.
• Orphan owners and orphan un-solds: As attrition occurs you will have owners without assigned sales consultants. CRM can assign them to consultants. The same applies to orphan unsold prospects. Such un-solds can be good sources of business, and CRM can help your staff build them in a customer base quickly.
• Letters and notes: Includes lists of letters due to owners, including floor ups, phone ups and other follow-up correspondence, including orphan owners and orphan unsold letters, anniversary letters, and special occasion letters, all printed individually for your sales team. All they have to do is sign, fold and stuff.

I’ve listed only a few of the benefits your sales team should enjoy when CRM is implemented in your dealership. Sell these multiple opportunities to your team – opportunities that will help them increased their business through organized CRM – and you’ll get its critical buy-in. Next issue, more on building your CRM processes, step by step.

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.

I was impressed with how many of you were interested in receiving that document and are now pursuing new avenues towards true CRM in your stores. Good for you! If you happened to miss the offering for the checklist send me an e-mail (cbarker@digitaldealer-magazine.com) and I will forward you one. One of the critical elements of that article necessary for solid CRM is how to deal with objections. Again, success here hinges upon being in possession of rock solid 21st century communications and telephone skills. Without these it is like raking water; it just won’t work. The following is a paraphrased rendition of my in store curriculum The Fine Art of Negotiations where I train sales professionals and managers in taking a new look at handling objections.

Objections in our industry essentially come in four forms:

1)  Personality conflict (this should not be a problem if you have trained your team in identifying behavioral profiling)

2)  Money

3)  Timing

4)  Product

How we deal with these objections will determine if the deal continues to move forward or crumble in its tracks. I ask; are objections good or bad? An objection, frankly speaking, is a good thing. It is all about attitude. If your attitude is good then you will look upon objections as good things that are said, and because they are said it means you are moving the sale forward in the proper direction.

There is one objection however that you can and will never conquer. Do you know what it is? It is the one that you never “hear”. That’s it plan and simple, if you are not asking and probing you may never get a chance to respond to the objection or concern your customer is harboring in their mind because they will not ask it. And, if this occurs, the process will most certainly not move forward because any and all objections must be met head on with good communications skills. When you do meet them properly then the objection usually will be put aside and clears the way in moving toward your target, which is closing.

When objections stop, the deal is most likely winding down. So objections are a good thing and you must treat them with care and respect if you intend to move in the direction of closing the sale. Utilizing new communications techniques to meander your way through objections encourages you and your customer to continue to move toward continuing the sales process.

There was this fellow who was still a bit green in his selling career and had this dream. In his dream, he was attempting to sell a vehicle to a married couple, and they were such a pleasure to visit with. They thoroughly enjoyed his presentation and demo ride and they agreed to everything he mentioned. They didn’t ask any questions, and they didn’t have any concerns. They even helped him fill out the paperwork. The whole transaction was completed in record time. Two very happy people waved good-bye to him as they drove away leaving him with a check in hand and several qualified leads. What a wonderful dream!

Somehow, I am sure that this guy was not the only one to have this “dream”. Most new salespeople think this is what selling is like. Unfortunately, some salespeople who have been in the business for a while keep looking for that dream to come true.

Imagine a sale with no resistance. Does it happen? Once in a blue moon. Addressing concerns is a normal step in any sale. It is human nature to object, hesitate, stall, or procrastinate when making any decision that will separate you from your money.

Buyers need to feel absolutely confident that what they are replacing their money with will give them all the benefits they want. Buyers also have to be comfortable with the value they are receiving for their hard-earned dollars. I suspect this is true for most of us, so why would we expect any prospective clients to be any different?

Your success rate in sales will increase tremendously when you begin anticipating concerns instead of fearing them. You most likely are basically hearing the same three or four in nearly every selling situation. I spent a few hours thinking about each of those concerns. Why are your future clients going to be saying these things, and what could you do or say to help them get comfortably past these points?

Begin by putting yourself in their position (empathy) then you will begin to discover that most potential clients are expressing concerns because of one basic emotion that was being triggered: fear. Yes, studies show us that prospects are generally enthusiastic when they first begin discussing adding a new vehicle to the family but fear sets in when they arrive are the dealership. What do think the primary fear is? Car salespeople. It’s no wonder when we see what the industry peddles off as customer relationship building (CRB). It is non-existent in most dealerships because most simply don’t get it. It is a new world and Charlie Darwin said it best, “survival of the fittest!” You better be training in the new ways.

Here are the other fear items your prospects are harboring. If you take note of them, you will be better prepared to get them relaxed and begin trusting in you as a professional:

1)  They are afraid to make an irreversible decision.

2)  They are afraid to make a commitment with their money.

3)  They are afraid the product would not live up to their expectations.

4)  They are afraid we will take-the-money-and-run; that they’d never be able to reach us again when they had questions about or challenges with the product after they owned it.

The last of these can and will present a wonderful opportunity for you because if you know what it takes to excel at CRM, you know you need to thoroughly explain to the potential customer how you are different from the maddening crowd of dealerships when it comes to true CRM owner base follow-up. You will never forget them.

Realizing these points, you may wish to begin making some changes in the way you handle, question and council prospects. Step one is to eliminate words from your vocabulary that provoke fear, and replace them with verbal images that bring confidence to your soon-to-be customers. Make sure to discuss products and services in light of the “hot buttons” that were hopefully discovered during the interview and qualification steps, and this will help reduce the number of concerns you had previously been receiving.

Another strategy that works is to bring up concerns that you know the prospective clients are likely to have and address them before they can become stalls. For example, when you get people involved in any high-dollar product, it’s likely that you’ll hear, “It costs too much” as a concern. By learning not to get flustered, but to be prepared instead, you control the concern. You don’t let it control the sale.

By the way, the answer to that concern is to focus on the difference, not on the whole amount. You do this by asking, “Today, most things do cost a bit more. How much too much do you feel it is?” Once you have that amount, you know how much they really expected to invest and can build the value in the difference.

For those salespeople who still have a certain amount of fear when they hear a concern, let me explain what concerns really are. Besides being a normal part of the selling sequence, objections or concerns are defense mechanisms. They are ways for the buyer to tell you that you are moving too fast. There are ways the buyer tells you they need more information before they can feel confident about going ahead with the investment.

Always remember, the potential client is not personally objecting to you. They are objecting to some aspect of the product or service that they are not yet comfortable with.

In order to be proficient at closing you first have to be very proficient and well versed in objection handling. This means you have to be in possession of good listening skills and good questioning skills because these are the two most significant areas of talent that will propel your closing ratios.

How are your skills in these two areas? If you answered with a “Well, I think they are okay” or, “I could always polish up on those”, then go ahead and spend some quality time reacquainting yourself with these practices. How do you do it? There are a couple of ways; find a mentor who is good at it and speak with them on the matter, then role play the elements with that person or manager or a peer. Practice here before you practice on your customers. If you would like more detail on handling of objections send me an e-mail request and I will get one to you. Remember, you only get one chance to make a first impression!

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.

Interesting things are discovered on my visits with various dealerships.

In some cases the store really had no well-understood processes in the first place. And in an effort to reach greater heights they are limited by confusion paralysis. Ready, shoot, aim is sometimes the directive of these stores because they don’t think things out. A good process in the first place could have propelled its people toward a new summit today. Without processes they are where they were except today. So, I make suggestions to minimize the bleeding and set forth processes to affect a new beginning of increased sales through CRM practices. Management buy-in is my top priority, then the sales team and the rest of the store’s employees.

By interviewing each manager and key player in the store I can usually identify strengths and weaknesses, which we can then build on pushing toward making those improvements. The store must be willing first to desire a better outcome and second commit to adhering to certain CRM standards. When they do it is amazing how the entire store’s morale changes and things begin to soar quickly.

I see processes that were pretty good at one time not being so good today. Why? One of the cornerstones of good processing is the ability to be flexible and continually make improvements on those processes. The greatest sin dealerships commit is when they start getting good they stop becoming better. Yep, the ‘we have arrived mentality’ sinks in and along with it comes complacency. This infecting disease runs rampant in our industry and usually begins with management. They forget to improve themselves and as a consequence the store and its people stop improving. Full-time improvement is mandatory for continued success. Just when you have a good month the next falls apart usually due to process defection and management looses its cool by giving deals away to satisfy the units placed and nobody makes money for the month. Then the next month comes around and because nobody received handsome checks they get into a fever of sell, sell, sell all over again without attempting to figure out what actually happened and put new correct measures in place so we get back on a brand new track.

I worked with these stores to look at where they came from and what made them successful, where they are today, where they want to be and finally offer recommendations as to how to identify new leading edge areas for CRM improvements. Then we set forth a plan to get us there.

Next are the dealerships that have recently implemented CRM software and are expecting great things. Often they expected the software to deliver them to the promise land and then realized it fell short of their expectations. Why? You got it, no people and process training beyond the software training. Sure they got all the stats and numbers to wring their hands over but no real results. The analysis paralysis takes over like the bird flu in the hen house and everyone starts pointing fingers. So, along with management I go about identifying all of the key processes I see required to offer steadfast lasting improvements. And, if I perform well enough they usually ask me back to train everyone on these new CRM practices and the leadership knowledge to really make it take wings. We enlist all team members to a big buy-in session simply because I believe in offering people good solid reasons for making some changes through adopting and adapting new processes.

Take the store’s new implementation vision and put it in action. Keep the vision alive and well touting it as a new day here and the future will be brighter for us all by adhering to these new processes with conviction and vision. Helen Keller was asked several years ago by an interviewer. “Ms. Keller what could be a more debilitating handicap than being blind?” Helen Keller replied; “Oh, that’s easy, it is not having vision.” And, that is the first step in living to your store’s full potential: enlarge your vision. See it happening for you. So, start your day with a new pair of glasses and then go out anticipating and envisioning good things to happen to you, your people and your store. Continue to stretch your store’s vision by asking everyone involved for improvement ideas. Keep them engaged in your processes by letting them forge new ones.

I also visit stores that finally recognize they must give in to giving up the old school tactics and taking on CRM measures. They need CRM software, processing and people training. When I identify the warts on their old ways I apply the medicine to rid them from the store hopefully forever. Some of these tactics are so demeaning to customers and staff alike the attrition rate hovers around 85 percent, CSI is down and sales are waning. Too bad it took this for them to say “So long to the status quo” and have them quit falling in love with below average. The good news is yesterday is gone and tomorrow will be here soon so lets be ready with a new face to our operations.

Obviously this one takes the longest to correct and often it requires personnel changes because of the mediocrity that has so long been entrenched. I find myself sincerely applauding these stores for their willingness first to acknowledge their sins of past and then to risk the venture to new territories like the pioneers. Anytime I have a “change willing” client I want to go overboard ensuring their success because they are the ones who really it. These stores do have the toughest road ahead of them – lots of new things coming their way to soak up and perform on a regular basis. When they do make the commitment the climb up the mountain makes the view from the “success summit” just that much sweeter.

What each of the stores has to do is expect circumstances to change in their favor and expect people to go out of their way to help them get there. You can acquire the CRM process direction from a few new-school professionals who know what he or she is doing. When equipped with all the correct process tools all you have to do is pull them out of the toolbox and use them. Wherever new challenges are taking you always remember never to be a prisoner to average, say goodbye to the status quo and rise above all the adversity you may face.

Go forward and hold your head high on the lookout for new CRM opportunities for your store. And, remember failure is only postponed success. Failure just means you are at least trying to get it right. Excuses mean you are not even in the game. Thomas Edison failed to create the right filament for the light bulb 10,000 times, but with persistence he got it right eventually. We have to keep pushing our dreams in the direction of higher altitudes in life and risking new endeavors in order to rise to those new heights. Continue to improve in everything you do and become a leader pushing toward your dealership’s overall success.

Chuck Barker is CEO of his two companies Impact Marketing & Consulting Group, LLC and Impact Summit, LLC both located in Virginia. His experience ranges from an executive with a Fortune 200 corporation, Harris Corp., to the automobile business where he has performed all management positions. His firms specialize in growing people and dealerships. He delivers Leading Edge Sales Training Programs, Customer Relationship Strategies, Management Leadership Workshop Programs and Dealer/Principal consulting assistance for the automobile industry.

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.

Among the correctives were:

• A solid baseline for 21st Century Telephone Skills training
• Teaching an understanding of the importance and complexion of this important inquiry’s motives and what they are looking for
• You have to get creative and add differential attractiveness to your store in order to make your store the store this caller decides to actually pay a visit
• You must provide an ‘academic think space’ to be able to concentrate and perform well on the incoming telephone inquiry
• You must be developing and monitoring that telephone incoming processes are in place complete with phone guides (not scripts)
• Possess new communications dialog techniques

You may ask; “Is that it?” “Is that all I have to do to affect more telephone inquiry appointments and close more opportunities?”  Unfortunately no.  No simple one liners are going to get you there.  What will start you in the right direction however is good solid planning, execution and consistency in this area.  But it doesn’t end there either.

I realize some of this information is considered new stuff for some of you and conversely old stuff for others.  The problem with writing these articles is we have dealerships out there which are at different levels of process attainment, understanding and accomplishments as it relates to CRM structure.

I basically see five distinctly different levels of dealerships:

1)  Dealerships which simply have few to no ‘CRM Processes’ in place.  Everyday is wishing and hoping.

2)  Dealerships which have ‘No Procedural Processes’ in place yet do have some CRM reporting in place albeit using manual paper driven elements to figure out where the business is coming from and going to.

3)  Dealerships which do have ‘Some Processes’ in place yet are using manual reporting elements or non-technology to monitor and assist the business.

4)  Dealerships which have CRM technology up the yen yang but have no processes in place to complement and support store growth.  And, I might mention here; either no leadership or CRM Champion to take charge.

5)  Then, there are the dealerships that have been able to put the whole package of essential elements together and are soaring to new heights.

In searching for the proper way to address the vastly different dealership readers it occurred to me that maybe in some of my articles I may be speaking from outer space to one audience and from ground zero earth to another group.  Then there could be the ones who want to learn the ‘how to’ and those who could probably teach the ‘how to’.

For those who have been keeping up with my articles you know the cornerstone for making these processes take wing is in leadership.  From the dealer/principal to all managers to the sales force has to be a well defined process strategy and with conviction it needs to followed by all.

I was at a dealership recently performing a enhanced three day telephone skill training workshop.  In that class were sales people who readily migrated towards the improvements introduced through these new strategies.  Prior to working with them however I had worked with the management team and pointed out how we needed to speak differently to our customers compared to the rest of the stores out there who are essentially all saying the same old things.   Then, they got it.  Yes, we do have to do things more professionally because in doing so will in turn generate differencial from our competetors and the prospects will pick up on that and hopefully choose to do business with our store.

Look to enhance and train your team in every area of customer centric touch points with more professionalism and watch what a positive difference it makes.  If you need some ideas send me an email: chuck@impactgroupcrm.com.

Grow your people and your store will grow proportionally.

Most likely you would not even get close to visiting that restaurant. Why? Because who chases average around?

Would you wish for average grades for your kids? Average food for your family? How about taking just average care of yourself? So why is it so many dealerships settle and many actually camp out with being average? Because being average and even below average is just what these stores are settling for; average sales people, average managers, average customer experiences, average training, average everything. Sure they might experience a flurry of business activity out of shear market swings or luck and think they are above average but then they fall right back into average again. You know, maybe it is because being average is just the easy way to do things. I call this blind in plain sight.

Remember what temperature water boils at? Sure you do – 212 degrees Fahrenheit. What is it at 211 degrees? Just real hot water. One simple ‘extra’ degree takes hot water to an energy level that is explosive in energy. Many stores out there are the same way; one degree off of truly developing winning players: sales people and leaders. One more “extra” degree provided to the team of the right stuff (education, processes, encouragement and leadership) can elevate the entire dealership to unsurpassed greatness but you have to want it for it to occur.

Let’s look at an example of what making a commitment to do a little ‘extra’ can actually mean. You may remember the great baseball hall of famer, Tony Gwynn. Tony was not known for his home run abilities but instead his super consistent base hitting abilities. One year, Tony was hitting a .340 average and making around $3.5 million. On the same team was another player who was hitting .240 and making $350,000.

For way too long people have put vast differences between being ordinary and extraordinary but the truth is just a little ‘extra’ is all it takes. You see, Tony Gwynn had such a commitment to being a great hitter that he came out to batting practice before everyone else so he could get in ‘extra’ swings. The payoff? The difference between making 3.5 million and $350K was in Tony’s ability to get just one more hit in ten attempts at the plate. One more hit earned him 10 times more money and a ticket to the Hall of Fame. The other guy – just average.

A little extra placed before ordinary can take you and your store to extraordinary places of achievement.

I spoke with a GSM of a store recently whereby he described how his month ended up; “We ended up with a great month. We sold 220 vehicles.” I asked how the gross profits per copy looked and he told me a number that was way below average. In fact it was pretty lousy. I asked him how many sales people he had working the floor that month and he proudly announced that they had 22 salespeople but wanted another 10 so they could sell more units.

Ok, the math giant in me quickly computed that his sales team was averaging just 10 units each. Now we all have crystal clear clarity why they had below average gross profits — because he flooded the floor with below average sales people. Further conversation uncovered that the store also had high a high attrition rate, no leading edge training, poor leadership direction and low team synergy. So, an average sales person means average managers and an average dealer who does not get the big picture or blind in plain sight.

This is not brain surgery, can’t they see that this vicious cycle cannot be broken without changing everything about the way they are currently doing business?

This store is acting like a lot of dealerships out there right now operating as pretenders; get those units, units, units at all costs. These stores are overlooking the simple fact that attrition really costs you big time money. Soft costs also mount up in the store’s reputation killing due to the lack of selling skills or the hard costs associated with blowing off sales opportunities due to the ineptness of the sales team and finally the morale busting people constantly looking to jump ship.

I would jump at the chance to leave this store too if one of their competitors gave me the opportunity to join a sales team that had the following in place:

• Superior professional learning principles
• A granite solid plan toward a process for every income producing area
• An environment that supports and engenders team synergy
• Leadership that embraced the logic of growing their people
• Potential to achieve ‘extra’ unit sales and better gross profits

It has become such a cliché for management to claim that ‘people are our greatest asset’. Yet, much to the dismay of everyone, the effort they put in to developing this ‘human capital’ continues to be seen as an expense and not as an investment. It’s time to turn this around. If you start to analyze your training programs as if they were capital investments — using techniques like ROI — senior management may start to change their attitude to the new leading edge training techniques.

We are at a time when there are so many exciting new developments and tactics you can adopt right now for your business development, you are blind in plain sight if you don’t muster the good sense to do something about it.

Many managers I am seeing are losing their way through inactionable direction, an illogical expectation of blind obedience, a delusion that says “Do what I say, even if it’s not possible or makes sense.” Other managers are blinded by the worship of high speed as a defense against depth, disrespecting deep-water leadership by diving head first at warp speed right into the kiddie pool. Still others are too busy driving to stop and get gas, disguising their blinded state in camouflaged commotion.

Regardless of the origins of this blindness, many managers often feel they are so deep within this dense fog that they are blinded from seeing how to grow themselves. Feeling this, they too often choose “motion-worship”, degenerating into the shallowness of a doing to be doing. ‘Busy-ness’ instead of ‘business’.

Stop this crazy meaningless motion. Don’t just do something, stand there. Good advice for leaders these days. Managers too often ignore the wisdom of listening more than preaching. Overlooking team development, some managers choose purposeless direction. Make bad choices. Over reaction reflexes to the simplest of problems. To deflect their ignorance further, they employ ‘right now’ urgency. Urgency captures attention through anxiety and creates propped-up popularity, but is often light on substance. Urgency without purpose is a defense against identity.

Too often managers appear as empty bobbling heads at the sales tower urgently whining about execution which gets really old.

Managers unaware of who they are usually default to the philosophy of “I’m so busy spinning around the store so I must be great.” They create flurries of activity in hopes of obtaining unknown success. These hopes are sorely misplaced. After years of trudging, spinning, running, over reacting, and wasting effort at hard to catch productivity, these hopefuls find emptiness and amnesia. They forgot why they started all this in the first place. They are devoid of individual and team identity. Managers worshipping meaningless motion, the walking dead, are blind in plain sight.

Leaders who are not blinded have seen themselves and their identity is clear. Their decisions and actions are guided by how can I grow my people not what will I get. Clear sighted leaders wrestle with the question, what would I do if I got nothing in return? Clear sighted leaders forgo emptiness in their sales team’s knowledge and training for favor of individual and team based growing experiences which create synergy passion. The contagious and toxic age of the deal has created the age of the empty suit, missing identities and managers wallowing in the darkness of blindness to growing their people.

As always, I really appreciate you taking time to read this material as it shows a diligence towards you and your team’s improvement. If you can implement even one ‘extra’ thing to help improve your team’s growth you will see positive results. Charging in the direction for constant improvements in your store and your people will take everyone higher than before.

If you would like some pretty cool ideas I just had published to begin growing your team, please write me and I will be happy to send you the plain sight to the top.

Keep adding to your dealership’s growth and we will see you at the Summit.

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.

Known throughout the industry for his hands-on management style, Mr. Marriott has built a highly regarded culture that emphasizes the importance of Marriott’s people and recognizes the value they bring to the organization. Today, approximately 300,000 people wearing Marriott International name badges are serving guests in Marriott managed and franchised properties throughout the world.

Marriott International is also well known as a great place to work and for its commitment to diversity, social responsibility and community engagement. It has consistently been named to Fortune Magazine’s lists of most admired companies and best places to work. Why? What makes Marriott such a great place to work and experience the mammoth success it earns and the respect of their guests? They have a plan.

I feel any dealership can receive (although not quite the scale) a similar success story and report card if only the dealership would operate utilizing Bill’s rules of success listed below.  If they did, all of a sudden the dealership just might find that it has become a better place for people to work and for people to purchase vehicles and consequently, begin growing their business to unexpected increases.

Bill Marriott’s 12 rules of success:

1. Continually challenge your team to do better.
2. Take good care of your employees, and they’ll take good care of your customers, and the customers will come back.
3. Celebrate your people’s success, not your own.
4. Know what you’re good at and mine those competencies for all you’re worth.
5. Do it and do it now. Err on the side of taking action.
6. Communicate. Listen to your customers, associates and competitors.
7. See and be seen. Get out of your office, walk around and make yourself visible and accessible.
8. Success is in the details.
9. It’s more important to hire people with the right qualities than with specific experience.
10.  Customer needs may vary, but their bias for quality never does.
11.  Eliminate the cause of a mistake. Don’t just clean it up.
12.  View every problem as an opportunity to grow.

These are such great line items, but they are just that, line items sitting on a page in latent form. To give them life we have to apply “action” towards making them happen. How do we do that? We have to have design and implement a plan. With certainty, I guarantee the Marriott Corporation had and has a continuing tactical and strategic plan to make sure these line items come to life in their properties.  Ask 50 dealers this question; “What does your three to five year marketing and business plan look like?” and see how many have one. Do you? Odds are very high that few have taken the time to fully initialize any plan at all and frankly we all know that is no way to run a business. Develop a professional plan and watch what happens. If you will take the time to dig down into a subject (like planning carefully enough), a few deeply useful truths will dredge up beneath the seemingly surface complexity of the task.

However, as Dave Anderson quotes: “A brilliant plan not followed by consistent action isn’t worth the paper it’s written on.” I agree with Dave on this wholeheartedly.  It is like looking at a target through a rifle scope on a gun range with no rounds in the chamber. Looks good, dead on bullseye, but you will never hit the target unless you first load the rifle, take careful aim, and then apply action by pulling the trigger. Many are shooting with no rounds or even blanks (false starts) and never hit any target. Don’t be that person. Take charge now and develop a rock solid growth plan and shoot for excellence not average. Say goodbye to yesterday and hello to tomorrow with optimism and you will see the core concepts more clearly.

Remember, leaders have to be optimistic. Being less pessimistic is not synonymous with optimistic anymore than less rude is synonymous with courteous.

Wouldn’t you be interested in renovating new energy and business gains into your dealership to receive sustained organizational improvement? If so, then a terrific place to start is to begin next month to at least move in the direction of a strategic sales and marketing plan. Many of my clients have initiated better focus and positive growth results from taking the first step by using this exercise, I know you will too if you stop, take a breath and plan a couple of well thought out meetings with your management team. Mix all department managers together for this because in doing so, you will yield cross departmental boundary suggestions to allow everyone to step out of their departmental paradigms and hopefully discover a new way of running their department by hearing from others.

Below I have listed the first simple steps for getting control of your growth and developing leaders and managers to get you there. At your first meeting, explain to your team that you are venturing into the development of a sales/marketing plan to transform the dealership’s present condition into something better and you need everyone’s help to do so. Let them know, that ideas are the beginning of all great achievements and each manager is a contributing factor in the success of the plan. Later on, in subsequent questions we can adjust questions to fit any particular needs you may have.

Start out with the following easy stuff then ramp up to the meat, which will drive the processes and inspire your people. Here is the first three-question template to use whereby everyone in attendance gets a copy as his or her personal worksheet. Print copies to pass out at your first meeting. Ask them to take this with them and over the next few days apply some good thinking toward completing their answers, which will be returned in next week’s mangers’ meeting. In that next meeting, go around the room and have each manager read their responses to the group. Make room for comments after each reading. Encourage team engagement by asking them things like: “How do you feel about Roy’s answers?” or “Would you agree this makes sense?” or “What would you add to those comments?” Remember, getting this meeting started is like rocket thrust being most intense coming off the launching pad then much less energy is required to navigate in orbit. Once you get things rolling you will be amazed how easy the flow of information becomes. You most likely will derive some solid thinking and talking points when things get opened up in this meeting.

2012 Management Planning Workshop

• Can the dealership be better?
  • How? What changes would have to occur?

• Can my Department improve?
  • How?

• Can I improve personally?
  • How?

Strive toward implementation of a total “Consensus Style Leadership” vs. Bureaucratic. Make sure your principles remain stronger than your ego. This approach will get people on board and engaged with the plan in order to draw out strong opinions and effectively funnel them into equally strong collective “buy-ins.” Ask them to be brutally honest without any repercussions because this is the only way you will hear what needs improved.

There you go. By following most of the aforementioned step one guidelines for a strategic plan, you will most certainly engage your management team into a new way of thinking. Moreover, you just might rouse some of those latent ideas stuck deep in the minds of your team. Communications is a wonderful thing and can launch you towards a more productive and growth oriented pathway for total dealership growth. Good fortunes can come your way by strengthening your team in this fashion.

If you are interested in taking this concept to the next level of planning, send me an e-mail requesting “The Plan” and I will send you the full template of questions for designing your own strategic marketing and sales plan. Of course, you do not have to accept my plan, but at least get one from somewhere; or else tomorrow will only be today, but a day later and nothing has changed. In theory, this seems complex but in practice, it often proves surprisingly simple and straightforward.