One of the things I have learned about life is there will be times of great loss. You won’t get the job or promotion. You might face an illness with a family member, coworker or even yourself. You might struggle financially and be challenged every week as you try to pay your bills and meet your commitments.…

I was at a client working in the drive lane illustrating the importance of the dealership personnel caring about the customer. I randomly picked an example and started going over it. I noticed the interior carpet was dirty and needed vacuumed. A few sections of it could have really used a steam cleaner as…

All progress starts with an idea. Industry titans such as Henry Ford or Thomas Edison both started with an idea. The idea centers on an individual observing a need and thinking through a solution that would solve it. Although there is never guarantee in every idea being successful. It is essential to…

This morning at breakfast I noticed a group of three individuals at the table next to me were speaking French. I naturally wondered what brought them to the United States and the town I was staying in however, that didn’t matter. It did intrigue me however, after a little thought I couldn’t understand a word…

The “New” Law Of The Land!

As long as I can remember warranty parts prices were calculated by taking dealer cost and adding 40% markup. Now in…

When I was a child growing up I used to challenge every order issued by Mom or Dad with a simple question why. I’m not certain I ever received a detailed description of why I should perform a task that they asked me to do, however the response was always the same. Because I said so, now just go ahead and do it. A sign of a good leader is they…

Service advisors can make the difference of hundreds of thousands of dollars annually in revenue to the dealership. They see your customers more than anyone else, yet receive little support from the dealership. Many dealerships consider advisor staffing a cost that must be limited, which is very shortsighted. They throw people into the position without any training just to…

There is an interesting statistic that is use when measuring customer pay sales called technician hours sold per repair order. This takes the average technician hour sold in the dealership and is used to see how good there advisors are performing. I admit to monitoring this result very closely looking for opportunities for improvement. I’ve…

Today’s dealerships spend tens of thousands of dollars every month to reach new customers and get them inside the dealership doors. A large amount of these funds are spent on newspapers that end up as a floor mat the next day for a birdcage. I’ve seen thousands of dollars spent on service ads, that promote super low price oil changes to drive traffic that will spend nothing on suggested needs…

So many of us are focused on the numbers the team generates as a measurement of performance. We review them daily, weekly or monthly and likely let the team know in some form or fashion how we are doing. Many dealership managers feel it’s productive to beat the team member up that’s not performing well demanding they “Get your numbers up” if they want to keep their…

I have visited new car dealerships throughout the United States and consider it a privilege to see the different ways that they operate. It is interesting to observe opportunities for improvement financially and with customer care. The most successful car dealerships understand the value of integrity in building their local brand.

Other dealerships might…

No professional sports team would consider going without a coach. There may be times where they terminate employment of a coach and have an interim position however, professional sports understand the need for good coaching. A good coach knows how to get the most out of individual players and inspire the team.

When things go well the coach should always…

One of my core beliefs is that life is a process. Even at times people don’t believe they have a process, they do it’s just a bad one. Well hidden in the path to success is a process also, that we want to look at with more detail today.

I’ve noticed countless times individuals with great talent and ability that don’t perform well on a daily basis. Their…

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One thing you can be certain of about life is that it will bring challenges. They come in various categories such as financial, career, family or health issues. Since we know all of us are going to face challenges in our life let’s look a little deeper as to how we can best address them.

A longtime friend of mine is facing the largest challenges anyone can face. The love of…

Everyone wants to get good results in their career and family life. We want to be healthy and prosperous, yet most of us fall short and never even set personal goals for ourselves. Beyond setting a goal you must take positive actions with the plan on how you hope to achieve your desired result.

This time of the year is perfect for developing your action plan for the…

No matter what your position is in life one of the things we all face every day are distractions. If you desire to improve your quality of life then you must learn to recognize and reduce the distractions you face on day to day bases. On a typical day you’re likely to be bombarded with people interrupting your current tasks to take care of their immediate needs. You might be…

Most dealerships want to operate in a manner that they will be considered green. Normally however, going green is costly when compared to today’s methods of operation. There is one exception I’ve been made aware of that saves time and money for dealership operations. In the near future, service departments will all be faced with the need to go paperless. Storage requirements for…

Today’s dealerships require that each department generates profit. Body shops have often been challenging as they are limited by insurance companies on what they can charge for labor and paint and materials. Body shops also get squeezed on parts gross profit and lately have additional requirements to order and price through the website the insurance company owns or manages. Body shop processes are…

I travel a lot using commercial airlines and had to share an experience this weekend with Southwest. I bordered the connection flight like normal to fasten my seatbelts only to find out the aircraft didn’t move. We sat there with no information or air conditioning for quite a while until finally the pilot came on and explained the aircraft would not be flying because of a…