As being a professional business consultant. I can't help to preach the importance of details to my children. Details on performing any assignment(s), chores, homework or even trying out for sports for their schools.  They must try 100% and not half way.  Marsh Buice wrote an article called "Salespeople Need To Be Potty Trained." I just had to reply with a story about my children doing their daily chores, "the dishes" that I believe related to Marsh's post.

Here is my story I posted;

My two daughters 10 and 13 do the dishes daily. Why? To teach responsibility and details at an age where they are mold-able! When they first started doing dishes, they would wash them by hand and then let air dry in the dish washer. (I don't like dish washers) So, one day we went to the car wash and we purchased the basic car wash with no dry. Drove through the wash and when completed parked the car right away in the parking lot and walked next door and enjoyed some ice cream. After the ice cream, we walked back to our car and it was air dried by that time. My girls and I did a walk around the car and they said, dad look at all the spots on our car. I said exactly, that's what we would be eating off, if I didn't teach you to wipe dishes off after washing them, not to wait for them to air dry. Should have seen their faces. Case in point! If we don't take the time to teach our children responsibility and details when they are young and easily trainable, our children could be someone else's story on dE later in their lives.

I have to say with all the dealerships I have consulted and reading a lot of the great posts on dE it all boils back to trying to remold adults that were not taught details in completing projects or giving 100% when they were children. My children are bilingual in both English and Spanish. They learned their Spanish language in no time. Myself on the other hand, struggle with the Spanish language to the day. It's amazing how fast children learn. Now, us as adults our learning capabilities are more challenging each and every day.      

Last week, I registered my children in their schools for the upcoming new school year and later that evening my youngest (10 year old) came up to me with a piece of paper and asked if she can go to Harvard Law School? She said she did her due diligence and googled "how to get into Harvard Law School."

Here is Vivian's standards she came up with to get into Harvard Law School. 



My daughter Vivian is going into 5 grade this year and last year she got one of her teachers to write a letter of recommendation for her! That's a WOW!!!  I guess she is on the right track! Now, it's my duty as a parent to keep her focused to stay on track. Sound familiar? (Just like your employees, making sure quota's and goals are met!)

Wouldn't be fair for me as a parent to tell my daughter she needs to go to college after she graduates high school and maintain a 4.0 GPA. Then, attend law school and again demand a 4.0 GPA without having a continuous updated plan set fourth and to lead by example.

Case in point; I see being a parent to children the same as being a leader in the business world. If it's success you have the desire for your company. Then, start with hiring the right candidate first, one that has been raised with a win/win structure (details). After that, you can mold your employees to and educate them to meet and beat the goals you have set fourth. If you have a good employee that needs additional training, that's fine. Just don't be afraid to show the way!  

Now, with that said. How many of us prepare ourselves?

If, you are in a leading role. Do you prepare yourself as a leader to be a successful trainer to your employees? Do you as a leader have a training path and forecast laid out in detail for your employees. Do you set quota's and goals and except your team(s) to meet and beat your goals (without your guidance) or do you lead by example and demonstrate how to meet and beat any quota or goal set.

During my consultancy, I would always ask to review their dealership's interviewing processes. Witnessed a lot of great processes and on the other hand, I see why some dealers have customer service and financial issues. Hiring the right people is the first step to building a successful team.

Also during my consultancy, before I would train service consultants, I would spend 2 to 3 hours monitoring their processes (meet and greet, walk-around(s), answering phone techniques, and etc) before I can even think about consulting any business and/or people. After that, I would sit down with each one in private and review their service drive processes I monitored, customer satisfaction scores and their daily numbers (Average per/RO and etc.) and we would set their personal goals. After all goals have been set, I would explain in detail what it will take to meet and beat their goals they have set for themselves. My teaching is performed 100% by hands on. I work with each consultant one on one and demonstrate and actually perform many meet and greets, walk-around(s), and even answer phones to show how to sell an appointment. My success in teaching by far has been with demonstrating each process and having each employee set their goals and have them in writing. Everyone has their own methods of teaching for success. I found that it allows me to learn more about each employee and  what level of details they have and see how I can demonstrate like children to educate them when you perform at this level, this is what you can except in results. Results can be from customer service and/or their daily profits. I feel before you can teach someone as an adult to perform at a level they aren't use to, you must first learn about their history and don't be afraid to go back as young as you can comfortable with your employees. You will be surprised the information you gather will be a huge help to getting your employee to their next level of success.

Example; If your marriage is having trouble and you decide with your spouse to try marriage counseling. I guarantee you your counselor will ask you questions starting from your childhood. You can't improve your employees people skills, closing techniques, attitudes, and/or performance levels without knowing the training skills your employees have received starting with their childhood.      

Any adult with a career, their success depends on the training education they have received, maybe as a child, high school or even maybe their training path started in college. Now, us as leaders, our skills need to be cutting edge to train the employees we decide to hire to guarantee the success we promised our leaders from when we decided to accept the leading role. Preparation for success never ends.

Best regards,

Randolph S. Lofgren