Ever find yourself with "disgruntled" Service Personnel and wondered "How did it get this bad?" You know people are getting "fed up" when you have top personnel (like a Superstar Service Advisor) give notice from seemingly out of nowhere or Customer complaints suddenly increase overnight or accidents start happening.

These are all signs that something is amiss.

You need to have a "Take."

Take a Moment and begin by opening the door of two-way communications immediately. Many times we get caught up in the day-to-day of running the shop and forget that we (humans) thrive on being Listened to. Taking a Moment to Listen to Personnel and ask what is on their mind is often all that is needed to get things back on track.

In fact, when you Take that Moment, don't forget to throw in a "Thank You" as well. Your staff might be overdue for one.

Take a Stand for what you know is Right for your Personnel and your Dealership. If you need to change a policy, get something fixed or get the Owner involved, then do it!

Taking a Stand means that you decide what Action Steps are needed (after getting appropriate input) and not allowing anything to sway from your position.

Take a Direction and then Broadcast it to everyone in your shop. I once read somewhere (in the USMC I think) that it is better to get everyone moving in one direction even if that is the wrong direction than to have everyone standing around wondering what was going to happen next.

At least if your Personnel are actively going in one direction, you can make an adjustment. If they are just "waiting for something to happen" then all of the monsters and alligators in the swamp get to them and kill any forward momentum and feed their heads full of crap, if you get my meaning.

Take all of the Blame for everything that is going wrong. It's yours anyways, might as well own up to it.

If your Service Advisors are not producing, your fault. If the Customers are not coming in, your fault. If the Profit Margins are out of line, your fault.

Which means, if you are taking all of the Blame, you had better make sure you are putting forth maximum effort to get it turned around and going in the Direction you want it to. Then, when you Take the Blame, you know that you did everything you were supposed to do.

Lastly, Take None of the Credit. If you are doing your job, then that means everyone else is doing theirs. You can bask in the glory of knowing that you got them going in the right direction, but pulling the oar has always been theirs. Tell them how well they pulled, Thank them for pulling and remind them they have more to pull and you will be right there with them.

Have a Take.

Looking for more? Need Leadership, Profit and Accountability? Check out the website at www.dealerprotraining.com or call 888-553-0100.