At most automotive dealerships the last two to three days of the month are typically a flurry of activity by department managers and their productive and support employees trying to get the last deal, the last R.O., and the last counter slip billed out and counted. It always has been, and always will be, the culture of the retail automotive business because, unlike most other businesses, the “counting and accounting cycle” is measured in individual months.

Why is it then that very few dealerships have been successful in reproducing this month-end energy and urgency at the beginning of the month? Again this is a cultural issue, but if you think your store is a relatively slow starter when the month begins, you can easily change this with minimum effort and expense.

The training, consulting and coaching professionals at NCM Associates have helped numerous client-dealers implement a  monthly kickoff meeting process to help jump-start the new month. Here’s the way to plan and set up the meeting:

• Virtually close down all operating departments from 12:00 Noon through 12:30 p.m. on the first or second working day of the new month. All dealership employees should be encouraged to attend the kickoff meeting. (You may wish to have one employee remain in each department to greet customers and answer the telephone.)

• Most dealers hold this meeting in the new vehicle showroom or on the service drive. Set up your meeting environment with enough chairs to accommodate the attendees. A catered buffet lunch should be arranged. The meeting should begin immediately at 12:05 PM and conclude promptly at 12:25 p.m. This will force the preparation and delivery of 20 minutes of quality meeting content.

• The meeting should be hosted by the most senior manager on shift.

The monthly kickoff meeting content should be planned and structured as follows:

• The format of the meeting content should be fun, fast-paced, and consistent. (Note: It will normally require the dealer operator, general manager and/or the department managers spend two or more hours developing high-quality content for a 20-minute meeting.)

• This meeting should be characterized as a celebration.  Everything about this meeting must be positive; do not allow negativity to be expressed by anyone.

• The agenda might include, but is certainly not limited to:

  • Summary of last month’s performance highlights

  • Announcement of a monthly record set (There should always be a record set and announced, even if it’s something as innocuous as, “number of wiper blades sold by the service department.”)

  • Recognition of employment anniversaries, birthdays, wedding anniversaries, births, and other employee milestones

  • Announcement of Department (or business unit) of the Month

  • Announcement of Employee of the Month

  • “Spins-to-win” on the cash wheel

  • Announcement of industry or franchise news

  • Announcement of this month’s sales (or gross profit) target(s)

The overall focus of the kickoff meeting is to thank the staff for their contributions during the prior month and continue the month-end momentum and inertia into the new month, resulting in a higher probability of achieving the new month’s performance goals. A normal side benefit to the effective execution of the kickoff meeting process is that the month-end close is completed in a much more timely fashion (often by the end of the second working day of the new month).

If you're not already using them, I hope you'll use the information here to set up monthly kickoff meetings in your dealership.  You'll find the process is a winner on a number of levels, but as we mention in the opening of every Up To Speed article, a sound process will only produce predictable results if it becomes a consistent habit!  

If you are using monthly kickoff meetings, how do you do them differently and are you seeing a difference in your monthly performance?   Share your experience--post your comments here so the entire U2S community can learn from you, too!