If you were afforded the opportunity to work at a dealership under the guise that you must first invest 25, 50, or even $100,000 would you pony up? If you did elect to invest such a large sum of money, would you even be the least bit curious as to what kind of return you would earn on your investment? Once you’ve finished your latest Sportscenter analysis of last night’s game, trek into the bowels of your dealership and meet the ones who have literally put their money where their mouth is. Technicians don’t have the luxury of showing up Day 1 to a pile of broken vehicles and a war chest of tools in which to repair them. Aside from having to amass hundreds of hours to achieve certification, technicians comply with the creed that they first must invest before they earn a return. Not only must they possess the right skill sets in order to work on YOUR CUSTOMER’S vehicle, they must also invest in the right tools to fix them. Master technicians have little interest in holding water cooler conversations, often flinging an answer to your questions with a simple “Yes” or “No” before scurrying off to find the right attachment to their impact wrench. A tech’s time literally is money; if they are talking, they aren’t turning; if they aren’t turning, they aren’t earning. There’s little margin for error either. If they do it wrong? At the very least, they’ll have to fix it for free, but at most, a faulty repair could cost your customers their lives. It ain’t easy being greasy.

If a technician is willing to mortgage today’s comfort zone in hopes for a better future; if the dealer signs his name attesting to millions of dollars of inventory and liability, walking the razor thin line of poverty or wealth; if your family has pledged to support you and your new sales career by stretching a week’s wages into a month long struggle; if these people are willing to push all of their chips in and invest, why aren’t you? Sure you can pay the godfather of the dealership to take your yearly sales certification courses; sure you can snooze in the captain’s chair of your favorite SUV on the used car lot; sure you can swear to your manager you’ve been in the back helping a customer, when instead you’ve been on a 2 hour lunch; sure you can fib and pull one over on a customer in an effort to cover your draw. You can cheat, slight, and duck, but in reality the only thing you are cheating is your future. When you don’t invest in today, there can be no better tomorrows.  

Athletes can’t just show up for the playoffs; lawyers don’t appear when the jury deliberates, nor do actors win the Academy Award by happenstance.  At one point in time, each one was benched; side-bared, and debunked from the leading role, but in spite of all of the failures, setbacks, and defeats, they kept on investing knowing one day they would receive a return.  Everything’s at stake, how much are willing to invest?