Ok. You are practicing the 3 Ws of Leadership and not getting it done.

Wanting.

Waiting.

Wishing.

Most definitely the 3 Worst strategies in Leadership when it comes to changing behavior.

If you want to make changes in behavior you need to turn your W into a M.

Measure

Monitor

Manage

The single most important element to effecting change is to Measure what it is you are trying to change. If you are trying to change a Service Advisors bad Sales presentation, you can’t go up to them and say “You suck and you need to get better” and expect to get a new and improved Service Advisor.

However, if you approach the same Advisor and you say “Hey there Sam, I have been measuring (key word here) your performance over the past week and I noticed that you presented 21 ASRs (Additional Service Requests) and you closed 3 of them. I have an idea here that will help you make more Sales” you might get a different response and begin to make a change in their behavior.

When you Measure what you are expecting (a take on the “You must Inspect what you Expect) you not only understand what needs to change, you also have a tool to gauge how much change is needed and you can determine when you have achieved a marked level of improvement.

This is when you begin to Monitor their efforts. Monitoring is exactly what it sounds like. You will observe, inspect and counsel based on the Measurements you have taken from the previous days/weeks/months. Monitoring is checking up.

And when people feel like there is someone checking up on them and their performance they perform better.

Which brings us to Manage. We don’t Manage people, we Lead people. We Manage things.

And the number one thing you will want to Manage is the results the personnel are achieving followed by the Actions they are taking to achieve those results or the lack thereof.

This is why daily Monitoring is so important. When you are checking up every day on what you are expecting you can easily see what Actions are being taken by your personnel.

It’s these Actions that need to be Managed.

Don’t like the results from Menu presentations, check what Actions the Advisors are taking in the Service Drive during the Writeup process. Not happy with the Gross Profit Margins, take a look at how many Discount Actions are taking place.

Most times it is not one single Action that requires adjustment. Almost always you will find several small Action steps that add up to one big Negative Result.

Take Discounts from the above statement. Many times Discounts can be traced back to a particular cause, like poor Sales Training for example.

Maybe the reason Silly Sam the Advisor gives so many Discounts is because he has never been Trained how to make a proper Sales presentation. And maybe he has never been Trained on the proper way to prepare an estimate. And maybe he has never been Trained on the proper way to prioritize his time.

Sam then takes several small Action steps. Because he does not not prioritize his time, he rarely has enough time to prepare for making a proper ASR so he throws together an estimate as he is dialing the phone and begins to mentally Discount the estimate so that he can make the Sale. Small Action steps that add up to one big Negative Result.

So, his answer to making more Sales is to give more Discounts. Basically, he has been performing in a manner he believes is the correct way to make a Sales presentation. He is in a situation called “Un-Managed Actions”.

Manage the Results you wish to Achieve.

Use the 3 Ms for making a change for the better in your Service Department.

Looking for help in making a change in your Fixed Operations? Want to find out if your Fixed Operations “measures up?” Send an email to lbuchholz@dealerprotraining.com with the words “Blog Scorecard” in the subject line and I’ll send you a Scorecard you can use to Measure the 4 Essentials to 100% Service Absorption.