The Great Confession by St Peter was in response to a question ask by Jesus to his disciples. His question was "Who do they say I am?"

The responses varied, some say He was John the Baptist back from the dead, some said he was the prophet. But then Jesus asked "Who do YOU say I am?"

Now of course we know that is when Peter made the Great Confession stating "You are the Son of the God"

The reason that I bring this up is not only because of this being one of the greatest moments in history, but because it is also a question to a question to ask yourselves.

Who do they say YOU ARE?

We know that certain business have a certain reputation and let's face some are good and some aren't. We can think about lawyers and politicians or we can think of policeman and fireman.

There are certainly good and bad in all professions, but some carry a little bit of a stigma.

Now I have to break some news to you all.....the car business is one of those professions. The reason the car business may sometimes get a bad rap could actually be because of people in the car business, but I'm convinced that a lot of it is because of the sins of the past.

We trying to work on your own reputation, who does that for you? We know our customers can do that for us, but even if we are the best car dealer in the world, that may still only make a small part of the population of your community, and is your reputation something you only want know to a small part of your community?

So you state a resounding "NO" that's why we market, to get our name out into the community. But what name is it you're getting out into the community? 

How about this, let's get our people out into the community. How about we as a company reach out into the community as members of the community. How about you get "your name" out there by your good works, not just your good deals. (not getting into a works/faith discussion : )

Don't ever allow the label of what people think you do, determine who you are. Don't allow your dealership or business to be "one of many." Stand out by being members of the community with outreach and charity and show your neighbors that you care about them. Have your people volunteer at events, maybe even have your people pick a day at the local soup kitchen.

I'm blessed to be with a dealer that does these things and even formed a community outreach committee to examine the needs of our neighbors.

Don't allow the reputation of a "business" be your reputation for the good or bad. Earn your own reputation and wear it proudly.

After 25 years in the car business, I truly believe it to be an honorable and worthy profession and if I did, I would do something else and I'm sure you all feel the same way. So the time is now for us to start reaching out and reaching up and elevating our reputations.

Be the type of business that people want to do business with and then when the question is asked; "Who do they say I am?", be confident in the answer you'll receive.