By now you have a completed December 2011 Financial. (If you don't, all I can say is WOW)

Look in the box that says "Profit/Loss".

Are you happy with what you see? Would you say that 2011 was a good year an   average year or a "I'm gonna have a stroke!" year?

Whatever your results your EOY(End of the Year) statement is a CTA (Call To Action) for 2012.

Here are 3 Calls To Action you might want to look at if you a looking to KSA in 2012. (You can figure that one out)

Take a look at your overall Repair Order Count for the entire year.  Are you increasing, decreasing or maintaining?

If you are decreasing or just maintaining, then you need to Take Action Now!

Answer this simple question. What can I (my Dealership) do RIGHT NOW to start increasing my Traffic? Pick one thing and DO IT!

There is an old saying in Leadership and it goes like this. "Get moving in any direction if you are having problems. Even going in the wrong direction for a little bit is better than standing around doing nothing. At least everyone is moving and you can always make adjustments."

If you are increasing, then the goal is to increase the results (get more Repair Orders). Take a look at all of your service marketing campaigns. Is it on a regular schedule? Are you targeting lost souls, new car customers...what? Think of it as firing on a range at a target.

Would you fire an arrow randomly into the air hoping to hit something? What...you think your name is Robin Hood or something?

If you want to hit something you gotta go big! It would be better to get a big  Ol' Cannon (your marketing campaign) then load it with the biggest rounds available (your marketing materials) and then fire it a bazillion times in a row while aiming at a fixed target 5 feet away (target your database).

Do you think that you might get a result if you did something like that?

Your RO count is not stationary. You have to keep adjusting your aim to keep increasing the amount of Customers coming in the door.

If you are on a decline in RO count then you have to find the Customer who is not coming into your Dealership. Everybody assumes that they know who is coming in. Really? You know who is coming into your Service Drive?

Let me ask you this. If you write 500 ROs a month, how many of those cars coming in have between 25 and 50 thousand miles? Not sure? Want to aim a marketing campaign and not know who or whom is your target audience?

That does not sound very reasonable, does it? Get your marketing plan on line and in line with what you want to accomplish this year.

The second CTA has to do with your Margins. Take a look and see if you are above, same or below guidelines. Correcting Margins starts with the Advisors. It's as simple as saying "NO MORE DISCOUNTS!"

And of course look at costs vs sales, dollar cost per hour sold, etc. Get those Margins back in the Profit Zone!

Lastly, look at your Training Plan. If you just said to yourself "What Training Plan?" then your are in the right place my friend.

Look, everyone wants Training and no one wants to Pay for Training.  It's one of those "We should already be doing it" and "That's what I have a Manager for" kindathings that every Dealership goes through.  Ok. I got it. You don't need Training.

So why do your numbers suck?

Check this out.

Not one single Successful Organization, Business, Sports Team, Sales Force, Orchestra, Army, Navy, Air Force or Marine Corps (Semper Fi) and any other  gathering of humans you can name formed in and for one single focused endeavor, quest or  goal get to the top and become the Top Dog, Numero Uno, The One, King or Queen of the Hill... WITHOUT TRAINING! It just does not happen.

Thinking that Sustained Success happens that way is like buying a lotto ticket as a retirement plan. It might make you feel good when you do it but it does not really lead to anything you can live on.

Success is not an accident!

If last year did not meet your expectations, you gotta do something different.

So, take a look at your RO Count and Marketing Plan, get your Margins in line and Get a Training Plan!

Use your EOY as your CTA!