Team Ertle Looks Back at 2007

As 2007 winds down we asked the team at Ertle Brothers Discount Auto in Sterling, Colo., to give us their personal thoughts on what the past year as the Dealer Business Journal $100,000 Challenge Dealer has meant to them.

Alexes Ertle, office manager

“The number of things that the consultants and trainers with Leedom and Associates have assisted us with this past year are so numerous, I’m not sure we could ever list all of them. Below are some of the things they have assisted me with personally:

1. They have made us do things that weren’t comfortable. (As Butch Moore and Spencer Johnson would say, “What would you do if you weren’t afraid?”) An example of this was taking out a weekly full color ad in the local newspaper for $369 a month. In the past we were hesitant to occasionally spend $100 on an ad. We couldn’t understand how we could spend that much money when we weren’t making any money, but the ad has paid off in many ways.

2. The business and professional connections that the Leedom Group has helped us to make have been very beneficial.

a. The put us in contact with Caleb and Tyler Eastman who did an awesome job on our Web site, www.ebautos.com

b. Finance Express for our Dealer Management System, which we needed to upgrade.

c. Helped us get our foot in the door of some lenders when we mentioned that we were the DBJ $100,000 challenge winner and were working with Leedom & Associates. (Name dropping has never hurt).

d. Introduced us to the team at eBay Motors, a marketing tool that proved lucrative for us.

e. Introduced us to Hudson Cook, LLP, the national law firm that helped us out with a number of legal and regulatory matters.

3. Helped us with employee job descriptions and an organizational chart to help our company keep on track.

4. They have made us be accountable, and, in turn, we have had to learn how to also make our employees accountable. We have also had to change our way of thinking and see things in a new light.

5. Butch Moore, our Leedom Group consultant and moderator, has been incredible. He doesn’t stand on the sidelines and give advice. He takes a personal interest in everything we do. It has been like taking on a new business partner with immense knowledge of the auto business.

6. Our Twenty Group relationships and composites have also been a great help. It is so nice to have the comparisons each month to let us know how we are doing compared to our other group members and what areas we need to work on. All the training opportunities have been incredible.

This past year has definitely been a challenge (it was almost like starting all over), but it was comforting to know that Butch was only a phone call away to assist us with any challenges that we encountered. As I said in my application letter for the $100,000 challenge, “We were ready to take our dealership to the next level,” and after the changes we have gone through and all that we have learned this year I know we could have never reached this level in one year’s time without the help of Leedom and Associates. We look forward to continuing our relationship with your group for many years to come.

Butch is going to help us do a budget for next year. It is hard to believe that in all the years we have been in business we have never really had a formal budget, just took things as they came. I am looking forward to running this business in a more professional manner, and making money dong it.

Wes Planck, Finance & Sales Manager

“Leedom and Associates provided me with the resources to obtain proper training in all areas of running a succesful car dealership. The most important for me was being able to spend one on one time with individuals like Chris Leedom and Butch Moore. Being able to get advice and to learn from people who really know the car business is priceless. I was told that if you want to be successful, then you must surround yourself with successful people. That’s exactly what you get when dealing with this organization.

Some examples of this include: better understanding of the sales process, finance operations and dealer-lender relationships. This has been a phenomenal year, and I want to personally thank everyone from Team Leedom!”

Ron Ertle, CEO

“Leedom and Associates and Butch Moore, in particular, have taught me more in the last 12 months than I learned in the first seven years on my own. They have the information you need to stay competitive and in compliance in an ever-changing business.”

Bob Ertle, vice president

“One of the biggest things I have learned by being named the DBJ challenge dealer and by being in the Leedom Twenty Group, is how much I really didn’t know about running a used-car dealership. We have learned more in one year than we learned seven years prior. Butch Moore is a wealth of knowledge. On a personal level. I have learned to be very proud of what I do, and not feel guilty for making a profit doing it. Butch helped me with purchasing inventory. I was always afraid to pay over book for a vehicle at the auction, so would stand there and watch all the other dealers buy the nicest inventory. Butch told me not to be afraid to pay whatever it takes to get the nicer cars on our lot if I thought I could sell that car. He was right, nice cars sell.”