The Two Sides of Dealer Success for 2008

1. How The Smartest Dealerships Make The Most Money During The Worst Years.

The first quarter of 2008 is near history. Fact is, most industry news is still predicting a downturn and it makes for good headlines too. Industry surveys clearly show that the average dealership is reactive over proactive and allows it to be the effect of industry indicators rather than the cause over them.

So let’s face facts — in 2008 many dealerships are going to fold up on forward movement faster than a lawn chair and fall flat, while being grateful that they’re still in business in 2009. Many will look at budgets over opportunities and conjure up any excuse to grind a better deal to lower overhead as opposed to incentivizing an increased income through solid relationships.

Goal planning will be replaced with problem solving and unwanted change will be the result for some. In the end, fear of the industry taking a downturn will cause it to happen much more so than economic realities ever would.

Good news. Take a brief look at history and we clearly see that in years like this, market share always makes its biggest change of hands between competitors. That’s because the dealerships running in high gear will not bump into much opposition along the way. Mind and market share will be

relocated; high-talented employees will be easier than ever to recruit; advertising easier to buy and so on.

Considering the current condition of existence, the only thing left to do as a dealer this year is to pick a rope and climb it. That doesn’t mean plan the rest of the year from a predicted dwindling income statement from inside a closet while keeping an optimistic mask on for the troops by calling it a multi-sided approach.

Yes, we all have to manage our businesses from a spreadsheet, but doing it from the standpoint of fear means reduction is the goal and profit is the hope. Instead, make your revenue goals the master and force your budget to serve that master. That makes the vision the driving force and the C.F.O. the fiscally responsible rudder.

Remember it’s not your ability to add and subtract or plan for growth that makes the difference. The key is in which of the two you do first, which of the two consists of the primary focal point and your mental state while you do each. 2008 will be the best year of the decade to take advantage what will surely be an under-fished and thus over stocked lake.

2. Learning Long Enough to Master vs. Finding out Just Enough To Fail.

Round two: In all my years of fighting and teaching martial arts, I have never been a believer in self-defense classes because I think they teach you just enough to get killed. Carrying a firearm can be a poor alternative because most people don’t have the fortitude to use one or the time to decide if they did. So the advice I give is always based on preparedness. Things like never put your keys in your purse or pocket until you are sure you’re in a safe place and if you feel the need for protection, carry a can of potent mace or pepper spray. Why? Because it’s probably attached to the key ring you now will still have in your hand and because people will spray someone with mace without a second’s hesitation.

Now when it comes to your skills as a dealer, you can’t afford to rely on self-defense videos or a can of mace. You have to take up advanced studies or you’re going to eventually get jacked up by a better fighter. So with that being said you have to ask yourself, whose system are you learning and how well do you really know it?

Also whom are you listening to? For example I like to test all psychological success principles in a fighting ring then move them outside the ring into business from there. Why? Because if you can teach someone to lead and succeed while someone else is trying to physically knock them out, then the underlining principle is assuredly going to be more effective than anything else out there. In the car business you need a coach 20 percent of the time and people that can actually do it better than you 80 percent of the time. For example, the best special-fi mastermind I’ve ever met is actually reading deals and getting them approved every day. When I hired our BDC trainer for the Mastery Council, I did so because he could and can pick up the phone and set 97 percent appointments with a 75 percent plus show rate. The best advice I’ve ever heard on how to be the best dealer in the country has come from a guy who is one of the best dealers in the country.

This can be especially tough for aspiring managers because they’re supposed to be able to train. That’s one of their primary missions, so most good managers want to be “The One.” The challenge with wanting to be “The Man” or “The Woman” is that our survival instinct is to tear the other men or women around us down along the way. But who dares to teach must never cease to learn. As a trainer, you have to be good enough to stimulate ordinary people to unusual effort and extraordinary results. To do that in-house you’ll need to plug into sources better than you in each of the primary areas of your dealership’s success. As a result of short-fusing one’s education, many become jacks-of-all-trades in the world of dealer skills and the master of none. A master trainer must be able to reach unattainable goals with inadequate tools.

For the rest of 2008 take whatever your people are learning and practicing and help them to once again become the student, take off their blue belts and go for their first degree black belts in systems that can teach them to fight standing up and on the ground. Discover, Develop and DirectTM. You’ll make more money, have more sanity, they’ll become better producers, you’ll incorrectly guess reasons for poor performance less often, and finally you’ll get what you paid for.

Rapid Tips for 2nd Quarter 2008

Buying Special-Fi Leads From 3rd Parties: As long as you’re allowing yourself to be addicted to the heroin hit of leads keep a couple things in mind. They all come from search engines so forget the word Organic and think Key-Word relevance. What search terms were used that drove a prospect to submit a lead means more than if it was sold four times prior on the wholesale market before getting to you. Cost factors are based 80 percent on supply and demand not closing probability. Have someone aside from the BDC manager negotiate lead deals.

Third-Party Infomercials: Bad move for a grip of reasons. If you want an infomercial bad enough to let someone come in and bastardize your market, with a professional newscaster style character trying to pitch special-fi, my advice is to buy a green screen, some stock vehicle footage and an actor looking for side money and film your own.

Know Which Relationships Are Profitable: There is a big difference between someone trying to close you as a deal and someone that is actually trying to make you rich for a lifetime. Knowing the difference will make or break us all in the end.

Pick a rope and climb it and keep the wheels turning in second quarter of 2008.