Digital Dealer - July 2019 - 19

OFTEN THEY EXPECTED THE SOFTWARE TO
DELIVER THEM TO THE PROMISE LAND AND THEN
REALIZED IT FELL SHORT OF THEIR EXPECTATIONS."
push toward making those
improvements. The store
must first be willing to desire a better outcome and
second commit to adhering
to certain corporate standards. When they do, it is
amazing how the entire
store's morale changes
and things begin to soar
quickly. It is amazing what
someone with a new pair
of glasses can see.

FINDING 2: STORES
WITH PROCESSES THAT
WERE PRETTY GOOD AT
ONE TIME, NOT BEING
SO GOOD TODAY. Why?

One of the cornerstones
of good processing is the
ability to be flexible and
continually make improvements on those processes to accommodate the
ever-changing market
conditions and consumer
behaviors. The greatest
sin dealerships commit
is when they start getting
good, they stop becoming
better. Yep, the 'we have
arrived' mentality' sinks in
and along with it comes
complacency. This infectious mindset runs rampant
in our industry and usually
is instigated by management. When management
forgets to improve, their
store suffers as a consequence when their people
stop improving too. Fulltime improvement is mandatory for continued success. Just when you have
a good month, the next

falls apart usually due to
process evaporation and
management looses their
cool by giving crazy deals
to satisfy the units required
and nobody makes money
for the month. Then the
first of next month comes
around and everyone is
worn out. And because
nobody received hand-

dealerships that depend
mostly on "data" from their
CRM software and are
expecting (not inspecting)
great things. Often the
data in CRM is only about
60% accurate. Therefore
you are losing valuable opportunities to do business.
Often they expected the
software to deliver them

ONE OF THE
CORNERSTONES OF
GOOD PROCESSING IS
HAVING THE ABILITY
TO BE FLEXIBLE AND
CONTINUALLY MAKE
IMPROVEMENTS ON
THOSE PROCESSES..."
some checks they get into
a fever of sell, sell, sell
all over again without attempting to figure out what
actually happened and put
new corrective measures
in place in order to get
back on track. I help stores
to look at where they came
from and what made them
successful, where they are
today, where they want to
be, and finally offer recommendations as to how to
identify new leading-edge
areas for process and people improvements. Then
we set forth a plan to get
us there. Most important
component - confirm that
everyone will stick to it.
Of course there are the

to the promise land and
then realized it fell short of
their expectations. Why?
You got it, no people and
process training beyond
the software training.
Sure they receive all the
stats and numbers to
wring their hands over
but no real results. Then
analysis paralysis takes
over like the bird flu in the
hen house and everyone
starts pointing fingers.
So, along with management we suggest going
about identifying all of the
key processes required
to offer steadfast lasting
improvements. When
this happens, it clearly
points out what leadership
D I G I TA L D E A L E R . C O M

knowledge is required to
lead their team members
in order for them to take
wings and soar. We enlist
all team members to a big
buy-in session simply because I believe in offering
people good solid reasons
for making some changes through adopting and
adapting new processes.
Napoleon Bonaparte described it this way when he
defined a leader; "A leader
is a Dealer in Hope." You
give your people hope that
if they do make recommended changes that
their lives will be enriched
from it then they are most
likely to allow themselves
to change. These stores
have to be ready willing and able to become
dealers in hope through
strong leadership if they
are to climb the mountain's
success summit.
"Leaders are pioneers
- people who are willing to
step out into the unknown.
They are people who
are willing to take risks,
to innovate and experiment in order to find new
and better ways of doing
things." - Barry Posner
The most powerful elements is to take the store's
new implementation vision
and put it in action. Keep
the vision alive and well
touting "it is a new day
here and the future will
be brighter for us all by

Continued on pg. 20

J U LY 2 0 1 9

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Digital Dealer - July 2019

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Digital Dealer - July 2019