PLEASE DON'T HATE ME. I know many of you dealers think the guy on the cover shouldn't be a Cover Story Dealer for this magazine. I know this because, in a previous issue, when I asked you to respond to the question, "Should ___________(the dealer on this cover) be a Cover Story Dealer?" we received a lot more "no" faxes than "yes" faxes. I also know this because, in conversations with dealers great and small, I sensed a feeling of betrayal in regard to the dealers who have "sold out" in the past year. Dealers thrive on competition with each other, but how could any real car guy join "the enemy"?
As much as anything else, this magazine has grown and achieved its current stature due to our Cover Story Dealers. My idea was to share the success stories of America's most successful dealers with every dealer savvy enough to read this magazine. My goal was to share some of the business philosophies of these outstanding dealers and, through sheer repetition, show that there is no magic potion or secret formula for success. America's most successful dealers simply follow good, sound business fundamentals and apply them to the retail automobile business.
In recent years, business, and therefore business fundamentals, have changed. Exploiting available technologies, refining sales & marketing and cost cutting via consolidation are business fundamentals that can no longer be overlooked. "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em," leaves out the obvious third option when competing against superstores and publicly financed megadealer groups. If you can't beat them and they don't want you to join them, you may get dropped from the game.
One of the reasons I'm running this person as a cover story is to give insight on the business fundamentals of the largest publicly held dealer group (also, articles on pgs 10 and 12 relate to competing with them).
But probably the number one reason I decided to run this cover story is to get the answers to two questions, "Why?" and "What's it like?" "Why" did this dealer sell his stores and go to work for "the enemy," and "what's it like" to sell your stores and work for someone else? I hope after reading the piece, you'll agree with my thinking on featuring this man as our cover story (if it makes you "no" voters feel any better, we never refer to him as a Cover Story Dealer). He was, after all, a "car guy" just like you.
Please fax, mail or e-mail us with any comments on this cover story. We'll try to get them in our February issue, space permitting.