My wife and I recently experienced the arrival of our new son into the world. The birth of our son, Jake, was the most amazing, joyful and emotional moment in my life. As I stared into his face for hours at a time, I thought only of possibilities, not of impossibilities. I thought of the positive things he could become. I thought of the purity and the clean slate that he starts into this world with.
As a dealer, ask yourself, "If I could clean the slate with myself, my departments, or my business, what would I do differently to make things the way they should be, they way they could be, the way they ought to be?"
Walt Disney once said, "Would the child that you were be proud of the adult you have become?" With the innocence of a child, ask yourself, are you happy with the way things are with your business?
Strip away all the layers of bureaucracy, tradition, and the "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" excuses, and ask yourself what you could do if you started fresh. A great quote to live by is, "Traditions are made to be a rudder, not an anchor." Just because you have always operated in a certain way or believed in certain things, do not accept those to be gospel for the future. Change is certain. Do you want to be a leader or a follower in the change?
Look at every step of your processes in your dealership and ask, "How could we do it better, more efficiently, and with the customer in mind?" Don't ask with dollar signs in your head or you will be coming with the wrong focus. TLC-Think Like A Customer. Ask yourself, if we were to change our sales process, desking process, F&I process, or any other process, and we were to do it from the customer's point of view, what would we do differently? Next, have the courage to implement one of the changes and then guide and nurture that change as if it were your child.
As you begin a metamorphosis in your dealership, don't be quick to look at every setback as a failure. Don't judge too harshly and don't be willing to go back to possibly outdated modes of operation just because your changes didn't immediately take off with a bang. Thomas Edison tried 10,000 times to invent the light bulb before finding success. Mr. Edison looked at the 10,000 times as path to success, not as 10,000 failures. Positive change takes effort and time.
The automotive industry is in a state of opposition today. The industry is experiencing more change than ever before in history. However, at the same time, the more things change, the more things seem to stay the same for some dealerships. I see under-performing dealerships every day that refuse to let go of old ways, old thinking, and outdated methods of doing business. I listen to the reasoning for hanging on to the traditions and I feel like I'm living in the dark ages.
Oddly enough, it's usually the successful dealerships that are most willing to change. I guess that's how they became successful. Successful dealerships think in terms of how they can and unsuccessful dealerships think of why they can't. The success or failure of your dealership lies simply in the minds of the people who work there. Create a positive mind set that endorses change, and positive change will occur. Change involves risk. The dealership that risks the most has the most to lose and the most to gain.
There are two ways to be successful: follow what other successful people have done or add even more value by doing something they have not. The safe path is to do what you have always done until everybody else has changed and then try to catch up. Playing it safe never yields the biggest results. I invite you to think of your business as a newborn child with a fresh slate and mold it with integrity, morals, and care.
Mark Tewart is President of Tewart Enterprises, Inc., a sales and management training and consulting company working with dealerships internationally. Mark is also a keynote speaker and seminar leader.