Pre-season, season, post-season, and… slow season. Regardless of the type of equipment your dealership sells, at any given point of the year, you’ll find yourself in one of these seasons. Slow season may have a bad reputation, but it’s important to understand that slow season is not all bad. Although many dealers view it as a stressful time, slow season is a perfect [...]
My husband and I recently had some of our friends over for dinner. We were enjoying Kansas City barbeque on our porch while all the kids played in the yard. Through the course of the evening, we talked about a lot of things ranging from our kids, our plans for the next month and the TV shows we had been watching. Before long, [...]
Should I Add A Second Location? Part One Business is booming, loyal customers are keeping you busy, and you ask, “Is it time to expand?” While there are a lot of factors that come into play regarding the question, and there is no one right answer for every situation, my general response when asked by the dealers we consult with is a resounding [...]
Sure, you know you need to have meetings with your team but how in the world are you supposed to do that in the crazy world of a dealership? As we work with dealers, we find there are a few different meetings that need to happen. 1.Management Meetings You may be the only manager in your dealership, or you may be an owner [...]
One of the greatest headaches of any owner or manager is a difficult employee. A difficult employee can take something you love and turn it into something you dread and make a negative impact on your other employees and customers. So why do you have difficult employees and what can you do about it? The problem has not been addressed. As we work [...]
January 12th is a holiday that the majority of people participate in whether they know it or not. It’s called Quitters’ Day. Yes, you read that right, you have probably participated in Quitters’ Day. This is the day when most people quit on their New Year’s Resolutions. Only 12 days in and people are done. Ouch! Statistics show that only 9 percent of people [...]
I often ask dealers this simple question, “How many of you have an employee handbook?” You could hear a pin drop in the room; it is so quiet. I get it. The idea of going through pages and pages of an employee handbook sounds torturous at best. And the thought of creating one sounds even worse. If you have been around Bob Clements [...]
Do you remember being in high school? And the time your teacher assigned the dreaded group project? You know the ones I’m talking about. The one where it was a group grade, but only one person really did the work. They were the worst. For me, one specific group project comes to my mind from a history class. Our assignment was to create [...]
“Help, I need a manager!” This is a conversation we have consistently with dealers. Finding someone to come along side you to help run and manage your dealership is a big deal. It’s not a step that should be taken lightly. The right person for this position has to be a someone that not only you trust and get along with, but that [...]
When you think about sales people, what comes to mind? For most people, it’s words like slick, slimy, greasy, con artist, or snake. Now tell me, who wouldn’t want to be a sales person when those words come to mind? As you are looking for salespeople, I think most dealers we work with would agree that the words above aren’t words that they [...]