We’re currently in the soft launch stage of my UpYourGross software. I’m not writing this today to sell you on using the software, but I want to share a couple of things I continue to observe with our early users and the current data.

It is stunningly remarkable the difference in grosses on:
Trade-ins
Auction Purchases
Rental Car Purchases
Customer Acquisitions

Our top performing dealers realized they must turn the auction purchases faster with less gross. Same thing for rental units. They understand that by and large they can go back and buy some more. Turning these units faster at some gross is far better than sitting on them thinking you’re going to achieve the same type of gross that you will on a nice trade-in.

It is further stunning to me to see that there are dealers sitting on units that are over 60 days old and trying to make a profit. The root of that mindset is that every once in a while a miracle will happen and they actually make some money on an aged unit. God bless you if you can do that, but it’s a safe bet that the ROI is going in the tank even if the miracle happens.

It would be very wise for you to pay attention to the grosses you are trying to achieve on the various sources of your inventory and to take a look at your pricing on units that are starting to age out on you. That’s all I’m gonna say,

Absolutes are a powerful tool toward creating a disciplined organization.

The downside of absolutes is it chokes off the potential to have an acceptable exception.

Exceptions break the rule of discipline.

Exceptions soon become the norm.

When exceptions become the norm chaos breaks out. The type of chaos I’m referencing isn’t actually like a bomb going off. This chaos is slow and gradual, often not recognized, and then – whamo – there it is, its ugly face screaming at you, “What the heck happened?”

Now here’s the real deal for those of you looking to become

better leaders. You can have absolutes and exceptions in the same house. They can actually hang out with each other once in a blue moon.

True leaders can use them both and chaos will never show its ugly face. Granting an exception and going back to absolutes is very doable.

The problem with leadership is that very few leaders have the skill to make effective use of them both.

Most people in leadership positions are stuck with one or the other.

At any given moment one is just as bad as the other. That’s all I’m gonna say, Tommy Gibbs

When you’re in business you have a ton of issues to deal with. None are more important than communicating with staff and management to help them improve performance and profitability.

When you’re in a dealership day-to-day it’s like living with family members and therein lies the problem.

It’s difficult to hold family accountable.

There’s tons of data for you to sort through each day to help you create a roadmap of accountability. You often ignore it and look the other way because you don’t want to lose your family members.

Actually, sometimes it is family and that can be a whole other can of worms.

Let’s apply this to real life. Since you can’t fire or excommunicate your children, if your child isn’t doing what they need to do, don’t you at least try to point out a better direction for them? Don’t you try to coach them for greater and more positive results?

The problem is a lot of people see the word “accountable” as a negative word. When you’re holding people accountable you should be using it as a tool to coach them to the next level.

It’s about pointing out those things they may be missing that you’re able to spot because of your experience and all the data you have at hand.

People don’t do things because either:

A. They don’t know what to do.
B. They know what to do and refuse to do it.

As a leader you’re responsible for making sure they know. Once they know you’re responsible for making sure they do it.

When are you going to stand up? That’s all I’m gonna ask,