The great Tennessee women’s basketball coach, Pat Summitt, passed away a few years ago. She will go down in history as one of the greatest coaches of any sport at any level.

In Pat Summitt’s book, “Reach for the Summitt,” she states, “Here’s how I’m going to beat you: I’m going to outwork you.”

I put myself and some of my business teammates into the category of we will outwork you.

I don’t think there’s any greater attribute that one can have than the will to outwork their fellow man/woman.

For those of us who have that mindset, we can point to person after person who had more talent, but we ate their lunch in the game of life, business and leadership. We’ve passed them on the stairway to success time and time again.

I’m seeing fewer and fewer people willing to carry the mantle of “I’ll outwork you.”

It’s getting easier and easier to outwork some of the workers of today.

Maybe we should just hand them a “participation trophy” and send them home. That’s all I’m gonna say, Tommy Gibbs

Since you’re reading this, you’re more than likely aware that I’m in the training and software business. You can well imagine I get to see the very best performers in the industry and of course, the not so best.

Please keep reading. I’m not selling anything in this message.

When I’m reviewing our software users’ accounts there are two things that stick out when it comes to the better performers and those who struggle.

1. Discipline-I realize that sounds like a no-brainer, but you would be amazed at how many dealerships lack discipline within their management team.

I see the lack of discipline right there in the numbers and you can rest assured that it carries through into other areas of the dealership.

99.9% of the time this lack of discipline starts right at the top.

Discipline in this context means taking the time each day to analyze your most problematic units and to develop a strategy of finding a retail buyer quickly. In the most extreme cases, we’re talking about 15 minutes a day of someone’s time to improve the bottom line.

Think about it. If you can’t allocate a daily discipline of 15 minutes a day to do a few simple tasks how many other processes and disciplines are you letting slide? I know you’re busy, but you ain’t that busy.

Other examples of a lack of discipline within your organization:

A. The selling process has peaks and valleys. You do it well for a while until it erodes, and someone finally says, “We need to get back to basics.”

B. You know the importance of a save-a-deal meeting, but always seem to find an excuse as to why we’re not having one today. How many deals do you need to save in a month’s time to make it worth your time?

C. A daily trade-walk. Suppose you did it every day with all the members of your management team? Do you think you might keep a few more trades because someone sees something in that unit that your wizard used car manager didn’t?

D. A weekly lot-walk. You can’t sell something if you don’t know anything about what you’re selling. If you did a lot-walk once a week with all the salespeople and management staff, then you’re going to sell more used units because not only do they know something about the units, but they will actually know the unit is out there.

2. Accountability-As you can imagine we lose a few accounts with our software customers from time-to-time. Do you know the number one reason we lose an account? Nope, it’s not that it doesn’t work and it’s not that it doesn’t do what we said it would do.

It’s because someone doesn’t want to be held accountable.

Numbers aren’t always accurate, but by and large, they can tell the tale and hold people accountable.

Most of the time we don’t get fired by the dealer. The used car manager fires us because they don’t have the discipline to do what needs to be done each day and they don’t want to be held accountable.

The dealer doesn’t want to hold them accountable because the dealer doesn’t have the discipline to do so.

Discipline and Accountability. Two things you can do better.

That’s all I’m gonna say, Tommy Gibbs

Can you believe it? The year is half over. Time really does fly, doesn’t it?

How was your June?
How have your first six months been?
It’s July.
Half the year is gone.
Kinda scary isn’t it?

Some of you have had a great first half. Some of you, not so much.

Some of you have been running full speed ahead. Some of you have been dragging through the sand.

Something has been holding you back. There may be some legitimate excuses, but maybe you just had the wrong plan in place.

Just because you had the wrong plan does

not mean it’s too late to fix it. You’ve still got 6 more months to go.

Those of you who have had a good first 6 months need to be cautious of becoming complacent.

Even though things have been going well, you would be very smart to review how you can make things better as you tackle the second half.

Everything we do is about choices. You can choose to let things be as they are, or you can choose to dial it up a notch or two or even three.

To do so means to review your plan and the strategies you have in place. And, make the changes that are necessary to get you where you know you need to go.

Your other choice is to do nothing. Go sit in your office and stare at the wall. Enjoy your seat and pretty soon it will all be over.

That’s all I’m gonna say, Tommy Gibbs