If you talk to anyone that’s had a successful run, they will tell you the greatest thrill for them hasn’t been:

All the money they’ve made
All the great trips they’ve taken
All the wonderful houses they’ve owned
All the news stories about adding another business to their portfolio
All about their sales rankings in publications like Automotive News
All about all the wonderful plaques they’ve received for their civics’ activities, contributions to their community, or the awards from the franchises they represent

It’s none of those.

They will tell you the greatest thrill for them is the contributions they’ve made toward developing great leaders in and outside of their organization.

Successful people are always looking for opportunities to invest in their businesses and their staff. The one thing they all know deep down inside is there is no greater investment than investing in their people.

Regardless of your position on the management totem pole, you too can invest in others by teaching, coaching, encouraging, and picking others up. When you set the example, you become the example.

When people feel like they are learning and moving forward, they always want to give you their best. When people are giving their best we all grow.

Sometimes you help people grow so much that they leave for other bigger and greater opportunities. You should smile, high-five them and give yourself a little pat on the back.

Are you investing in your team? That’s all I’m gonna ask. Tommy Gibbs.

Back in 2016 the University of Florida’s Athletic Director, Jeremy Foley retired after a forty-year career at the University of Florida.

You can well imagine the number of people Jeremy Foley has had to fire over the years.

Of course, he’s not always made the perfect decision when hiring and firing, but based on the school’s success, he’s been right far more times than he’s been wrong.

One of Foley’s sayings is, “If something needs to be done eventually, it needs to be done immediately.”

You will often find that to be a characteristic and trait of exceptional leaders. They see what needs to be done and they do it immediately.

You as a leader know there are things you eventually need to do, but for whatever reason, you keep putting it off.

You know there are people you need to eventually replace. If you know you need to eventually replace them, then you need to do it immediately.

You know you need to eventually change your pay plans. If you know you need to eventually change pay plans, then you need to do it immediately.

You know you need to set up a used vehicle buying center. If you know you need to eventually set up a used vehicle buying center, then you need to do it immediately.

You know you need to eventually get rid of packs. If you know you need to eventually get rid of them, then you need to do it immediately.

There’s a long list of things you know you need to eventually do.

If you want to be a better leader, you would do them immediately.

That’s all I’m gonna say. Tommy Gibbs.

I don’t care what you know.

I care what you can teach others to do.

That’s what leaders do.

They teach it. They coach it.

It’s a wonderful thing that you have talent and great skills, but if you can’t teach it to others then your organization’s growth is limited. You limit your own growth when others aren’t growing.

I cannot tell you how many times in my career I’ve seen talented managers not be able to teach others.

Consequently, when they are not on the job, nothing much happens. Productivity goes in the tank and the company suffers.

Should the B team be blamed for not getting the job done?

No, the team leader who should be doing the teaching, coaching, and the development of the staff should be blamed.

As much as you may think you’re “IT,” you’re not. If you can’t teach “IT” then you ain’t “IT.”

That’s all I’m gonna say. Tommy Gibbs.

1. Guard Against The “Peter Principle”-Don’t promote people based strictly on how they have performed in their current role. Promote them to their ability to perform in their new role. People are often promoted to their level of incompetence.

2. Guard The Processes-The team with the best and most consistent processes wins the most often.

3. Guard The Team-It really is about the team. You need team players. If they aren’t on the same team you cannot afford to keep them on the team. They will destroy morale and production.

4. Guard The Customers-When you protect your customers, you build your business and set the bar for the team to do the same. The team is watching and emulating how you deal with customer issues.

5. Guard The Vendors-You must demand the same high quality and standards from your vendors as you demand from your team. Don’t lower your standards because you’re saving a few bucks.

6. Guard The Culture-There’s nothing more important that you can do than guard your culture. You cannot afford to hire people who aren’t of the same mindset. If you make that mistake you will wake up one day and there is no culture.

7. Guard Against Legacy Thinking-Just because you’ve always done it that way doesn’t mean it’s the best way. Stop looking back. Look forward.

8. Guard Against Making The Same Mistakes-Mistakes are a part of growing, but what you cannot allow is the same mistakes happening over and over again.

9. Guard The Training-You cannot train too much. It’s not “redundant training” until the team is perfect. The team isn’t perfect.

10. Guard The Passion-Don’t let anyone steal or drain your passion and don’t be afraid to show your passion for all the above.

That’s all I’m gonna say, Tommy Gibbs.

Some of the most frequent questions I get these days are:

1. Is there a crash coming with used car values?
2. Where is the market heading?
3. How aggressive should I be when appraising and buying cars?

1. Is there a crash coming with used car values?

Nope, there’s no crash coming in the used car market. The bottom isn’t going to fall out. Things are going to level off, and values aren’t going to keep soaring. Unless of course, the new car manufacturers have additional chip issues, or their workers can’t come to work due to a major covid outbreak.

The number one thing that has impacted the rising prices of used cars is the lack of new car inventories. Therefore, any dealer with half a brain is going to keep a close eye on their new car franchise’s production.

2. Where is the market heading?

The same place it always heads this time of the year. In most markets sale volume starts to trend downward as we roll into the fall and winter months.

If you take a look at your used car sales volume over the past 5 years on a month-by-month basis, you’ll see a consistent trend of sales volume by month. The number one problem for most dealers is they stock the same inventory in December as they did back in May.

That’s not to say we shouldn’t always be looking to improve our business month over month, year over year, but it does say, “Hey, pay attention, look at the numbers and start to make some seasonal adjustments with your inventory levels.”

3. How aggressive should I be when appraising and buying used cars?

If you’re well-disciplined and using life-cycle management, you can keep doing whatever you’ve been doing.

That said, you’d be well served to be somewhat cautious with the high-dollar stuff. Everybody has a different definition of what high-dollar means and it is often tied to your new car brand.

On the cheaper stuff. Go for it! It’s hard for you to screw up much when you put $12,000 or so in a used car.

From time to time, I’ll see a cheaper car in a dealer’s inventory that has aged.
For this example, let’s say the dealer has a car with $8000 in it. Think about it, if a car like that has aged there has to be something wrong with it. How many people in this world do you think are looking for an $8000 car?

Let’s go back to the being aggressive part. If you’re aggressive on a $65,000 car and you keep it too long and the market makes a shift, you’re going to lose a lot more money on it than you ever would by being high in a $12,000 car.

Everything I’ve said here you already know.
Sometimes you want to be stupid.

Don’t be stupid. That’s all I’m gonna say, Tommy Gibbs.