As a new car dealer for over 20 years the training of salespeople was big on my list of priorities.

We always had someone in charge of the training of which I was always a part of. At one time we even had an offsite training center that was state of the art with video cameras for role play, etc.

As I’m writing this, I’m sitting here shaking my head because I just don’t get it.

Over the last few weeks I’ve driven by the same dealership at various times of the day and there are always 4 or 5 salespeople standing out on the “porch,” looking like they are getting ready to mug the next customer that shows up.

If I were a customer there is no way I’d be pulling into customer parking and take a chance with that mob standing there.

How can this been going on in today’s world?

Where’s the leadership? Have we not learned anything over the past 20 years?

All that money you’ve tied up in your CRM and technology going right down the drain.

If you’ve ever wondered why you can’t get and keep good people here’s part of it right here:

People want to feel productive.

People want to feel like they are contributing.

People want to work for an organization that’s disciplined and gives direction.

Why would anyone with half a brain want to work in an organization that has no more direction than this?

Here’s the reality; that store isn’t alone.

Some of you have the same issue.

Open your eyes, there’s a hot mess out on your porch and it’s costing you money.

Oh yes, there’s training going on at your dealership. It’s happening right out on the porch.

That’s all I’m gonna say, Tommy Gibbs

It’s easy to do easy.

It’s easy to ignore.

It’s easy to look the other way.

Easy to let slide.

We all like easy.

Anybody can do easy.

Being easy causes you to say yes, when you should say no.

Being easy causes you to take your eye off the big picture.

When you take your eye off the big picture, everything around you becomes a little fuzzier.

The fuzzier things get, the more confused you and your staff get.

The more confused you and the staff get, the more little things begin to slide.

Easy now becomes habit.

Habit becomes the norm.

The norm becomes easy.

That’s when rinse and repeat occurs. The problem is that the water you’re rinsing with is murky and dirty.

Expectations begin to drop. Lower expectations become the norm.

The little things can be hard to measure, so they are ignored.

When you focus on the little things, the performance of the team improves.

Why would you want to do easy?

Don’t do easy. That’s all I’m gonna say, Tommy Gibbs

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you know GM has just introduced their new used car platform called CarBravo.

I so want to say, “Bravo, way to go GM,” but inside my head I keep thinking about history.
Like most subjects I took in school, history wasn’t one of my stronger ones. Even so, one of the things I did learn is history often repeats itself.

When was the last time the factory was successful when they tried to do something on the retail side of the automobile business? Go ahead think on it and get back to me.

I do want to cheer GM for taking on the likes of Carvana and Carmax. As much as dealers have tried, they haven’t put much of a dent in what these “big boys” have been able to accomplish.

These two groups do a lot of things well and by and large dealers have been chasing them for years.

I suspect that was part of GMs thinking. You Dealers haven’t been able to figure it out, so we are here to save you. Sorta like the Federal Government. Shame on us.

We all know that anytime the Feds or the Factory take over something the success rate goes way down.

I’m confident that GMs mission is to help their dealers make more money. (Said with a big dose of sarcasm.)

Don’t kid yourself. GMs gonna make money out of this.

Your first question should be, will you?

Your second question should be, what’s GMs long-term game plan? Do they ultimately want to be in the retail new car business? Imagine that.

I can’t help but remember a quote from a former factory executive who said, When the factory says “if you play ball with us, we’ll play ball with you.” What they are really saying is “play ball with us and we will shove the bat right up your ass.”

Play ball. Game on. That’s all I’m gonna say. Tommy Gibbs