Human nature is funny. When things aren’t going well, people like to complain and blame someone for their inefficiencies.

Want to know the number one complaint I hear from sales managers when I’m in dealerships?

You already know the answer.
The service department.

Sometimes they say it quietly. Sometimes they say it loudly. Usually they say it and then apologize for saying it.

Early in my career my attitude was simple:
“Stop complaining. Go to work. Control what you can control because it’s not going to change.”

Well, I’m here to tell you something.
It does need to change.
And it needs to change sooner rather than later.

Historically, dealers charged full retail from service to the used car department for the same reason they implemented packs. Sales managers worked from cost up, and that system worked very well for a long time.

But times change.

Whether people want to admit it or not, over the years the used car department has become an easy mark for the service department. And here’s a fact people don’t talk about enough: the hours per RO on a used car ticket versus a customer pay ticket is more than double.

But it’s not just the cost.
It’s the time.
It’s the speed.
Or more accurately… the lack of speed.

Almost everyone in our business today understands how crucial speed is to success. The lack of speed and efficiency in your service department is killing your ability to do volume and make the money you’re capable of making.

Creating speed and becoming more efficient should be your number one priority as you move into the selling season.

I like relating our business to sports. Pick any sport. Today’s athletes are bigger, faster, and better conditioned than ever before. The game didn’t slow down — it sped up. And the teams that couldn’t keep up disappeared.

With shrinking margins, the car business is no different.
You have to get bigger — sell more cars.
And you have to get faster — turn cars quicker and operate more efficiently.

Everyone today talks about making the customer experience easier, better, and faster. That’s great. But even if you improve the selling process, you will never reach your full potential until you fix the time and cost it takes to get a used car to the front line.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again.
The best thing about being a dealer or owner/operator is this:

You have the power.
You have the power to fix whatever you want to fix.

That’s all I’m gonna say.

— Tommy Gibbs

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CHAMPIONSHIP TEAMS DON’E KEEP UNDER PERFORMERS

In business, we love to say our team is family.

Sometimes they actually are family, but even when they aren’t, we still like to think of it that way. It makes everyone feel good. It creates a nice culture. Warm and fuzzy.

And if you interview any championship sports team, they’ll say the same thing.

They’ll tell you they love each other. They’ll tell you they’re family. They’ll talk about chemistry and culture and how much they care about each other.

But here’s the difference.

If someone on that team doesn’t perform, they’re off the team.

No hard feelings. No long speeches. No “but he’s been with us a long time.”

They are paid to perform, and if they don’t perform, they are replaced.

In business, we often keep people who don’t perform because they’re “family.”

We tolerate things we shouldn’t tolerate.

We lower standards we shouldn’t lower.

We carry people we shouldn’t carry.

You can love people, care about people, and still have standards.

Championship teams love each other — but they also hold each other accountable.

Good thing you aren’t running a sports franchise.

That’s all I’m gonna say, Tommy Gibbs

You’re looking for more and better salespeople. You’re looking for more and better used cars and trucks for your inventory.

The reality is, there is no simple fix for either one of these problems.

If you think hiring a rock star buyer will solve your inventory problems, you may actually make them worse. If you think hiring a full-time trainer or recruiter will suddenly fix your staffing problems, that probably won’t work out the way you think either.

Of the two, the recruiter/trainer will probably help more than the buyer. But make no mistake — these are the two toughest problems facing automobile dealers, and there is no magic solution where you flip a switch and it’s done.

Finding great people is a full-time, never-ending job. Just like coaching. Great coaches are always scouting and recruiting. If you’re waiting for the perfect ad to bring you your next superstar, you may be waiting a long time.

If you’re counting on the next job fair to deliver ten future sales stars, you’re in for a very long day.

It doesn’t work that way.

If you only hire when you “need” people, you will never find the people you need.

You and your managers should be recruiting every day — your customers, the salesperson at a retail store, your neighbor, the waiter at lunch, the enthusiastic hostess at a restaurant. One of the best General Managers I know started out working at Wendy’s.

I like college graduates, not so much for what they learned, but because they proved they can stick to something. But many of them don’t see selling cars as a step up. The real opportunity is often with the person who feels like they missed the boat and is looking for their big chance. Someone with a year or two of college, maybe a sports background — someone who knows how to get knocked down and get back up.

Now let’s talk about inventory.

Finding used cars is the same story. There is no single source that will solve your inventory problem. Trades, service customers, mining your database, auctions, online auctions, for-sale-by-owner, street purchases — you have to leave no stone unturned.

But here’s the big mistake dealers make:

They only look for cars when they need cars.

When you do that, you end up buying a lot of cars you don’t need.

Finding people and finding inventory are not events.

They are daily disciplines.

When you dabble in hiring and buying only when you’re desperate, it’s like plowing a field uphill with a mule. But when the entire management team accepts that recruiting people and sourcing inventory is part of their everyday job, your odds of success go way up.

It still won’t be easy.

Everybody wants easy.

It’s never been easy.

It will never be easy.

Stop looking for easy.

Start looking for people.

Start looking for used cars and trucks.

That’s all I’m gonna say, Tommy Gibbs

You Can’t Lead a Dead Organization

Great leaders have their thumb on the pulse of the organization.

Because without a pulse, the organization dies.

If you want to improve your leadership, you must know the pulse of your business — the people, the problems, the energy, the attitude, the momentum. You don’t learn that sitting in your office. You learn that by being in the middle of the action.

You have to see it.

You have to hear it.

You have to feel it.

To feel the pulse, you have to feel the passion.

And if you’re not feeling the passion, your pulse might be dead.

And if your pulse is dead, you can’t expect the organization to be alive.

Maybe you’re burned out.

But let me ask you a question…

How can you be burned out if you were never on fire to begin with?

You are responsible for your own fire.

Nobody else.

You don’t wait for motivation.

You don’t wait for the market.

You don’t wait for your team.

You light your own match.

And when the leader catches fire, the organization warms up pretty fast.

Real leaders have a pulse.

Real leaders feel the pulse.

Real leaders create the pulse.

Hope you’re on fire.

That’s all I’m gonna say— Tommy Gibbs