“You’re never as smart as you think you are, and you are never as dumb as you appear.” Some of you are feeling smart right now. You’ve had a few good years and there’s been a little chest-pounding going on.

It could be that you are smart, or it could be that you got lucky because of a once-in-a-lifetime market shift in your favor.

And of course, there are times when you feel dumb. Maybe you are or maybe you aren’t. You might be a victim of a bad set of circumstances. Some of you have had bad franchises in bad locations or it could be that you’re a newer used car manager that inherited a hot mess for a used car inventory.

Or it could be you’re just dumb.

In any given set of circumstances, it’s important to maximize whatever you have. If you have half a brain you must ask yourself, “did you maximize your potential the last few years?”

Sure, you had record profits, but how much did you leave on the table?

Did you do a lot of things right or did you just get lucky?

With grosses starting to slide a lot of dealers are starting to question themselves as to where the market is going and what approach they should take moving forward.

The most important thing right now is recognizing where you are, how you got there, and how to keep the train on the tracks.

This business continues to be:

All about the basics.
All about the fundamentals.
All about your disciplines.
All about the processes.
All about understanding the data.
All about common sense.
All about your focus.

“You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose.”

That’s all that Dr. Seuss and I are gonna say, Tommy Gibbs