The conversations I hear today about the car business aren’t much different than the ones we had 20 years ago.

Back then, dealers were complaining about their new car inventory and the factory allocation system. They are still complaining about new car inventory and the factory allocation system.

Odd as it may seem, we often put a lot of energy and wasted effort into trying to control the things we don’t have control over and miss a real opportunity to control the things we can.

I like to compare the car business to the coaching field. Coaches never have total control over the game, but they do have control over the things they do to prepare for the game. You can take control by preparing the team.

Great coaches study the game 24/7/365. If you don’t live, eat and sleep the car business, then you will never be able to control what you can control.

Successful coaches understand that to control the game they have to teach the game. They make an investment in time and resources to ensure the team understands the plan and how best to execute it.

Your mission as a coach is to create an ongoing environment that demonstrates you are committed to training and developing your staff at all levels. “Controlling what you can control.”

Dealing with the factory can be a love/hate relationship. That’s never going to change. Mostly it’s wasted conversation.

There are so many things that you can do today to control and improve your business. Talking about your new car allocation issues isn’t one of them.

That’s all I’m gonna say, Tommy Gibbs

We in the automobile business make a big deal out of processes. With very few exceptions most would agree the dealerships with the best processes make the most money.

What I find so interesting is that even though we know this to be true, our processes are often left to the interpretation of managers who may or may not even believe in the stated processes.

Frequently, the leader has the processes in his/her head and they may even be written down somewhere, but it’s not a point of focus on a daily basis. Without a doubt, processes need to be refined, coached, discussed and recommitted to each and every day.

When you apply and focus on your processes your organization becomes a powerful operating machine. When things are simple they become efficient and your profits go up.

Aside from having great people, can we agree that processes are the most powerful tool in your arsenal of improving your business? If that’s even close to being true why is there so little focus on spreading the process message?

Some questions to answer:

1. Do you have documented processes?
2. Do the members of your team know the processes as well as you do?
3. Do you sell the processes as part of daily coaching activity?
4. Do you know who the believers and non-believers are?
5. Is it time to revise your processes?
6. Is it time to have a “process revival?”
7. Is it time for you stop talking the talk and start walking the walk?

That’s all I’m going to ask, Tommy Gibbs

Joe Maddon at one time managed the Tampa Bay Rays. He’s in his first year at the helm of the Chicago Cubs. If you follow baseball you know what a storied and losing history the Cubbies have. They are currently having one of their best years ever and stand a good chance of making the playoffs.

Maddon is a bit of a strange duck. Some would call him eccentric and for sure an out of the box thinker. He does a lot of weird and interesting things with the way he manages the team.

His theme this year is “Do Simple Better.” When you break our business down, more often than not what makes or breaks a dealership is the ability to “Do Simple Better.”

Here are 5 simple things that maybe you can do better.

1. Early Intervention-you can’t manage activity by staring at your computer screen. Get up move around. Look for trouble. Trouble meaning a deal is getting screwed up before it even has a chance.

2. Improve Your Selling Processes-odds are the evaporation factor is chasing you like a base runner caught in a rundown. Pay attention. Get on it. Stop the evaporation.

3. Don’t Short Cut Your Appraisals-Take your time. Look for a way to make it happen. Do it right. Get it right.

4. Speed It Up-It takes too much time to get your used vehicles through service. Find the bottleneck. Fix the bottleneck. You can do better.

5. Listen More-Take someone to lunch. Someone you would never take. Listen to them. Amazing the things you might learn.

Make your own list.

Do simple better. That’s all I’m gonna say. Tommy Gibbs

Often when I’m speaking to dealers I come across as being against packs. I’m not against packs. I’m really not. I always say if they are working for you, by all means stay with them.

I don’t have any facts to back my numbers up, but if I were guessing, I’d guess that 75% of new car dealers around the country are using hard packs, soft packs or both.

Of the dealers still using them, I’d guess that 25% are using them in such a way that they are having some success and improving their bottom line.

The other 75% are hanging on for dear life and actually hurting themselves, if for no other reason than the psychological damage it does to the sales and sales management team.

In order to do volume in used cars you need to have a “costing advantage.” By “costing advantage,” I mean what’s added to the car once you own it, which includes packs and reconditioning.

For most dealers when they pack cars they are creating just the opposite.

If you know your history, you know that the reason dealers added packs and charged full retail from the service department to the used car department was because sales managers worked from cost up.

This is no longer true, as your sales managers don’t have control over gross as they once did. That’s why dealers are more and more becoming one-price dealers and saying “no” when the customer shows up and wants a discount.

So, without saying they are a one-price dealer, many dealers are taking a tougher stand as well as changing sales people’s pay plans to match their new-found pricing and marketing strategy.

Remember, as we move more toward a one price concept, the skill and pay level of the “desk managers” will be much lower than in today’s market. There will be more effort made to sell the store and the product with less effort on “penciling the deal.”

I like packs, but only if they are working. I question whether they are working as well as some dealers think they are. That’s all I’m gonna say, Tommy Gibbs

I’m a baseball fan. One of the things I find interesting about baseball is after the game is over the manager of the team is required to hold a news conference and explain what happened.

Win or lose they have to talk about it to the media and people like me in the world of sports. When they win, it’s much easier. When they lose, not so much.

When they lose they try to sugar coat it a bit by talking about the things they did well. When they lose they say things like:

A. “We couldn’t get the timely hits.”
B. “Our starting pitcher had trouble locating the strike zone.”
C. “We had a couple of mental mistakes in the field.”
D. “Our bullpen let us down.”

Often the news media will press them to elaborate on this and that. Once in a while a manager will say, “We just really sucked.” Maybe not exactly like that, but that’s what they are saying.

Then they will talk about what they have to do in tomorrow’s game to get better.

Suppose you had to explain your performance today? For the week? For the month? For up to this point in the year?

What would you say?
What would you fix?
What would you change?

Suppose you had to explain it? That’s all I’m gonna ask. Tommy Gibbs