Most would agree that the automobile business is very good these days.

When business is good we often pound our chest and become lax in paying attention to some of the more important things. When you’re generating some decent profits, it’s easy to take your eye off the target.

There’s an old saying that selling cars, which equates to gross, will hide a lot of sins.

When business is good, that’s the time to amp it up. That’s the time to dial it in. That’s the time to go for the jugular.

On a daily basis you should ask yourself:

1. Are you letting certain expenses get out of line?
2. Do you have too many people?
3. Do you have too few people? Sometimes too few is just as bad as too many.
4. Have you accepted that the average gross profit that you’re getting is all the gross profit you can get?
5. Do you have the right pay plans for today’s market? For today’s sales people and sales management?
6. Have you gotten lazy about holding people accountable?
7. 50% of your advertising dollars are wasted. Do you know which 50%?
8. Are you looking under every possible rock to find used cars to sell?
9. Have your processes started to get sloppy and evaporate?
10. Are you truly engaged in the business or are you just staring at your computer?
11. Have you put training and coaching on the back-burner?

Business is good. The worm will turn. Be ready. That’s all I’m gonna say. Tommy Gibbs

I’m not always right, but I’m often right because I pay attention and I study the car business every day. I’m not a numbers genius, but there are some numbers in the car business that even I can understand and that can’t be denied.

A few months ago I introduced my readers and clients to my 30/30 spreadsheet. Dozens of dealers send me a copy of their spreadsheet at the end of each month.

As you can see from the below examples it’s very telling. If you weren’t a believer in selling units fast there’s a pretty good chance you will be if you start tracking 30/30.

Your goal each month should be to improve the percentage of units being sold in your first 30 days of ownership VS those being sold after 30 days.

Let the convincing begin. That’s all I’m gonna say, Tommy Gibbs

Could it be that you’re too smart for the car business? No really, I’m convinced that some people are just too smart for this business.

I’m not going to deny that to be in the business today requires a much higher degree of thinking and intellect than it did 30 years ago.

But, there are some people who over-analyze, over-think, over-chart, over-spreadsheet to the point where they forget we’re in the car selling business.

One of the best dealer operators I ever met would take a chance, throw it against the wall and bam, lots of cars got sold.

He didn’t overthink it. He just went for it. Oddly enough he was right more often than not and he didn’t need a spreadsheet to tell him to “let ‘er fly.”

I love being around smart people. I always learn something from them. Sometimes I learn what not to do as much as I learn what to do.

Don’t overthink it. Just sell cars. That’s all I’m gonna say. Tommy Gibbs

For some of you this isn’t going to be pleasant. Or at least it may not be if you do what I’m going to suggest.

Regardless of your position in the dealership, owner, new car manager, BDC manager, used car manager or even if you’re not a manager, go click on your website… right now, yes right now go look at your website.

Even if you think your website looks great, I dare you to go look at it. (Don’t be chicken.)

I’m only going to pick on used cars, but if you take the time to click on all your buttons I’m betting you’re going to find some things that will drive you nuts. We all need to pretend to be our own customer and see what works and what doesn’t.

Click on the used car section and tell me what you see. Take it a step further and scroll through a few used cars…keep scrolling…

1. How many photos per car do you see?
2. How many lousy pictures do you see?
3. How many are taken outside?
4. How many have shadows?
5. How many have a factory photo?
6. How many have no photo?
7. How many don’t have a price?

Depending on what you just looked at there’s a good chance you are saying, “What the heck are we doing? No wonder we’re not selling enough used cars. No wonder we’re not making much gross per car.”

Can we all agree that somewhere between 80 and 90% of all customers who shop for used cars look on the Internet? If that’s even close, how do you think you’re gonna drive traffic with photos that look like what you’ve just viewed? (Did you see any with snow on them?)

The concept of a photo booth has been around for years now. Progressive organizations that understand the real world have a photo booth.

You won’t come close to maximizing your sales until you maximize your exposure. You will never maximize your exposure by taking photos outside.

I’m exposing you by daring you to look at your website. Don’t like what you see? Don’t be sad. It’s going to be ok. Just fix it. That’s all I’m gonna say. Tommy Gibbs

The most misunderstood topic I discuss in my workshops are SETS & SUBSETS. For some dealers it’s not a good fit. For others it’s a great way to drive traffic.

I will be the first to agree SETS and SUBSETS are not for everybody. They are especially not for you if you haven’t solved a lot of your other used car issues.

I’m not going to try to sell you on SETS & SUBSETS, but I do want to show you that first, it’s not all that complicated and second, it’s something you’ve done with success in the past in one way or another.

SETS & SUBSETS are all about setting up a price leader to drive traffic to the store.

What’s so bad about that? Don’t you do that right now? I have to believe that in one way or another you do it with your new car business, so why not do it with used?

The lead or number 1 car is the most important car in the SET. You can do SETS in 2, 3, 4, or 5 car SETS. Experience has taught me that going deeper than 5 just confuses the issue and makes it much more difficult to manage.

If you had 5 similar cars and you wanted to advertise them as a group (you did this back in the program car days), wouldn’t it make sense to advertise the least desirable of the 5 as a price leader in hopes of driving traffic to the other 4, or better yet, to your store?

The lead car is simply the least nice of the group. Make it safe, but don’t make it too pretty. This is not about bait and switch. It’s about the customers transferring themselves to another car in the SET or to one out on the perimeter.

The key to SETS is picking the right lead car. It needs to be desirable in the “public’s mind,” and most important is that it should be the latest model you can find for that SET.

Two of the biggest mistakes that dealers make are trying to make a profit on the lead car and picking too nice of a car to be the lead.

The lead car is a “loss leader.” More often than not the car that dealers pick to be a lead is really a number 2 car. A 2 car is a profit maker and one that you’ve fully reconditioned, so you would want to make sure you haven’t made it the lead.

If you want SETS to work, you have to advertise your lead car at what you have in it or less. If you try to make a profit on the lead car the traffic probably isn’t going to show up. The sole purpose of the lead car is to drive traffic to the dealership.

When done correctly one of three things will happen:

1. The customer shows up and buys the lead car.

2. The customers transfer themselves to the 2, 3, 4 or 5 car.

3. The customers buy something out on the perimeter.

The key is that the customers showed up on your lot today and you have a chance to sell them something.

So, there it is. SETS described in its simplest form. It’s not all that complicated or any great trickery with the consumer. You’re just advertising a price leader and giving the customers some other choices when they show up.

Might be a good fit for you. Might not. That’s all I’m gonna say, Tommy Gibbs