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.)

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. If you don’t like what you see, then fix it. That’s all I’m gonna say. Tommy Gibbs

I’m gritting my teeth as I write this. I really am. Some of you are still struggling with the 60 day concept. I guess talking about 45 days isn’t going to win any friends and influence my enemies, so I’m going to just chat about 60 days.

I’m always concerned when I’m teaching a workshop that those in attendance may think when I’m talking about 60 days that I’m saying that they need to dump cars at 60, take the losses and move on.

I’m gonna scream this so get ready. I’M NOT TALKING ABOUT DUMPING A BUNCH OF CARS AT 60 AND LOSING MONEY. Will you have to dump a few at 60? Yes, but darn few. (Especially if you follow my “Life Cycle Management Process.”)

I’m taking about finding a retail buyer before we even get to 60.

Do you think keeping it past 60 is really going to help your situation? Do you thinking keeping them past 60 days is gonna help your average gross profit? Do you think you’re gonna have a great ROI after 60 days? Do you think you need to keep it because you can’t replace it? What I wanna know is, what are you thinking?

I’ll tell you what I’m thinking. I’m thinking I’m hoping that you will one day change your thinking. That’s all I’m gonna say, Tommy Gibbs

If you have children, I’m thinking it’s a safe bet to say that when they were small you always knew where they were. I would further bet that if they weren’t with you that you knew who they were with.

Not only did you know who they were with, but you knew what clothes they had on and you knew what they had to eat for their last meal. If they had a booboo on their finger you applied a band aide and checked it regularly.

I’m appalled at how many used car managers don’t actually know where their children (used cars) are, let alone know what they are wearing.

Often when I’m reviewing inventory with a used car manager I’ll ask them to tell me about certain cars in their inventory.

On some of the cars I’ll ask them where is it? They will say “It’s in the inventory.” No, I’ll say, “Where is it? Where is it parked?” Typical comments, “I’m not sure”, “I think it’s out back”, “I think it’s in the service department”, “I think it’s in clean up”, “I think someone is driving it”, “I think it’s sold.”

Grab this, grab it fast. You’re not being paid to think. You’re being paid to know. The great used car managers know where every car is every moment of its life with their store.

The great used car managers know where all their children are regardless if they have a 40 car inventory or a 400 car inventory.

They just know. You wanna know why they know? They know because they care. They know because they are great parents. They know because the more they know about where their children are, the more they can protect them.

They can protect them from the evils of the world such as becoming aged, poor ROI, and slow turn. Let the parenting begin. That’s all I’m gonna say, Tommy Gibbs

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 control.

I often 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.”

You cannot control the price of gas, the stock market or the world economy. You can control the speed by which you turn your used car inventory.

Knowing and understanding the necessity of utilizing speed to control your inventory is a major step toward controlling what you can control. That’s all I’m gonna say, Tommy Gibbs

“A psychologist walked around a room while teaching stress management to an audience. As she raised a glass of water, everyone expected they’d be asked the “half empty or half full” question.

Instead, with a smile on her face, she inquired: “How heavy is this glass of water?” Answers called out ranged from 8 oz. to 20 oz. She replied, “The absolute weight doesn’t matter. It depends on how long I hold it. If I hold it for a minute, it’s not a problem. If I hold it for an hour, I’ll have an ache in my arm. If I hold it for a day, my arm will feel numb and paralyzed. In each case, the weight of the glass doesn’t change, but the longer I hold it, the heavier it becomes.”

She continued, “The stresses and worries in life are like that glass of water. Think about them for a while and nothing happens. Think about them a bit longer and they begin to hurt. And if you think about them all day long, you will feel paralyzed – incapable of doing anything.” Remember to put the glass down.” Author unknown.

Used cars are the same way. The longer you hold them the more stress they create. Even your worst decision becomes lighter when you unload it early.

There are dealers around the country with a lot of stress in their used car department. Either the Dealer, the GM, the General Sales Manager or Used Car Manager has decided they can deal with the stress. Maybe they can “deal with it.” But, dealing with it at what cost?

How much money is it costing them? If you extracted the water out of your inventory and subtracted it from your bottom line, how good would you really look?

Some of you are sitting there kinda smug thinking, “Not a problem at my store, we don’t have aged units.” You know what I’m thinking? I’m thinking you are darn smart and I’m really, really proud of you.

For those who aren’t feeling all smug. Enjoy your stress. You earn it one day at a time. That’s all I’m gonna say, Tommy Gibbs

I’m writing this from New Orleans at the NADA Convention. I was also here in 2009 and it’s a much different environment this week than it was back then. To say the dealers were depressed in 2009 is an understatement. Everything I’ve seen thus far at the convention is optimistic almost to a fault.

Many dealers are coming off an all time record profit year and optimism has never been higher. It’s easy to become complacent and have a certain amount of self-assured confidence that you are a rock star, on a roll, and you can do no wrong.

It’s a fact that dealers make the most money when they are coming off of tough times. The reason for that is pretty simple. When things are tough, dealers get back to the basics and grinding it out. As business gets better, they are in a great position to make a lot of money because they have cut all the fat out.

But the better and better business gets, dealers tend to add this and that to the expense line and get further and further away from the basics.

I know you’re a “Smart Leader” because you read my stuff. And because you’re a “Smart Leader,” you know that to get to 4 to 6% net to sales you need to continue to evaluate everything you are doing, every dime you are spending, and every process “you think” you have in place.

Are you as efficient as you can be? That’s all I’m gonna ask, Tommy Gibbs