The first of anything is always the best. Coffee is a great example. I highly anticipate each morning the first taste of my cup of coffee.

It’s amazingly the best. Most things are like that.

The first time you kissed your wife, husband, girlfriend or boyfriend is far better than the smooches you’ve most recently got.

The first lick of your ice cream cone is better than the last and so on. It’s called the law of stuff tastes better at first. (Yes, I made that up.)

Used cars are that way too. Selling one in the first 10 days tastes a lot better than selling it on day 70. The biggest difference between selling a used car and getting a kiss is that selling a used car is based on math.

Kissing is based on kissing. Imagine that?

Here’s the problem:

Dealers often failed to recognize those units that need to be first, as in sold really fast.

Those will be your most problematic units such as ones you’ve buried yourself in, bad color, auction purchases, high dollar unit, etc. These are units that you do not have a favorable cost to market or days supply.

You have to accept the fact that you’re not going to make a as much gross on those as you might make on others. Never forget they serve a worthwhile purpose in your business model. There are benefits galore at turning and burning these units.

Because the pandemic has had a dramatic impact on the law of supply and demand, some of our older kisses have been really sweet.

Unfortunately some dealers have been hypnotized into thinking an old kiss is always going to be just is good as a fresh one. Maybe you’re a great kisser or maybe you just slobber a lot.

Do yourself a favor and take a look at a handful of your oldest units in stock. Ask yourself, “why are these units still here?”

The odds are good that whatever you come up with was there on day one and you ignored it.

This article isn’t mean to be a commercial for my software product, but if you had been using my life-cycle management and recon tool, the odds of you still staring at those units would be about slim and non.

If you want to improve gross profit and volume, you have to know which ones to hold and which ones to fold and never forget all kisses are not equal.

That’s all I’m gonna say, Tommy Gibbs.

When you’re in business you have a ton of issues to deal with. None are more important than communicating with staff and management team to help them improve performance and profitability.

When you’re in a dealership day-to-day it’s like living with family members and therein lies the problem. It can be difficult to hold family accountable.

There’s tons of data for you to sort through each day to help you create a roadmap of accountability.

You often ignore it and look the other way because you don’t want to lose your family members.

Actually, sometimes it is family and that can create all sorts of issues for you and the team.

The problem is a lot of people see the word “accountable” as a negative word. Holding people accountable is actually a tool to coach them to the next level.

Coaching is about pointing out those things they may be missing. The reason you see what they don’t is because of your experience and the data you have at hand.

People don’t do things because either:

A. They don’t know what to do.
B. They know what to do and refuse to do it.

As a leader, you’re responsible for making sure they know.

Once they know you’re responsible for making sure they do it whatever it might be.

When are you going to stand up? That’s all I’m gonna ask, Tommy Gibbs.

If you’re like me you love life and the challenges it brings to the table each and every day. I always look forward to getting up in the morning and “getting after it.”

As a dealer for 20 plus years, I loved coming into the store every day and being around all the people and the energy that came with that.

I always got there really early and stayed late.

To me one of the best parts was seeing the people and the place coming to life in the morning was like a special sunrise.

Since I’ve been in the speaking, training and coaching business I primarily work alone. It can be challenging at times since I only have myself to rely on. But actually I like the idea of “staying after myself.”

It doesn’t matter if you work alone or work with 500 people you still have to “stay after yourself.” It’s a fun challenge and something you can actually get better at.

“Staying after yourself” requires planning and discipline. If my father said it once to me he’s said it a thousand times, “Plan your work and work your plan.”

Some key elements to “staying after yourself” include reading, writing, listening and forcing yourself to attend Twenty Group meetings, conventions and workshops. And, let’s add to that list Clubhouse, podcasts and mastermind groups.

These things open the mind and help you see what the possibilities might be.

I’ve become a firm believer that writing is a bigger component to success than one might think. I don’t mean that you have to be an award winning author; writing your thoughts down each day helps to open your brain up to where you’ve been and where you can go.

Writing helps you “stay after yourself.” It will help you self-evaluate your actions, your behavior and how well you are accomplishing those “continuous goals” you should be writing down.

Goal setting is critical to “staying after yourself.” Goal setting is important, but it’s even more important to understand that a goal is simply a temporary target and not the end. You have to constantly evaluate, tweak and adjust your goals so you are always moving forward.

A big part of staying after yourself is to “stay after others.” I don’t mean that in a micro-managing sense, but as a way of encouraging others.

The more you encourage others the more you are encouraging yourself. There is nothing you can do that is more important than helping others along the way.

It’s sometimes hard to understand the impact we can have on others with a kind word of encouragement and a pat on the back. It’s so very powerful!

My encouragement for you today is for you to remember to take some time to “stay after yourself.” That’s all I’m gonna say, Tommy Gibbs.

If you’re in a leadership position or hope to be so one day and you don’t have a sense of humor, then I’d say you are out of luck.

I realize there are people in top leadership positions who don’t have a sense of humor, but I have to believe by and large they are totally miserable people and not nearly as successful as they and their organizations could be.

I believe part of a leader’s responsibility is to create a workplace that’s well-disciplined, functional, effective and a fun place to work. Just because you display a sense of humor doesn’t mean you’re not serious about your work or have lost your discipline.

It means at any given moment you know how to inject humor to lighten up the joint.
Working in a place of business without a sense of humor is like working in a room with the lights off. Humor turns the lights on and adds an un-measurable element to the organization.

Back when I was running my dealerships, I personally conducted cultural training to make sure every team player knew the mission and what was expected of them.

I was quick to point out to our new hires, as well as existing staff, that if they didn’t have a sense of humor then it was the wrong place for them to be working.

“If you can’t laugh at yourself, then you’re going be miserable here. So, it might be best if you make some plans to meet some new people at your next workplace.”

So go ahead, laugh at yourself. It’s ok, it really is and those around you will be better off for it and so will you.
That’s all I’m gonna say, Tommy Gibbs.

1. Guard Against The “Peter Principle”-Don’t promote people based strictly on how they have performed in their current role. Promote them to their ability to perform in their new role. People are often promoted to their level of incompetence.

2. Guard The Processes-The team with the best and most consistent processes wins the most often.

3. Guard The Team-It really is about the team. You need team players. If they aren’t on the same team you cannot afford to keep them on the team. They will destroy morale and production.

4. Guard The Customers-When you protect your customers, you build your business and set the bar for the team to do the same. The team is watching and emulating how you deal with customer issues.

5. Guard The Vendors-You must demand the same high quality and standards from your vendors as you demand from your team. Don’t lower your standards because you’re saving a few bucks.

6. Guard The Culture-There’s nothing more important that you can do than guard your culture. You cannot afford to hire people who aren’t of the same mindset. If you make that mistake you will wake up one day and there is no culture.

7. Guard Against Legacy Thinking-Just because you’ve always done it that way doesn’t mean it’s the best way. Stop looking back. Look forward.

8. Guard Against Making The Same Mistakes-Mistakes are a part of growing, but what you cannot allow is the same mistakes happening over and over again.

9. Guard The Training-You cannot train too much. It’s not “redundant training” until the team is perfect. The team isn’t perfect. Don’t be talked out of training.

10. Guard The Passion-Don’t let anyone steal or drain your passion and don’t be afraid to show your passion for all the above.

That’s all I’m gonna say, Tommy Gibbs.

One of the things you often hear leaders talking about is getting their team operating at a higher standard.

What some leaders fail to realize is that in order for the team to operate at a higher standard, the leader has to operate at a higher standard. As the leader’s standards improve or erode, so goes the team.

The standard setting by the leader is often the missing piece when it comes to growing and developing the team’s culture, progress and esprit de corps.

The standards you are setting are a culmination of the decisions you make each day. From the simplest decisions of just being nice, to the more difficult ones like resolving a conflict with customers and/or team members.

Holding yourself to a higher standard means ensuring that you are productive and making things happen today.

Never forget the “speed of the boss, speed of the crew.”

If you’re the sort of leader that goes around telling others to make something happen, all you’re doing is creating hate and discontent. If you’re going to talk-the-talk, then you better walk-the-walk.

97% of people and organizations operated at average or below standards. To be part of the 3% of the elite who are operating at a higher standard, then you need to demand excellence of yourself. Only when you demand a higher standard of excellence of yourself will the organization begin to move toward the top 3%.

If you were writing a book on higher standards and each chapter was a day-by-day account of the standards you set, would you want to include today as a chapter in your book? That’s all I’m gonna ask, Tommy Gibbs.

Everything I see and hear tells me the automobile business has gotten too easy.

Oh, I realize it’s never easy, but the unique set of circumstances over the last few years has either made a lot of dealers lazy, complacent and a few may have gone brain dead and have become incompetent.

Some may have developed amnesia and forgot how quickly this business can turn in another direction.

DON’T DO EASY:

It’s easy to do easy.
It’s easy to ignore.
It’s easy to look the other way.
Easy to let slide.
We all like easy.
Anybody can do easy.
Being easy causes you to say yes, when you should say no.
Being easy causes you to take your eye off the big picture.
When you take your eye off the big picture, everything around you becomes a little fuzzier.
The fuzzier things get, the more confused you and your staff get.
The more confused you and the staff get, the more little things begin to slide.
Easy now becomes habit.
Habit becomes the norm.
The norm becomes easy.
That’s when rinse and repeat occurs. The problem is that the water you’re rinsing with is murky and dirty.
Expectations begin to drop. Lower expectations become the norm.
The little things can be hard to measure, so they are ignored.
When you focus on the little things, the performance of the team improves.
Why would you want to do easy?

Don’t do easy. That’s all I’m gonna say, Tommy Gibbs.

How long does it take to know if they can do it? Do what?

Do whatever it is you’ve hired someone to do.

Does it take a week?
Does it take a month?
Does it take 90 days?
Does it take 6 months?
Does it take 6 years?

How long does it take you to figure out if you’ve got the right person or the wrong person in the job?

Part of that decision-making process might depend on:

1. How much have you invested in the selection process of putting the right person in the right job?

2. Did you put someone in the job because they were the “next up?”

3. How much have you invested in their training and development?

4. How much have you invested of your own time coaching and teaching the person?

5. Does your organization give people the tools they need in order to be successful?

6. Do you make the effort to get legitimate feedback from those around you that “know” about how this person is performing?

How long does it take for you to figure out if they can or they can’t?

That’s all I’m gonna ask. Tommy Gibbs.

1. They can’t manage their personal lives
2. They can’t manage their money (If you are an employer and you have people working for you who can’t manage their money then they sure can’t manage yours.)
3. They can’t manage the truth
4. They can’t manage their time
5. They can’t manage their emotions
6. They can’t manage results
7. They can’t manage their flaws.
(We all have flaws. Successful people know what their flaws are and they manage and control their own flaws.)

I frequently hear CEOs of dealer groups talk about how hard it is to find GSMs & GMs for their stores. More often than not, the missing skill set for those that have failed them is they just aren’t very good leaders.

The moment they come on board, they have all these amazing things they want to change

and “make it better.” They do have skills, but they don’t have “leadership skills,” so from day one they tend to struggle.

A savvy CEO should be as much interested in how many people they have developed as they are in the number of units over the curb. If you focus on the numbers, you may get a little surge, but it’s not going to be consistent and it’s going to be a little short-term gain and a whole lot of long-term pain.

Far too often the strategy of new leadership is to unload in rapid fire a bunch of new ideas, bring some new rock stars in and drain the swamp.

That strategy will generally create hate and discontent, and put you that much further behind.

Soon you’ll be looking for a new GSM or GM and repeating the process of hoping the new one works out.

The first question that should be asked of your potential rock star is how do they intend to rally the troops?

The most important part of that answer is, “How do they intend to rally the individuals?”

You cannot rally the troops until you capture the hearts and minds of the individual team members.

If I were your new hire, here’s what I would do:

1. I’d meet with every team member one-on-one. During the course of these one-on-ones I would be asking questions, getting opinions, and asking every team member, “If this were your business, what would you do differently?”

The more I can learn about each team member’s family, hobbies, and their life’s journey, all the better. I’d get dialed in on the conversation by taking notes…lots and lots of notes.

2. I’d start every morning spending additional one-on-one time with as many people as I could come into contact with. These are casual conversations done on the fly. Building relationships is what is going to create profound change and a new direction.

3. Throughout the day I would look for opportunities to create “power moments.”

Moments to coach.
Moments that matter.
Moments to encourage.
Moments to pick people up.
Moments to push them forward.
Moments to guard the processes.

It’s a whole lot easier to implement change and solid strategies when you get the team on the same page.
My way is a better way, that’s all I’m gonna say, Tommy Gibbs.