I’m mad because I don’t think you’re listening. I’m mad cause you ain’t paying attention. I’m mad cause you’re not ready. I’m mad cause I keep telling you and you keep discounting my advice. Ok, so you couldn’t care less that I’m mad.

You keep jerking around about how you’re going to fix your mess, but it’s still not done and “S Day” is just around the corner. “S Day” is the spring selling season. There’s a pent up demand and you’re not going to get to play the game cause you ain’t ready. Your people aren’t ready, your leaders aren’t ready and your inventory is still screwed up. Even if your inventory is half way right, it’s only because you have been taking so many hits on your old stuff which has caused your gross to go in the tank. Your staff has been sitting and whining and their heads are stuck in the sand.

This business is a contact sport and you ain’t contacting. It’s time for action. Why some of you don’t join a Twenty Group is beyond me. Even worse, some of you are in a Twenty Group and not going to the meetings. Your excuses of don’t want to spend the money, don’t want to be away from the store and don’t want my employees to get the wrong idea are all lame. I just spoke to a Twenty Group where only 6 members showed up. Brilliant, absolutely brilliant. The very time you need to fine tune your mess you’re staying home and pouting. Your brain has been frozen by the cold winter months. Can you hear me screaming?  Do something, do something even if it’s wrong.

I’m sorry if I’m screaming, but I see dealers around the country really “getting after it” and making a difference and I see others letting it “get after them.” Some of you are relying on your service business to carry you. If you don’t already know this, let me explain a little something to you about your service business. When you sell a new car you have about an 18 month window with those customers in terms of them coming back to you for service. The used car customer is even more challenging for lots of reasons that I hope you should know. The real point here is that because your new car sales have declined eventually your service business will decline. You can “Frequent fly” them all you want, but they only stick around so long.

So here I come again. It’s all about used cars. The hours per RO on a customer pay ticket runs about 1.7 hours. The hours per RO for a used car that you run through your shop is about 4.0 plus, plus, plus. Why don’t you understand that your overall success is tied to used cars? Get stronger in used and you’ll sell more new. Get stronger in used and you’ll be running more hours through the service department. Get stronger in used and I’m not mad anymore. That’s all I’m gonna say, Tommy Gibbs