1. There are just too many dealers in my market. Really? There are always too many dealers. Your goal should be to drive them crazy and run them out of business. Well, not really, but sorta. Look, the competition is always tough. The deal is you have to dig in, I mean really dig in and get a bigger piece of the pie.
2. We can’t find quality sales people. Really? When was there ever a time when that was easy to do? You’re being delusional by thinking it was easy back in the “good old days.” It’s never been easy. Good people have always been hard to find. The deal is you have to dig in and become more determined and more aggressive in your search efforts than ever before. Re-examine your pay plan, your approach to recruiting, hiring and training and you may find some answers.
3. Used cars are hard to find. Really? When have used cars ever been easy to find? This is another one of those “the good old days ain’t really what you thought they were.” The deal is you have to make a bigger commitment to getting outside the box on how you find the cars you need. I touched on this in a newsletter I sent out two Saturdays ago. Click Here. You need to dig in and work harder than you’ve ever worked before to find the cars you need.
4. I can’t get my management team to follow through on the processes we’ve all agreed on. Really? Fire yourself! I mean really, who’s running the show? I’m assuming you’ve provided all the tools, all the training, all the coaching in order to give them a chance to do what needs to be done? You gotta dig in and either fire yourself, fire some of them or fire the joint up. You can either lead ‘em or get outta the way and find someone who can.
5. I’m so busy I can’t get anything done. Really? So you just spent 8 to 12 hours at work and did nothing? Dude or dudette you have got to get organized. How many of you remember in the good old days a selling system taught by Clint McGee and the brilliant folks at Key-Royal called the Go System. The GO System stood for Getting Organized. With all the tools you have available to you today from Franklin Covey to CRMs and beyond, the only reason you’re not getting more done and being more organized is just you. You must establish a relative priority of your tasks. There are some that are urgent and some that are not. You must take control of your own agenda on a daily basis. Taking 5 to 10 minutes a day to do so is priceless.
6. The unemployment rate in my community is over 10%. Really? I’m thinking that means 90% of them are working. There are still people in your market working and buying cars and trucks. If you don’t believe me go look at the registrations. There is still a market to be had, but you just haven’t found it. The deal is you have to dig in, and figure out who they are, where they are and what’s the right inventory mix to capture more than your fair share.
7. We don’t have enough walk in traffic? Really? When has there ever been enough traffic? Here’s a piece of the equation you have to understand. Walk in traffic will continue to decline and I’m thinking you already know the reason. The Internet! So, that being the case what you have to do is to quit whining about it and figure out how to take advantage of the new way of doing business. It’s not all that hard to analyze. Try pretending you’re a customer, go to your own website and see how hard it is to maneuver, understand and to make use of it as a consumer. And by the way, take a look at the pictures of your used cars. If you don’t have at least 40 and if you’re not having them done in a photo booth then I’m thinking you need to dig in and make some changes in a hurry. You are in the dark ages.
8. Customers are impossible to satisfy. Really? I’m thinking I’m going back to firing yourself. The number one reason you have customer complaints is that you’re not committed to fixing the problem. 99.9 % of your customer complaints are because people, meaning your people, are doing or saying stupid things. That gets back to your selection process, your training and coaching. Time to dig in. You can do better.
9. We can’t get the cars and trucks we need from the factory? Really? When has this ever been easy? I’m thinking you’re still hearing “if you would turn ‘em you would get ‘em?” But how do you turn ‘em when you ain’t got ‘em. Yeah, I get it. The fastest way for you to sell more new cars is to sell more used cars. Some of you understand this and some of you don’t and some of you never will. The sharper you become in used cars the more new you have the potential to sell. You gotta dig into the used car business if you wanna sell more new.
10. The Internet is killing my grosses. Really? No, you’re killing your grosses because you are buying and stocking the wrong cars. No, you’re killing your grosses because you’re not asking for “all the money” on the right cars. No, you’re killing your grosses because you haven’t sold your sales people on the fact that you have the right cars at the right prices. Time to start digging in.
The common denominator in every excuse is you. You have the power to eliminate all the excuses and any others that come your way. Excuses are like _____, everybody has one…That’s all I’m gonna say, Tommy
"The one common denominator in every mess you find yourself in is you."
- Bob Wall