A few years ago, I wrote an article titled, “It All Starts at the Top,” which generated a lot of interest primarily from readers aligning with the problematic day-to-day issues present in this industry. The primary issue was and remains a lack of top-down accountability. This most certainly encourages similar unaccountability for your sales/service managers and team members to simply do whatever they wish to do. Lack of accountability towards processes and solid management then permeates and infects the entire dealership to new levels of complacency and mediocrity. If you, as a leader/manager truly want to develop a new corporate landscape and take the store to new heights of achievement, you have to stop falling in love with average people and average results. Do something new that gives them empowerment to become their best. Just wake up one morning, say adios to the status quo, and develop a new day with a new way.

An interesting survey of Fortune 500 CEOs revealed the number one quality they were looking for in hiring new leaders had nothing to do with experience, what school they went to or who they knew. It came down to one thing; that individual’s ability to get along well with others.  Real leaders build people up and maintain a positive encouraging environment for the people to grow and be successful. It drives me wild when I see old-school tough guy managers beating up on their people. They particularly like to do it at the tower. Then they expect the salesperson to recover from the plummeting and be that smiling professional when interacting with customers. And, we wonder why attrition is so high. Get that guy or gal some help to encourage their team or get someone else who can build people up through integrity and 21st century leadership skills.

In order for that to occur, you need to consider a few of the following elements that have to go into a top-down dealership strategy:

Dealership Relationship Development (drd):

If you want to change the landscape of your store into a synergistic total team approach, an all-inclusive disciplined departmental dealership campaign must be developed and adhered to. The entire management team must work together as a single leadership team committed to accepting and selling the positive new approaches, processes, and culture to come. The team must instill a positive atmosphere of ‘great processes are coming to help you grow individually and grow the business’ and ‘wait until you see the new and exciting ideas coming to help you become your personal best.’ Show people that they will be successful by following the forthcoming all-in principles.

Planning for Process change:

Yes, it will definitely require a change of attitudes. If you want to fall away from being average and begin to improve, you must change something you do daily, weekly, and monthly. New enhanced sound business processes will take you there. Break out of those old paradigms and habits and accept new and improved ways to do business in your store. The correct changes we make today will make a better tomorrow. Starting is the great inhibitor to your pathway for improved success. So, start now developing the cultural and process changes needed.

Disciplined Decision-Making:

Here today, gone tomorrow decision-making will guarantee failure. Decision making with consistency and discipline will point you toward a successful rock-solid venture. When you and your management team adopt certain new processes in your store, stick to them. Sure, we must be flexible to change for the better when we identify improvements to our processes, but we never retreat on our process adoption principles. Remember, we do not change a process because no one wants to do them, we change a process only to make improvements in the way we are now conducting our business. It must be fruitful. Make good decisions and be consistent in doing so because you are making a new way of life in your store forever. Do it right.

New Leadership Skills:

It comes down to this, if you have it or develop it you will be able to withstand a sustained growth path to overcome the adversities, which will arise along the journey. If you do not, I wish you well because you will be joining the ‘wishing and hoping’ average club; “I wish traffic would pick up” and “I hope we hit our numbers.” That is no way to run a business.

Management leadership is the cornerstone for success of any business and the associated rich growth elements we will derive from it, if we have it in place.  One thing that continues to trouble me is witnessing a lack of leadership (not to be confused with management) in dealerships, which is preventing the people and consequently the store from ever growing. A compelling reason why you have to anchor leadership in your store for successful cultural change implementation is that real leaders are driven by the future. Not creativity or courage makes a leader. You can have those attributes and still fail to be a great leader. A leader’s job is to rally people toward a better future. leaders cannot help but change the present, because the present is not good enough. They succeed only when they find a way to make people excited by and confident in what comes next. This includes new processes and new positive store cultural changes, which have to occur in order to maximize the business.

Leaders must turn anxiety into confidence because people do fear the unknowns of the future.  The future is unstable, different, new, and therefore potentially dangerous. In order to succeed, leaders must engage the fear of the unknown and turn it into confidence. By far the most effective way to turn fear into confidence is to be clear and to define the future in such vivid terms that we can see where we are headed. Clarity is the antidote to anxiety, and therefore clarity is the preoccupation of the effective leader. If you do nothing else as a leader, be clear.  So, when you deliver the good news that your new cultural development changes are coming into your store, have courage and know what you are talking about. Moreover, if you do not understand what it is going to take, do not remain drunk on your own opinions; get someone who knows how to show you the way.

What would life be if we had no courage to attempt anything?

Vincent Van Gogh

Top-down strategy means you cannot be confusing. If we are going to follow you into the future, we need to know precisely what the marching orders are. It is a scary thing to please all people, all of the time. Therefore, to calm our fear, we need you to narrow our focus. Tell us what you expect from us and how you will be judging our progress. When you do this with clarity, you give us confidence in our judgment, in our decisions, and ultimately in our ability to know where to look to determine if we have fulfilled our mission. You first have to be an accountable leader, then demand accountability from each person involved in the newly improved culture in your store.

As a leader, you must be clear about why you and the team are going to win.  Your job is to make people more confident about the future you are introducing them to. You need to tell them why and how they are going to win. There are many competitors out there.  Why will we beat them?  We will add differential in the way prospects view and experience our store, including through solid new practices such as:

„ Your website presence. Does yours look like every competitor’s or is your message engaging the viewer? Do you aim to just sell them cars or do you establish a trust-based relationship?

„ How you handle incoming phone inquiries. Do you use new phone techniques or old school (“sure we got it, come on down ask for me”)?

• „ How you follow-up with un-sold prospects. New school or old school (“Have you made a decision yet?”)?
• How you greet and treat guests. New school or old school (“Welcome to xyz motors my name is Harry and you are…?”)?
• The content in your text/emails responds to internet inquiries.  New school or old school (same old pre-fabricated reply format)?
• Does your team consistently display that they work well together as a team?
• Your appearance and your professionalism (say goodbye to plaid and sunglasses).
• Do you embrace the significance of your owner base customers? Are enhanced phone skills used when contacting them?
• Are your processes seamless and customer oriented or do they drag your guest through torturous experiences?
• Is your language clear and utilizing new school relationship development techniques?
• Do you truly radiate a sense of caring about the prospects needs or simply satisfying your own needs?
• Do your managers attempt to develop a rapport with a customer before he/she gets the TO?
• Does your store look organized and professional at work areas and the showroom or sloppy and unorganized?

The aforementioned are just a few of the things consumers are now looking for before they ever trust you to sell them anything. Many more differential elements go into your store enveloping a true relationship approach. There are many obstacles in your path. Why will you overcome them?  The more clearly you can answer these questions, the more confident your team will be, and therefore more resilient, more persistent, and productive.

For a leader, it is important to disrupt routines.  Action changes behavior.  It makes people realize that the world is going to be better because they are doing things differently. The future becomes clearer, and out of that clarity comes confidence. Effective leaders do not have to be passionate or charming. What they must be is clear. Clarity is the essence of great leadership. Show your team members where their core strength lies, show them which score they should focus on and which actions they must take, and they will reward you by working their hearts out to make everyone’s future be brighter. Passion drives success. You must choose it or lose it.

As a leader, you must practice over and over what to say to describe where you are taking your people. After you have found the right words, stick with them in emails, in sales/service and management meetings and in general conversations with the team.

All these small elements of improvements, when unified as one unit, will take your store and its people to the next level of growth and success. Be the leader you are and see the difference it makes in you and everyone around you.

If you have any questions, comments or need a little clarity, please email me (Chuck@impactgroupcrm.com).