Mar 20, 2019 | Magazine Article
UNDERSTANDING BASIC FINANCIALS is a common challenge faced by newly hired managers, whether you promote from within the dealership or bring in a new person from the outside. How do you prioritize the immediate training they will need to succeed in their new position?...
Mar 20, 2019 | Magazine Article
In a recent customer satisfaction survey, 73 percent of customers said they didn’t give up on a company because of poor product quality, poor service, or price. They took their business elsewhere because they didn’t feel appreciated. Many believe customer service and...
Mar 20, 2019 | Magazine Article
You will recognize the title of this article is the popular definition for insanity. Surely that definition doesn’t fit your dealership. I know that you want to be more successful next year than this year and that speaks to the name of a best-selling book What Got You...
Mar 20, 2019 | Magazine Article
Gordon Ramsay of the television show Kitchen Nightmares exposes some of the worst restaurant practices, leadership skills, and building conditions. Unfortunately, many dealerships are cooking up and serving as many unproductive activities and images as those seen on...
Dec 20, 2018 | Magazine Article
THIS TITLE is not an oxymoron. I’m writing this article for two critical reasons: First, feedback is required for us to improve performance. Second, most supervisors cringe at the thought of providing performance feedback to employees. And it gets worse. I’ve talked...
Dec 20, 2018 | Magazine Article
AT A DEALERSHIP, just like any business, there are two critical things required to survive: 1. turn a profit 2. generate cash Yes, many other things are important, including customer experience, employee morale, safety, marketing, and branding, to name a few. However,...
Dec 20, 2018 | Magazine Article
Last fall at a national dealers’ meeting, a manufacturer announced that its dealer network would be reimbursed for warranty service travel expenses. The reimbursement will be for service truck fees or mileage when a technician is traveling to a warranty service job....
Oct 21, 2018 | Magazine Article
Creating a service labor budget can be a stressful and intimidating time for many service managers. In many cases, service managers are comfortable when it comes to technical product knowledge but are less familiar with financial budgeting. For some dealers, the...
Oct 20, 2018 | Magazine Article
HAVING BEEN PRIVY to many dealers’ thoughts and beliefs about peer groups, I thought it was time to chime in on the pros and cons of being in a group. In my role as a consultant and trainer, which includes facilitating peer groups, it is apparent there is a...
Jun 21, 2018 | Magazine Article
Let’s begin by stating that the senior leaders of a dealership are responsible for creating a workplace culture that fosters high morale and productivity. Having said that, there are both family and corporately owned enterprises that fail to live up to this...
Jun 21, 2018 | Magazine Article
“Are you nuts?” That was the reaction I received when I proposed the idea of selling our equipment dealership. My partners, all in their thirties, were shocked. By their reaction, it was obvious that they were not clear on the reasons behind the suggestion....
Jun 20, 2018 | Magazine Article
“A successful dealership is like a successful sports team – not only should the manager be keeping his/her eye on the ball, but so should each team member.” The above is from Kelly Mathison’s article in the 2018 spring edition of Western Equipment Dealer and it’s...
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