Dealership Operations

The market is tough right now. Its almost universal, and Id love to tell you, “not to worry, it will be better tomorrow.” The bottom line is, however, that it wont be. Nobody knows how long this recession will last (and yes i believe we are in a recession… at least in dealerships we are.) The good news, to those of us that have been in the business long enough, managing in a down turn is nothing new. There are certain aspects that make any down turn unique, and thus the detailed solution to finding your growth niche each time is slightly different; but the overall principles of efficiently managing your store always hold true.

Any time the market tightens like this we must be more vigilant at watching “the indicators” and more nimble in reacting to them. The indicators Im referring to come from both inside and outside your store, but my favorite ones are detailed on page one of the financial statement. Inventories, receivables and more detailed items like Flooring. We should be monitoring more closely our traffic logs and even our employee moral to better control the big variables like advertising. Are you still spending like you were 5 months ago or have you adjusted? How about your marketing mix? Are you still throwing big bucks at the paper wondering how much business that is really creating? Each dealer must decide for himself, but at minimum, If you can’t track it, question it! Managing in a down turn requires holding a bit tighter to the steering wheel.

Rule number one in any market like the one we are in now is to get your arms around “the indicators” that will tell you what direction your ship is headed, because until you know where you are on the map, its impossible to give yourself directions.