Not sure what was in the water last week, but I ended up having several conversations regarding our TaskTeacher grading tool (a patented software that measures ISM/BDC performance), and how the grades are justified. As always, I’m happy to have a discussion regarding an individual’s performance. I truly value the feedback, and treat every objection as a way to learn how to improve the service. After discussing it with some friends at a Christmas party, I had one of those moments of clarity, best demonstrated in Fox’s now-defunct show, House.

Student grading varies widely from state to state, and district to district, for that matter. For instance, some schools will not give students an F grade. Other schools, use a 5.0 grading scale. One of the few common threads is classifying “average” (normally a C mark), “above average” (B or better), and “below average” (anything less than a C). Points, pluses, minuses, “A”s, “N”s, and “U”s vary widely from there. It was during this discussion of variance that the House moment hit me: an A+ is not a grade at all, but a mark of distinction.

No matter what industry you work in, some people are going to perform as expected, a few will perform worse than expected, and a smaller few will perform better than expected. In factories, most will just make their rate, even if it means slowing down throughout the day. Many retailers will have the lights off, and the doors locked, one minute before closing. Try calling your doctor’s office five minutes before they close. You’ll probably get the answering service, or worse yet, go straight to voicemail. We live in a world of average.

Most of us are content with average. Sticking with the education analogies, based on 2010 census data (round numbers), only 30% of Americans have a bachelor’s degree. One in three of those people have a master’s degree. One in thirty of those people have a doctorate (<1% of the total population). At some point in time, nearly all of us decide that “good enough” is good enough.

I can’t say we’ve all been guilty of settling, but I know I have been. I was an awful student in high school. I had to nearly 4.0 my last two years of school just so I could graduate with a 3.0 (the bare minimum to get into college). I was also guilty of mailing-it-in during undergrad. I was happy to take a "B" if attendance wasn’t required (which would’ve been an easy "A" if I showed up). I placed way too much value on my work and social life. I still graduated cum laude, and I know several people hated me for getting exceptional grades with half-assed effort. Sadly, the same trend continued into grad school. I can tell you I wish I tried harder then, but it’s too late to change that.

I’m sure many of us feel the same way. Whether it was school, sports, military service, or prior work experience, there is part of us that wishes we earned that mark of distinction. We lament the fact that we did not study, train, sweat, or sacrifice enough. Unfortunately, Doc Brown did not invent the Flux Capacitor. The past will always be the past.

The good news for all of us is the future is whatever we want it to be. This very second, you can be more than you are right now. You can get that promotion. You can get that bonus. You can be a better spouse. You can be a better parent. You can run a marathon. You don’t need to read books, listen to CDs, or attend expensive conferences. You just need to commit to giving 100% everyday. Stop cutting corners. Better yet, stop letting others cut corners. Don’t wait for someone, or something, to tell you to do something you know you should already be doing.

No matter how you measure performance, don’t settle for average. Just because the bar is low, does not mean there isn’t a massive upside to achieving more. Set your own goals, achieve them, and then set higher ones. If you fall down, get back up again. Make a commitment to yourself, your clients, your team, and your family. The marks of distinction will come.

                   
 

PS— This piece had several titles. Here are a few of them:

• We’re #3 and We Don’t Even Try!
• Grades are for Meats and Eggs
• The Only American Standards are Toilets
• I’ve Only Listened to Four Minutes of Tony Robbins in My Entire Life!
• Coffee is for Closers
• To “B,” or not to “B”
• It’s always Legionnaires', Amyloidosis, Lupus, Sarcoidosis, or Heavy Metal Poisoning
• Merry Christmas!!!

Not sure what was in the water last week, but I ended up having several conversations regarding our TaskTeacher grading tool (a patented software that measures ISM/BDC performance), and how the grades are justified. As always, I’m happy to have a discussion regarding an individual’s performance. I truly value the feedback, and treat every objection as a way to learn how to improve the service. After discussing it with some friends at a Christmas party, I had one of those moments of clarity, best demonstrated in Fox’s now-defunct show, House.

Student grading varies widely from state to state, and district to district, for that matter. For instance, some schools will not give students an F grade. Other schools, use a 5.0 grading scale. One of the few common threads is classifying “average” (normally a C mark), “above average” (B or better), and “below average” (anything less than a C). Points, pluses, minuses, “A”s, “N”s, and “U”s vary widely from there. It was during this discussion of variance that the House moment hit me: an A+ is not a grade at all, but a mark of distinction.

No matter what industry you work in, some people are going to perform as expected, a few will perform worse than expected, and a smaller few will perform better than expected. In factories, most will just make their rate, even if it means slowing down throughout the day. Many retailers will have the lights off, and the doors locked, one minute before closing. Try calling your doctor’s office five minutes before they close. You’ll probably get the answering service, or worse yet, go straight to voicemail. We live in a world of average.

Most of us are content with average. Sticking with the education analogies, based on 2010 census data (round numbers), only 30% of Americans have a bachelor’s degree. One in three of those people have a master’s degree. One in thirty of those people have a doctorate (<1% of the total population). At some point in time, nearly all of us decide that “good enough” is good enough.

I can’t say we’ve all been guilty of settling, but I know I have been. I was an awful student in high school. I had to nearly 4.0 my last two years of school just so I could graduate with a 3.0 (the bare minimum to get into college). I was also guilty of mailing-it-in during undergrad. I was happy to take a "B" if attendance wasn’t required (which would’ve been an easy "A" if I showed up). I placed way too much value on my work and social life. I still graduated cum laude, and I know several people hated me for getting exceptional grades with half-assed effort. Sadly, the same trend continued into grad school. I can tell you I wish I tried harder then, but it’s too late to change that.

I’m sure many of us feel the same way. Whether it was school, sports, military service, or prior work experience, there is part of us that wishes we earned that mark of distinction. We lament the fact that we did not study, train, sweat, or sacrifice enough. Unfortunately, Doc Brown did not invent the Flux Capacitor. The past will always be the past.

The good news for all of us is the future is whatever we want it to be. This very second, you can be more than you are right now. You can get that promotion. You can get that bonus. You can be a better spouse. You can be a better parent. You can run a marathon. You don’t need to read books, listen to CDs, or attend expensive conferences. You just need to commit to giving 100% everyday. Stop cutting corners. Better yet, stop letting others cut corners. Don’t wait for someone, or something, to tell you to do something you know you should already be doing.

No matter how you measure performance, don’t settle for average. Just because the bar is low, does not mean there isn’t a massive upside to achieving more. Set your own goals, achieve them, and then set higher ones. If you fall down, get back up again. Make a commitment to yourself, your clients, your team, and your family. The marks of distinction will come.

                   
 

PS— This piece had several titles. Here are a few of them:

• We’re #3 and We Don’t Even Try!
• Grades are for Meats and Eggs
• The Only American Standards are Toilets
• I’ve Only Listened to Four Minutes of Tony Robbins in My Entire Life!
• Coffee is for Closers
• To “B,” or not to “B”
• It’s always Legionnaires', Amyloidosis, Lupus, Sarcoidosis, or Heavy Metal Poisoning
• Merry Christmas!!!

The Terminator franchise has been one of the most successful entertainment series in history, ranking up with the Toy Story trilogy, the Lord of the Rings trilogy, and even the original (and best) Star Wars trilogy. If you’ve been living under a rock, or are Amish, and haven’t seen the Terminator, it starts in the near-future where an artificial defense intelligence system becomes self-aware. After the scared military operators tried to pull the plug, the system (Skynet) decides that humans pose a threat, and summarily launches a nuclear assault on humanity. It’s just the type of stuff you want to talk about with your kids before bed. I’ll be back to the Terminator reference in just a bit.

As with last year, SXSW Interactive had some real face-melting presentations. Whether it was in the title or not, geolocation, virtual display of reality, speech recognition, gesture input, and artificial intelligence pervaded many of the sessions. What this means is that location-based services are about ready to go into overdrive. Although, I know a lot has been written regarding location-based services (LBS), including a recent piece by Joe Webb and DrivingSales’ very own Eric Miltsch, I got to hear about the future of these services from those who created them. I'm here to tell you, those services are not as simple as they seem.

At face value, these applications look like games, or a means to get hammered with your friends in Vegas. However, most of these tools have already moved beyond the game element, and are starting to drive value for retailers. The key thing you need to understand is that these platforms that we are using today are not permanent. The current technology still cannot support the true potential. Most of the LBS technology we are using today will be obsolete in a matter of months, and will be utterly antique within a decade. The millions of users who use LBS technology everyday will continue to jump from platform to platform because they find it valuable. So while I won’t get hung up on the platforms or the different services, I will tell you this: If you are not using LBS, you will be ignored.

Why would I make such a bold statement? The answer is simple: In just a matter of months, augmented reality hardware will be widely available. For those of you who have seen the Terminator, you will soon have the means to see like the Terminator. You will be able to scan objects by simply looking at them, with relevant data popping up in your vision to help you make decisions. Military jets have utilized this technology for a few decades, projecting critical data onto heads-up displays, and even a few cars have adopted this technology. Soon services such Wikipedia, Google, Facebook, Wolfram Alpha, and Foursquare, can, and likely will, supply their data directly onto your eyeball. People won’t just see a car lot anymore - they will see OEM information, vehicle data, pricing matrices, incentives, customer comments, and ratings - all without lifting a finger

Before you quit your job, realize that this technology can also be used to your advantage. Remember that CRM your manager has been bugging you about? What if that technology was leveraged in an augmented reality environment? Imagine if a customer’s name, current vehicle, time of last interaction, service visit frequency, website activity, family information, etc., appeared right next that customer as soon as you looked at them. How much easier would your job be? Would you start taking better notes if the information would automatically be recalled later? Would you terminate skating coworkers? I bet you would.

The good news for some, and the bad news for others, is that augmented reality will be available to the masses come Christmas time. Google will be offering glasses that will be connected to your Android device, and will project its Places and Latitude data into the users field vision at the end of the year (Sergey Brin was spotted wearing prototype glasses on 3/5). Other hardware and software is being evaluated, and will available next year. Contact lenses offering the same technology have already been tested, and will soon follow. Even without the glasses, there are already enough smartphones for nearly every man, woman, and child in the world, and the technology exists to automatically display alerts on those phones. The Internet age is just hitting its stride. 


How do we prepare for this onslaught the future? By being better today. Claiming your dealership’s Foursquare/Places/Yelp/etc. location is the first step, and frankly it’s not enough. Understanding the users behavior is the next, and most crucial, step. Even without adding users as friends, you can still gather data about their destinations, achievements, tips, and how many friends they have. If you are able to “friend” them, you can uncover more useful information. Understanding how to navigate this information will allow you to see how your customers interact, what they may say about you, and find out how loyal they are to other businesses. All of this information needs to recorded. Right now people have to take the time to gather information about your dealership. YOU must begin capturing just as much data and developing just as much software before you get overrun as it will be the only thing to save you in the future. There is no avoiding it. Take advantage of today’s technology before customers can gather information automatically, tomorrow.

Post Script:

Ignoring technological advances does not make them go away. Consumers take advantage of new technologies every single day. They buy a car every three years. By not embracing these changes, you accelerate the way these changes impact your business. You have created several opportunities for other companies to exploit your desire to keeps things the same. Don’t let the machines beat you. Take every opportunity to learn about new technologies on your own. Use change to your advantage. As it is with the Terminator, technology will just keep on coming. You can’t stop it.

There's no fate, but what we make for ourselves.

The Terminator franchise has been one of the most successful entertainment series in history, ranking up with the Toy Story trilogy, the Lord of the Rings trilogy, and even the original (and best) Star Wars trilogy. If you’ve been living under a rock, or are Amish, and haven’t seen the Terminator, it starts in the near-future where an artificial defense intelligence system becomes self-aware. After the scared military operators tried to pull the plug, the system (Skynet) decides that humans pose a threat, and summarily launches a nuclear assault on humanity. It’s just the type of stuff you want to talk about with your kids before bed. I’ll be back to the Terminator reference in just a bit.

As with last year, SXSW Interactive had some real face-melting presentations. Whether it was in the title or not, geolocation, virtual display of reality, speech recognition, gesture input, and artificial intelligence pervaded many of the sessions. What this means is that location-based services are about ready to go into overdrive. Although, I know a lot has been written regarding location-based services (LBS), including a recent piece by Joe Webb and DrivingSales’ very own Eric Miltsch, I got to hear about the future of these services from those who created them. I'm here to tell you, those services are not as simple as they seem.

At face value, these applications look like games, or a means to get hammered with your friends in Vegas. However, most of these tools have already moved beyond the game element, and are starting to drive value for retailers. The key thing you need to understand is that these platforms that we are using today are not permanent. The current technology still cannot support the true potential. Most of the LBS technology we are using today will be obsolete in a matter of months, and will be utterly antique within a decade. The millions of users who use LBS technology everyday will continue to jump from platform to platform because they find it valuable. So while I won’t get hung up on the platforms or the different services, I will tell you this: If you are not using LBS, you will be ignored.

Why would I make such a bold statement? The answer is simple: In just a matter of months, augmented reality hardware will be widely available. For those of you who have seen the Terminator, you will soon have the means to see like the Terminator. You will be able to scan objects by simply looking at them, with relevant data popping up in your vision to help you make decisions. Military jets have utilized this technology for a few decades, projecting critical data onto heads-up displays, and even a few cars have adopted this technology. Soon services such Wikipedia, Google, Facebook, Wolfram Alpha, and Foursquare, can, and likely will, supply their data directly onto your eyeball. People won’t just see a car lot anymore - they will see OEM information, vehicle data, pricing matrices, incentives, customer comments, and ratings - all without lifting a finger

Before you quit your job, realize that this technology can also be used to your advantage. Remember that CRM your manager has been bugging you about? What if that technology was leveraged in an augmented reality environment? Imagine if a customer’s name, current vehicle, time of last interaction, service visit frequency, website activity, family information, etc., appeared right next that customer as soon as you looked at them. How much easier would your job be? Would you start taking better notes if the information would automatically be recalled later? Would you terminate skating coworkers? I bet you would.

The good news for some, and the bad news for others, is that augmented reality will be available to the masses come Christmas time. Google will be offering glasses that will be connected to your Android device, and will project its Places and Latitude data into the users field vision at the end of the year (Sergey Brin was spotted wearing prototype glasses on 3/5). Other hardware and software is being evaluated, and will available next year. Contact lenses offering the same technology have already been tested, and will soon follow. Even without the glasses, there are already enough smartphones for nearly every man, woman, and child in the world, and the technology exists to automatically display alerts on those phones. The Internet age is just hitting its stride. 


How do we prepare for this onslaught the future? By being better today. Claiming your dealership’s Foursquare/Places/Yelp/etc. location is the first step, and frankly it’s not enough. Understanding the users behavior is the next, and most crucial, step. Even without adding users as friends, you can still gather data about their destinations, achievements, tips, and how many friends they have. If you are able to “friend” them, you can uncover more useful information. Understanding how to navigate this information will allow you to see how your customers interact, what they may say about you, and find out how loyal they are to other businesses. All of this information needs to recorded. Right now people have to take the time to gather information about your dealership. YOU must begin capturing just as much data and developing just as much software before you get overrun as it will be the only thing to save you in the future. There is no avoiding it. Take advantage of today’s technology before customers can gather information automatically, tomorrow.

Post Script:

Ignoring technological advances does not make them go away. Consumers take advantage of new technologies every single day. They buy a car every three years. By not embracing these changes, you accelerate the way these changes impact your business. You have created several opportunities for other companies to exploit your desire to keeps things the same. Don’t let the machines beat you. Take every opportunity to learn about new technologies on your own. Use change to your advantage. As it is with the Terminator, technology will just keep on coming. You can’t stop it.

There's no fate, but what we make for ourselves.

It occurs to me regularly that many times we are rewarded in the life for things that we may or may not deserve. We slip into a close parking spot after someone just drove by it. We get pulled over for speeding and avoid a ticket. We use gambling winnings to pay down debt. In many situations we can do everything wrong, but in the end, we still receive a reward for our actions.

I equate this activity to the way airlines treat air travel. When you boil it down, the airline's job in the equation is to get you to a destination (it doesn't have to even be the one on your ticket), alive and unscathed. It doesn't matter when you get there, or even how you get there. Wherever "there" may be, if you make it, the airline chalks up a W.

What happens to you, personally, physically, or emotionally, doesn't really matter in the equation. If you have to wait three hours longer than intended to board the plane, it doesn't matter. If they run out of water on the flight, it doesn't matter. If your connection is cancelled, requiring a day or more of layover, it doesn't matter. If your luggage is lost, it doesn't matter. If you have a nervous breakdown on the flight, as long as you don't appear to be a threat, it doesn't matter. As long as the plane takes off and touches down without disintegrating in the process, the airline chalks up a W. The passenger chalks up an L.

This same scenario, albeit less dramatic, takes places every day at car dealerships around the nation. Despite dropping the ball repeatedly throughout the entire sales process, if a vehicle (any vehicle) rolls over the curb, it's a W. Like the airline passenger, it doesn't matter how the customer was treated, how many members of the staff they had to talk to, how much money was lost throughout negotiation, how many "promises" had to be made throughout hours of back-and-forth, if a transaction was made, sales people are slapping high-fives and exchanging back pats.

I refer to this is as "just get 'em in" syndrome. By the simple act of convincing a potential client to come down to the dealership, if the collective effort of the dealership sells them a car, it is somehow a victory, no matter the pretenses. "Just get 'em in" syndrome has been stunting the growth of Internet operations since day one.

For many, the initial draw of the Internet side of the business is the precision of the numbers, and the perceived scalability of operations. Unlike walk-in traffic, demand can be predicted, and even supplemented if need be, to maintain a relatively steady stream of interested parties. Advertising sources are plentiful, and direct actions can be attributed to impressions. Every month's activities can be broken down and analyzed to look for deviations in patterns. It has always been imagined to be a sales machine.

If an Internet sales strategy is executed properly, it should act as a sales machine. However, with all of the capabilities the Internet has to augment any dealer's business, like a machine, it's only as precise as the quality of its components. If a machine is working properly, it repeats the desired results, over and over, with little deviation in quality. When the individual parts inside the machine begin to fail, the repetition of desired results begins to fail. Some consider maintenance vital, and proactively fix or replace components to preserve precision. Some use duct tape and a magic marker to mask results. Some use bonus miles to apologize for rude flight attendants. Some just get them in the door.

If your dealership truly wants to be successful on the Internet, it should stop focusing on the final destination or the end product, and instead focus on what it takes to get there. If you're thinking in terms of machines, think about all of the actions it takes to create a perfect widget. Think of all of the precise measurements, the wear and tear on tooling, and the sequence of inputs workers have to make. If everything falls within spec, you have successful results day-in and day-out.

If you're thinking in terms of air travel, think about a free entrance to the Platinum Club. Then, think about a free upgrade to first class, an on-time departure, and an early arrival. When you deboard the plane, the senior pilot then offers you a sincere thanks, and a firm handshake. Think about everything going better than expected. As a passenger, everything went the way you wanted it. For once,  it's you who gets to chalk up the W.

It occurs to me regularly that many times we are rewarded in the life for things that we may or may not deserve. We slip into a close parking spot after someone just drove by it. We get pulled over for speeding and avoid a ticket. We use gambling winnings to pay down debt. In many situations we can do everything wrong, but in the end, we still receive a reward for our actions.

I equate this activity to the way airlines treat air travel. When you boil it down, the airline's job in the equation is to get you to a destination (it doesn't have to even be the one on your ticket), alive and unscathed. It doesn't matter when you get there, or even how you get there. Wherever "there" may be, if you make it, the airline chalks up a W.

What happens to you, personally, physically, or emotionally, doesn't really matter in the equation. If you have to wait three hours longer than intended to board the plane, it doesn't matter. If they run out of water on the flight, it doesn't matter. If your connection is cancelled, requiring a day or more of layover, it doesn't matter. If your luggage is lost, it doesn't matter. If you have a nervous breakdown on the flight, as long as you don't appear to be a threat, it doesn't matter. As long as the plane takes off and touches down without disintegrating in the process, the airline chalks up a W. The passenger chalks up an L.

This same scenario, albeit less dramatic, takes places every day at car dealerships around the nation. Despite dropping the ball repeatedly throughout the entire sales process, if a vehicle (any vehicle) rolls over the curb, it's a W. Like the airline passenger, it doesn't matter how the customer was treated, how many members of the staff they had to talk to, how much money was lost throughout negotiation, how many "promises" had to be made throughout hours of back-and-forth, if a transaction was made, sales people are slapping high-fives and exchanging back pats.

I refer to this is as "just get 'em in" syndrome. By the simple act of convincing a potential client to come down to the dealership, if the collective effort of the dealership sells them a car, it is somehow a victory, no matter the pretenses. "Just get 'em in" syndrome has been stunting the growth of Internet operations since day one.

For many, the initial draw of the Internet side of the business is the precision of the numbers, and the perceived scalability of operations. Unlike walk-in traffic, demand can be predicted, and even supplemented if need be, to maintain a relatively steady stream of interested parties. Advertising sources are plentiful, and direct actions can be attributed to impressions. Every month's activities can be broken down and analyzed to look for deviations in patterns. It has always been imagined to be a sales machine.

If an Internet sales strategy is executed properly, it should act as a sales machine. However, with all of the capabilities the Internet has to augment any dealer's business, like a machine, it's only as precise as the quality of its components. If a machine is working properly, it repeats the desired results, over and over, with little deviation in quality. When the individual parts inside the machine begin to fail, the repetition of desired results begins to fail. Some consider maintenance vital, and proactively fix or replace components to preserve precision. Some use duct tape and a magic marker to mask results. Some use bonus miles to apologize for rude flight attendants. Some just get them in the door.

If your dealership truly wants to be successful on the Internet, it should stop focusing on the final destination or the end product, and instead focus on what it takes to get there. If you're thinking in terms of machines, think about all of the actions it takes to create a perfect widget. Think of all of the precise measurements, the wear and tear on tooling, and the sequence of inputs workers have to make. If everything falls within spec, you have successful results day-in and day-out.

If you're thinking in terms of air travel, think about a free entrance to the Platinum Club. Then, think about a free upgrade to first class, an on-time departure, and an early arrival. When you deboard the plane, the senior pilot then offers you a sincere thanks, and a firm handshake. Think about everything going better than expected. As a passenger, everything went the way you wanted it. For once,  it's you who gets to chalk up the W.

How often is it that your non-automotive friends want to do something related to your automotive career? Besides helping take a few layers of rubber off a new Camaro SS, probably not

that often. Needless to say, I was pleasantly surprised when some of my non-automotive friends enthusiastically asked me about going to the Driving Sales Executive Summit. That’s right: the same folks that silently plead for me to shut up about the car business actually want to attend a conference for the car business.

Despite the fact that this will read like a commercial, it’s not intended to. The fact of the matter is that I support any retail automotive event that seeks to help dealer personnel become better at what they do. While some events cover the basics, and others seek to introduce new solutions, DSES always offers a glimpse of the future. Moreover, it seems to take into account the consumers’ angle. Since I’m pushing a decade in the car business, and my experience is 99.9% digital, I don’t like being stuck in the echo-chamber. It’s one of the few automotive conferences that get me excited (and oddly enough, doesn’t have a military theme).

What makes it exciting? Two words: thought leaders. While other conferences take pride in featuring automotive legends, DSES consistently features up-and-comers from the business community at large. Although some may call it highbrow, it’s a place where you might get social media advice from someone with 900,000 followers versus someone with 900 followers. You might get business advice from leading business school faculty versus someone who inherited a turnkey operation. You might get technology advice from those who work in Silicon Valley versus those…who are, um…really good sales people. It offers the perspective of business professionals speaking about automotive versus automotive professionals speaking about business.

As you start to plan the fall conference season, and you are forced to pick & choose, evaluate what you need to get better at. Do you need to get a broad spectrum of basic concepts? Do you need solutions that can be implemented today? Do you need to evaluate new tools? Do you need to learn more about changing consumer habits? Do yourself a favor, and evaluate the speakers and their content before you decide which conference to choose from. Better yet, ask your non-retail-automotive friends (I know you have a few) who would they rather see. After all, you are not selling cars to car salespeople: You're selling cars to real people.

Post script: I have to give a shout-out to the folks at the OTHER conference for cajoling Erik Qualman into being the keynote speaker. Since you are probably like me, and will be attending both conferences, you'll get to see Gary Vaynerchuk, Aaron Strout, Jason Falls, and Erik Qualman speak (along with the usual suspects) in the same week! Who needs SXSW?!

How often is it that your non-automotive friends want to do something related to your automotive career? Besides helping take a few layers of rubber off a new Camaro SS, probably not

that often. Needless to say, I was pleasantly surprised when some of my non-automotive friends enthusiastically asked me about going to the Driving Sales Executive Summit. That’s right: the same folks that silently plead for me to shut up about the car business actually want to attend a conference for the car business.

Despite the fact that this will read like a commercial, it’s not intended to. The fact of the matter is that I support any retail automotive event that seeks to help dealer personnel become better at what they do. While some events cover the basics, and others seek to introduce new solutions, DSES always offers a glimpse of the future. Moreover, it seems to take into account the consumers’ angle. Since I’m pushing a decade in the car business, and my experience is 99.9% digital, I don’t like being stuck in the echo-chamber. It’s one of the few automotive conferences that get me excited (and oddly enough, doesn’t have a military theme).

What makes it exciting? Two words: thought leaders. While other conferences take pride in featuring automotive legends, DSES consistently features up-and-comers from the business community at large. Although some may call it highbrow, it’s a place where you might get social media advice from someone with 900,000 followers versus someone with 900 followers. You might get business advice from leading business school faculty versus someone who inherited a turnkey operation. You might get technology advice from those who work in Silicon Valley versus those…who are, um…really good sales people. It offers the perspective of business professionals speaking about automotive versus automotive professionals speaking about business.

As you start to plan the fall conference season, and you are forced to pick & choose, evaluate what you need to get better at. Do you need to get a broad spectrum of basic concepts? Do you need solutions that can be implemented today? Do you need to evaluate new tools? Do you need to learn more about changing consumer habits? Do yourself a favor, and evaluate the speakers and their content before you decide which conference to choose from. Better yet, ask your non-retail-automotive friends (I know you have a few) who would they rather see. After all, you are not selling cars to car salespeople: You're selling cars to real people.

Post script: I have to give a shout-out to the folks at the OTHER conference for cajoling Erik Qualman into being the keynote speaker. Since you are probably like me, and will be attending both conferences, you'll get to see Gary Vaynerchuk, Aaron Strout, Jason Falls, and Erik Qualman speak (along with the usual suspects) in the same week! Who needs SXSW?!

Let’s say that you’ve had a persistent cough for two weeks, but haven’t had time to go to the doctor. You finally break down, and go to urgent care one night because you’re not getting any better. After waiting four hours, you finally get seen by a guy in his early twenties with acne still on his forehead. After going through some cursory checkups, he tells you that you have syphilis. He hands you a prescription slip with someone else's name on it, and wishes you well. Given that you haven’t been to Bangkok lately, and that you’ve never cheated on your spouse in the thirteen years of your marriage, you decide that maybe you ought to get a second opinion.

If you’ve read some of our recent blog posts, you probably know that Joe Webb and I have gone off a bit on those who are new to consulting. Trust me when I say it’s not meant to personally attack anyone. Unlike the medical world, there is no certification, title, or otherwise, to indicate one’s level of expertise. In fact, there is no state licensing to make sure that you are sound to practice. There is no governing body who administers examinations, or confers expertise. Instead, we have resumes and word of mouth. That’s it folks.

Many of us in the dealer, consulting, and vendor world have spent a tremendous amount of time educating ourselves. Besides the obvious attendance at retail auto conferences, we sit in on webinars, read books, and some of us even take classes. While some were educated at the school of hard knocks, others learned (and survived) in active combat, and still others have excelled in postsecondary education. Because all we have to rely on is resumes and word of mouth, there is no way to distinguish those of us who have dedicated ourselves to mastering our craft, and those who haven’t. More specifically, there is no way to distinguish between those who are in it for a quick buck, and those who are in it because they care about the condition of retail auto.

Because there is no way to formally differentiate between the practicing experts and the self-proclaimed experts, the dealer loses. The dealer loses on beta-quality technology sold by a good salesperson. The dealer loses on vendor-driven training administered by people who have never sold a car before. Most of all dealers lose money on (one nefarious consultant after another) consultant who have nothing to offer other than their level of expertise. If the dealer loses, then everyone loses.

This is probably the same reason why so many vocations have adopted formal licensing. Think about all the professions that require passing an examination to practice. Everyone from physicians and attorneys to hairdressers and tattoo artists have to pass at least one administered exam. Why? Because someone who did not care about their practice (or reputation) swindled someone out of money, gave someone septicemia, burnt someone’s scalp, or gave some unsuspecting schmuck syphilis. Organizations were born to make sure you didn’t eat rancid meat, get electrocuted by your lamp, or use snake oil as a cure. Most commonly these organizations, laws, or entities evolve to make sure the consumer is protected.

As I commonly posit, why should we be any different? Why aren’t we working harder to create a governing body to allow those who want to become certified as experts take an examination to do so? I know individuals have tried to do so in the past, however this is bigger than one person. It’s time that we put our egos aside, and work together towards something for the greater good. I know there are many true professionals out there who would like to demonstrate their knowledge. I know many more who would seek the protection of an umbrella organization. We need to give them the opportunity to do so.

I’m not beginning to say that I have all the answers. What I can say is that if this organization is going to exist, it can’t be a club (the last thing we need is another Good ‘Ole Boy Network). It can’t be an offshoot of an existing organization, rooted in the traditional ways (old habits die hard). It can’t be formally sponsored (it’s already too hard to cut through the vendor noise). It can’t be easy to join (take a look at the requirements from the Project Management Institute or the CFA Institute). It can’t be governed by a few, because nobody has all of the answers.

The next time someone approaches you about how to improve your business, think of all the licensed and certified professionals you deal with on a regular basis. Think about the police officers you know, the teachers in your kids’ classrooms, the EMT that gave you CPR training, and the electrician who wired your garage. Think of all of the training they went through, and the continuing education they’ll have to go through. Then ask yourself: Don’t I deserve the same?

Let’s say that you’ve had a persistent cough for two weeks, but haven’t had time to go to the doctor. You finally break down, and go to urgent care one night because you’re not getting any better. After waiting four hours, you finally get seen by a guy in his early twenties with acne still on his forehead. After going through some cursory checkups, he tells you that you have syphilis. He hands you a prescription slip with someone else's name on it, and wishes you well. Given that you haven’t been to Bangkok lately, and that you’ve never cheated on your spouse in the thirteen years of your marriage, you decide that maybe you ought to get a second opinion.

If you’ve read some of our recent blog posts, you probably know that Joe Webb and I have gone off a bit on those who are new to consulting. Trust me when I say it’s not meant to personally attack anyone. Unlike the medical world, there is no certification, title, or otherwise, to indicate one’s level of expertise. In fact, there is no state licensing to make sure that you are sound to practice. There is no governing body who administers examinations, or confers expertise. Instead, we have resumes and word of mouth. That’s it folks.

Many of us in the dealer, consulting, and vendor world have spent a tremendous amount of time educating ourselves. Besides the obvious attendance at retail auto conferences, we sit in on webinars, read books, and some of us even take classes. While some were educated at the school of hard knocks, others learned (and survived) in active combat, and still others have excelled in postsecondary education. Because all we have to rely on is resumes and word of mouth, there is no way to distinguish those of us who have dedicated ourselves to mastering our craft, and those who haven’t. More specifically, there is no way to distinguish between those who are in it for a quick buck, and those who are in it because they care about the condition of retail auto.

Because there is no way to formally differentiate between the practicing experts and the self-proclaimed experts, the dealer loses. The dealer loses on beta-quality technology sold by a good salesperson. The dealer loses on vendor-driven training administered by people who have never sold a car before. Most of all dealers lose money on (one nefarious consultant after another) consultant who have nothing to offer other than their level of expertise. If the dealer loses, then everyone loses.

This is probably the same reason why so many vocations have adopted formal licensing. Think about all the professions that require passing an examination to practice. Everyone from physicians and attorneys to hairdressers and tattoo artists have to pass at least one administered exam. Why? Because someone who did not care about their practice (or reputation) swindled someone out of money, gave someone septicemia, burnt someone’s scalp, or gave some unsuspecting schmuck syphilis. Organizations were born to make sure you didn’t eat rancid meat, get electrocuted by your lamp, or use snake oil as a cure. Most commonly these organizations, laws, or entities evolve to make sure the consumer is protected.

As I commonly posit, why should we be any different? Why aren’t we working harder to create a governing body to allow those who want to become certified as experts take an examination to do so? I know individuals have tried to do so in the past, however this is bigger than one person. It’s time that we put our egos aside, and work together towards something for the greater good. I know there are many true professionals out there who would like to demonstrate their knowledge. I know many more who would seek the protection of an umbrella organization. We need to give them the opportunity to do so.

I’m not beginning to say that I have all the answers. What I can say is that if this organization is going to exist, it can’t be a club (the last thing we need is another Good ‘Ole Boy Network). It can’t be an offshoot of an existing organization, rooted in the traditional ways (old habits die hard). It can’t be formally sponsored (it’s already too hard to cut through the vendor noise). It can’t be easy to join (take a look at the requirements from the Project Management Institute or the CFA Institute). It can’t be governed by a few, because nobody has all of the answers.

The next time someone approaches you about how to improve your business, think of all the licensed and certified professionals you deal with on a regular basis. Think about the police officers you know, the teachers in your kids’ classrooms, the EMT that gave you CPR training, and the electrician who wired your garage. Think of all of the training they went through, and the continuing education they’ll have to go through. Then ask yourself: Don’t I deserve the same?