Sorry, but I have to RANT a bit.  I just read an article by a VC who totally misunderstands the issues our industry is facing. As usual, I experienced the run of emotions when I read the post, but ended up somewhat fired up.  People just dont get it.

I do typically start out intrigued when I see successful business people criticize our industry and offer solutions. I believe we would be wise to look for outside influence in these times of reinvention. Then I chuckle a bit because these brilliant people are often in left field as to our industry's struggles.  This particular article argues the wrong reasons why Steve jobs could be the savior of the industry.  I contemplate the proposed solutions, fear sets in, then anger becasue this type of ignorance could really do some great damage.  There is a good chance congressional leaders and the Obama task force think the same way, or be influenced by these other wise successful people, but in the end if they greatly misunderstand our industry it increases our odds of having a lunatic driver steering the re-engineering of our industry. 

Our domestic industry is in a short term slump that people are mistaking as the real pain of the industry. We are in an economic downturn, (yes an unprecedented one) and thus sales are lower and capital is tighter than usual.  However lower sales numbers and capital availability are problems not unique to the Detroit 3, they are relative across the board for domestic and import companies.  That argument is a short term problem we face, but not the underlying cause of our frailty.  I believe today's sales numbers are an acute pain disguising the chronic business model and cost structure problems we have.  Most often people argue that the domestics don't build cars that people want to buy; this is a horribly short sighted argument.  If people didnt want to by the domestic products, why do they sell?  The question should be why can Honda be profitable and not GM when GM outsells Honda hands down?  The answer is simple.  Honda's cost structures and business models are in line with their business strategy.  If the nations sales numbers would climb back up to 15 or 16 million today the domestics would still be in hot water because they are not competitive for the long run.

To alter their cost structures they will have to:

a) Renegotiate with the UAW and reduce/eliminate legacy costs and put the current costs in line with the market.  They are carrying too much weight and it looks like negotiations are not moving along too well meaning CH 11 is very likely on the horizon.

b) There are too many dealers.  GM and Toyota sell very similar volumes of cars.  However GM does it with about 6500 dealers, Toyota does it with less than 1500 dealers.  It costs money to service those extra 5000 dealerships, especially considering they do so with duplicate products.

Our industry is seriously bloated with overcapacity, the invisible hand of the free markets will trim that. The situation we dealers face is not pretty.  I come from a long family legacy of car dealers so it hurts me at the core to say it, but the facts speak for themselves.The domestic auto industry is antiquated and needs to take two steps back so it can take three steps forward.  It will do so with less dealers.

The manufacturers DON'T need all new product engineering.  They need new manufacturing and distribution models.  That is how they will reinvent so that we can stay ahead.  Our industry has some breaking down to do so that we can rebuild.

Many dealerships and dealership employees are fighting for survival in a very literal sense.  Dont be a casuality of the restructuring.  Each dealer should have his store in order.  Each professional should be getting their house in order.  You need to be learning new disciplines, honing old skills, and networking all you can.  Our industry will NOT go away, but it will change and contract. 

Those with the innovative skills and the connectivity to put them to work have a great opportunity as the industry evolves through these exciting, yet scary times.  Those resting on their laurels may fall victim to the restructuring of our industry.  I hope the Govt can steer the restructuring ship so as to avoid a huge domino effect of collapsing companies. Regardless of how it goes down, work to get ahead of the game now and you will be fine in the long run.

Social Media Marketing is a great way for companies to engage and energize their audience.  Dealerships and other companies are moving to these mediums to extend their marketing.  While the benifits can be big, there are some very common mistakes that businesses so regularly made it’s almost embarrassing to admit.  Commiting these errors could cause a disaster for your brand that will take a while to repair.

Here are some mistakes to avoid:

Mistake # 1.   Interrupting and shouting.

Social Media Marketing is about connecting and creating conversations around your brand or areas of expertise.  However, marketing professionals have been trained to grab the attention of the consumer and insert their message inside the short moment that they have captured. This does not work on social mediums.   I liken this to sitting around the coffee table talking with friends and interruping with your company's call to action at every pause in conversation.

Constant "call to actions" would be rude in a physical conversation and are considered interrupting and shouting in a social media setting.  Everyone that has had dinner with a sales person who does not stop pitching their product knows how annoying this can be.  The good news is that people are on social mediums because they want to be involved and they willfully give you their attention, just don’t abuse it by shouting back or you will turn everyone away like the annoying sales person.

Mistake # 2.    Using your PR/Corporate voice.  

As an extension to point #1, when you converse with friends around a coffee table you so with YOUR personality.  This is not a time for PR style language, or corporate speak.  When talking with others on social mediums use vocabulary and tone like you do in person, it should NOT feel like your PR manager is speaking through you.  A general rule of thumb: If you would say it over lunch with an associate, the language is ok.  If your statement could be printed on a brochure than most likely it is too unfamiliar and will not resonate well with your audience.  People will avoid you if you talk like a brochure.

Mistake # 3.    Not being a good citizen.

This rule is simple, but so often over looked!  You must give before you can take.  You give by participating and sharing your knowledge.  Be a good citizen by answering questions, commenting posts or rating contents to make the community a better place.  Those who are good citizens in the communities in which they participate always receive the greatest return on their participation.

Often the first step a company makes when getting involved in a community is to leave a response like this, “We have a solution to that question, see it here <link>.”

While this activity will not get blocked on most networks, it may as well be! That is one of the fastest ways to get people to ignore you.  In the physical world, sales people have always been trained that until they build value, they have no right to ask for the sale.   The same is true on social media. Being a good citizen builds your reputation and through that you will earn the right to present a call to action.  Be a good citizen and give before you try to receive.

Mistake # 4    Keeping too much control

Companies like control.  Dealerships have had control for decades but the Internet, and now the social web, has eroded that control. Don’t worry!  This is not the end of business, as you know it.  It just means you have to be a bit more open to succeed in the social, user-generated environment.

Companies should give guidelines to their employees and then encourage them to participate as actively as possible in the communities relevant to your brand.  If you offer good products and are genuinely concerned about serving your customers with value, then you have nothing to fear.  No, not every interaction on social mediums is positive, but neither are they in the physical world that you have already succeeded in! So what are you so worried about?  Your employees (if given the tools,) and your current customers (if engaged properly) will become your greatest ambassadors if you allow them to.  Your message will spread faster, wider and cheaper than ever before.  This requires a more open policy than most companies are use to, but isn’t this why your company is involved in social media in the first place, to extend your brand?  Let your brand grow by allowing your army of greatest enthusiasts spread your message.  You will not succeed without being more open.

Mistake # 5.    Inconsistent participation.

Lastly, if you were to join two customers at the coffee table who were talking about your brand, and you only said one sentence then remained silent through the rest of the conversation, how effective would your communications be?  The same is true on social media.  Engagement requires constant participation or the conversation will pass you by.  Set realistic goals, be involved daily or weekly and stick to the schedule.  Most communities have ways to be alerted and reminded of conversations that you should be involved in.  Staying involved can be a simple few minutes a day, but disappearing when a conversation is about you is not a good way to engage your audience.

Mistake #6  Being too afraid to try.

Most of you are probably reading and thinking, "this is common sense."  I completely agree, social media engagement is common sense!  If you have good “in-person” social skill, then social media marketing will be natural for you, but you have to try.  One this is ceratin, sitting on the sidelines will not make any progress!  Get involved, leave a few comments and enjoy yourself.  Most companies screw it up when they put their "marketing" hats on and look at the mediums as completely transactional or over analyze every comment they leave.  Experience has proven that transactions happen, brands grow and your message will spread best when you treat "engaging your market on social media" as you would if you ran into a customer on the street.

Be yourself, be helpful and be active!  With that, there are many experts out there reading this.  What are some other common mistakes that should be added to the list?

At the conclusion of the convention, a few friends and I were having lunch and discussing the show highlights. We talked about the important stuff, like the coolest new product release; and we talked about the not so important stuff, like the parties.  That conversation led to the creation of the first annual DrivingSales “Attendee Choice Awards”  where we will nominate, and let the users add their own thoughts, to the most memorable moments of the Convention.

The awards are 100% scientifically false.  There is no rhyme or reason here, just fun memories. Add your own, disagree with ours or just simply smile as you read the list: (Naturally you know this is simply a bunch of opinion, and is in NO WAY affiliated with the convnetion or the people who put it on.)

Here it goes:

Best face-off between two vendors:  vAuto v.s. First Look  - They were literally 10 feet across the walkway, you could stand at one booth and hear the other’s pitch!  (and we thought only GM dealers dealt with close competition like that!)

Coolest new product: IzmoIndy – It is actually in alpha, but it’s still worth a mention.  It’s a platform to create as many SEO Friendly websites as you want with a simple editor anyone can use!  No need for programming expertise, or a vendor to do make the changes... more on this later.

The “Are you serious” booth:  Full size custom van conversions?  I thought $4 gas (and the consumer trends this last decade) killed that market… guess not. You learn something new every day. 

Best use of our tax dollars:  GMAC Booth!  -Self-explanatory.

Best Event location:  Tie: OneCommand at the Center of Bourbon Street -or –DealerTrack at the Aquarium,(Charlie called it  “the freshest sushi bar in town.”)  DealerTrack was bigger, BUT OneCommand had Hammer there.  How often do you get to dance with Hammer?

Wildest Executive:  <censored>  If you want the dirt,  I'd have to send you my paypal account.

Favorite Speaker:  Jared Hamilton - Leveraging the Social Web. Build Your Business; Grow Your Brand.  (Sorry Jim, had to nominate myself.  However I will readily admit Ziegler certainly drew a bigger crowd than me… clearly Im biased.)

Busiest Booth: DealerSocket  - Every time I walked by the seats were full and they were doing demos.  They even had an ultimate fighter standing guard who couldnt keep the dealers out!

Iron Man Winner, ie Non stop show go-er - Work all day & Party all night :  Im pleading the 5th on this one, need user nominations.  Add your own below.

Coolest Car on Display:  The Saleen Charger in the Chrysler booth.  It was BEAUTIFUL!!  It even caught the eye of Hammer, the famous rapper -  "Cant touch this!"

Most oddly innovative Vendor:  The people charging for teeth whitening at the center of the convention.  They must have made a fortune.  Strange but creative, it seemed to work!  (every sales person needs a good first impression, pearly whites help.)

Best Hair:  Charlie Vogelheim – Any disputes?

Best Billy Idol/Bono impersonation:  Andrew Price at the Bourbon St Blues Co. 

Best Flashback:  Starship – they played at the Aspen Party, “We built this city on ROOOCK and ROOOOOOOOOLLLL!”

Most Talked About M&A Activity:  DealerTrack purchasing AAX from JM Solutions, announcement came just before the convention begam, lots of talk about that.

 
Biggest smiles/happiest team: Dealer.com – After 10 years of hard work and helping thousands of dealers… these guys deserve to smile! They have a great opportunity now with Canadian dealers.

Strongest Dealer Focus For 2009: 

1: Web Marketing.  Those with solutions proven to cut costs and increase sales through digital mediums were clearly the winners at this year’s show, as they should be.

2: Fixed Operations were also a big buzz.  We are going to sell 5 million less vehicles this year, that means the cars on the road are aging and need more servicing presenting a HUGE opportunity for dealers.

All in all, the show was leaner, but still worthwhile for those there with a focus to get things done.  Dealers are looking for solutions and this industry will come back strong after this economic storm blows over.  There were fewer crowds to fight and some GREAT solutions being presented.  Feel free to add your own “memorable moments” to the awards through the comments. See you next year!

 President Bush and President Clinton both spoke today as part of the “main event” for the convention.  Personally I was unable to attend, which was the only disappointment for me this entire convention.  From what I heard President HW Bush was hilarious. President Clinton then got up and said something to the effect of, “I couldn’t get away telling the jokes he can.  Could you imagine if I said some of the things he did??”  Meaning Bush must have said something good… and I missed it.

I didn’t realize how good of a relationship these two prior presidents have, I guess they work together quite a bit.  It’s a rather elite club, to be one of 44 men in history to hold the post of  “The worlds most powerful person.”  It’s also a good example to those of us in the car business about sportsmanship.  As President Bush said about President Clinton, “He beat me like a drum, but we can still be good friends.”

Other than the Presidents speaking, and all the security buzzing around outside the convention hall (including the bomb sniffing dogs,) it was quite a regular convention day.  I was surprised with my workshop attendance.  I spoke at 8:30 am and I was not expecting many people to show after a long night of partying. However, that was not the case and the audience was very engaged with lots of questions.  I was very busy this day with on and off site meetings, most very productive but I wont bore you with the details other than to say I did spent time talking with Phil Zillinger, Jim Zigler and Gary May, some loyal DrivingSales community members.

Bart and I had a more dinner meetings and then later met back up with Gilbert Chaves, Joe Webb and Kim Clouse.  Joe has written another funny script about internet sales and wanted me to play a part in it.  We were all laughing and having a good time as we filmed.  They are going to edit and use it at their digital dealer presentation then we will post it to DrivingSales.  It features Ralph Paglia, Kim Clouse and myself; Ill let Joe tell you more details.  Until then you will have to wait in suspense for my Oscar winning performance!

The final day was SLOW, most people had gone home and the vendors were packing up.  Despite that, I had some very productvie meetings.  Overall I would say those that didnt attend the convention this year missed out on some great opportuities.  It was certainly less crowded, vendors were willing to bargan, there was a solid social and networking atmosphere.  In all those that came were there for a reason, I just hope we all have a better economic climate next year in Orlando to attract more dealers.  This was a benificial show, despite the small crowd, Id love to hear your thoughts or feelings, especially if they are different than mine.  More on the convention soon... we have a few things we purposely left out.
 

As those of you hear can attest, yesterday was another rock solid day of networking and getting things done, not to mention the party scene really picked up last night with some solid events!

I spoke again yesterday, went over my time allotment because we had lots of good questions.

Met some DrivingSales community members, it was great to shake everyone’s hand and get your impressions, feedback and support for some future items.  Steve, we will all be in touch soon!  Thanks!

While on the floor for a few hours I spent some time with the boys from eBay Motors.  Those of you who know Clayton know is he is always a hoot to be around, I’m stoked because he has promised some participation and knowledge from his world at eBay to help the dealers here on DrivingSales... stay tuned.  For those of you who don’t know him, he is a great speaker and knows his stuff.  He is heading up 100 workshops this year in cities across the country.  Ill be attending when he is in my area (assuming he will let me in!)

My most interesting connection of the day was that the Nada Chairman for Southern France invited me to dinner.  It was interesting for me since I lived in France, about 15 minutes away from where he lives there for 2 years.  We spoke some in French (a treat for me) and he explained how it is to be a dealer in France.  He owns several Audi dealerships there; they have a 5-month wait to get their product.  How'd that be?  He is also quite the tech entrepreneur with other deals going on the side.  To top off the conversation we had some amazing food!

They day flew by as I had several meetings on the floor.  Dealersocket had an ultimate fighter in their booth.  He had fought the night before, I thought it would be funny to take a picture with him with me having him in a headlock but as I got close I decided it wasn’t a good Idea to ask if he was up for it.  :-)  Ill tip my hat to any man who makes his living crawling in a cage and pounding someone else's brains out.  Ill stick to the car business. Another good one… GMAC has a booth.  Its good to know our tax dollars were put to good use.  ☺

On to the evening:

OneCommand threw a great balcony party at the center of Burbon Street.  Hammer (MC Hammer) was there dancing away.  He and I we were neighbors when I was a kid, before he went BK and left the music industry.  The OneCommand event was a big hit, I also spoke with Jeff Kershner of Dealerrefresh and Todd Smith of Activengage, among others, there for a while.  Jeff and I have never really spoken much before but I really respect what he has done with his blog, so it was fun to get to know him a bit.  He does a great job with not just with his blog, but also knows his stuff with Internet departments (he oversees the internet departments for MileOne automotive, one of the most top dealer groups when it comes to web marketing.) 

We left there and went to the HUGE DealerTrack party; they were celebrating the purchase of AAX at the aquarium, it made for an interesting venue for a party.  I saw Shaun Rains and had a chance to speak with him for a bit.  We know each other  from digital dealer conventions, if you havnt had a chance to hear him speak make it a point to do so.  He is entertaining to listen to and continues to be one of the most popular consultants.

After DealerTrack Bart and I headed to the Aspen party…  I don’t know if it was the wildest by design, or because of the time of night… but wild it was.  Not to mention they had Starship playing live.
“We Built this city on Rock and Rooooooll”  (Im not fan, but it was fun to see, great party aspen!)

PS Ive been running so hard today, I have not had time to post this yet.  Tomorrow morning ill post the review of today.  For now we are headed out to dinner...

Its the morning of Day 2 of the convention, I actually begin my next workshop in just a few minutes but wanted to update everyone on how the first day was...  BUSY!

The day flew by, Bart and I started the day wandering the floor with Rafi Hamid and saying hello to friends.  The big buzz of the morning was that JM Solutions sold off AAX and affiliated companies .  I dont know the details of the transaction, but rumor had it the JM employees found out on the way here.  The booths are seperate, but there is a sign up notifying people of the purchase.

Another interesting note, the vAuto booth and First Look booth are all of 10 feet away from each other on the floor.  Its funny standing at the vAuto booth listening to First Look Demoing their pricing tool.  Market based pricing is hot and your store needs to be invovled. If you have experience with either (or a competitor's product) lets us know your review of them in the Vendor Rating System.  Note: this category is not live yet, it is accepting reveiws but we have not contacted all the vendors yet to let them know they are being reveiwed.  It will open up late next week.

There was some discussion about the recent partnering of Dealer.com and AutoTrader.ca (no this is not Autotrader.com... completly different company.)  AutoTrader.ca gave Dealer.com $35 million for a 20% stake in the company.  The big news here is the deal gives Dealer.com access to the 5,000 dealers that AutoTrader.ca serves in Canada...  Interesting.  Those guys at Dealer.com just announced a new mobile platform for dealers yesterday too. They have some great momenitum and have incredible reviews in the vendor ratings system... Clearly they have good things going their way.

I spoke for the first time at the Nada convention.  (Ive participated in the Digital Dealer Conferences many times)  I had a good time speaking and had lots of questions from dealers about the topic.  (I spoke on using social technologies to brand your dealership)

The evening was fun filled, as usual.  I spent some time in the hospitality suite at OneCommand, I had dinner with Ralph Paglia, Phil Zillinger, Jody Devere and the team from sister technologies and everycarlisted.com.  Its was a good dinner, good conversation and met some great new people.  Im excited to see a demo of the sister technologies video tool for dealers, it sounds really cool.

Lastly I shook hands with some friends at Cobalt in their suite then headed over to another hotel and ran into some execs from Izmo.  Izmo has always been one of the most innovative companies in the industry and I spent some time with Dennis Colome (a long time friend) along with Sydney and Mariam.  Sydney is the creator of Add.on.Auto, which Izmo purchased and ramping up.  Its a really cool tool to help dealership sell accessories.  With sales of vehicles down so much, we have to maximize profits any which way we can... I personally belive fixed ops and accessory opportunities are where the money is at today.  Mariam was great to talk to, I especially appreciated her view because she comes from outside the industry with a fresh perspecitve.  She is new at Izmo but I am convinced she is  taking her outside perspective and will apply it in killer ways... expect some coll stuff coming from Izmo under her marketing watch.  She and Sydney both have good things going on.

All in all, my feet hurt (as usual at the convention) but I saw some good old friends that I hadnt seen in a while and met some impressive new folks.  There are some brilliant people inside our industry that never cease to amaze me. 

The Internet has transformed from a static network of electronic brochures, where sites published information for users to consume, to a network of dynamic platforms, where users share and publish information for others to see.  Wikipedia has over taken Encyclopedia Britannica.  Google has overtaken the yellow pages and the masses are publishing more information on blogs than professional journalists are on syndicated news portals. (This is really nothing new to most DrivingSales participants, as you are a perfect example of the transition web from just reading information to publishing and sharing your knowledge on a platform like DrivingSales.com)

What effect will this transformation have on your dealership?  Does your dealership’s web strategy need to evolve inside this environment?  What are the most prominent tools and technology your dealerships need to leverage to succeed?

Today, I believe the most important technologies dealers need to be familiar with in managing their online presesance are:

• Blogs (wordpress, blogger.com, twitter, etc)
• Wikis (wikipedia, wikianswers, etc)
• Social Networks (Facebook, Linkedin, DrivingSales etc)
• Social Media (Digg, Del.icio.us, etc)
• Video (youtube, vimeo, hulu)
• User Reviews (Yelp, Dealerrater, Carfolks, edmunds, etc)

Ill be speaking at the Nada convention to provide and intorduction to these tools and address the questions above and provide a road map for dealers to use in 2009.  Ill be presenting a case study on the progress of Dell computers as they have evolved from a company avoiding the social web to one of the best adopters in the world at using social tools to benefit their business.  We will extrapolate a variety of action items for auto industry companies who are interested in the new wave called “social marketing" and address placing these social initatives inside your current marketing structure.

My workshops are Saturday, Sunday and Monday:

Saturday, January 24  11:00 a.m.        Room:   222
Sunday, January 25 11:00 a.m.           Room:   203-205
Monday, January 26  8:30 a.m.           Room:  203-205

I plan to see many of the DrivingSales community members there and hope you will swing by and say Hi.  If you cannot make it to New Orleans for the convention, most of the workshops are available from the Nada and you can always connect here on DrivingSales.  Let me know if you are coming, hope to see you there!
 

This is not 1996 anymore. It's 2009 and we have some exciting trends taking place in our industry; its time to come out of the cave and participate in these exciting opportunities!  

What’s Out: Internet Departments

What’s In: Teaching your entire staff, desk included, how to handle Internet shoppers

The Internet is NOT a niche market anymore.  Since over 80% of your customers are using the web to purchase cars, shouldn't at least that much of your staff be prepared to handle the demand? 

What’s Out: CRM as a technology

What’s In: CRM as a management tool for your entire dealership

In today’s market follow up is imperative, especially with Internet marketing.  We reach consumers much earlier in the buying cycle, requiring much more robust follow up. 
(Check out CRM vendor ratings right here.)

What’s Out: Traditional marketing to drive customers to your store

What’s In: Traditional marketing to drive customers to customized landing pages/microsites

IF you are still sold on traditional media (this is opening a whole other can) at least send them to a special micro site or landing page to track and capture what is left of your traditional marketing effectiveness. 

What’s Out: Walled gardens of information

What’s In: Leveraging the collective knowledge of peers to think smarter and faster

Individual trial and error wastes time and money; that’s why it said that “two heads are better than one.”  Someone, somewhere has solved the issue you're facing.  The most progressive professionals in the industry are blogging, commenting, discussing and leaning on their peers nationwide for guidance and ideas to improve upon and implement at their stores. Thousands of successful industry pros have flocked to dealer communities like DrivingSales.com, where they can ask questions, discuss tactics and get creative ideas to be more successful.  Mass collaboration networks have revolutionized the way peers in other industry’s innovate; it's about time it hit the car business! 

What’s Out: Websites that were made to be beautiful.

What’s in: Websites that were made attract traffic and Convert.

Dealers have figured out that a good looking, whiz bang website is not the objective.  Websites that are open to the Search Engines and index well bring in potential customers.  You site must also take visitors and convert them into leads so that your dealership can sell IS the objective.  Stop judging a website by how cool the functionality is, and judge it by the simple equation of  “leads captured”/Site visitors.  That is how a website should be judged.

What’s out: Unprofessional, ALL CAPS LOCKS, misspelled and misaligned emails.

What’s in: Professionally branded l messaging. 

Emails should be short and to the point.  Include a proper signatures and links to more information including video and custom landing pages. Lastly, DON”T YOU KNOW ALL CAPS IS YELLING IN WEB LANGUAGE?  All caps was acceptable in 1996, lots has changed and it is now (12 years later) offensive so its time you caught up with the times.

Lastly a few other things that are IN:

Dealership Chat:  Chat is proving itself at stores across the country to dramatically increase the number of leads a site provides.  Leads = Car Deals and Car Deals = ROI.

Craigslist, and other free online services to list inventory.  Many established companies (Google) and new startups are getting into the space with innovative business models to publish inventory for free and capitalize on upgraded services.  Dealers are taking advantage of these services for gains in incremental traffic and deals to their store.

Creative: (not the verb, the noun)  Beautiful design can dramatically send a visual statement to your customers about your brand.  First impressions set the stage and tone of the relationship. Poor creative is like wearing plad pants, white leather shooes and a fur coat on the used car lot, it doesnt strike positive emotions in your customers.  Get your creative done right.
 

Merry Christmas to the thousands of DrivingSales community members who frequent the community and participate. We wish you all the very best this holiday season!  Ill share my 2 most memorable Christmas in the Car Business.  (Feel free to add your own if you so desire.)

Most memorable Christmas #1:

When I was 10 or so years old, on Christmas day, my father told us kids that he had some work to do and needed to go into the dealership for a few hours.  He offered to bring us, and said since it was Christmas he thought we could have some fun playing in the Jeeps.  We all went down to his Jeep dealership, my 2 brothers, my sister and even some cousins, and to our surprise as we got there he said, “it looks like Santa visited the dealership.”  Inside the showroom, decked out with the real Jeep Wranglers was a Power Wheels Wrangler for each of the younger boys (I was the oldest by 4-5 years)  The Power Wheels were in between the real ones on display like they were for sale and each one had a name on the stock tag.  Everyone got excited and started driving their Jeeps around the show room and I noticed (along with my older cousins) that there was no car for us to drive.

A few minutes passed and we heard a motor racing outside.  We ran out just in time for us to catch my father in a gas powered go cart with a fiberglass stock car body whizzing down the sidewalk towards us from his other dealership two doors down.  He threw out a big Merry Christmas card as he raced by and did a lap around the lot.  We each had a turn racing around the lot.  It was a very memorable Christmas, and led to years of fun on the go cart! 

Most memorable Christmas in the Car Business #2:

Just a few years ago, on Christmas Eve, I was on the desk so the other mgrs could have the day with their families.  (My oldest son was only 2 and my wife was understanding, so I figured the other Mgrs should spend the time with their kids who were much older.)  I had in-laws in town, and some family, so we scheduled dinner at 6.   At the store we planned on working the morning and shutting the doors around 2-3 so the rest of the team could get home and enjoy the holidays.  Well, anyone with any experience in the car business knows as soon as you make plans to get out early… you’ll be stuck with a late deal.
The morning was an average holiday and we sold a few cars, but this particular “repeat guest” showed up at noon and wanted a surprise for his wife.  He had purchased many cars from us before, but all in his company’s name.  He wanted a blue Expedition Eddie Bauer, we didn’t have one in stock.  We quickly found one at the neighboring lot and make a quick trade, checks by mail, and sent the sales person on her way.  We hadn’t even pulled credit, but knew the guest and had to get the car before the other store shut down if we wanted to make the Christmas surprise.  The lot tech went to get the car while we completed the paperwork.  Turns out the guy was personally way over extended, he had great credit, but too much outstanding.  We called banks, sent him for current pay stubs, and worked every angle.  In the end the car arrived, got detailed but there was no way we were going to get anyone at the bank to approve this… they were home for Christmas.

I decided to roll the car, confident the deal would get done (which it did the day after Christmas) The guest went through finance and we did a spot delivery.  The sales person did a full delivery (you have to protect those surveys!) and we finally closed up around 7.30.  By the time I locked up, pulled the gates, hit the lights I wasn’t home until 8:30 long after the big family dinner.  I was so stoked though, it was one of those trophy deals.  When you work for 6-7 hours on a deal, you wont let ANYTHING stand in the way of placing the happy tag on the car and watching the new taillights hit the road.   As the saying goes “Busting bugs and burning gas”

 My in-laws were great about the whole thing, but in the end it would take someone from inside the business to understand the addiction to making sure the deal went down, even on a holiday

For those of you who do not know what the "job bank" program for the UAW is let me give you a crash course:

After heavy layoffs of union workers in the 1970’s, and the threat of automation cutting more factory jobs, the UAW and the big 3 negotiated an agreement.  It was clear that the big 3 would (and should) continue building automated factories where robots completed much of the labor to increase quality and decrease costs; as a result fewer factory workers were needed.  As automation increased, so would the layoffs.  Rather than reward the Big 3 for the ingenuity, and despite the quality enhancements and the cost savings, the UAW demanded that the factory workers still get paid even if they didn’t have a job.  The result of the union negotiation was the "Job Bank."

The job bank is an account, funded by the Big 3 that pays factory workers up to 95% of their prior wages if they have been laid off due to restructuring or automation.  According to the source I read they can receive payments until they either retire or get a job at another factory!  This program guarantees obsolete factory workers pay and has been a weight on the shoulders of the big 3 since the contract was put in pace in the 80’s!

Now, call me crazy, but lets say you are a sales manager making 100k per year and the market drops so the dealer reduces his staff from 3 sales managers to 2.  You are laid off.  Are you entitled to receive 95% of your pay until another dealership agrees to pay you 100 grand?  How about if some software tool came out that did your job so you were no longer needed at the dealership and thus you were laid off.  Would you get $95k until you retire?  No way!  We know that our task is to do our job as best as possible, and if we are ever replaced its up to us to go find other means of making a living.  If you are rewarded (paid) regardless of the job you have, or if you even have a job, than what would be the motivation to get better or to create opportunities?

Isn’t capitalism about the opportunity to create our own destiny?  The ability for the strong to flourish, while the weak rebuild to come back stronger?  The American dream is based on freedom to do what we want to do.  This freedom blesses us with tremendous opportunities, but it comes at a cost. That cost is that another force in our free market may replace us with something better; thus our main task is to constantly transform ourselves into better to keep us on top.  America isn’t about guarantees; it’s about opportunities, and the constant cycle of everyone trying to out do one another is what keeps innovation and our economy moving.

Its sad to see the big 3 under such weight that they cant stand on their own.  Its sad to see what was once designed to protect workers, now be one of the causes bringing down the companies who employ these workers.  I know the UAW has good intentions, and I believe that workers must be treated fairly, but in trying to defy the constraints of the market the UAW has strangled, or assisted in strangling, the golden goose. 

an old but good article on the job bank from Detroit News:  http://www.steveharryforstaterep.org/JOBSarticle.htm