Dealers spend far too much time focused on where the traffic is coming from and not near enough on what is happening with the traffic once we’re in contact. With so much attention focused on digital initiatives, it is no wonder consumers are now talking about a poor customer experience. We focused so much effort on the evolution in marketing that we forgot to keep an eye on the quality of CX.

As sales fluctuate, so do dealers’ advertising budgets. Just 15 years ago, a typical dealer might have a handful of vendors serving them. Today, any walkthrough of your accounts payable department will show that number has grown considerably. Moreover, any walk through a conference exhibit hall and you will find an endless amount of providers also looking to partner with your organization. This has caused us to change the questions we ask ourselves. Where we used to ask how to reach and serve customers better, we turned our attention only to… “Where do I need to spend my money?” This eventually morphed into, “Did I spend my money wisely?”

Over the past decade plus in automotive, these questions forced us to take a close look at the ROI. Were we getting a sensible return on investment? Back in the day, we all had a version of an ROI calculator that we could deduce what providers were allowing us to be profitable, and which were not. (Typically, this was determined by formulas wrote in an Excel sheet featuring stats such as lead count, sales, margin, and cost per sale. Some rang that up against the F&I’s sourcing sheets they did before vehicle delivery).

As leads dried up, providers began calling themselves “advertising sources”, opposed to one that would generate leads. Brilliant. How can they determine if we’re good at not if there is no way for them to see valid data? That’s when attribution models solved the equation. No longer a first point or last touch quandary, but multi-point attribution could pinpoint their basic value. So as dealers we comb through statistics regarding all of the sources that might have influenced a lead, visit, consideration, or sale.

Yet, if Google states the average shopper visits 18 different websites before purchasing a vehicle (out of 100’s available), how might a dealer wrap their head around what percentage of profitability is reliant on each provider? If you can’t direct money to all of the sites they visited, which bear the most fruit? If they visited all, must you give money to all? And as the questions tunnel deeper down the rabbit hole, we’re off in the weeds. We lost sight of the most important aspect of the sale: the customer’s experience.

Whether it be a great phone experience, a poor lead handling experience, a pleasant greeting, the lack of test drive, a great product presentation, or no introduction to a manager, consumers will make up their mind predicated upon how they’re treated; not just what information they gleaned from your website. No amount of money can fix a poor phone, lead, or showroom experience. Dedicating dollars and attention to bringing in traffic rather than handling that traffic professionally is putting the cart before the horse. Anyone who has sold vehicles will tell you much of a consumer’s journey and decision-tree has occurred in advance of their visit, but few will say the shoppers’ minds were fully made up.

One wrong move in your communication (peer-to-peer online or in-person on the showroom) will cost you a sale. At the upcoming DrivingSales Executive Summit in Las Vegas, my great friend Brent Wees of The Next Up and I will show you the attribution markers that are stealing your attention away from the task-based metrics that truly influence a sale. Our session is titled “The Results Are In… And You Are NOT the Father of the Sale”.

Yes, like an in-studio awakening from Maury Povich, it is time we pay attention to the elements that contributed to a profitable customer experience. What do you feel influences the customer most?
Your ad budget?
Where your inventory is listed?
Your displayed price?
Your impressions?
Your VDP views?
Your clean website?
Or how you communicate and treat your customers?

We feel the same. And we have the data to prove why it is the more attributable to a sale than a single ad dollar spent. Check us out at the DrivingSales Executive Summit in Las Vegas.

“When you get the customer in, you’ve got to slow them down.” This is a very saying that is meant to allow the salesperson control of a customer in the store. People feel by slowing a shopper down, they are able to make them go through the organization’s road to a sale. That is bad advice. I do not remember a single time I’ve walked into a store and said “I really hope I could speak to someone who would make my path to purchase longer.”

Online shopping has given customers ADHD when it comes to the actual transaction. By all means, they research more than ever before, but once their mind is made up, they only seek someone to validate their research, present the product, answer questions, and complete the paperwork. Only four steps necessary to take the customer from greeting to sale.

The problem lies in the fact that sales professionals think those four steps are best to be completed by them and them alone. So they treat the process as a sprint. “How quick can I rush the customer through this and bypass as many obstacles or objections as possible?” they challenge themselves. When you make the four steps to a sale a sprint, it does not work to your advantage. Haste makes waste. Corners get cut, relationships aren’t given time to blossom, and value isn’t built. Other times, customers feel hurried and feel that something is amiss because of the speed of the transaction. They feel their time is being valued, but not their opinion. No one likes being rushed to spend money.

On the other side of the coin, some salespeople take the antiquated statement of “slowing them down” to heart, and drag out the process, spending countless hours doting every “I” and crossing every “t”. Consumers get bored, are given far too much time to rethink their decision, or feel as if these long delays show their time is not a priority. The salesperson again tries to address all four process tasks by themselves, adding in even more time-consuming steps. This causes delays to the sale, wasting far too much of the customer (and salesperson’s time) to complete just one transaction.

Instead, a sale should be a relay race. I’ll still use the word race, because a level of urgency and purpose in the process is important. There is still, indeed, a finish line that you are working toward. But the beauty of a relay race is that it is a team effort. The baton can be handed from one person to the next. Multiple people in different positions participate in the interaction with the customer. Specialists in different aspects to the steps become involved allowing others to focus on the administrative work necessary to move the transaction forward (without the customer waiting on them to be present throughout the more mundane tasks).

Sales management needs to be actively involved early and often in the in-store customer’s experience. Nothing requires finance management to be an end-of-the-line individual, with only customer contact at the tail end of their visit. From accessories specialists, delivery coordinators, and more, selling should be a team-related activity, like a seamless race where the customer’s time is valued, all steps are completed thoroughly, questions are answered immediately, and all elements to the transaction that are not customer focused can be done simultaneously. You don’t need to dizzy them with multiple, customer-facing interactions by different personnel, as some players can be completing tasks behind the scene that speed up the process without costing a customer time.

Find the star sales athletes on your team and work to perfect the best relay race process for your store. You’ll be surprised how fast and effective your sales can become when working as a team.

Feedback from customers is imperative to know what your dealership is doing right and wrong when it comes to consumer interaction. From CSI surveys catching the insights of post-sale clients, to online review sites allowing shoppers to share their experiences (sold and unsold). To understand your company’s pain points, it can’t solely be from the customers’ perception. Your own people need to have a safe place to lodge feedback (a suggestion box for instance) as to what they see hurting business within your four walls. Let’s face it… they see the inner-workings even more than your visitors.

Too many salespeople, managers, and BDC agents keep their lips zipped when it comes to expressing how they feel as it relates to opportunities for improvement. They don’t want to be known as a complainer, problem child, bellyacher, tattle-tale, rat, or, worse, a potential lawsuit. So they keep quiet and allow problems to persevere. This is costing you money. And morale.

Instances are brushed under the rug to keep a fake sense of uniformity or team, but it undermines the very essence of building a strong cohesive unit. When training dealers, we see circumstances such as:

• Salespeople whispering that sales managers are unwilling to leave the friendly confines of their desk; making salespeople feel they’re on their own with little support from management to help close deals.
• BDC agents setting hard-won appointments only to have a manager make a confirmation call, seek out objections before the customer arrives (in an effort to I don’t know, maybe make their lives easier or ensure a sale, as if their time would be wasted otherwise?), and subsequently talking the prospect out of the appointment.
• Salespeople getting appointments set on their behalf, only to spend the two hours prior to appointment not learning about the vehicle, finding the car, or pulling it up.
• Finance Managers looking ahead at a deal loaded into the DMS, noticing the client is paying cash, and choosing to kill time until something better comes along, thereby leaving frustrated buyers sitting longer than unnecessary to purchase a car.

Far too many circumstances prevent customers from doing business in your store – and because it’s team effort to sell vehicles nowadays, the people that know best about these deficiencies, process breaks, and crimes of laziness against customers are your very own employees.

Your team doesn’t want to have to openly go to ownership, upset them with bad news, and be labeled. They don’t want to appear they can’t work with others, even if there is a problem. They don’t want to rock the boat, but they do want things fixed. These things aren’t always selfish, but often will make the dealership more money. Or, at the very least, make shoppers happier or improve employee relations. Consider putting up an anonymous suggestion box. Willfully ask everyone to submit thoughts or feedback. Or it can be an open email inbox where people can send anonymous emails from fake accounts. Only the owner should have access to this suggestion box, or someone from HR that is entirely unbiased to a situation, and never should they try to uncover who it is that made the suggestion. Or, you can promise to make the suggestion box entirely confidential with a promise that no direct negative action will occur from being open and honest. If presented to the team as a professional yet safe way to be heard, the suggestion box won’t be abused.

One way or another, you should rely on your people to give you the best feedback on how to make processes better. So long as they feel it won’t come back to bite them, these unfiltered opinions and peeks behind the curtain are the necessary ingredient to building a winning team. That is how organizations evolve.

Have you ever run a red light? Did you do it by accident? Not paying attention? Did you need to because you were in a hurry? Or maybe you did because no one was around and you just felt like it. Could that have been it?

Inevitably, the law catches up with everyone that continues to break the rules of the road, whether it be a stiff warning, a few points on a license, or a citation and fine. You know it is wrong, so you are deterred from doing it again. In most cases, it is senseless rule breaking, or a careless oversight that should be prevented. You get busted for doing it once, reap the consequences, and stop running red lights.

No, this isn’t a driver’s education class, but minor infractions are being committed on your showroom floor, within your CRM every day, and no one is correcting the bad behavior.  If you never stop someone from running red lights, they’ll continue to do it over and over. Eventually, a major accident or tragedy could occur. It is up to dealerships to elect a traffic cop in their CRM.

Whether your team are falsifying call logs/attempts with a simple “LM” note in the CRM (the most common culprit), or flipping active prospects to “Lost” far too early to avoid having to make follow-up, there are countless ways sales and BDC teams are getting away with wrongdoings. It isn’t their right to cost your dealership money if you’ve set forth rules for them to follow. But with no one to slap a wrist, issue a warning, or lay down the law, your CRM will be a cluttered intersection of wrecked opportunities.

If a salesperson knows you’re not watching (or doesn’t believe you care), they’ll continue this negative behavior. Not catching these sales misdemeanors as they take place is nothing short of burning your marketing and ad dollars.

You need a traffic cop. Someone who actually puts the “manage” in a manager title. Whether it is our , or an individual you select, we’ll tell you there is no better enhancement to your bottom line and lead metrics than actually ensuring no one is acting above the law.

Hold your people accountable. Demand them to utilize your CRM and follow the processes as they’re designed. Employ a traffic cop and see how quickly you can drive profits safely.

I pulled up in front of an office building in a 2003 Toyota Camry XLE V6 right on time. Just an hour earlier, I had spoken with the Internet customer that said he didn’t have the time to come in and test drive. I took it upon myself to save him time, and I was bringing the vehicle to him. Out walked a mid-30’s man in a white shirt and striped tie, accompanied by two other coworkers. I knew I had sold the car before I shook his hand.

The first of his friends said “So… you’re finally getting rid of that piece of crap you’ve been driving.” The other chimed in, “It’s about time. Pretty sweet ride. Hope you can afford it.”  Corporate America busts chops just like we do in the car business.  Without seeming presumptuous, there was no way this guy wasn’t going to buy this car. Not after the verbal abuse from his friends.  He showed up that night after work and purchased the very same car.  This may have been inevitable, but I knew I did myself a favor by being proactive and bringing the vehicle to him.

To be successful in sales, we need to take our business over the curb. If the Internet has taught us anything over the last decade, it’s that consumers are visiting less dealerships than ever before and only showing up when they’re good and ready. Time is a commodity and there is no use stepping foot onto a showroom floor until they’ve made up their mind. They prefer to bask in the glow of a computer monitor or the blue light from a mobile device than to tan under the halogen lights of our dealerships. So we need to do business (and offer to do business) where they are most comfortable.

Bringing a vehicle to someone’s home or work is certainly not a novel concept. It isn’t new or revolutionary. Yet, we don’t do this near enough.  Bringing a vehicle to them, to experience it on their own terms, is often a deciding factor whatthey choose, who they choose to do business with, and when they choose to do it.  Quite frequently, just the OFFER to bring a vehicle is all the shopper needs to hear when deciding who is worthy of earning their business.

Tesla has shown us that consumers don’t mind an entirely digital transaction. Bringing a vehicle to a home is just a first step to over-the-curb selling. Your dealership needs to be fully capable (and promoting) over-the-curb shipping. Paperwork can be electronic, signatures can be scanned, and money can be instantly transferred.

The only reason I purchased my own vehicle from the individual I did was because he allowed me to bring the SUV to my home. My kids spent 20 minutes crawling around inside. My wife sat in its seat and played with its features. My family essentially gave me their seal of approval on the spot. (I couldn’t have brought them into the store conveniently so I brought the store to them.) I felt indebted (some could say, obligated) to purchase from this salesperson and dealership. It was my idea to drive the car home, not theirs, but they allowed it.

You need to actively promote doing business over the curb. Take the experience off of your lot and put it in the friendly confines of the client’s home. Bring your work to the shopper’s work, and see if their peers can help influence their buying decision. A new car always looks nicer than their used one.  Do business outside of the lot, and beyond the confines of your rooftop. Make transactions digital and then personal. You just might find it to be a simpler process for everyone involved.

I pulled up in front of an office building in a 2003 Toyota Camry XLE V6 right on time. Just an hour earlier, I had spoken with the Internet customer that said he didn’t have the time to come in and test drive. I took it upon myself to save him time, and I was bringing the vehicle to him. Out walked a mid-30’s man in a white shirt and striped tie, accompanied by two other coworkers. I knew I had sold the car before I shook his hand.

The first of his friends said “So… you’re finally getting rid of that piece of crap you’ve been driving.” The other chimed in, “It’s about time. Pretty sweet ride. Hope you can afford it.”  Corporate America busts chops just like we do in the car business.  Without seeming presumptuous, there was no way this guy wasn’t going to buy this car. Not after the verbal abuse from his friends.  He showed up that night after work and purchased the very same car.  This may have been inevitable, but I knew I did myself a favor by being proactive and bringing the vehicle to him.

To be successful in sales, we need to take our business over the curb. If the Internet has taught us anything over the last decade, it’s that consumers are visiting less dealerships than ever before and only showing up when they’re good and ready. Time is a commodity and there is no use stepping foot onto a showroom floor until they’ve made up their mind. They prefer to bask in the glow of a computer monitor or the blue light from a mobile device than to tan under the halogen lights of our dealerships. So we need to do business (and offer to do business) where they are most comfortable.

Bringing a vehicle to someone’s home or work is certainly not a novel concept. It isn’t new or revolutionary. Yet, we don’t do this near enough.  Bringing a vehicle to them, to experience it on their own terms, is often a deciding factor whatthey choose, who they choose to do business with, and when they choose to do it.  Quite frequently, just the OFFER to bring a vehicle is all the shopper needs to hear when deciding who is worthy of earning their business.

Tesla has shown us that consumers don’t mind an entirely digital transaction. Bringing a vehicle to a home is just a first step to over-the-curb selling. Your dealership needs to be fully capable (and promoting) over-the-curb shipping. Paperwork can be electronic, signatures can be scanned, and money can be instantly transferred.

The only reason I purchased my own vehicle from the individual I did was because he allowed me to bring the SUV to my home. My kids spent 20 minutes crawling around inside. My wife sat in its seat and played with its features. My family essentially gave me their seal of approval on the spot. (I couldn’t have brought them into the store conveniently so I brought the store to them.) I felt indebted (some could say, obligated) to purchase from this salesperson and dealership. It was my idea to drive the car home, not theirs, but they allowed it.

You need to actively promote doing business over the curb. Take the experience off of your lot and put it in the friendly confines of the client’s home. Bring your work to the shopper’s work, and see if their peers can help influence their buying decision. A new car always looks nicer than their used one.  Do business outside of the lot, and beyond the confines of your rooftop. Make transactions digital and then personal. You just might find it to be a simpler process for everyone involved.

Are you ready to follow in the footsteps of the Monsters of the Midway?
Is it in your best interest to run your dealership like the Chicago Bears runs their team?
Is it time to “Bear Down”?
The answer is Yes… and not just because I’m a Bears fan.

Much like the Chicago Bears, your dealership likely is a storied franchise. In this analogy, the OEM is like the NFL, providing policies, guidelines, and rules to adhere to in an effort to remain a viable brand. And your dealership operates under this umbrella. You, as a corporation, have a history. A story. You have decades of faithful fans. The Chicago Bears is the NFL’s oldest team (originally the Decatur Staleys) and many dealerships have a similar longevity among their community. Maybe not to the tune of 95 years, but some of you aren’t too far off. You’ve made an impact in your town and you desire to continue your winning (or surviving) ways.

The Bears are not the best franchise. As a fan, I must admit this. Still, they are my favorite team. Like many dealerships, the Bears don’t always have the best ownership. Sure, the history of a dealership may shine a little dimmer without a renowned leader the likes of Papa Bear George Halas, but most are owned by an individual or family that carries with them a reputation. Like most dealerships, the Bears rarely have the best management or coaches. Almost never are their players the most talented or physically gifted. But damn it if they don’t try to win every single time.

I believe the Bears have the biggest hearts, and they bring that intensity to the field the same way automotive professionals should be trying to succeed every day on the showroom floor and service drive. The Bears try harder. They hit harder. They hurt more when they lose. And all you can ever ask of anyone on your team is to TRY. And to never stop trying. To take what they do personally and to leave it all out on the field. Or, to quote every over-used sport soliloquy, your team should be like the Bears because they always seem to be giving 100% effort. And that is what has made them legendary.

Your dealership could learn something from the Chicago Bears.

But history, legacy, work ethic, teamwork, “super fans”, and desire can only get a team so far. Inevitably, it takes critical thinking and analysis. So I was excited to see the headlines recently when the Chicago Bears hired a Director of Analytics. This is nothing new. “Moneyball” has been bandied about by sports organizations for years. The Chicago Bears aren’t the first to dive into this philosophy. And you wouldn’t be the first dealer either to hire someone with this sole job responsibility. But you can be like the Bears by finally coming around to the idea. The Director of Analytics was a newly created position for their organization. The individual they hired, Mitchell Tanney, is responsible for identifying, extracting and analyzing data to support decisions for both in-game situations and personnel evaluation in an effort to predict future outcomes.

Listen to the General Manager of the Chicago Bears, Phil Emery, and try to tell me this position doesn’t make sense for your dealership. Emery said, “We needed somebody with an expertise in filtering through subsets of data to make sense of them in terms of which pieces are important and which pieces can be put together to give a clearer picture of projecting performance, whether it’s on the field or in scouting projecting players moving forward.” I don’t need to connect the dots for you.

There is a vast amount of data at your dealership’s fingertips. But all of that is worthless if you don’t have someone who can see the digits, convert them into trends, and enact changes in the company’s operations that will help them improve. Making decisions based on gut reactions can only get you so far. Making decisions based on cold, hard facts get you even farther. You aren’t in this industry to have an 8-8 record every month. You’re in this industry to always be in the playoffs, and to strive for the trophy. To do this, you’re going to seriously need to consider hiring a numbers-cruncher.

The change is already happening. While I’ve joked that every vendor and their brother was trying to sell “social media management” over the past couple of years, if you walked through the exhibit halls at the most recent digital automotive conferences, the biggest trend was “Dashboards”. Many vendors seem focused on aggregating all important data for a dealership into one portal/dashboard/platform/buzzword. Some were actually dynamic, fresh, and valuable.  Others were underwhelming and ill-conceived.  Nonetheless, the metrics dealers are generating (and ignoring) can be their salvation.  But having the data isn’t enough. You must be using it to change your processes, marketing, methods, and structures. The data is too valuable to just throw it into the lap of an Internet Director. Someone with a history of selling cars online and one semester online at University of Phoenix under their belt isn’t likely the candidate to be analyzing data and finding opportunities for growth. Your service tech, with all their certifications and advanced knowledge of mechanics, is still probably not the best person to drive a million dollar race car. A former quarterback is not always the best coach. You must put the valuable data into the hands of someone who can harness that power and convert it into performance.

It is time to think about the personnel on your team. Do you have specialists? Do you have that playmaker that can put your team over the top in the division? This is a brutal and vicious game we’re in, and we need to be leveraging every ounce of energy we have to be the best at it. Like the Chicago Bears, we won’t always win, but hell if we don’t give it our all while we’re on the field. Go Bears.

Are you ready to follow in the footsteps of the Monsters of the Midway?
Is it in your best interest to run your dealership like the Chicago Bears runs their team?
Is it time to “Bear Down”?
The answer is Yes… and not just because I’m a Bears fan.

Much like the Chicago Bears, your dealership likely is a storied franchise. In this analogy, the OEM is like the NFL, providing policies, guidelines, and rules to adhere to in an effort to remain a viable brand. And your dealership operates under this umbrella. You, as a corporation, have a history. A story. You have decades of faithful fans. The Chicago Bears is the NFL’s oldest team (originally the Decatur Staleys) and many dealerships have a similar longevity among their community. Maybe not to the tune of 95 years, but some of you aren’t too far off. You’ve made an impact in your town and you desire to continue your winning (or surviving) ways.

The Bears are not the best franchise. As a fan, I must admit this. Still, they are my favorite team. Like many dealerships, the Bears don’t always have the best ownership. Sure, the history of a dealership may shine a little dimmer without a renowned leader the likes of Papa Bear George Halas, but most are owned by an individual or family that carries with them a reputation. Like most dealerships, the Bears rarely have the best management or coaches. Almost never are their players the most talented or physically gifted. But damn it if they don’t try to win every single time.

I believe the Bears have the biggest hearts, and they bring that intensity to the field the same way automotive professionals should be trying to succeed every day on the showroom floor and service drive. The Bears try harder. They hit harder. They hurt more when they lose. And all you can ever ask of anyone on your team is to TRY. And to never stop trying. To take what they do personally and to leave it all out on the field. Or, to quote every over-used sport soliloquy, your team should be like the Bears because they always seem to be giving 100% effort. And that is what has made them legendary.

Your dealership could learn something from the Chicago Bears.

But history, legacy, work ethic, teamwork, “super fans”, and desire can only get a team so far. Inevitably, it takes critical thinking and analysis. So I was excited to see the headlines recently when the Chicago Bears hired a Director of Analytics. This is nothing new. “Moneyball” has been bandied about by sports organizations for years. The Chicago Bears aren’t the first to dive into this philosophy. And you wouldn’t be the first dealer either to hire someone with this sole job responsibility. But you can be like the Bears by finally coming around to the idea. The Director of Analytics was a newly created position for their organization. The individual they hired, Mitchell Tanney, is responsible for identifying, extracting and analyzing data to support decisions for both in-game situations and personnel evaluation in an effort to predict future outcomes.

Listen to the General Manager of the Chicago Bears, Phil Emery, and try to tell me this position doesn’t make sense for your dealership. Emery said, “We needed somebody with an expertise in filtering through subsets of data to make sense of them in terms of which pieces are important and which pieces can be put together to give a clearer picture of projecting performance, whether it’s on the field or in scouting projecting players moving forward.” I don’t need to connect the dots for you.

There is a vast amount of data at your dealership’s fingertips. But all of that is worthless if you don’t have someone who can see the digits, convert them into trends, and enact changes in the company’s operations that will help them improve. Making decisions based on gut reactions can only get you so far. Making decisions based on cold, hard facts get you even farther. You aren’t in this industry to have an 8-8 record every month. You’re in this industry to always be in the playoffs, and to strive for the trophy. To do this, you’re going to seriously need to consider hiring a numbers-cruncher.

The change is already happening. While I’ve joked that every vendor and their brother was trying to sell “social media management” over the past couple of years, if you walked through the exhibit halls at the most recent digital automotive conferences, the biggest trend was “Dashboards”. Many vendors seem focused on aggregating all important data for a dealership into one portal/dashboard/platform/buzzword. Some were actually dynamic, fresh, and valuable.  Others were underwhelming and ill-conceived.  Nonetheless, the metrics dealers are generating (and ignoring) can be their salvation.  But having the data isn’t enough. You must be using it to change your processes, marketing, methods, and structures. The data is too valuable to just throw it into the lap of an Internet Director. Someone with a history of selling cars online and one semester online at University of Phoenix under their belt isn’t likely the candidate to be analyzing data and finding opportunities for growth. Your service tech, with all their certifications and advanced knowledge of mechanics, is still probably not the best person to drive a million dollar race car. A former quarterback is not always the best coach. You must put the valuable data into the hands of someone who can harness that power and convert it into performance.

It is time to think about the personnel on your team. Do you have specialists? Do you have that playmaker that can put your team over the top in the division? This is a brutal and vicious game we’re in, and we need to be leveraging every ounce of energy we have to be the best at it. Like the Chicago Bears, we won’t always win, but hell if we don’t give it our all while we’re on the field. Go Bears.

The dealership sales process has the ability to evolve into a more sophisticated, frictionless business if only it weren’t for our collective hesitation. One theme I see playing over and over at dealerships are the constant impasses that occur from one owner or manager being unwilling to make a decision.

These impasses slow down productivity, stunt growth, turn away technological advancement and more. They can hurt morale, frustrate customers, and lead to losing of market share. We live in a world where competition is necessary and moving forward is akin to breathing.

Impasses can take shape in the form of a CRM not being adopted, a website not being replaced, a conversion tool not being deployed, or a marketing strategy not given a chance. These impasses hurt the opportunities the dealership has to evolve. And they occur because someone high up is afraid to make a decision. Or they believe it’d be “too much work”, or “too much money”. If just one sales manager doesn’t have the intelligence to grasp a forward-thinking concept, they put up a road block to its inception. They play devil’s advocate and combat it until it goes away.

And for this reason, the dealership goes nowhere fast. They teeter on the brink of their own mediocrity. They don’t do excellent and they don’t do terrible. It’s like running on a treadmill. You know you’re still working, but you are missing all the wonderful things outside your comfort zone.

Dealers must adopt faster. Push farther. Get uncomfortable with some of their decisions. Don’t let something “play out”. Make the change. Make the switch. Hire the company. Lead the pack. Sitting on your hands and NOT making a decision is very much a decision in its own right. It means you don’t have the guts to take a chance to be better.

The dealership sales process has the ability to evolve into a more sophisticated, frictionless business if only it weren’t for our collective hesitation. One theme I see playing over and over at dealerships are the constant impasses that occur from one owner or manager being unwilling to make a decision.

These impasses slow down productivity, stunt growth, turn away technological advancement and more. They can hurt morale, frustrate customers, and lead to losing of market share. We live in a world where competition is necessary and moving forward is akin to breathing.

Impasses can take shape in the form of a CRM not being adopted, a website not being replaced, a conversion tool not being deployed, or a marketing strategy not given a chance. These impasses hurt the opportunities the dealership has to evolve. And they occur because someone high up is afraid to make a decision. Or they believe it’d be “too much work”, or “too much money”. If just one sales manager doesn’t have the intelligence to grasp a forward-thinking concept, they put up a road block to its inception. They play devil’s advocate and combat it until it goes away.

And for this reason, the dealership goes nowhere fast. They teeter on the brink of their own mediocrity. They don’t do excellent and they don’t do terrible. It’s like running on a treadmill. You know you’re still working, but you are missing all the wonderful things outside your comfort zone.

Dealers must adopt faster. Push farther. Get uncomfortable with some of their decisions. Don’t let something “play out”. Make the change. Make the switch. Hire the company. Lead the pack. Sitting on your hands and NOT making a decision is very much a decision in its own right. It means you don’t have the guts to take a chance to be better.