Twitter, Facebook, myspace, text messages, and the like have changed the way we communicate with each other. Gone are the days where we have hours to get our points of emphasis across to our customers. This presents some serious challenges for all of us. Now, we have but seconds to communicate our selling propositions. Our customers have become accustomed to this "nano-second" communication and we must follow suit in order to be competitive. Over the years, we were taught to communicate without the use of slang and industry jargon, but now the game has suddenly changed. LOL, WTH, BRB, IMHO, : ), ; ), P ), have all replaced normal english as an effective means of communication. If you don't know what these various symbols mean, you better catch on fast. It's a new language that we must all master. The real challenge becomes how do we communicate in this environment while still being professional and credible? This shortened communication span makes the use of sarcasm, humor, and basic rapport building techniques very dangerous. While many of us have experienced a several paragraph email being mis-interpreted, 140 character strings of verbage can be a very terrifying reality. The rub is that our customers expect us to communicate in this environment. They expect us to respond to text messages. They expect us to communicate the way THEY do (short, sweet, and to the point). AND they expect us to give them INFORMATION. How do we do this without crossing the line and doing more harm than good? The further complication is that in this environment, a poorly stated opinion or post can seriously jeapordize your dealership/company's reputation you worked so hard to attain in the first place. The fact is, Dealer Principals, GM's, and all of upper management needs to dive into this "social media" thing with both feet. While it was a cute and interesting phenomenon as little as months ago, it has now become a crucial means to be successful in business today. While I don't have all or even any of the answers, I think it is an important enough subject to discuss and debate. What say you?

People ask me all the time what it is we are doing to sell the number of cars we are selling in the middle of an extremely challenging environment. For those of you unfamiliar with me, I am involved in a brand new Suzuki start up currently selling out of a temporary (read mobile home) facility in Wichita, Kansas. We opened the doors in October of 2007 and are the 10th highest volume Suzuki dealership in the U.S. through July (I state this not to be self serving, but to give some background).

So, what is it that we do that others are, apparently, unable to do? You could make an argument that our people are better (the management team has been together for over 15 years), our processes are better (yep, we track and measure everything), our economy is better (we are fortunate to be in the Midwest which has been spared many of the challenges affecting other parts of the counrty), or even our product is better (umm, probably not). Luck might play a part as well.

I believe the answer lies in our ability to differentiate ourselves from our competition.

We do this by offering a different "selling proposition" than our competitors do. We spend much of our time and efforts telling OUR story which is unique, quirky, and absolutely believable. Some of the unique things we do include:
- refusing to hire anyone that has ever worked for another car dealership;
- paying our people a salary and bonusing them on production rather than paying commissions;
- disbanding the traditional F&I department in favor of charging the sales department with handling the customer from womb to tomb;
- utlizing permission based marketing efforts that engage, rather than enrage, the consumer;
- offering a 3 day, no questions asked, money back guarantee, regardless whether we sold a new or used vehicle.
-pricing vehicles based on the market as opposed to the margin available;
- creating a fun and highly energetic environment whereby consumers want to buy, as opposed to being sold, our goods;
- looking past profit opportunities to place consumers in a better situation than they were originally in;
- refraining from the smoke and mirrors, loss leader advertising, that permeates our industry;
- truly having fun at work and enjoying the people that we choose to work at our dealership;
- providing on going and highly interactive training on a minute-by-minute basis;
- teaching our co-workers to become business owners;
- practicing "servant leadership" whereby we recognize the efforts of all our co-workers and strive to lead from the front.

Now, my friends, here's the rub. Many will read this and try to emulate or copy the business model. Unfortunately (fortunately for my organization), most will not have the discipline or drive to change their culture to one like ours. They might catch on, but they will never catch up.

My question to you is, are you willing to make the sacrifices necessary to effect change in your organization? It certainly isn't easy, but the rewards will send your business to levels that might just surprise you.

The current business environment is as tough as I can ever remember. Major lending institutions are tightening underwriting, laying off staff, or ceasing operations all together. There are parts of the country that are in absolute economic purgatory, stuck in a quagmire of doom and gloom. Strong dealers who were highly profitable only twelve short months ago are closing their doors at an alarming rate. Reading the latest news publications only serves to further reinforce the end of our business as we know it. Or does it?

One of my good friends, Greg Goebel, likes to say that things are never as good as they seem when they are good, and never as bad as they seem when they are bad. While this is absolutely true, it doesn’t necessarily help those who are facing the toughest battles of their lives. How then do you not only survive, but thrive in this perfect storm?

Decide NOT to Participate!

Decide NOT to buy into all the negative news and figure out a way to dominate your market. Let’s face it; all of your competitors are in desperation mode, looking to cut expenses and headcount thinking that shrinking expenses will lessen the blow to their bottom line. Sound business practices? Not in a million years, and here’s why…

You have the extremely unique opportunity to take market share from your competitors RIGHT NOW! There is nothing better than a down business environment. Advertising become cheaper, great people become easier to recruit, and the best companies rise to the occasion. The difference between those who thrive and those who do not lies in the ability of the leadership of the GREAT companies to decide not to participate in the downturn in the market.

How many times have you talked yourself into believing that you can’t have a good day? The weather isn’t cooperating, everyone is upside down, people are unrealistic in their expectations, et al… It’s all CRAP!!!

Choose:
1. Not to participate in the down economy.
2. Not to participate in the media’s perception of the state of things.
3. Not to participate in the making of excuses.
4. Not to participate in the bad weather.
5. Not to participate in perpetuating the status quo.
6. Not to participate in dying a prolonged and agonizing death…

Instead, CHOOSE to make a positive impact and to make something happen TODAY! The great thing about being you is that you have the absolute ability to control your destiny. You can make excuses or you can get off your ass and take advantage of the current situation. Your attitude will decide your altitude… You can be cruising at thirty five thousand feet or you can be nose diving into the biggest crater ever created.

I, for one, will choose NOT TO PARTICIPATE in anything other than complete and utter MARKET DOMINATION. Why on earth settle for anything less???

I am excited about being invited to blog about an industry that I truly love. This site has an amazing collection of talent and I am proud to call many of you friends. I look to learn a lot from many of you and hope that my contributions will help some of you as well.

One caveat; I am opinionated and head-strong. I will make comments that many of you will not, neccesarily, agree with. I will ALWAYS keep it within the spirit of education and the quest for learning. I don't take things personally and will never make a personal attack. We can agree to disagree from time to time; this is how we learn. I look forward to learning and sharing from/with you.

Thank you for the opportunity to be involved in such a tremendous network.

Tom White Jr.