I recently had a business owner, who is also a CPA, say to me, “When it’s low tide, you find out who is skinny dipping.” I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it. In our conversation, we were talking about all the ways car dealerships have needed to prepare for times of crisis. Here are three examples. Rainy day …
Why bother with corporate values?
Automotive News produces really informative videos. This 4-minute briefing on Serra Automotive’s inventory sourcing is a great example. One of my mentors worked for Al Serra for a long time and has great respect for the team. The opening lines from current President Matt Serra gives me clues as to why: From a values perspective, the way we think about …
Making money, serving customers or impacting generations of families?
What if you could have all three? This article (warning, it’s from a conservative source) has a great summary of some of the things that make Ritz-Carlton a great luxury hotel chain. And it makes that summary in the midst of an article about how the hotel’s cultural behaviors could transform a family’s culture for the better. The hotel chain …
Empathy in retail
“I’ll show you wiggle room.” Jalopnik invited readers to send in their worst car dealership experiences. Quite an entertaining read. It will definitely make you think of “the Sales Badger.” Buried in the middle of Jalopnik’s list is a story shared by an employee of a dealership. Here’s the introduction: I’m lucky enough to actually sell cars at a dealership …
Why I bought new tires: The value of coaching and CX
It took more than 3,000 miles, a trip to urgent care for asthma, altitude sickness treatments, a bloody nose that made a hotel room a crime scene, a hail storm, severe weather while fighting traffic during Stanley Cup celebrations and … well, anyway, we’re home from a trip to the Rocky Mountains. I bought new tires. I want to tell …
Beware fogging the mirror
A short and true story for today: I just heard from a firefighter friend that his station used to buy a lot of pizza from a nearby pizzeria. They have since stopped. One of the problems was that the understaffed restaurant couldn’t get their pizzas ready in time. For firefighters, that’s kind of important. But the straw that broke the …
The open letter to Ford’s CEO
Brian Pasch’s open letter to Ford CEO Jim Farley has gone viral. (If you’re not familiar, Pasch is a longtime consultant helping car dealerships go online.) Farley’s comments and Pasch’s letter and whatever happens next is not content for this blog. But the comments thread on Pasch’s post? They’re worth a read. Some appreciate his advocacy for dealers. Some think …
Are you manipulating customers or loving them?
Roleplaying. If it doesn’t make you think of Dungeons & Dragons … it possibly gives you work jitters. Roleplaying is one of the best ways to “wrestle and grow” your communication skills. But it is certainly a wrestle, especially if you have an audience. I recently assessed employees who role-played some customer service scenarios with professional actors. It was a …
How car dealerships look from the outside
I recently posted about “the end of car dealerships.” Consider this part 2: Wired recently published “The Incredible Shrinking Car Dealership.” First off, this is a good look for anybody outside automotive retail at the pressures going on within the dealership model. And for those inside, this is a good look at how you are perceived. Second off, I’ve been …
When honoring your values leads to a “Bob Hope story”
I won’t spoil this article’s funny story about how The Broadmoor hotel protected Bob Hope and his wife. The article is really about all the things this independent resort (over a century old) does to earn five stars from the Forbes Travel Guide. (“No other hotel or resort has been so good for so long.”) This is a record-setting hotel …