Digital Dealer - May 2018 - 12

DEALERSHIP MANAGEMENT

Continued from pg. 10

to new ideas. Have your
team bring three good
ideas to managers' meetings. Encourage them to
use their imagination to
find new ways of doing
things. Your employees
must learn how to take
the initiative. It is also
important to remember
that sometimes, you need
to learn to take calculated
risks. Bet on people who
think for themselves. By
taking a "leap of faith"
and trusting that one person can do the job and do
it right, you increase his/
her self-confidence and
make them do their job
even better.
In any business,
standard operating
procedure (SOP) is the
rule. It is safe, proven and
effective. However, SOP
seldom gets outstanding results and distracts
people from what is really
important. Innovation and
progress are realized
when you go beyond
standard operating
procedures. Sometimes,
you have to look for new
ways to handle old tasks
and find new approaches
or rules to new problems.
If you find the need to
change or break a rule
you set forth because that
rule ends up not making
any sense, break it carefully. Remember, there is
always room for improvement but think through
ideas thoroughly before
implementing them.
Good leaders strengthen their organization by
building their people and
helping them feel good
about themselves and
their jobs. When this happens, morale and produc12

M AY 2 0 1 8

tivity are improved which
translates to increased
profit for the dealership. Focus on building
self-esteem. Show them
that you trust and believe
in them. Praise them for
a job well done. Unity is
essential to any organization. If you don't support
each other, the organization will soon encounter
critical problems that may
be irreparable. Remember the biblical quote from
Mark 3:25: "If a house is
divided against itself it will
fall." The job of a leader
is to assemble the best

relationship development
with our team members
as well as our customers.
I have always said the
technology is there only
to facilitate good people
and good processes. Yes,
we must utilize technology but not become so
dependent upon it as to
lose touch with the human element which is still
to this day the catalyst
that builds relationships. I
feel texting and emailing
along with the sundry of
technological connectors
available is reducing our
business to "best price"

GOOD LEADERS
STRENGTHEN THEIR
ORGANIZATION BY
BUILDING THEIR
PEOPLE AND HELPING
THEM FEEL GOOD
ABOUT THEMSELVES
AND THEIR JOBS."
team possible, train them
well, and figure out the
best way to get the members to work together for
the good of the organization (house).
Fact: People who
enjoy and look forward to
going to work are more
productive and happy.
You can create a positive atmosphere at work
by letting people have
fun and interact with their
colleagues. Having fun at
work creates more social
glue for the organization.
This results in productivity, increases morale,
employee engagement,
and loyalty.
Sometimes I feel we
allow technology to interfere or take the place of

D I G I TA L D E A L E R . C O M

because we are not
taking the time to develop
relationships and putting
the human element back
into our efforts.
My friend, Don Hall,
CEO of Virginia Automobile Dealers Association
agrees. He recently told
me he knows of several
Virginia dealers who are
not prisoners to Facebook or other social media sites but instead do
business the old-fashion
way - developing longterm relationships and do
quite well year after year.
Last week I had this
very conversation with
another friend of mine,
Dan Kommeth who is
the general manager of
Performance Lexus in

Cincinnati, Ohio. Dan
and I share many of the
same values when it
comes to leadership and
the development of good
team members. After a
few conversations on this
subject of technology and
relationships Dan sent
me his overall take via
the following email which
I felt you may align with at
your store:
Chuck,
It seems as if we in the
retail automotive space
are bombarded with news
articles, vendor pitches and endless phone
calls and emails about
the latest and greatest
piece of technology that
will "revolutionize" our
industry. These "bright,
shiny objects," as I like to
call them, can take one's
attention from what's really important for success
- the people!
Don't get me wrong, I
love new gadgets, apps,
and technology that
(seemingly) make my
home life easier and my
work life more efficient
and productive. However,
when I'm in the office,
the technology does not
mean that I get to hide
in my office pressing
buttons to make the next
car sale. It may allow
me to allocate my time
a little better or be more
productive in giving me
actionable data to improve in-store operations,
but it does not replace
the human interactions
that make so much of a
difference in whether we
succeed or fail.
Which is why we
should probably put more
time into the recruiting
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