The Three Car Dealership Biases to Making a Change in Culture, from DealerELITE.
Training and consulting with America’s car dealers is both fun and frustrating. Fun, because selling cars at retail presents one of the most challenging and (yes) entertaining pursuits one can endeavor to undertake. Frustrating, because car dealers have been presented with so many “quick fixes,” “magic bullets,” and “game-changers” over the past 100+ years that most of them are often wary of anything new; especially anything slightly uncomfortable.
Change is certainly uncomfortable.
Beyond the frustrations caused by the (understandably) overly-cautious dealer, there is the frustration that comes from spending three days with an open-minded dealer’s top managers – people who should be constantly mindful of keeping the dealer’s best interests first and foremost – and having them nod repeatedly when challenges are identified, opportunities discussed and solutions formed; yet only to have them do absolutely nothing they agreed to once you leave their town.
If you’re a little confused about what I mean here, let me give you the typical play-by-play when working with dealership managers hell-bent on never leaving their comfort zone:
- The Dealer Principal (the Owner) identifies current and future risks to their business and hires an outside expert (the Consultant) to help his/her team formulate a strategy to mitigate these risks, while simultaneously working to grow sales and profits at a rate faster than the market.