Auto Dealer Monthly Magazine is the daily operations publication serving the retail automotive industry. This automotive publication serves dealer principals, officers and general managers with the latest best practices.
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over the curb / dealership perspective
Why Some Stores Are Always On Top of Their Game
Courtney Cole is the co-owner of Hare Chevrolet in Noblesville, Ind. She's been at the dealership for 16 years and is a sixth-generation dealer of the "nation's oldest transportation company," which began as a wagon dealership in the mid-1800s and evolved into a car dealership in the early 1900s.
CCole@AutoDealerMonthly.com
the top dealers in the group were always on top. Thus, they were asked to identify five items that seemed to separate these stores from the other stores. As each dealer presented his or her secrets to
D
uring a recent 20 group meeting, it appeared that many of
success, I was amazed at how similar they were in their philosophies. There are a lot of different ways to run a dealership, but there are defi- nitely some recurring themes that occur in very profitable, successful stores.
First, the dealers and
managers of these stores are students of the industry. They get out of the store and attend 20 groups, NADA, finance seminars, marketing workshops, conventions, con- ference , Internet bootcamps, BDC bootcamps, etc. They read trade magazines such as Auto Dealer Monthly, Dealer Magazine, Successful Dealer, etc. They also read magazines outside the industry such as Success Magazine and Entrepreneur Magazine. Finally, they read books to enhance their management skills such as "Good to Great," "The Rockefellar Habits," "Gung Ho," etc. What do they do with this knowledge? They
use the knowledge to improve both themselves and their people. There is a saying that "readers are leaders."
Second, they map out a plan and meet regularly to review it.. Mapping a plan could include a yearly forecast which includes month-to-month results that are broken down into short weekly and daily meetings. These daily meetings might cover the number of ups compared to the number of sales, the number of sales compared to the forecast, how each department is tracking com- pared to the forecast, gross per unit, hours per RO, the
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