Sean Kelley

I’ve seen so many of these online engagements take weeks. Just because okay, we text or email, we wait for the reply from the customer. And literally all of a sudden, you turn that into a five minute phone call, and then everything is sorted out and the customer makes a decision. So at the end of the day, it’s almost like maybe the customer isn’t always right. I don’t know, maybe I’m crazy for saying that.

Brian Twoomey

Depends which side of the table you’re on. I mean, it’s been a crazy couple of years. And, you know, it was funny, when I think back. I remember saying and I haven’t said this in a while we’re in control. We’ve never been in control. We’ve always had to cater to what the customer needs and wants and everything else and then all of a sudden, the script flipped and you know, we had the control of how the deal was going to work and what information we would give to the consumer, or when we gave it, before they came in. And like I’ve said a couple of times already things are going back to the way they were prior and you got to play ball by their rules a little bit more than before.

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Today I was coaching a spry young and driven project manager of a very successful dealer group and long-time coaching client. We discussed three project plans seeking to improve the processes and remove obstacles to success. This great conversation led me to a lot of reflection on the act of planning itself. I always tell people that coaching without a plan is just therapy. When it comes to achieving results and helping others make them, I’m no spring chicken! I truly began planning while working with high ranking military officials in the combat zone mission briefings in the Army. Then I enjoyed planning in a senior-level leadership role in a dealer group. Now, as an executive coach, it’s my job to help sales managers and sales pros clarify what they want to accomplish most, understand why it’s important, help them create an action plan to achieve their objective, then care for the plan long term. 

As such, I follow up and check-in along the way, sometimes things go great; other times nothing happens at all. This is when masterful coaching comes in. I don’t judge or criticize, I ask them if accomplishing that objective is still essential or if they want to let it go. It’s almost always still vital for them! Then I ask questions to find out what got in the way of their action plan fulfillment. We address the challenge, adjust our plan, and move forward. After having thousands of these conversations, I have come to some simple yet powerful realizations about plans. I share them with you in this article hopes that your plans become as airtight as possible. Regardless I want you to be ready for when they fail because they will, and that’s OK because you’ll fix it!

Realization #1

There is no perfect plan because there is no perfect person!

There are diminishing returns in over planning; thus, trying to create the perfect plan is a waste of time. I recommend deciding in advance how much time to allow yourself for planning. That will help you stay focused and give you a deadline for getting started. Also, this will help you present yourself and others a little grace and dignity when the plan doesn’t work out perfectly. Because after all, the last perfect person walked the earth 2000 years ago, and you saw what happened to him.

Realization #2

Any plan becomes 100% more effective when there is a contingency plan.

My special operations team never ran a mission without a primary plan, secondary plan, and tertiary plan. Since failure is always a possibility, you don’t want to be scrambling to create a new plan at the same time. This leads to undue stress, sloppy execution, and poor results when, most of the time, all you needed was a backup plan in the beginning.

Realization #3

No plan gets accomplished with no desire, no discipline, and no dedication. 

Having a plan without someone wanting to achieve the results from the plan will ensure the plan fails. It’s like giving a four-year-old a plate of steamed okra in hopes of having them eat everything on their plate. They’ll sit there and poke at it with a fork, dump it behind the couch (my kid did that), or maybe try to feed it to the dog. You have to sell the okra, in this case, the plan to the parties involved, get the buy-in! Then watch them eat the okra, in this case, check-in on the plan, and continuously remind them of what accomplishing this plan will mean for them. “You’re going to grow tall and strong from eating this delicious slimy green okra!”

Realization #4

A plan can only maximize results if the plan is maximized with continuous improvement.

Once your plan is underway and you are conducting follow up, checking in, and supporting efforts, this is the opportunity to improve. Things to look for improvement: How can we do this better? How can we do the action items more efficiently? Who else could contribute to these efforts? Are too many resources dedicated to this action item? Is there another step in the plan that doing first would make this step easier? To truly maximize the results of your plan, revisit it throughout, ask those questions and make the adjustments necessary.

Realization #5

Increase a plan’s complexity two-fold and decrease its odds of completion tenfold.

Complexity in planning would be the bane of my existence if I weren’t self-aware enough to know it’s my issue. Because I love planning and enjoy coordinating many moving parts, it’s easy for me to create unnecessary complexity. A plan needs to be simple to execute and big for impact. “How can a plan be simple yet big?”, you ask. A lot of people focus on one objective, and each person has one or two simple action items or behaviors they are responsible for executing. It’s significant because there are a lot of people involved and it’s simply because each person knows exactly what one or two things they do. Start giving people three or more things to do in their plan and watch the whole thing fall apart. When planning, it’s always better to K.I.S.S. (keep it stupid simple). Check for understanding by asking those involved to repeat their strategy back to you. If you can’t explain it to a third-grader, it’s probably too complicated.

Realization #6

A plan’s action items are only as good as the person’s understanding of why, what, when and how to do them.

A leader’s biggest frustration is often when their people don’t take action, which leads me to ask some tough coaching questions. I ask things like, “When did you expect them to have that done by?” “Did you give them that expectation?” and “What training and testing did you give them to ensure they could do that?” and “How did you teach them that process?” and “Why is doing it that way so important? Did you explain that to them?” Often the answers to these questions give the leader the clarity that the person they were planning with didn’t have clarity! No plan is complete unless you can answer this question for each part of the project: “Who does what by when and why is it so important?” Another element that makes for a high level of clarity is by writing the plan details down and ensuring everyone involved reads and signs off on their action items.

Realization #7

To avoid an obstacle, you have to know it exists and a silent disagreement is a hidden obstacle.

Honest communication is essential to effective planning. If you can’t have an honest dialogue with someone, why the heck are you planning with them in the first place? If someone is “yessing” you to death but not executing on the plan, or if you are picking up on body language that they disagree with the plan, deal with it right now. It’s best to get the disagreement in the open so you can adjust your plan, or help the disagreer get over it. Otherwise, plan on having the same discussion soon while adding frustration in the mix, and higher stakes leading to potential blow-ups.

I hope this article on planning makes your work life more successful, enjoyable, and productive! It would be my honor to help you plan your next benchmark to success, so feel free to reach out to my receptionist and schedule a strategy with me at 1-888-921-0221 or email Sean@CarMotivators.com

#thecarbizcoach
https://www.carmotivators.com

After leaving US Army Special Operations and serving over two years in combat zone deployments, Sean Kelley #TheCarBizCoach applied those leadership principles to automotive management and successfully led multiple dealerships for over a decade. Sean’s passion for people development led him to become Chief Business Development Officer of DriveCentric CRM, a software company, where he helped them double their annual revenue. As CEO of Car Motivators, Sean works with dozens of dealer groups, automotive tech companies and hundreds of coaching clients across the country. As a writer, Sean’s work and success stories working with his clients have been published in multiple automotive publications. Sean was “Consultant of the Year” in 2018 by Dealership News and ranked #10 in Ambition.com’s top 100 sales coaches. Sean’s engaging presentations have been featured at conferences like Digital Dealer, Automotive Game Changers, Rockstar Automotive, Canadian Game Changers, SLADA, TIADA, and Driving Sales. Sean’s vision is to positively impact the leadership landscape and culture of the 

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“I invested 90,000 dollars and listened to call scripts ALL weekend long, Sean. WHY is your store the ONLY one using the phone scripts!”

My frustrated dealer principal asked rhetorically when I was GSM of one of his nine rooftops. My reply was one word, “Coaching.”

One of the most significant complaints I hear from dealer principals and GM’s is, “I give them the technology and tools to be successful. If only my employees would use the technology, we’d invest in its maximum capacity! We would get much better results!” The fact is, from CRM to video tools, from social marketing to website add-ons, the dealer’s tech investment is grossly underutilized. As a result, dealers waste hundreds of thousands of dollars on technology that could provide a far higher return.

The purpose of this article and the reason for the presentation that Paul Sansone, Jr. and I are giving at the Texas Independent Auto Dealers Association is to help dealers understand the reasons this problem exists. We want to offer some actionable items for addressing these challenges and want for you to be able to coach the technology into the DNA of your dealership.

For complete implementation to take place, it is critical that each layer in the organization buys in, including everyone from dealer to GM to GSM to Desk Manager to the sales team…etc. When one-layer buys in, and the others aren’t involved, you put stress and frustration across the rest of the layers. It’s not uncommon for a GM who hasn’t bought in to cancel an “expense” when they weren’t involved in the decision and initial implementation. It’s not uncommon for desk managers who feel force-fed a new technology to refuse to use the tool.

Lack of Training, or Inadequate Training

Some vendors have a difficult time providing adequate training. This is because many vendor trainers didn’t get the showroom floor experience necessary to get the buy-in from the sales team. There are, of course, vendors who do a decent job of training, but the dealers’ attentiveness to the training can be a challenge. I call it cat herding syndrome. The ability to get the focus necessary and sufficient training is compounded when manager involvement is low. One problem with little manager involvement is that the manager cannot train on, coach on, or transfer the skills necessary to use the technology. Another is that if manager involvement is low, then doing something as mundane as running a car to the auction could trump the training from the vendor.

Employee Turnover

There are few vendors, if any, that have the time, money, and resources to contend with dealership turnover. Extreme turnover is one of the reasons kiosk car buying exists today. Turnover causes lousy customer experiences and lower customer retention. As it relates to this article, there is the cost of lost training time. If you have 20 salespeople and industry average turnover at 71%, there would be too much training required to keep up!

Lack of Coaching

Coaching is the most prominent leadership behavior gap in our industry. Few people can explain the difference between coaching and training, and even fewer conduct it as part of their leadership routine. If you develop managers into masterful coaches, then generating buy-in and accountability around tech tool utilization becomes second nature.

Managers Overwhelmed

Managers have several challenges when it comes to time management. The random nature of the showroom floor causes managers to feel they can never gain control. The reactive nature of the business is perpetuated by massive causes and effects, which are a result of inconsistent routines. For instance, managers become pro-active one week and cause a significant amount of increased calls. It directly affects your routine as you drive more traffic and sell more cars. Now you have more deals to desk, customer complaints to address, and vehicles to replace for your lot. The average GSM has over 17 hours a day worth of management activities to conduct.

Comfort Zones

What happens when you combine the lack of adequate training, the absence of coaching, and the sub-par management of chaotic schedules? These factors create a situation where your managers have likely been in the same reactive state for quite some time. When we engage in the same activities for an extended period, we end up with behaviors and habits that are hard to break. Humans are creatures of habit and because of that, it makes it challenging to add new elements (such as new technology) to their playbooks. Change can foster a shrinking comfort zone for many people in each layer of a dealership and that’s where we see issues that need to be handled.

With all these challenges, what can we do?

Coach the technology into your dealership! Here is a list of powerful coaching questions that will help you decide if this technology even makes sense to adopt in the first place. These will also help you create an implementation strategy if you choose to move forward.

1. Make collaborative technology investment decisions. Each layer of the organization should meet and discuss the idea. Share everyone’s concerns with adoption. How does adopting this new technology affect each stakeholder and user’s daily routine? What could the potential gains be if implementation goes well? What could it cost you if you try to implement it and it doesn’t work? Who will make the decision? When will the decision be finalized? Once a decision has been made, how will you sell it to your team?
2. Review and revise job descriptions and routines. Now that you have decided to move forward, what new expectations does this technology create for each person on the team? Do any current activities or behaviors need to be replaced to make room for the new ones? What is the lowest value activity from your current routine you could delete or replace to make room for the new one?
3. Create a training schedule that involves both the vendor and your employees. Who will be your champion for the latest technology or tools? How will this champion drive internal utilization? What is the experience level of the trainers from the vendor? How often will the vendor conduct training? How will you ensure all managers are proficient at using the tool? When, where, and how often will you conduct internal training around the tech tools? Who will perform the training exercises?
4. Set KPI’s to measure adoption, growth, and success. What are the leading indicators, or behaviors, that identify people using the technology, or who the front-line users are such as managers, trainers, or senior leaders?  What results should you see? When should you see these results? What is your current baseline for each of these metrics? How will you track these? When will you review the metrics together?
5. Weave coaching into the leadership’s routine. Are your managers’ trained coaches? If not, how will you get them this critical education? What obstacles could individual performance coaching, metric coaching, or turn around coaching help overcome? Who will coach the managers moving forward? How will you measure the return on investment for the coaching time?
6. Ensure that there is reward, recognition, and accountability. What would 100% adoption mean for your team? What would it mean for you? How will it positively impact your career and the career of each person on the team? How will you recognize them for accomplishing this? What accountability measures will be taken if action plans are not followed? How will you hold each accountable for their actions around the new technology and new routine?

When you can adequately answer each of the coaching questions above, act on those opportunities, you will be able to coach the technology into your dealership. Once you do this, you can generate a return on your investment you want out of the technology you invest in. Feel free to reach out with additional questions or to receive coaching on this challenge email me sean@carmotivators.com you may also call my office at 1-888-921-0221

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1. Keep hot customers cool when you preemptively address common service complaints
   A couple of things can break when the thermometer breaks into the ’90s at the dealership. These breaks often lead to undeniably frustrating customer service issues that not only damage your dealership’s reputation but also distract you from working on new opportunities. Bad batteries and AC units in cars serviced and untested from winter. Instead of waiting for your annoyed or even angry customers to come demanding that you fix their problems do this! Review each salespersons list of used car sales from about October through March. Have the salespeople call each person on their list and say something like, “Mr. Winter buyer, I’m calling you to make sure your battery is prepared for the summer months and that your AC is blowing cold. Sometimes when cars are serviced in winter, it’s hard to test the air conditioner. Any chance you can swing by and I can have your battery tested and ensure your AC is fully charged?” When the customer shows up, use this as an opportunity to ask for referrals, share their experience online. Pre-emptively address any of these inconveniences on your time, turning a negative into a positive for you and your customer.
2. Do spring cleaning on your inventory.
   Your cars have been abused all winter long. Employees and customers have been getting in and out of them tracking salt, snow slush, and mud from their shoes all up in your cars. Conduct a detailed and thorough inventory where you get in each car, inspect it for the following: Does it start? Is the interior caked in mud? Does the AC work? If you’re feeling super ambitious, you may even want to drive them around the block to knock the rust off the rotors. After all the spring rain, a vehicle not driven can sound like fingernails on a chalkboard, scaring away potential shoppers.
3. Revisit your internet pricing like you would your family on Easter.
   Due to the spring tax time business, many dealers are hoping to the auction to replenish inventory and stock up for summer. Also, dealers may have a fair amount of distressed inventory that perhaps, didn’t work for tax time buyers, or weren’t good “winter” cars. As a result, this can cause auction pricing can become volatile around his time of year which leads to sporadic internet pricing. Revisit your pricing more frequently to ensure you’re priced with the market. You may be pleasantly surprised to see you have cars that are actually UNDER priced! It’s always nice to find a hidden Easter egg within your inventory!
4. Create a vacation calendar along with your entire team.
   You could wait until your three top salespeople and finance managers all want to head to the beach at the same time to address summer staffing and vacation time. Waiting can be fun if you aim to create a Mad Max and the Thunderdome situation where two salespeople enter, and one person gets to go on vacation. Even worst, your summer sales events could wind up being understaffed limiting your ability to maximize the ROI from your summer months. Instead, have a team meeting and share a calendar with your staff. Give them line of sight to any summer sales events and give them blackout vacation days far in advance. Ensure the new people or your lowest closer is on vacation during the busiest times! (just joking)
5. Avoid lazy summer days and ensure best practices stay consistent.
   Feast or famine on the showroom floor causes all sorts of time management challenges. During summer, it sure does feel good to be busy. As such, one of the biggest mistakes we make in automotive is throwing our routine out the window. That’s right, I said it… Good business makes us lazy! Best practices often go by the wayside when there are deals to work. Ensure any processes that you’ve adopted throughout any slower months are discussed, scheduled, recommitted to etched in granite, and that people consider the activity changes that occur with more business. Example: More time at the auction buying more cars equals more time stocking in vehicles. Instead of stressing out whoever stocks in the vehicles, have a backup person help with this task. If you took on some training or people development initiative during the winter, ensure this remains consistent throughout your busier months by recommitting.

Before entering the car business, Sean Kelley believed leadership was the key to ensure his Special Operations team would survive two combat zone deployments. Sean Kelley #TheCarBizCoach has since applied those same leadership principals to automotive management, and successfully led dealers for a decade: lowering turnover, increasing profit, customer retention, satisfaction, and setting first-time regional records. Sean’s passion for coaching and people development led him to become Chief Business Development Officer of DriveCentric CRM where he helped them double their annual revenue. Now, as CEO of Car Motivators and President of Next Sale App in Missouri, Sean and his coaches work with dozens of dealer groups, and hundreds of managers across the country to achieve great results through their people and technology. Sean was ranked 10 in the top 100 sales coaches by Ambition.com. Also, DealershipNews.com voted Sean sales and leadership consultant for 2018. These awards are a result of creating winning cultures at car dealers across the country with his unique self-developed approach to coaching and people development, D.R.I.V.E.C3. Sean believes that adding value to others is the reason he has elevated into the top 5% of coaches in America.

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What I want for you as a leader in the auto space reading this article is that you are able to create stability and trust around your business. After reading this article you should walk away with some practical tips to build a solid foundation of trust and certainty, amidst all the concerns. In this way you can drive more activity and employee retention and sales growth, in a sea of uncertainty.

Turn the focus inward! 

Reactive business people spend a lot of time and energy focusing on things they can’t controll. As a leader in the auto industry it’s important to acknowledge threats and challenges. Yet, dwelling on such challenges without taking action is a detriment. Ask yourself and your team, “What can I do as an individual to grow the business? What can we do as a team to grow our business? What tools are we not leveraging to their fullest potential that could impact our results?” Posing questions like this will cause you to be proactive, because you will take ownership and action in your success.

Create a Mission

As a two time combat veteran who has been part of mission planning and tactical operations, I can’t speak enough to the importance of having a clear objective. After all, until you have a clear mission you can’t build a plan, a contingency plan, nor can you execute on that plan! At the dealership level, “sell more cars” is not a clear objective. Your mission needs to be more specific, and something you can get your team excited about. Ideally it would be a mission that would create the result which leads to the selling of more cars. For instance, you could say our mission is to “Build the strongest relationships with our customers!” Your mission could be to “Create the best possible customer experience  in the industry from beginning to end and ensure the world knows about it!” Missions such as these create the desired result, and are something your people can get excited about and market to potential buyers.

Coach Individual Action Plans

A mission with a plan to accomplish it is much more likely to get done! I can’t even imagine what would have happened if, prior to kicking off a combat mission in Bosnia or Iraq, we hadn’t strategically discussed the game plan. Luckily, we would always draw a small mock up of our objectives, review what each elements roles were and delegate individual responsibilities. This clarification of personal expectations and understanding of self responsibilities would lead to discussion on expected outcomes. While planning some outcomes would look grim, we could create a contingency plan. If plan A doesn’t work, we would always have plan B. This leads to confidence, and confidence leads to success.

To remove uncertainty it is imperative you first build a team action plan to move the mission forward. In addition, sit down with each member of your team and co-create individual strategies to accomplish the mission. In doing so, they will value the time and effort you are putting into their growth. They will realize the value you are putting on the mission, and them as your people. You will tap into and leverage their individual strengths in this way. When people operate in the realm where they are strong, it creates confidence.

Now you’ve turned the focus inward and everyone’s being proactive by controlling the controllables. Your employees are taking ownership and buying into a mission that will impact your results. Finally, you’ve clarified team expectations and individual responsibilities, and everyone has action items on which to accomplish and achieve! All that’s left to do now is enjoy your new found island of confidence, ownership and success in a sea of uncertainty.

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