Dealers are committing suicide in their business every day all over the country. The suicide of their sales, profits and business comes in the form of excuses that are allowed and perpetuated — to the point that those excuses take a life all of their own. The excuses are now a created reality.
You may have read about the example of an elephant chained to a pole with only a small radius to move; then, when the chain is removed, the elephant continues to move only within the same small radius. The limited area has become learned behavior and the mental acceptance has become more reality than the physical reality.
Many dealers operate every day within their own self-imposed limitations, and that’s why they are committing suicide to their sales, profits and business. Have you heard the following common excuses?
- “You can’t get good people in this area.”
- “My veterans don’t sell a lot, but they are loyal and they are honest.”
- “You can’t make good gross profit today in the age of the Internet.”
- “I don’t want to expect too much from my managers — they might leave.”
- “My customers are different in this area.”
- “I tried that once and it didn’t work.”
- “I cannot afford that.”
I could list thousands of the common excuses that are used every day. The truth is that every single one is nothing more than excuse, and you have limited yourself and accepted these excuses to create a reality — just like the elephant. You have even grown to find great comfort in the excuses. You have now become a professional victim who gave up your power and now wear your hopelessness like a badge of honor.
Great dealers never accept excuses because they know, if you do it once, it grows like cancer. Great dealers know that excuses create a learned behavior that tolerates bad behavior, bad results and creates a culture and environment of malaise and eventual suicide. Great dealers instantly recognize the victim mentality and constantly teach abundance and possibility to the point that their team also takes on a champion mentality of no excuses. Great dealers guard their businesses like a warrior against allowing the mental sabotage from creeping in.
“Speed of the boss, speed of the crew, how you think and act, your team shall too!”
- Do you tolerate low to no productivity?
- Do you tolerate low to bad results?
- Do you tolerate your excuses for playing small and playing “not to lose” instead of playing to win?
Think like a great dealer. What do great dealers do?
- Great dealers are always looking to do better.
- Great dealers always act as their own harshest critic.
- Great dealers always take personal responsibility.
- Great dealers have “teachable spirits.”
- Great dealers are naturally curious and looking for an edge to get better everywhere they can.
- Great dealers are bold and make quick decisions.
- Great dealers embrace and promote constant change and growth.
- Great dealers have much higher expectations.
- Great dealers create an expectancy of winning and, therefore, attract winners.
- Great dealers are very clear on what they expect and hold their team accountable.
- Great dealers create a culture of great attitudes and live under the mantra of “Coach, Counsel and Cut.”
- Great dealers constantly train and educate their team while never allowing team members who fight learning to get their way.
- Great dealers make the hard decisions daily and do not avoid them, hoping they will just go away.
- Great dealers are all about action — and not excuses.
- Great dealers are understanding of the ups and downs that people go through, but do not allow the downs to become the standard.
Here are my questions for you:
- Are you a great dealer?
- Would others consider you a great dealer?
- Are you creating greatness or tolerating slow suicide?
Being great or committing suicide is a choice. What choice are you making?
For a free Special Report titled “What Great Dealers Do and Don’t Do” email me at info@tewart.com.