 I find it interesting how we can learn things from different professions that we can all use in our everyday dealership operations. Today I want to look at what we can learn from pilots. Some of you might know that I am a private pilot with over 2100 experience. Planning The safe pilot begins every flight with intensive planning. You got to monitor all of the weather conditions along your route. You should check for bulletins to see if the airport has a runway closed or other safety issues. You have to make sure you have enough fuel in the aircraft and that it is safe and passed a preflight inspection. You have to make sure you have the appropriate up-to-date approach charts and other navigation information. Then you can get into the aircraft and can start on your way. The Approach As you approach the airport, you check the weather once again and contact them telling and notify them of your intentions. You plan your time it will take to descend to the runway meeting the navigational points on the way. For a smooth approach a pilot learns to make small corrections on the flight path. If a pilot would make massive corrections the ride in the airplane won’t be smooth. The Point The same is true with our companies and our lives, we shouldn’t make massive changes. It doesn’t matter what we want to accomplish in life, small corrections will give us the right goal or achievement. Rapid change creates anxiety and disorder, eliminating the smooth ride we all desire to achieve. An example, would be if you want to lose weight so you go down to only one meal a day. You develop a hunger that will have you slamming the next big burger along the way. It would be better to begin an improved diet that tracks calories and has you drink more water, and has exercise plan included in the effort. This is something that can be sustained for a long period of time and reach the desired goal. If you want to change a key performance indicator in your company, the same template works very well. Then check what obstacles you need to overcome, and develop your flight plan with your team, and then you go for it. If you want to increase your customer pay effective labor rate, and triple the price of your oil changes, then increase your repair rate $20 an hour. You will accomplish an improved rate however, business would fall off dramatically. Everybody wants to improve something wanting to achieve a result. My hope is that you take the pilot approach and understand well-planned small changes are best practice to achieve it and give you a smooth landing. Sincerely, Rob Gehring, President Fixed Performance Inc. rgehring@fixedperformance.com 1-888-205-8718 To receive more stories like this one, subscribe to my newsletter by clicking here! To make your dealership bulletproof click here!
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 Why Not Now?
This is the time of year that most people begin looking forward to next year, setting goals and objectives to reach. There are several ways to work the numbers, as some people want the objectives to be lower and easy to obtain. Others set their objectives aggressively, believing they can accomplish more. Some manager’s use aggressively set goals as a weapon against those that are below their objectives. Others managers are rejoicing in continuous improvement and provide positive reinforcement, as the results climb. It really doesn’t matter much where you find yourself in any of these descriptions, except to illustrate they are all just guesses and none of us have a crystal ball. If you really want to hit strong performance results in 2016 here’s a few guidelines to consider. It’s The Process Great performance requires that you are using best practice processes in everything you do. Understand that every result that you need to improve begins by evaluating your process. If the result is an area of opportunity for improvement your process is poor. If you have high-performing results in your process is it consistent and best practice? Always be searching for the best way to do something. Get all of the information you can from as many sources as possible, with the understanding it’s the best way to grow your numbers. It’s The Timing Peak performers don’t look for improvements on January 1 and go through the rest of the year without consideration of it. Top performers are consistently year-round looking for ways to up their game. They know what they have to achieve and set about doing it every day. Never allow yourself to create excuses why you can’t start today. Improvement isn’t on a calendar, so evaluate where you want to improve starting today. If you want to lose weight or quit smoking it doesn’t matter if it’s January 1 or July 15. The commitment to high achievement or reaching a goal requires a daily effort anyway. Another reason to understand the timing of your commitment should be now. Track It I believe that whatever you track will improve. Monitor your performance a minimum of two times a week. Have an Excel spreadsheet that shows your trends higher or lower and look at it every day. Forgive yourself quickly when you don’t achieve your result however, never give up. Tomorrow is another day to begin again. Sincerely, Rob Gehring, President Fixed Performance Inc. rgehring@fixedperformance.com 1-888-205-8718  Making a Difference
This is the time of year that companies illustrate their compassion for the less fortunate, team members, and their customers. There are so many ways for individuals to make a difference while we’re at work regardless of the season. Be involved Being involved with organizations, such as managers for youth teams in the area makes an impact far greater than most people realize. All of us have memories of individuals who made a difference in our lives by taking time out of theirs to show us how to throw a ball or run a play. It might have been a teacher that had significance by going the extra mile to encourage you to perform better and study harder. It might have been a boss at a young age that taught us to think without limits, and gave us a chance to succeed. For today’s society, it’s easy to walk past individuals that have a need and ignore them. It may be an elderly person that could use assistance getting through a door, or a customer getting out of their car. Helping coworkers perform a duty that’s not in your primary responsibility is another way to be involved in becoming more significant. This is a choice all of us can make to be involved with these individual needs and make a difference in our own self-esteem, while helping others. Care If you are fortunate, you have a select few people around you that without any question you know they care. No matter what you’re going through, these very few can be counted on to make a difference in your life. They add stability and provide a feeling that you’re never alone in the challenges that you’re facing. I challenge all of you to make a choice to be this individual that is known to care and make a difference to others. It’s a wonderful gift to yourself when you help others. The Results When you’re involved and truly care for everyone around you, interesting things will happen at your dealership and in your life. You’ll see dramatic improvement in customer retention, satisfaction, and profitability. Your job satisfaction and performance will climb dramatically, as well as self-esteem. Be sure there is no downside, when going through life in the manner I am challenging you to consider. Are you making a difference today? Sincerely, Rob Gehring, President Fixed Performance Inc. rgehring@fixedperformance.com 1-888-205-8718  When Things Go Wrong One of the very few things I can guarantee we all have in common, is that there will be times in our life things will go wrong. When things go wrong in your life, the first reaction might be to determine who we can place the blame on. Zig Ziglar had a wonderful saying that when you’re pointing the finger at somebody else you have three times that many pointing right back at you. Generally it doesn’t matter whose fault it is. So much time and energy is wasted on trying to determine that. The most important question is how are we going to respond when things go wrong? How Can This Be Prevented? The most productive way to deal with things that go wrong is to challenge you on what can be done to prevent it from happening again. Ask yourself what process or procedure could you develop to ensure better results in the future. Involve your team and ask questions, what you could do to improve this result. Stay in Control The worst response you can have when things go wrong, is to lose your cool and lash out at everyone around you. It destroys the quality of life not only of yourself, but the entire population that has the misfortune of being in your presence. There is not one positive thing that comes out of responding in this manner. If you need to, take a walk before you address the issue. Do that before you say anything that can’t be taken back. Think it through before you attack. What Lesson Can Be Learned? I am on a mission to constantly learn something new every day. With an open mind we must look at every challenge that comes into our life as an opportunity to learn a valuable lesson. Taking this approach over time will create wisdom in every challenge or conflict. When you truly mastered this as a lifestyle, you’ll automatically respond to anything that goes wrong with a positive approach. Don’t Forget What is Going Well When things go wrong in our life many times the entire focus is placed on those issues with no attention being given to what is going well for us. Understand there is a balance with both good and bad. The best place to spend the majority of time is in the positive. Sincerely, Rob Gehring, President Fixed Performance Inc. rgehring@fixedperformance.com 1-888-205-8718 Click here to receive more stories like this one! |
AuthorRob is President and Founder of Fixed Performance Inc. which he began over 15 years ago. His passion for customer care and helping others has assisted hundreds of dealerships with their fixed operations performance. His common sense coaching and training lifts people up as individuals and team members. With over 30 years of dealership management experience, he understands and respects the daily challenges of fixed operations. Placing a strong value in people and best practice processes always provide growth. His articles have been published regularly in national publications and weekly newsletters are read by thousands. Archives
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