We made it! It’s a new year, which means it is time to celebrate all we’ve accomplished and reflect on what we want to accomplish next. New Year’s resolutions aren’t just for your personal life though. The start of a new year is a great time to take a look at your professional priorities too.
This year, my 2019 New Year’s resolution is simple: Do one more.
I think it is safe to say that most of us in the automotive retail industry spent 2018 working hard. But did you really work your very hardest, every single day? If you’re like me, the answer is no. That’s not to say we weren’t productive or successful – but there’s almost always room to stretch. There’s still room for one more: one more phone call, one more task completed or even one more sale.
There were plenty of moments in 2018 I could have done more with. I could have made one more dealership visit a month. I could have had one more touch-base meeting with one of my VinSolutions Performance Managers a week. I could have read one more news article about our industry a day (and skipped one more Facebook newsfeed scan).
If you’re like many of my team members who I’ve shared this goal with, “one more” may feel insignificant. What difference can one extra action really make? Shouldn’t we be aiming higher in 2019?
Remember that personal goals aren’t the only goals. You should absolutely be on board with your dealership’s aggressive sales and profitability goals. But it is by every person doing one more that those big goals will be achieved.
Think back on your year. Where could you have done one more? Here are a few of the most common suggestions for doing one more I have for dealers:
- One more customer contact per day: You know your customers best, so I won’t try to tell you how to communicate with them. But whether you’re calling, texting, emailing or some combination, challenge yourself to make one more contact than is “good enough.” Think about the impact this will have across the whole dealership. Let’s say you have 12 salespeople and three managers in your store. One extra contact per person per month adds up to 450 additional contacts a month! If these extra customer contacts yield promising results, as I have a sneaking suspicion they will, talk as a team about how you can update your dealership’s CRM processes to reflect additional communications.
- One more training session per week: One of the most overlooked goal-setting areas in dealerships is individual training and development, but this is one of the easiest ways to improve efficiency, productivity and ultimately profitability. Some dealerships have more comprehensive, organized training programs than others, but don’t wait for management to make a course mandatory to learn. Set yourself apart by taking your training into your own hands. There are ample resources online, from sales courses to CRM training, so challenge yourself to make time for one more training session each week.
- One more car sale per month: Selling more cars is, of course, the ultimate goal. But I see many salespeople set huge yearly goals in January only to become complacent with their mediocre numbers halfway through the year. Keep yourself motivated by pushing for one more sale at the end of every month – whether you’ve met the sales goals you set or not.
For me, this resolution to do one more isn’t just professional – it’s personal too. If you really want to feel the impact of doing one more in 2019, I challenge you to explore how you can apply this principle to other parts of your life, from family to health and beyond.
Read one more book to your kids at bedtime each night, or call your mom one more time each week. Make a point to have one more family dinner all together each week, or thank one more person who deserves thanking each day. Think about the cumulative impact these small actions will have on your family, your relationships, your work-life balance and your overall sense of fulfillment.
Join me in this challenge to do one more this year, whatever that means for you. Wishing you a safe and happy New Year, from all of us at VinSolutions!
A version of this article originally appeared in Digital Dealer.
Want to learn how VinSolutions Connect CRM can help you do one more this year? Sign up for a demo at NADA 2019, Jan. 24-27 in San Francisco.