Don’t forget to sign up for your free one-on-one F&I Consultation!
Why do you come to work everyday? And how do you keep your team motivated?
In the book, “Start With Why,” the author, Simon Sinek makes a case that if you and more importantly your team know why, they are coming to work every day, they will be happier and more focused, and work harder. Now that seems like a no-brainer. Motivated people are obviously going to be more content and accomplish more. But let’s dive in and examine what it truly means for your dealership. One certain polarizing executive has done an excellent job of this – Elon Musk. Let’s take a look at two examples where Musk has executed this philosophy to absolute perfection.
First is Tesla.
At this point most everyone knows that they are an electric car company. At the time of this recording, they are actually the most valuable carmaker in the World. They even overtook Toyota recently with a $208 billion dollar valuation. Right in the very beginning of Tesla’s founding Musk made it very well known that his intentions were to upset the entire car and oil industry. Many people said he was absolutely nuts. His outlandish goal was to reduce the overall consumption of oil around the globe, reduce our home nation’s dependence on foreign oil, and lower humanity’s overall carbon footprint.
Think about what the other option was here. Car manufacturers have been building electric cars for 100 years and the first prius was built 23 years ago in 1997. He could have said I want to make the best electric car, a more affordable electric car, the longest lasting electric car, the best electric car made in America. You name it. Instead of focusing on the product though, he created a mission and a purpose. Now every single employee that touches a Tesla running down the assembly line and every customer that purchases a Tesla can say they are helping to create a better, more reliable planet.
Let’s look at another Elon Musk company…Space X.
Now if you don’t know anything about SpaceX you might want to look them up. They are building reusable rockets that can launch, deliver payloads to outer space, and land back on tiny drone ships floating out in the ocean. These rockets are then refueled and sent back to space! It’s crazy stuff.
Here again though, Musk started with WHY. In this case, he asked “how can humans become a multiplanetary race and even travel to Mars?” That is a pretty big goal to take on, and you are probably asking why the heck would you want to go to Mars?
Let’s again think about the alternatives though. Do you think the biggest and brightest minds in rocket science would rather work at the company that says hey lets launch a few weather and government satellites a year OR the company that says let’s create something new. Let’s build reusable rockets that can travel farther faster and carry more weight than anything ever built before it. Let’s travel to a new planet for the first time. Above all else, let’s disrupt the status quo.
Well the answer to both the Tesla question and the SpaceX question has time and time again been answered. In fact, not only do the brightest minds want to work for the company that is truly asked “Why” they will do it for less money and work longer more grueling hours. They will do all of this while reporting that they had some of the most difficult but most rewarding times of their lives while working at these companies. We all know how hard it is to find the right people and keep them happy and motivated. That is by far my biggest challenge of growing a company.
So ask yourself the simple question. “Why do I do what I do, Why do I sell boats or RVs?” “Why am I in this industry in the first place?”
And for many of us, the answer to the second question was, “Because our families introduced us to it.” Now, while that might be our original introduction to finance and the recreational industry as a whole, it isn’t the reason we are here now.
First Approval Source is here now because of the amazing service we get to provide to our customers. We are here now because we’re helping each and every one of our customers escape reality, access a vacation, and have some much needed fun. We are selling a lifestyle.
We once had a doctor who purchased a boat because it was one the only places his autistic daughter could be out in public and they both enjoy and connect together. We also had a gentleman whose wife’s cancer was in remission but could not travel and they wanted to spend more time together. We’vd had countless numbers of people this year social distancing using their boat or RV. We are truly helping 1000s of people to stay safe, enjoy life, get out of their homes, and have fun.
We know that not every day in this industry is easy! We actually have a list here at First Approval Source of everything that a dealer has to do before a deal even gets to us in financing. We turned that list into the word wall art that every one of our team members has to have a copy of displayed on their desk somewhere at all times. It reminds us of everything a dealership has to do before we even get to speak to the customer. Whether it’s test driving and demoing, uncovering and covering units, cleaning and detailing, or anything else, we know you’re not in the easiest of industries. So some days will be better than others.
It’s for these days that we need to make sure we remember our “Why’s.” Keeping our teams happy, motivated, engaged, and collaborating with each other is one of the toughest if not the most difficult endeavors of any business. Make sure to talk about the bigger picture with everyone at your dealership. And anytime you have a situation or story that reinforces that “Why” share it with your team and remind them why they come to work every day.
To accomplish this. We created an email that we send to each of our customers after they purchase. We ask them to record a short video answering, “What does boating and RVing mean to you?” We use these videos to share with our team members and keep everyone motivated at our office. We are happy to share this email template with you as well as the questionnaire and release forms you need to have your customers sign so that you can share their videos. Feel free to contact us about that.
Contact us if you would like to discuss this further or have questions about your finance department. We provide free one on one finance consultations that deep dive into your F&I numbers and compare them to the most profitable dealerships around the country to see how you stack up.
Remember to follow us on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram and subscribe to our YouTube channel.