Ever heard the story of the 3 service managers...

This is the story of the 3 service managers.

And one leader.

Once upon a time…there were these 3 service managers and they were all holding their monthly service meeting.

And because the overall results were not meeting expectations, each manager was going to introduce a new strategy to their team to increase performance and meet overall objectives for the new month.

In the first crowded lunchroom littered with empty pizza boxes and soda cans, the first manager stood up and said “Well, we’ve finished another month. And team, I need to tell you, we did not do so good. We missed our sales and performance objectives and the boss is not happy.”

The team looked around nervously. “I have come up with an idea that should get us the results we need this month and I’m passing that out right now to everybody in here.” A sheet of paper was handed to everyone in the room and on that sheet was one word written in big block letters…it said…” HOPE”.

“Ok, team, I HOPE we can do better, and this is what I have come up with to help us hit our objectives this month. I am counting on your support.” As the team filed out of the lunchroom, there was not much HOPE, but it was all they had.

Across the street at another dealership, the same meeting was taking place. In this crowded lunchroom (littered with empty sandwich wrappers), the service manager stood up and said “Team, we are not doing so good. We did not meet overall sales and performance objectives and we need to do something different.”

“I’m going to pass out our new strategy for this month and I believe this will work as long as we all follow the plan.” On this sheet of paper was a one word written in big block letters…it said…” WISH.” “This is how we are going to achieve new service sales this month team and it will work better if we all follow this plan.” As the team filed out of the lunchroom, they all WISHED that the next month would be better.

The third service manager was conducting the meeting and of course there was empty soda cans and paper plates strewn about. This manager stood up and said “Team, this past month did not go so well. I’ve thought long and hard and I’ve come up with a new plan for next month.” So as you can guess, this manager passed out a sheet of paper with one word written in big block letters “PRAY”.

As the service team filed out of the room, they all PRAYED that next month would be better.

Down the street another meeting was taking place. In this crowded lunchroom, there was no litter, no empty bottles, or cans as everything had been cleaned up and put away.

The Leader stood up and said “I want to thank all of you for your hard work this past month. I know you all put a lot of effort and heart into it, and we fell a little short.” The room was silent. The leader looked around and said, “I know if we work together on our GOALS and we take ACTION on our PLAN, we can make this month better than last month.”

He/she passed out the strategy for meeting performance objectives for the month and on this sheet there were two words written in big block letters, GOALS and “ACTION”, and underneath the word “GOALS” there were a list of performance goals and KPI’s that the leader had written for each member of the team. Under the word “ACTION” there was a list of things the service team was going to do to meet performance objectives.

The list included things like “Service Advisor Sales Training” and “Daily Sales Goals Huddle” and “Multipoint Inspection Strategies” and “Service Drive Sales Process” and the list went on to name a few other things. The team was ready to take ACTION on the PLAN set before them, and they filed out of the meeting room and went right to work on achieving the stated objectives.

At the end of the month, there were 4 more meetings just like the month before.

Three of the meetings started like this. “I want to take a minute and introduce myself. I’m the new service manager and I’m looking forward to working with all of you.”

The other meeting went like this. “Thank you for your hard work, effort and attention to meeting our objectives. It shows that every time we work together with written GOALS and we take ACTION on a PLAN while working together and changing what does not work, keeping what works and always trying to improve, we can accomplish anything. Here is the new PLAN for this month” and on the paper were two words written in big block letters “NEW GOALS” and “ACTION”, followed by a list of things for them to do to.

Which of these people do you want to be? Are you Hoping, Wishing and Praying for things to be different every month? As each month passes by do you say to yourself “This month is going to be different because I HOPE things will change or I WISH things would change or I’ll PRAY for things to change?”

Or would you rather set GOALS and take ACTION and take CONTROL? Do you want to be in charge of your TEAM and the direction they are taking? 

You can decide, plan, act, monitor, coach and reward your way to the results you seek.

Are you looking to change what you are doing? Would an interactive strategy call help you? Would you like to take control of your results and determine where you will finish instead of hoping, wishing, and praying? Call or text 760-419-9002 and let’s just talk for a few minutes. Or go to www.carbizcoaching.com/contact and hit send. #nozombietraining #dealership #membership #advisor #generalmanager #servicemanager #training #fixedoperations #fixedops