Modern Retail_A New Day For Auto Dealerships

COVID-19 has now pushed the Automotive Retail Industry into the world of Digital Retail.

Ready or not we are in the Modern Retail Era.

The buzz was around the annual National Automobile Dealer Association(NADA) Convention was about Modern Retail and the Modern Dealership. Many Dealer Principals and General Managers were kind of split about the next changes in the industry that was around the corner. Well fast forward from Feburary to March 13, 2020 just a little under a month after the convention a Stay-At-Home order was issued. This left dealerships scrambling to make the necessary changes to sell cars. This of course began the era of Modern Retail and Modern Dealerships. Modern Retail in my opinion is having customer options as to how they now get to buy or service their vehicles. Modern Dealerships are Dealerships that are now more customer focused on making the buy process simple and no longer complex with long hours of shopping inside Showrooms. Yes, the New Day did come earlier than most Dealers expected_now leaving them with two choices. You can now make the necessary adjustments to be more consumer focus by streamlining your online shopping options with home deliveries. Perhaps you can sit and doing nothing and suffer the consequences not pivoting to my the adjustments required to serve the Modern Retail Customer. Why did dealers wait to be forced into making the necessary adjustments to sell cars in now Modern Retail era that came unexpectedly? Well, many were probably looking at this like they did the Internet Sales Process that happen slowly years ago. However, there were some dealerships who took heed to what Vroom, Car-Max and Carvana where doing; they took good notice to make the necessary changes ahead of time.

Now That We Are In The Modern Retail Era, Here Is What Dealerships Must Do To Make A Transition And Mantain Business.

Dealerships must do the following to make a successful transition into the Modern Retail Era.

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Ways Dealers Can Approach COVID-19

As of March 17th, Coronavirus , according to the CDC has been reported in all 50 states and the National death toll is now at 100. https://apple.news/AMWdwIdgRrmjujUTUe1vQQ. There will have to be more efficiency in serving customers with the latest pandemic spreading through out the country. This has placed a new challenge on all dealerships as to the way business has been previously done.

Amid the Coronavirus crisis, challenged dealerships will have to get creative with Sales and Service.

Several Ways TO Address COVID-19 Pandemic To Keep Dealerships Moving

Now is the time to for all dealerships to assemble with their Leadership Teams on a daily basis and use the phrase “guys what if?” Each day you and your team need to have some “what” if moments to think things through as to “what if” we have no customers in the showroom amid the Coronavirus crisis which has affected a great deal of businesses across the country. You need these sessions daily simply because each day is unknown and the period of time for this Pandemic to end is unknown. Besides you have a sales staff who may have some concerns seeing as how floor, phone and internet traffic have all changed. Perhaps your BDC/Internet Departments and Service Departments have seen a big influx in their traffic. Now is the time to make some adjustments, perhaps maybe taking a few guys from the floor and having them to help with the higher demands of customer needs since more will communicate on line or phone versus coming to the showroom. Your Service Department if it hasn’t already will certainly see an increase in their call volume and internet leads that will have more customer demands for the servicing of their vehicle. Service Customers will have more needs. So each day I recommend you have those short meetings to kick around the “what if’s” to discover new ways to serve your customer during this crisis.

Train Your Sales Teams

The time is now to strengthen your Sales People, Sales Managers, Service Managers, BDC Managers all will have time to train their teams. This is the time for Dealer Principals and General Managers or even Operations Directors to sit down to place accountability on their Sales Managers like never before to train. Training in the sense that veteran Sales People will not be exempt from participating in these sessions. Here’s why no one should be exempt because we have entered a time where the way of doing business has changed and you will need to have a different skill set today going forward. I suggest you get with your Sales Managers and Service Managers and devise and plan of attack as how you can approach the Pandemic that has literally change the day to operation of a dealership as we have know it. The training should focus, ways to communicate with customer, text messaging, video training on how to do a virtual walk around, home test drives and health in the work environment as well as the use of Social Media. Each dealership will have its own agenda as to how they adapt to selling cars and servicing customers but no matter what training will be the king of it all.

Social Media…Take Advantage!

With over 80 percent of the American workforce being home quarantined the usage of Social Media viewing time will drastically increase. At one point in a recent study in Forbes Magazine, roughly 45% of the World’s Population uses Social Media during their down time. Well now for Americans who will be home for as long as couple of weeks to a couple months until the Pandemic ends, Their Social Media usage will increase from the average person spending nearly 2 hours and 30 minutes per day to probably 3 to 4 hours per day. There lies and opportunity for dealership across the country to get stronger in their digital marketing and advertising. I suggest if you have not already place on your dealership’s website, Social Media pages that you are open for business online and that you can purchase a car all online. Going live on Social Media outlets is another great way to connect with your customers or potential customers that you are keeping your dealership clean as well as talking about your adjusted business hours. This also a great time to get your ads on to Social Media and maybe even offering “A Store to Driveway Service” of their new car. Basically you will have to really be more Customer Service Oriented in the sense of your buyers will all be communication with you differently now. This is good because the new challenge that is in front you, is in an experience that will make your dealerships so much better because of the adjustments you will have made. So take full advantage of this current situation and become dominant in the lane of digital market and selling through Social Media.

Other Ideas To Sell Cars During COVID-19

Each day will bring a new challenge simply because our world as we normally know it has been turn upside down by this current New Normal. However, there are so many opportunities out there that just need to be brought to life. Your ideas will come from meeting, talks with other dealers like yourself, Automotive News and Car Biz Television. Wherever they may come from they will have been thought out and well designed. You have the opportunity to become one of those dealers who can possibly set a new trend when comes to selling cars during the coronvirus crisis. I want to leave you with some other ideas to help you get your creative juices flowing to make your dealership better.

1.) Make Customer Safety a Big Deal: Create a video for the customer who has agreed to purchase a car showing them the clean process of the exact car they are buying to ensure their safety. People are afraid and we must create a new level of trust with our customers.

2.) Create A Cleaning Process: Post on your website, place video on your service department televisions in your waiting areas that show and talk about you cleaning the service area multiple times a day. Also, create one that will letting them know how you will clean their car after service is completed.

3.) Offer Valet and Drop Off Service: Now more than ever people are going to want service and will need service to their vehicles now that they are home. Which means you may want to consider them dropping the car off and perhaps having the dropped by at home or work depending on their situation to ensure their safety as well provide them with simple easy in an out service.

4.) Online Service Appointment Setting and E-Pay Service Billing: If you do not have appointment setting and electronic billing system in your Service Department, well you had better get with the time. People are looking for convenience and emailing or texting your customer their bill would certainly be great or to go a step a further email the itemized bill with a breakdown of their bill. Also, provide them with them the options to call their Service Advisor who can go over any issues or concerns on the bill. Just know that you must get creative and think what would make the customer experience a good visit right now.

5.) Utilize Customer Mining Tools: Whether you use Auto Alert, Automotive Mastermind or whatever your customer mining tool of choice is now is the time to take a deep dive into it. Everyone should have a system in place and a Sales Manager that oversees this as another entire department. Equity Mining can truly enhance your dealerships numbers as well as your dealerships gross profits. Since customers will have more time on their hands at home, what a perfect opportunity for you to reach out to them and talk to them about taking advantage of their vehicles equity. Equity that may ever keep their payments the same or perhaps lower their payment. Just know this right now there are customers who lease will be ending during this Pandemic, there will be customers who’s loan is almost completely paid off and there are some nice older cars that you can use on your Used Car Lot. We must utilize everything we have and make deals continue to happen.

Now is the time that all dealerships must adapt and adjust how the sell cars, take care of their customers in Service and how well each one of you utilize your customer base when using your mining tool. The times have change and you all must keep moving forward.

*Lastly, tweak and make the adjustments necessary to your new ways of selling and servicing customers until you perfect it!

Why Dealerships Must Encourage Social Media Usage To Help Sales People Sell More Cars.

“75% of dealerships have no formal training for Social Media Sales and Marketing available for their Sales People.”

If you are managing your Sales People Key Performance Indicators(KPI) by the number of phone calls and emails they are making each day, then you had better be prepare to be left behind. In today’s society Social Media is the way to go when comes to selling cars and making meaningful and less intrusive ways to connect with Car Buyers. Roughly 45% of the world’s population uses social media, in fact it is where a great majority get their news, and other resources from Social Media. The average person today spends 2 hours and 23 minutes a day on social media platforms. That is a significant increase over 1 hour and 30 minutes per day usage reported back in 2012. You must ask yourself if you are a Dealer Principal, General Manager or Sales Manager, what are we doing to sieze the opportunity for growth? Facebook Market place has lead the way in Auto Sales in particualar the Used Car market. However, advertising and messaging have become big with new cars. Why aren’t more dealerships taking Social Media Seriously? According to a recent study, 75% of Sales People surveyed said that their dealerships offer no formal training on Socail Media Marketing and Selling. Besides who still answers their cell phones anymore? A vast majority of consumers consider phone calls inrtrusive and down right rude.

Two Things Sales Managers Must Do Inside A Dealership Daily

73% of Sales Managers spend less 5% of their time coaching their Sale People, according to TAS Group recent study.

The number of help wanted ads will never go away if we don’t stop the bleeding when it comes to Sales Turnover in the Automobile Industry. For some reason we keep having the attitude of the next man up and the next man up continues to provide your dealerships with the same results of placing a help wanted ad which is costing you tons of dollars. Just look in your CRM Tool and it will tell you everything you need to know about your sales; on average dealerships lose around 70% of the business they generate each month. The average store closing percentage is around 30% when it comes to sales closing percentages each month. Many asked the questions what can we do to change the turnover problem? How can we increase our sales each month? How can we increase our gross profits? Well there are two things that all Sales Managers, General Managers and Dealer Principals must do which I will tell you in this short video that can help you to turn this issue around Sales Turnover and save you money as well as make you more money.

We must do these two things in our dealerships.

Key Performance Indicators (KPI) Must Be Used To Improve Sales Performance

Dealerships biggest falls when happen Sales Management fails to Utilize KPI’s.

I was recently working with dealership back in 2019 that had a revolving door when it came to Sales People and Sales Management. The store was in great location and had all the tools necessary to be successful but there was a problem. I came in to the showroom, stood at the sales tower and the first thing I did was observe the processes as well the procedures. I immediately noticed the CRM they had and asked the management team how were they using it?

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They answered only for certain things. “I said come again!” They explained to me that the CRM tool slowed them down and cost the money. I then asked how do you all keep track sales performances? And please show me your sales process; I looked at their process in sheer shock. They were working everything by hand and with green markers, this made absolutely no since to me. They had no way of keeping up with sale performance and had no indication of true sales performances of their Sales People except only by sold units. There was no way to track phone calls, closing percentages and other Key Perfomance Indicators. You must have consistent usage of a CRM tool in Dealerships or any business for that matter when comes to KPI‘s. This latest video will tell you my thoughts of why Dealerships fail to succeed.

https://youtu.be/RTzQ7teLIFw

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8 Step To Building A Winning Culture Within Your Organization

People are and always will be the key to your organization’s success. The happier your people are… the better they perform and more successful your company becomes.

* Here are eight key essentials your organization must possess to build a Winning Culture.

Find Great People Who Compliments Your Image

As you begin to build your team and make a push for success, you definitely want people who understand their role and importance within your organization. You see, when you have people who know what your organization’s mission statement is about, then the alignment to success can begin or continue. Everyone who works within your organization wants bring value and enhancement to your team. They are the one key_ that is a perfect fit in their role in your organization who too are seeking the opportunity for career advancement. You also have to have people who look act sound and think like a true professional in their role. The people you want are team players who work well with others. The worst person you could have in your organization is a self-centered individual who wants everything to be about them. You cannot succeed without a team of people working together for one common goal. You absolutely must have People who think exactly as the Mission Statement. For example if your Mission Statement says that our customer service is guaranteed to make our customers happy, then everyone who works in your organization should know that we must all treat that customer like royalty when they enter your business. If you have everyone with a clear understanding on customer treatment, then you certainly have people who compliments the image of your organization’s structure.

Invite Your People To Buy Into The Process

When you can convince everyone who works within your organization to believe in the mission statement of what your organization is all about, something magical happens_growth. If you follow sports in particular the NBA, professional basketball then you are aware of what the Philadelphia 76ERS are doing right now. This team has been the laughing-stock of the league for years, losing year in and year out with no hope of change in site. However, this year they have gotten everyone to buy into what they call“The Process.” In the 2015-16 season the team finished with an embarrassing record of 10 wins and 72 losses. In 2016-17 season they finished with record of 24 wins and 54 losses, a an improvement from the previous season. Now in 2017-18 season thus far they have eclipsed their first 50 Win season with only 30 losses still with a third seed in the Eastern Conference for this years’ playoffs. How did they do this? By getting everyone on to buy into “The Process,” which is getting the players and coaches to trust in what the front office was doing. They assembled a team of players who were willing to make the sacrifices of being on a losing team for a while, with the intention of building a winning team in a couple of years while adding other players in the process. The same needs to apply to you and your business, bring in people who will buy into what you are selling, as a builder of the winning process to build a “Winning Culture ” simply because it starts with the people you have as well those ones you are recruiting. History happens to repeat itself when you bring people a group of people together for one common goal, the winning magic happens. You must create a culture that aligns with you core values.

Create A Culture That Aligns With Your Core Values

Culture is the way we do things within a certain environment, which operates by a set standards that affects the daily outcome of an organization. Today you hear many organizations use the “core values” phrase, emphasizing what they are all about. So what is your organization all about? Does everyone within your organization know what you are all about? You see, if you are pondering about these questions then you had better make sure you have your leadership team to start emphasizing your core values more often. For example, if one of your core values is to make customers feel like an honored guest in your dealership, then it should and must be taught to everyone in your dealerships. If you have certain a way of doing things in your dealership, then it should be taught to everyone in your dealership. Policy and procedures are all a part of your core values as well the culture of your dealership. Most of all you want to place an emphasis on having fun and creating a winning culture for your people to experience, besides culture matters to your employees and your customers. So build core values that entice people to work for you and to buy from you.

Maintain and Evolve Your Culture Carefully

Building your team is going to be crucial to your future but creating a culture matters more than ever. So you must build a culture that can grow and adapt as the generations began to change, as technology changes, overall you must be prepared. That’s why you must work to have clarity within your people as to what your expectations are by consistently emphasizing your core values to maintain what you are all about. Just like the Philadelphia 76ers , they are an organization that must continue to evolve into more than a contender but grow into a Championship caliber team. You must want the same for your organization_growth from what you have without going backwards to where you once were. How do you begin to maintain and evolve your culture carefully? One by being transparent about what’s expected of everyone, also letting your people know your are not the smartest one in the company and that you need their input to grow. Next you must let everyone know that their individual importance is a must have in order for your organization to grow. Most of all you need everyone  performing at their highest level everyday and that motivation to perform at a high must start with all your leaders.  Now in order to do all these things you will need active communication daily as well as active listening. Training and role clarity are key to maintaining and growing your culture carefully.

Work As A Team

If you want to build a Winning Culture, then you absolutely, positively have to build a winning team. Your team may take time to build,  get the right people for the job roles you have in your organization or maybe your team will be formed with a bunch of misfits in which you have to build from.  No matter what it maybe, your job is to lead, manage, and train your people to be the best at what they do and to work together. You see, everyone definitely achieves more when you all work together. That’s why you must have a mission statement that is so clear that your purpose is known. In today’s world in any organization everyone must know the common goal which means everyone should know your mission statement. You see, too many times a organization’s mission statement is missed and failure sets in. The reason failure really sets in is due to lack a communication in the details. Clarity is needed when you have a group people working, no matter the size you must have clarity amongst your people. There is a saying that the “devil is in the details.” When you don’t have clarity separation sets in and the vision gets blurred, things fall apart. Teamwork is a must and for you organization to have a Winning Culture; Cultures are all about the way an environment functions as well as how it operates day-to-day. Just remember, there’s strength in numbers and when the numbers are all working together, there is nothing that can stop the success of an organization.

Have Fun

You must have fun! As we all know putting in a good day’s work can be long and trying for many people. However, when you can bring laughter, excitement and enjoyment to the work place, your people are much happier. Yes, of course we can all say that money should make people happy but having a great work culture can make for a great day of work. Here are few suggestions, create team competition or perhaps consider having different events throughout the weeks or months based on the time of the year. For example, we came up with our March Madness competition where we put the names of the sales people who sold the first sixty-four cars and we the drew the names once the sixty-four teams in the NCAA Tournament were selected. We the place the schools on a large bracket board in which each winner was given a payout with each victory by their selected teams, which got larger as their teams advanced. This always brought out excitement and early competitive success in the sales people at this dealership to get the month off to great start.  An enthusiastic staff will always work together and have fun which creates a fun, exciting and winning environment. You can also get creative with training in making it fun and competitive too for example, at your dealerships you should have walk around competitions with your sales staff. Create days where the your training becomes fun_just remember fundamentals starts with fun of course. So help your people to get sharper mentally by making learning fun. Overall, “Winning Cultures” can be fun and exciting but it all has to start at the top with ownership, then leadership as well as management.

Train Your People Regularly

I am a true believer that companies and organizations that train well succeed all the time. You cannot become a “Championship Caliber” organization without training and training consistently. Organizations fail when they put training on the back burner and treat it like it’s a secondary deal. Listen up! If you really want success, then invest time, effort and money into training your people. Now what type training will depend on what your organization’s specific needs. If it is customer service, then get someone who specializes in that. If it maybe selling skills, then hire selling skills expert. No matter what you want to improve on_ stick to it and make known you expect results. Measure the success of training by actively monitoring the progress in the areas that need improving. Most of all hold your leadership team accountable. Accountability will keep everyone focused. Just remember, training starts at the top.

Learn From The Past

We must take past experiences and learn from them what not repeat. It’s like a child touching a hot stove and it burns them… teaching them a lesson about heat also, learning about danger. However, too many times in the Automotive Industry we cannot seem to learn from getting burned the first time when it comes to rehiring ex-employees. Dealerships get desperate, lazy and impatient and hire a person whom was either fired or the left you hanging by going somewhere else without warning. Or perhaps you decided to use a vendor, trainer or something to that nature that didn’t workout in the past. What am saying.? …the obvious that we must clearly evaluate what we have learned from past failures and put in place measures to not let history repeat itself. Here’s what I suggest to anyone who wants to be successful…don’t be stupid twice; learn the lesson the first time and move on from vendors, trainers, hiring agencies and un-loyal sales people who hop from dealership to dealership. Learn from your past mistakes and make every effort not go down that road again. This thought process alone will be the best thing to keep your organization no matter what it is in line with being successful.

*All these steps are part of what I truly know and will forever believe that builds “Winning Cultures.” Think about when have ever seen a successful organization where there’s no fun and everyone involved were miserable… I will wait, go ahead? If there, was their success didn’t last long. What I am saying is that you must have people who enjoy doing what they do, love and respect the people they work with and have a passion for success.

About Roger

Roger Love is a Championship Attitude Expert who help organizations to build Winning in the environments. Roger truly believes that businesses fail when there’s no clarity in an organization’s purpose. Roger has a methodology that emphasizes a Championship Attitude mentality is must today for success, which is the beginning of creating a great work environment where everyone wins!

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Three Types Of Employees That Keep Your Dealership From Growing.

What if…

You looked at your dealership as a whole from a performance perspective in terms of your employees? I mean really if you would take a deep look at the employees you have today with a open-minded approach, that would allow you to gather some facts about your staff. The kind of facts that would lead you to making some very tough decisions in terms of cutting ties with some people who have become far too comfortable with their day to day performance or their “seniority cry.”

Today far too many dealerships have to be accountable and say the phrase we use to say in sports when I played…”My Fault, My Bad.”You see, Dealer Principals, Operations Managers, General Managers all must know that I am about to tell you what you already know, but it’s just too hard of a pill to swallow. You have “Three Types Of Employees That Are Holding You Back!”

1.) Incompetent Employees

Yes I said and I am not backing down from my believes, far too many dealerships are putting lives, their brand, and the future of the business on the line with sales people and staff who refused to learn technology as adjust to the times. For example, we all have that three car guy who used to be the “stuff” back in the day but now they cannot sell their way out of a paper bag because the refused to learn the product they are selling. Man, this is a serious breech of protocol. I know saying that your employees are incompetent sounds demeaning but in the words of my wife, you gotta call at thing a thing; in other words you must put a name on it. However, when I looked up the word incompetent in the dictionary it describes the meaning of the word as “Lacking the skills, qualities or ability to do something correctly.”  Really it is not about a person being dummied-down or degraded, it is just an indicator that a person is incapable of functioning effectively in a job role. Besides this, complacency is sort of the same problem when you a have with most sales people who could sell more but do just enough to get by.  This simply means that management has allow this sales person’s sub-par performance to be the norm in the dealership and those same sales people chill out and become incompetent by default. In reality it is your management team’s fault for accepting the 3 car sales person who is really costing the dealership lots of money and could possibly get your as dealership in a heavy lawsuit if they give a customer the incorrect information about the functions and controls of their car. You see, I don’t understand why we are not taking training on product knowledge and performance seriously in our dealerships. Let’s look in other department for example if you have a DMV clerk or accounts payable clerk who continues to screw things up due to incompetency, it would destroy the whole department. Let’s look at it like this, grade your departments and employees on a scale from 1 to 10. Where would everyone rank and why? Why aren’t your sales managers being held accountable for the consistent 3 to 7 car per month guy who only bring less than $10,000 in gross profit to your store? Or service director who has oil change tech who constantly screws up a simple oil change? This is an area of concern all dealerships should look and make that your people are sharp and competent or find a replacement who can do the job effectively.

2.) The Fighters(Old Schoolers)

We have all witness the veterans on different jobs who feel entitled to fight for things to remain the same as they once were just because “it’s always been done this way.” These are same people whether in sales or any part your dealership that has become very comfortable with doing just enough to get by or feel entitled because of their seniority. They come to work each day month in, month out and of year in and year out they are they same person who refuses to change. They are the ones who really don’t embrace changes to well, they hate technology and despise all newcomers. In fact this person is as far I am concerned not a team player. In the sales capacity, they rarely make it to the sales desks with a deal. These people are “Lifers,” who are literally sucking the life out of your dealership. I have been in a General Manager role and I immediately cut my ties with these people because they are super negative and are feeling way over entitled to do whatever it is they choose to say or do. You cannot afford the “fighters” to run your dealership or career in the ground. In order to build a “Winning Cultures” in your dealership you must not tolerate foolishness at all. You must create a revolution within your sales force and in your office if you are ever going to grow into a Championship Caliber Dealership or remain a Championship Caliber Dealership. Basically, you must hold your General Managers, Sales Managers and any of your other lead positions in the store accountable for the store. Part of leader’s job is to recruit, hire, train and fire people; it’s just one of the necessaries that must take place in order to be successful.

3. Disruptive Employees

Tolerances of and foolishness, rudeness or disrespectful behaviors inside dealerships are killing your customers and costing you lots of money. I have witnessed dealerships where have spent some days inside their showrooms and witnessed flat out horror stories; people who really are rude, ignorant and just don’t give a crap about others. Many times the people are your “Drama Queens” or “Divas” within your organization. They constantly the center of controversy all the time. My questions to those of who you have people like this and you know that you do is Why …Why haven’t you done anything to correct this problem. Perhaps they sell a few cars for you and you feel they aren’t replaceable? Whatever it maybe it you must take action and began to get on a positive revolution within your dealership. You see, these are the same people who refuse to learn the latest technology or to take their very own certification to on their product. These are the people who maybe in good with you and they are totally against change. In reality we all are capable of learning and improving in different areas of our vocation. This disruptive employees are usually the best at pushing your rules right to the limit and fly just under the radar. They nod, smile and agree with you, while giving the the reply “Yes Boss.” Think you are too dumb and occupies to notice their subpar performance and fully are plotting to undermine you.

*If I were you, here are several things I would suggest.

I recommend that you immediately identify your underachievers and put together a plan to make them better.

I ‘d push my managers to do one on ones with the most resistant people to the point either they do their jobs or quit!

I’d fire the most destructive employees simply because they won’t change; cut your losses and send a message that the “Positive Revolution” has begun. Get on board or walk the plank, there has been too much money lost, far too many customers lost and there is plenty of money to be made.

Roger Love,

Championship Attitude Sales Expert

More about Roger

How To Display A Championship Attitude

LeBron James, starred right into the face of a racial hate crime committed against him on the eve of the NBA finals last week showing why he is a true imitator of a person with a Championship Attitude. During a recent press conference, LeBron clearly displayed the essence of  Championship Attitude while answering questions from the press while being under pressure to make a quest to win another NBA championship. 

You have to commend LeBron James’s response to a distraction that occurred during one of the world’s biggest Professional sporting events. 

Despite making his seventh consecutive NBA Finals, superstar athlete LeBron James was faced with questions that seem to point to his property being vandalized with a racial slur being spray painted on the gate of his Los Angeles home. You would think that most athletes in the NBA Finals would usually be set be addressed the media with questions surrounding the Championship series opening game one. However, in LeBron’s case that was different in the way that he was faced with questions surrounding social injustice in the line of racism in America. 

Handled it like a Champion 

LeBron James fielded questions from the media with class and dignity although he was the victim of a hate crime on Wednesday May 31, 2017. When asked how he felt about the vandalism that was done his to home, he simply replied “it’s tough being black in America.” He also referred to the fact the we still have a long way to go with racial equality. Not to mention he referred back in history by referencing to the death of young Emmit Till, a young Chicago Black teen murdered in Mississippi many years ago that left a lasting stain on racism in America. He also mentioned how Emmit Till’s mother wanted the world to see the sickening things that racism did to her child by choosing to have an open casket at her son’s funeral. LeBron’s no historian but he showed “World Class Athelete Status” in keeping his composure under the circumstances surrounding his personal challenges. LeBron’s attitude also revealed the true character of a person with a true Championship Attitude. Attitude + Energy

Through it all LeBron James was cool confident and focused on becoming a NBA Champion for the fourth time. This is  so important for him and his legacy which has already been scrutinized by many as an athlete who many critics feel that he isn’t deserving of being mentioned in the likes of so many NBA greats before him. So no social injustice has seemed to have distracted him from locking in and performing the way his team and fans alike expect him to perform. Right now LeBron James is faced with many challenges both on and off the court. I only expect him to do what winners do and that’s to display a Championship Attitude no matter what win or lose, controversy or not, LeBron James will remain focused on attempting to win his fourth ring.

How does LeBron James continue to display himself as professional with a Championship Attitude during challenging circumstances?

1. Courage: All champions always display courage during trying situations or in LeBron’s case handling all the distractions that occur despite being in the NBA Finals. Showing up to a press conferences whether his team wins or not. 
2. Composure: Championship Attitude is totally about focusing on your feelings, thoughts, actions and emotions. Most of all learning to channel your attitude into one focused positive attitude. Basically, LeBron displayed that his composure was great as well under control during the recent press conference and he was not going to be affected by the actions of  others(negativity). Why? because he has learned how control his feelings, thoughts, action and emotions with a Championship Attitude. 
3. Positive Attitude: LeBron has for the most part of his career has always kept his feelings, thoughts, actions and emotions under control, especially during trying circumstances. This has to be tough for high profile athlete such as LeBron James, who has to deal with tough criticism from so many people. Through it all he has consistently displayed a positive attitude, one which we all can learn from him. 
4. Confidence: If you want see the tell-tell sign of someone who displays a Championship Attitude, just look no further than their self confidence. LeBron James has for most part shown a great display of confidence in himself despite facing so many challenges over his career. If you want to display a Championship Attitude start with self confidence. One must believe in themselves before they can ever move forward toward their success. Confidence is simply arrogance under control as was once told by my mentor Walter Bond, a top ten speaker in the motivational speaking world. So never be sorry for your confidence as long as it is not absurd and you still display humility just LeBron James does during his appearances in the public eye.

* You got to give respect to LeBron James for his continued display of how to have a Championship Attitude despite all the negative people and circumstances attempting to bring his attitude down.

We can learn a lot from others observing someone’s feelings, listening to their thoughts and viewing the actions during challenging times. 

LeBron James may not be liked by many but many we all can learn to do what he did this past week each time he has been challenged by negativity, is to rise above the noise!

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Discovering what’s your singular  priority to close more sales.

In today’s world we often find ourselves multitasking with multiple-pages of to do lists jammed packed with projects seems to be what many people are faced with daily. Whether you are a entrepreneur or working with an organization in sales, we are always attempting to complete the daily priorities that are necessary to succeed in sales and business. The word “priority” is singular, not plural. It is referencing to what matters the most. A direct singular focus.

Direct Focus 

 Direct focus requires one to spend a large amount of time on one thing that could lead to improvement in sales immediately. If you can answer this one question, it may give your that singular focus: “what can you do to make things easier now and eliminate the unnecessaries? Your answer could very well be, provide yourself with the laser-locked in focus you need to close more sales. Focusing on one thing at a time will help you to see the big picture to your success.

The  Big Picture

Once you find that singular focus, everything else will typically fall into place. The key to the big picture is developing that direct focus on what’s necessary in order to paint the big picture and bringing understanding to your mission. Your direct focus will predict how you spend your time. 

Attitude and Skills 

Your attitude and skills is what aligns a salesperson’s one thing. Direct focus will lead to spending a lot of time mastering the skills necessary for improving your end results, a sale and customer satisfaction. 

The Extraordinary Key

The Secrets to Successful Selling

• Discover the that “Direct Focus” to improve results immediately.
• Align your purpose with priority, along with passion and skill.
• Commit to success; the best way to do that is by a step by step process.
• Schedule your most important work when your will power is high. Only you will know when it is you perform the best.
• Think BIG, never think small about what you can achieve.
• Eliminate destructive distractions that can limit your focus, i.e television, social media or uninspired people.

This is just scratching the surface as to what you maybe capable of if your develop a Great foundation such these actions. Align these actions with your purpose, with your priority and it may soon lead to increased sales. 

So let’s put these principles in place and into action to close more sales.

*Remember, consistency is the driving force to your success.

*You have to become faithful or few to be ruler over many. Start by building your success in sales with a direct singular focus on one thing that would really accelerate your path to success.

Be Great,

Roger

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How to Develop a Winning Culture in the Work Place.

Successful businesses are successful for several reasons, today I am going to share those reasons. The company’s weather large, mid-size or small are successfully growing today due to the winning culture they have developed along with coming to the realization that all their employees matter. Companies that have positive winning environments are winning each year because of each person in their organization who knows how critical they are to the success of the day to day operations. How come we see companies like Berkshire Hathaway, Microsoft, Google, Apple to name a few heavy hitters keep rising to the top? Well, it’s simple the people. You can build a beautiful building with all the state of the art items in it, but you don’t have the right people the building won’t matter. The people you hire and retain are the reason for success or failure of your company.

When building a winning culture it’s important that you develop a positive culture that recognize it’s employees often for their work. Your people who work for you must be loved, praised and recognized for their work performances just they were as a kid in school.

He are some helpful actions that I have discovered most successful business incorporate to build a winning culture.

1. Mission Statement: Your mission statement should be so clear that everyone in your organization knows how important to carry out this mission. If you have  receptionists, they should know the mission statement, if you have janitorial staff the should know it. Your people should know what your mission is throughout the building. This can help everyone understand how important they are to the company’s success.
2. Role Description: this is just as if not even more important to each individual in your organization. This is the foundation for accountability; job description as it is also known identifies each individual, each departments role in the success of your organization. You have to have leaders who can lead and manage people with daily performance.
3. Great Leadership: No one man can do it all and this where your leadership team comes in to play. Your leaders are simply a extension of  upper level management. Whatever you want your organization’s success to be it will come via how well your managers are trained to educate, motivate and inspire employees.
4. Set Goals: goals must be set and you must set high; aim for the moon and you will hit the stars as it was once said. With the goals must come incentives to motivate your staff. We still live in a time of incentivized workforce; employees love bonuses and recognition.
5. Recognize Top Performers 
6. Just like we all did as school age kids we wanted and welcomed recognition for our performances, weather academic, athletic or extra-curricular activities. We wanted everyone to see us being acknowledged for their outstanding work. So It is important that you keep the morale up be recognizing your peak performers. To get the peak performances from your people, you will need top notch coaches to bring their “A” game everyday; to have “A” game it require championship attitudes from the top.
7. Championship Attitude: a champion attitude is attitude that is positive, relentless, and laser like focused on a the task at hand. A champion knows their pinnacle and what it will take to get there. These individuals come daily and are motivated to win from their own self-determination as well as motivation from their leader. They also inspire each other too because they know how important is for their department to succeed. Individuals with championship caliber attitudes can manage themselves as coach and encourage others around them; this type of employee whose sort of like a player-coach. Meaning they can assist leaders like a team captain and they looked up to and respected. You need individuals with a championship attitude to help create a winning culture. 
8. Winning Culture Meetings: start your meetings off with music, a speaker, or employee recognized performances, or recognition of team performances. Start your meetings off positive. Try not to single out individuals or groups in your large meetings for poor  performances. If there are issues address them and address them as positive as you can. Address and emphasize there will be no negativity allowed at all. You must set the standards in big meetings.
9. Make Yourself Accessible: people need see you and feel they can approach you as a leader. I know everyone may not agree with this but you must make yourself accessible to employees. This helps to form a bond, trust from your employees. It would also be more encouraging to your employees if speak to them and make and effort to know them by name; I realiz large size companies mat not be able to do this. However, if you have a general manager, Vic president or a top level executive then emphasize that they become more approachable with the employees. People want feel that you are just like them. So eliminate the “Big Me and little you” appearance from leader and let the people know you wear the same color jersey as they do.

10 Employee Engagement: having social, fun non-work related events can build relationships  and get employees to know one another. Maybe you can send your sales team for an outstanding performance on a group weekend trip with expenses covered. Holiday parties and company cookouts can help create a winning culture especially if the see the company’s giving back to it’s employees.
In today’s workforce you must create an environment that people want to become apart of and remain apart of as well. It has to start with treatment which is the number one reason for turnover in a company. You must treatment your employees fairly and equally; we all have out favorites but we must make everyone feel important at all times. Be a company that is all about it’s people and their success. The attitude of a company is determined by leaders who can lead with the company’s vision clearly relayed to all the employees. Leaders also have be motivated to coach, train, develop employees in to great performing employees. Leaders also must be able to counsel with troubled struggling employees to bring their performances up without shaming them. 

Lastly, the key is attitude…it is everything. You have keep the environment in the work place positive to develop a winning culture. It would be great if every company had attitude check meetings each day. You know that employees have personal problems which do spill over into work. So it is important that leader watch their people and their actions to see if their attitude is at level 10 or level 5. You want them at their best everyday so emphasize daily about positive attitudes and to check all egos at the door in order to form your business into a winning culture that many will want to be a part of everyday.

Key your people motivated!

Be Great,

Roger Love

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