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In: All Categories, Change Management, Executive and Leadership Coaching, Human Resources Development, Mergers and Acquisitions, Strategy Development

Over the years, I have led numerous dealership acquisitions in the Heavy Truck, Construction Equipment, Materials Handling and Agricultural dealership world.  Some of the biggest challenges we had were around people, culture and leadership, especially in the few critical months after the acquisition.   It became very apparent over several acquisitionsContinue Reading

Process Improvement

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In: All Categories, Change Management, Executive and Leadership Coaching, Workflow Optimization

A few years ago, one of the Service Department Operations I was responsible for was a chronic under-performer.  Our customer satisfaction ratings were deplorable, technician turnover was at seventy percent, technician efficiency was below forty percent, and our service manager and service writer turnover were three hundred percent in oneContinue Reading

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In: All Categories, Business Scenario Planning, Crisis Management, Executive and Leadership Coaching, Human Resources Development

How “Scenario Planning” saved the day. Several years ago, one of the dealership groups that I lead was a five store Construction Equipment operation in the province of Alberta.  This was a very strong group of stores with great customer loyalty and carrying tier one market share brands.  Our operationsContinue Reading

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In: Executive and Leadership Coaching, Human Resources Development, Sales Strategy and Performance, Workflow Optimization

This is one of the biggest challenges any dealership operation seems to have.  How often have we heard a sales department say to a customer: “Those darn service people, they never deliver on time and they can’t fix anything”. How often have we heard the service department say to aContinue Reading

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In: Executive and Leadership Coaching, Getting Ready to Sell, Human Resources Development

Recently I was invited by a CEO and Board Chairman of a private company to discuss challenges they were having with organization succession.  In the discussion it was noted that the current process for CEO performance evaluation was primarily based on financial performance.  The CEO was an excellent performer whoContinue Reading

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In: Change Management, Executive and Leadership Coaching, Marketing and Communications, Sales Strategy and Performance, Workflow Optimization

When you speak to most “Dealer Principals” and ask them, “what area of your business has the most room for improvement?”, it’s usually the Sales Department.  After many years of leading equipment dealer organizations, the root causes of these frustrations and average or poor results are almost always the same.Continue Reading

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In: Executive and Leadership Coaching, Getting Ready to Sell, Mergers and Acquisitions, Strategy Development

Key Performance Indicators (“KPIs)” are a very important part of any successful business.  Having measures that can look at performance in a specific area of your business is critical to knowing how well you are doing and how you compare to similar dealer operations in your industry.  Sharing and evaluatingContinue Reading

Sticky

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In: Change Management, Mergers and Acquisitions, Strategy Development

We have all heard the terrifying numbers that eighty-five percent of all acquisitions fail to add value or completely blow up!  These kinds of statements prevent most companies from pursuing acquisitions when they need not.  In the following story you will see why and how having an intimate understating ofContinue Reading