Takeaways from Day 2 of Bob Clements International's Management Boot Camp

Maximizing investments, creating a dealership culture and financial management were some of the topics discussed during the second day of Bob Clements International’s Management Boot Camp. Here are some highlights:

1. Maximize your Biggest Investment

Your biggest investment is your employees. Your job is to maximize that investment. One way to do that is to spend most of your day catching people doing something right. Then, reward them publicly with praise or a reward, like a gift card.

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2. Create your Dealership Culture

• Culture is a combination of vision, core values and people.
• Your dealership vision has to be motivational, measurable and have a timeline.
• To help establish your dealership’s core values, ask yourself this question: What am I willing to lose a customer over? Limit your core values to three or four attributes, such as excellence or integrity, and make sure the values are actionable.
• The combination of your core values and vision provide a culture.

Dealership Exercise: What is your customer’s vision/perception of your parts department? What is your vision for the parts department? How do you turn your vision into what customers are experiencing? 

3. Understand these Financial Reports

Grow your dealership by monitoring your income statement and your balance sheet:

• The income statement allows you to judge whether you are spending too much on particular expenses and to see if you are turning a profit for a particular period of time.
• The balance sheet gives you an idea of your company’s financial position along with displaying what the company owns and owes.