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Car Dealers - What Do We Really Know About Them?

A television advertisement by Lennock Motors in Phillip, ACT, so impressed me that I sought out its presenter.

We are all so used to seeing ads for cars and car dealerships that try to ram their message straight through the television screen by shouting at us, flashing big numbers and bright starbursts with loud upbeat music.

What was different about this ad was that CEO, Michael Cornock not only spoke to us in a friendly and intelligent manner, but it was what he said that attracted my interest.

lennock 300x199 Car Dealers   What Do We Really Know About Them?

Michael Cornock, CEO, Lennock Motors Canberra

I’m left with no doubt that Mr Cornock is a leader in the automotive retail field. The Lennock dealership, started by Michael’s father Len Cornock in 1959, is well known in the district and has become a beacon in the Canberra business community.

Few would disagree with me if I said that car dealers, have a reputation of being charlatans, and that you should always be on your guard because they are out to rip you off.

In the advertisement, Mr Cornock walked around his dealership talking to camera – the sort of thing we’ve seen a thousand times before – but he didn’t shout at us, he didn’t boast about great deals, end of model sales or any of the clichés we are conditioned to hearing. In fact, he didn’t even demand that we buy one of the brands he sells.

In principal, what he told us was that all car dealers in Canberra are good and that no matter what you decide to buy; if you buy from a local dealer you are helping the local community.

When I spoke with Mike further about this he said, “Canberra is the best place to own a car in Australia because of the quality of the dealers here. They are all well established and financially sound. There’s no fly by night operations here, they’re all pretty solid business, well backed and ethical.”

Why do car dealers have such a dreadful reputation?

When you think about it for a moment; car dealers are no different to any other retailer or service provider. They provide a very high quality product and, especially in the case of authorised dealers, they provide very a professional service that meets strict quality standards.

Lennock Motors have been Nissan dealers since 1967 (then Datsun) and they have been the leading Volkswagen dealership in Canberra since1981. They and also run dealerships for Jaguar, Land Rover and Skoda.

No doubt there are shonky car dealers out there, just like there are good lawyers and shonky ones, but the industry has seen tremendous changes in the last 20 years, and the automotive business has endured some of the most dramatic.

To become a VW technician, (what we used to refer to as a mechanic) requires a high degree of mathematical and computing skills, takes four years of study and requires a person with very good analytical and communication skills.

If you think being ‘a mechanic’ is a blue-collar job, think again. It is pretty much the same as any other IT job. The difference is that you sit in these computers, not in front of them, and when they crash the consequences can be far worse.

Mr Cornock’s exemplary demonstration of leadership is evident throughout the dealership, and well worth a look.

To find out more about Lennock Motors visit http://www.lennock.com.au/

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Recession proofing business strategies

Clever planning and good leadership can ensure that you survive the current recession; great leadership will see you come out of it in better shape than you are in now.

Cutting costs - what should you do?

Many managers and accountants will advise you to cut spending, reduce staff and ‘batten down the hatches’, but is it the best course of action?

No, it isn’t. This is actually a knee jerk reaction that lacks initiative as well as social responsibility. Yes, your business may survive the recession - but at what cost?

Last week I attended a business function about recession proofing your business. One of the speakers was an economist representing a large, well known accounting firm. He told of how the company he works for has been advising their clients to cut costs and he gave an example of how their own business has started to save money.

climbingrose Recession proofing business strategiesHe said that they have minimised business lunches and they have cut out all ‘unnecessary spending’. He went on to give examples of eliminating excesses, such as, no more flowers in the foyer.

He said that for years they have had a big bunch of fresh flowers delivered each week and put in the foyer and that this made the office look nice but it didn’t serve any business purpose.

Spoken like a bean counter I thought. ‘Hello’, I said - you really haven’t thought this through. What happens to the florist? what happens to the restaurateurs? Aren’t these the same types of business that make up your client base?

I pointed out that this sort of action is actually fueling the recession and in fact cutting spending is one of the biggest mistakes business owners and individuals can make. (The others being to reduce staff and to cut advertising budgets.)

What is a better solution?

By canceling the contract with the florist, the accountancy firm has effectively transferred their financial burden to the florist. The effect on a small florist will be bigger than it was for the much larger business, and so it will have greater effect - on the florist, their staff, the driver, the grower and so on.

Instead of canceling the contract with the florist, the accountancy firm should think more strategically and ask themselves, ‘how can we retain our contract with the florist and get better value from the flowers we buy?’

I suggested that they could spend the same amount, or even a little less if they were really struggling, on flowers but have them delivered as individual flowers. Then get the accountants or the receptionist to give each client one flower with their compliments.

This would result in wins all round. Everyone is still employed and the staff of the accountancy firm will feel better because they are giving their clients flowers. The clients will be blown away by the extra little touches their accountants offer.

And how many other accountancy firms give their clients flowers? It isn’t the emotional reaction you expect from a number cruncher is it? So what if the firm begins to get a reputation as being approachable and caring - is that such a problem?

By keeping the florists, the cleaners, the restaurateurs, the gardeners and everyone else employed, we will all stave off this recession together.

The bottom line

The bottom line is that we must all think a little harder and little more strategically if we are to all survive and thrive in the coming years. What you do today will set the tone for your future success.

Now is the time to cease the opportunity and innovate your way to success.

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How to make your small business more profitable

If you own or manage a small business in Canberra or the Central West of NSW, read on because this could be just the answer you’ve been looking for:

We have lowered the cost of making more profit

One question we are asked more than any other is ‘how can I make my small business more profitable?’ (Not necessarily in those words!)

workshop How to make your small business more profitableTwo of the biggest barriers most small business owners face are:

  1. Finding and keeping the good staff, and
  2. Finding and retaining more customers

Life7 is all about coaching business owners on overcoming exactly these challenges, but the problem for the struggling small business owner often comes down to money.

So we put our minds to ways of solved the money riddle – and the answer we came up with is really quite simple… group coaching.

We have introduced a series of small group workshops that will run once a month in Canberra and Orange.

The benefits for business owners are worth many thousands, but the cost is extremely small.

The first in a series of twelve workshops for small business in Canberra starts on April 1st 2009 and the Orange series will start on May 7th 2009.

The first three-hour workshop is titled ‘Advertising on a Shoestring’. Book now for the special introductory price of only $49.50 at Ultimate Business Development Program Canberra or the Ultimate Business Development Program Orange and simply fill in the attendance form.

You can pay at the door on the night.

Look forward to seeing you there.

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Reaching Your Dreams

Our new seminar room is put to use in our first workshop of 2009, ‘Reaching Your Dreams’ presented by Relationship Coach Janine Linklater.

Our new Seminar Room

Our new Seminar Room is put to use

This workshop was a trial run before the launch of our ‘Leap into Life‘ personal development workshop series, which commences on March 26, 2009.

The first night felt like a success with some very encouraging comments about Janine’s presentation style and some very thoughtful suggestions on improvements for the room (which we will get stuck into before the next session tomorrow).

Our new seminar room has been specifically set up for small group personal development workshops.

The room has full kitchen and bathroom facilities as well as a large adjacent bedroom that can be used by our interstate clients when they come for personal and small business intensives.

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Coaching your Generation Y staff member

For many reasons, staff training alone is fraught with tremendous financial wastage and unfortunately there are many reasons why it can’t deliver the results many hope for.

geny31 Coaching your Generation Y staff memberIn any training program, students lose 75% - 80% of what they are taught as soon as the training session is over, and they fail to retain much of the remainder unless they are able to immediately put it into practice.

Your employees will further struggle to implement what they have learnt in a training course because existing systems and procedures usually don’t allow for much in the way of change.

Plus, if the person who did the training isn’t influential enough, they won’t be in a position to be taken seriously and therefore be able to push the changes through.

One of the key advantages of coaching

One of the advantages of coaching is that coaching is personally tailored to the individual, their goals and their business situation. Coaching is also ongoing, and so allows the person being coached to make incremental improvements one step at a time.

If he or she comes up against a challenge, their coach can help them analyse the best way to overcome the hurdle, or if to overcome it at all is the best way forward.

Unlike traditional training courses; an investment in coaching usually brings a noticeable change with much faster results. However, it isn’t possible to replace training with coaching, you will need both for maximum results.

If you are considering engaging an executive coach, you should first consider this very carefully; particularly where Generation Y are concerned.

What I am about to write is true of all clients, but is most important where Generation Y is to be coached.

Personally tailored staff coaching

Tailored staff coaching

As I said in a previous article, ‘Recruiting and retaining high value Generation Y staff’, Generation Y will be most productive if they work with mentors. The next step up from in-house mentors is a personal coach.

However, a business should not offer to engage a coach for a staff member unless the staff member is making a financial or personal contribution to the process. Clients who have coaching paid for do not make the best gains. This is particularly important for Generation Y because they are used to having everything handed to them on a platter. Anyone who is personally contributing toward their own coaching process, will value it more highly and the coaching will have a much better chance of succeeding for them and their employer.

In 2008, one of our clients offered to have two of their staff coached by us. Both staff appeared keen on the idea until they discovered that I had recommended that they fund half of the cost themselves. They thought that it was their employer’s responsibility but I said I wouldn’t take them on as clients unless they funded half. Working with their employer, we developed a payment scheme so that it wouldn’t affect their household cash flow. They both refused.

A question I put to their employer;

“If the staff member isn’t prepared to contribute to their own future, why should you?”

We don’t want to work with people who aren’t prepared to succeed. It wastes your time and money and it wastes our time - time that we could otherwise be spending with clients who do want to put more on their bottom line.

Also see ‘How to get the best out of your Gen Y workers’

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How to get the best out of your Gen Y workers

I could have titled this ‘how to get the best from your workers’, because it applies to all employees, but is especially important if you want to get the best from your Generation Y staff.

generation yTalent development is often overlooked and yet it is one of the best ways to increase your bottom line. If you create a structure that enables talent development, all staff will benefit and your Gen Y staff in particular, will return your investment many times over.

Remember that Generation Y wants and needs to be nurtured. By having a structure that encourages networking and nurturing, your Gen Y will excel.

Three key strategies to improve Gen Y performance:

  1. Establish up a mentoring program. We recommend that Gen Ys (and new recruits) should have two mentors. One, an old hand who knows day-to-day work required, and the other, a senior manager with operational responsibility. This will help Gen Y (or the new recruit) feel included because they will have a personal contact with someone in senior management through whom they can potentially directly influence the operation of the business and through whom they can get information ‘from the top’.
  2. Establish networking situations that enable Gen Y to easily network with you and your managers. They need to be included and have an opportunity to contribute at all levels.
  3. Set up a structure that encourages creative input. All businesses should be looking at ways of continually innovating and Gen Ys fresh approach can not only help generate profitable new ideas, but also help Gen Y satisfy their need to feel needed.

You can go a step further to cement the bond with your Gen Y staff by providing them with individual coaching. However, if you have a potential star performer whom you think could benefit from coaching, how you provide coaching is not as straightforward as simply engaging a coach for the Gen Y staff member. All too often we have seen this approach fail to deliver the desired results.

See also, ‘Coaching your Generation Y staff member’

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Are you a leader or a manager?

The quality of leadership, more than any other single factor, determines the success or failure of an organization.

Fred Fiedler & Martin Chemers

As we move deeper into a world recession, it will be the individuals and businesses that demonstrate consistent leadership that survive. If you aren’t concerned about strategies for survival in these challenging economic times – the same applies, leaders will come out on top.

So what is a leader, and what is a manager?

Manager 1A manager manages an existing system or process; it may be a team of people or a production line, the commonality being that the activity has been done before and there will likely be known steps and systems and procedures to follow.

A manager is not there to make changes, at least not big changes; managers are there to manage. The manager’s role is to get the task done as efficiently and as profitably as he or she can.

Unlike the manager, leaders make change; they challenge the status quo. Leaders don’t simply do things the way they have been done before; they have a broader vision. Because of this, a leader has the ability to conceive of new ways to do things or even new things to do.

The task of the leader is to get his people from where they are to where they have not been.

Henry Kissinger

We cannot all be leaders, just as we cannot all be managers. But what we all need in difficult times is leadership.

Ask yourself this question:

Do I manage or do I lead?

If you are the owner of the business, you should be the leader in your organization. Even if you are a sole trader, having a leadership mentality is the key that will help take you and your business from ordinary to extraordinary.

Leadership is not something most people are born with. You don’t have to be charismatic to be a great leader. What sets leaders apart is combination of traits, all of which can be learnt and practiced.

To find out more, see out page on leadership coaching or contact us to find out precisely how we can help you become the leader you want to be.

If your are in a small or micro business our mentoring groups offer the most cost effective solutions to help you grow your business.

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New services for 2009

We have a lot of exciting changes in store for 2009.

We started by re-writing our mission statement; which is:

To improve the lives and attitudes of all whom we contact by empowering business owners and managers around the world with best practice staff and customer retention strategies.

Two of the first things existing clients will notice is that we have a new web site and our tag line on the logo has changed to ‘Performance Coaching’. This reflects the change in our mission statement and changes to the coaching services that have come from this clearer focus.

We will no longer provide personal coaching on advertising and promotional strategy, but will instead introduce a new mentoring groups that will serve this purpose for small to medium sized businesses in the Canberra region.*

This will enable us to focus our personal coaching services on staff retention and leadership.

We will also be introducing customer retention coaching on a trial basis, as we believe that many of the techniques we use to improve staff retention could be adapted to improve client retention and therefore profitability and marketing effectiveness.

The big project for us will be our research into leadership project that will commence in February.

We will also introduce a new training workshop on how to recruit the right people for your team and how to assemble and empower an outstanding team.

It is going to be busy year and we wish everyone the very best for 2009.

*Note that existing advertising coaching agreements will not be affected by this change.

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Life7 Pty Ltd, GPO Box 1589 Canberra, ACT, Australia