Thoughts to Ponder

Anyone who knows me well knows I’m not much of a football fan. I’ve attended high school football games for years to watch my sons’ marching band performances at half time and rarely knew the score of the game at the end of the evening. But, I do know who Lou Holtz is—a great football coach most often remembered for his coaching of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. I read a quote of his today that said, “You can’t win without good athletes, but you can lose with them. This is where coaching makes the difference.”

Mr. Holtz had amazing insight. There’s no denying that times are tough right now, but you need to do everything in your power to keep good employees because without them you can’t win the battle to stay in business. It’s a tough decision to have to let someone go and it really should be the last option after all other options have been exhausted. Some employers have cut hours back, some have redefined job duties and some have resorted to across-the-board pay cuts, all with the goal of keeping their best talent because they realize how difficult it is to hire and train that type of talent.

But Mr. Holtz’s thought didn’t stop with having good athletes (employees). Without proper coaching, even good athletes will lose. Today, it’s easy to get swallowed up in just trying to survive and neglect the coaching, mentoring and leadership that is necessary for your employees to perform at their peak. As the coach, you have to set the tone for what happens in your dealership or your department. You have to keep the negativity at bay and focus your team on the basics of your business. Keep coaching your team, hold on to your best talent and focus on the positive aspects of your business.

Speaking of the positive, if you didn’t notice, in the last issue of Special Finance Insider we introduced a few pieces on BHPH topics. We have been listening to our readers who are exploring additional ways to generate gross profits. So, we will be including a few BHPH-focused pieces in each issue moving forward. If you have a BHPH topic you would like to see us tackle, please e-mail me at Editor@SpecialFinanceInsider.com.

 Vol. 3, Issue 2