When you go into a dealership this month, I want you to tell all the managers to quit! That’s right, every one of them, and tell them to quit now! Everything will improve and the future will be bright if they just quit.

Now, before you get carried away, I am not suggesting they quit their job. I am suggesting they quit making excuses and quit procrastinating. We all recognize the language called “excuse-ese,” and the most often used word of this language is “but”!

I would have had a better month but …

I would have spent time working to improve my skills but …

I would have followed through on what I promised you, but …

Excuses are the enemy of change! Admit it: We are all human and change is hard, so we naturally resist anything that resembles it. However, unless something changes, we will never see anything other than what we have been seeing. We must be willing to admit that we are capable of more. Staying in the same place we are now is unacceptable.

The most difficult part of change is changing our mindset and convincing ourselves that we need to improve and grow. I have the pleasure of working with some very talented and high-performing managers. And the most amazing managers are the ones that, no matter how well they have done, they are always stretching to learn and do more.

Procrastination Is an Excuse’s Best Friend

Zig Ziglar was about to go onstage at one of his speaking events. Another speaker was telling Zig how much he appreciated all of his books. Zig responded with a challenge: I am about to go onstage and make a presentation that I have made hundreds of times. I could do this in my sleep. However, I spent 1½ hours practicing last night to make sure my timing is perfect. How long did you practice last night?

The other speaker’s hesitant response made the answer obvious: Not at all. Ziglar challenged him and said that no matter how good you get, you are never too good to improve. Ziglar had risen to the top of the sales world by making his way through a multitude of excuses. He viewed them as enemies of his success and so should we!

So tell those managers to quit — quit making excuses now and start making time to grow and improve.

Procrastination is the best friend of excuses! When you decide it’s time to quit making excuses and that change is needed, the final thing we must conquer is procrastination.

We can always say that we are too busy to follow through with the decision to change. However, the discipline to change does not belong to those that have time. It belongs to those who recognize that to not follow through is unacceptable and growth is too important to get pushed aside by business. It all boils down to priorities.

Accountability Benefits Agents, Dealers, and Managers 

The most potent pill to combat procrastination is accountability. To make consistent growth and change one must be surrounded by others that are familiar with their commitments and who will hold them accountable.

Agents are trusted by dealers to provide income development, which is a nice way to say “Grow my profits.” And the one ingredient most often missing is accountability.

The agent that provides the framework and expertise on how to hold the team accountable will be rewarded with a constant demand for their abilities. When there is a consistent and straightforward process to review performance each month, and we hold each team member accountable, the income increases.

An accountability culture is a winning culture. It creates great customer experiences and great levels of profits. It is a forgone conclusion that each manager should set goals at the beginning of each month. However, there should be a plan on how they intend to reach those goals. And if a manager fails to reach their goals, there should be a one-on-one conversation on where they failed and how to improve in that area next month.

We must help dealerships determine what kind of culture they want to have. Do they want an excuse culture, a procrastination culture, or an accountability culture? It’s time to quit making excuses, quit procrastinating, and quit accepting less than amazing performance from our teams.

So encourage your dealership managers to quit today! And join me as I count three things at the end of every month. Count your blessings, count it a privilege to help others grow and improve, and then count the money. And count in that order. Counting and quitting until next month!

Rick McCormick is national account development manager at Reahard & Associates Inc. He has more than 25 years of retail and training experience.