Senior Managers and CEOs can Learn a lot From Used Car Salesmen
When I joined the ranks of executives I thought that my hardworking days were over, life will be bearable as juicy paychecks and stock options help to keep my blood pressure within my doctor’s expectations. Quite soon I found out that I was standing at the rim of hell and everything in the new division that I inherited was out of control. To save myself from the shredder and ultimately the composter, I asked Ken, my trusted advisor, for any tips that he could give to help me survive my new appointment.
Ken has been a used car salesman for as long as I have known him. He asked me to join him for breakfast the next morning at a nearby family owned restaurant – at 6:30 AM. When I asked him why so early, he asked me if what I was asking him was important. I replied that it was. "Then lets make sure that we do the most important thing first in the day." I got the feeling that my training had already started.
Next morning, Ken sat across from me in the restaurant, and as the coffee arrived, he asked “What do you bring to your new job that will to make you successful? I know cars very well and can quickly find out the weaknesses and strengths of a specific vehicle by test driving it.” He stopped talking. I thought for a while ...is it authority I bring to the job? My MBA? …
Ken interrupted my thoughts. “You cannot teach if you cannot learn and you cannot lead if you cannot teach. You bring specialized knowledge to the organization – share it and acquire it constantly.” He paused. “ I know each vehicle on the lot inside out – I have driven them all – I have a notebook with comments about them... I read recalls on every brand on the lot so that when I talk to customers – they know that I know the vehicle. They always come back to me and send me their friends.”
After a pause, a sip of coffee, and a couple of bites, he continued.
"Another piece of advice I can give you is about people. I maintain unique relationships with my customers, my colleagues, and my shop people. They trust me and do whatever they can to make me sussessful. I get details about the vehicles from the shop guys, I also get customers through them."
"Success is a team sport. How do you plan to create a trusting team and dependent customers in your new role? How do you plan to learn from them? How do you plan to teach them?"
I ate very slowly. As I was listening to Ken it was becoming obvious that I needed a plan of action. As an executive, my success depended on others. How did I plan to become excellent at my job, as I expect others to be.
After finishing his toast, Ken continued “I don’t want to suggest more than you can put in practice for now, but I do want to add another that is lacking in many good people. This quality and practice is courage. Just imagine that you have taught and learnt and established relationships, earned trust, trusted, and that you have found unique answers to issues. However to put them in action, you will often need courage - the courage to take action and be responsible for the outcomes. Plans are necessary, but only action creates results. You have been placed in a position of power. You must develop courage to succeed.”
I was listening to Ken explain, so simply and with confidence, practices that had made him successful. When he started to summarize- “I can’t give you answers for your day to day problems but put into practice these three ideas - learn and teach, maintain relationships, develop courage. This will take you where you want to be.
As we finished our breakfast I knew that my hardworking days were just starting. I will need to get well organized and efficient to practice Ken’s formula for success.