Management Advice

Improving Customer Communication: Nebulous Term or Primary Driver of Improved Customer Experience?

Improving Customer Communication: Nebulous Term or Primary Driver of Improved Customer Experience? Given that the cause of most customer service issues stem from misaligned expectations, and that customer-first companies both manage expectations and keep their customers informed, you might have concluded (correctly) that the successes or failures of your customer experience efforts depend largely on […]

Customer Service 101: The Customer is Not Always Right

Customer Service 101 The Customer Is Not Always Right You’ve probably heard (more than once) that the customer is always right. They are not. Of course, they don’t have to be right. They are your boss’ boss. They pay the bills. The customer is not always right, but they are always the customer. Given that […]

Car Dealers: “We Were Killing It… Now What?”

We Were Killing It… Now What? For a variety of reasons (pent-up demand, stimulus checks, fear of public transportation, etc.) year-over-year sales increased for virtually all dealers in the third quarter. Moreover, because of tight supply, dealers were able to hold more front-end gross on the vehicles they sold. Even the publicly-traded groups – which […]

Customer and Employee Safety Doesn’t Have to Equal a Bad Experience

Customer and Employee Safety Doesn’t Have to Equal a Bad Experience Despite the long post, I’ll start with a quick tip to businesses small and large regardless of the market conditions: Make it easy to do business with you! Oh, and to that end, your messaging should reflect this! Despite the continued, often confusing government […]

Automotive Retail Disruption: How Process Would’ve Made a Difference

Automotive Retail Disruption: How Process Would’ve Made a Difference We all know good habits are learned in bad times, and bad habits are learned in good times. For virtually every car dealer in America, the good times started sometime around 2011, and ended suddenly in mid-March 2020. An industry disruption no one could’ve predicted. So, […]

Call Me Crazy, but if it Was My Dealership, I’d Want the Tail Wagging the Dog

Call Me Crazy, but if it Was My Dealership, I’d Want the Tail Wagging the Dog The biggest problem nearly every dealership faces today (as they did yesterday, ten years ago, and five decades ago) is turnover. Virtually every dealership I work with asks me about recruiting, hiring, and training good salespeople, service writers, and […]

The Fastest Way To Achieve Success

It’s like… instantaneous! (One of the 83 quick and practical life & work lessons from Sh*t Sandwich: Quick & Practical Success Lessons for Practically Anyone.) The Fastest Way To Achieve Success Want to know the fastest way to achieve success? Define what you have right now as successful. Congratulations, you’ve achieved success! By the way, […]

Everyone Likes You… They Really Like You!

Well, they will… (One of the 83 quick and practical life & work lessons from Sh*t Sandwich: Quick & Practical Success Lessons for Practically Anyone.) Everyone Likes You… They Really Like You! Six simple things done every day, and done with a genuine desire to find the good in others, will ensure that everyone you […]

Grow or Decay: It’s Your Choice

Most (Unfortunately) Choose Decay (One of the 83 quick and practical life & work lessons from Sh*t Sandwich: Quick & Practical Success Lessons for Practically Anyone.) Grow or Decay: It’s Your Choice Whether you grow from right now or steadily decay is entirely up to you. Not surprisingly, your attitude subconsciously drives this decision; and […]

Changing a Little Changes a Lot

Best Reviewed Lesson in the Book… (One of the 83 quick and practical life & work lessons from Sh*t Sandwich: Quick & Practical Success Lessons for Practically Anyone.) Changing a Little Changes a Lot Would you like to appear more confident and competent to everyone you meet? More than that, would you like to actually […]

Forgetting the Goal: A Leadership Dilemma

The Big G Goal, That Is (One of the 83 quick and practical life & work lessons from Sh*t Sandwich: Quick & Practical Success Lessons for Practically Anyone.) Forgetting the Goal: A Leadership Dilemma It seems everywhere we turn today we see examples of poor leadership. We experience bad customer service provided by an uncaring […]

Shit Sandwiches Are Not The Goal

The Goal is The Goal (One of the 83 quick and practical life & work lessons from Sh*t Sandwich: Quick & Practical Success Lessons for Practically Anyone.) Shit Sandwiches Are Not The Goal Eating shit sandwiches is not the goal here. This is going to sound redundant: but, the goal is the goal. In fact, […]

EOD FITB

ASAP (One of the 83 quick and practical life & work lessons from Sh*t Sandwich: Quick & Practical Success Lessons for Practically Anyone.) EOD FITB EOD = end of the day. FITB = fill in the blanks. Many times when we think we’re working steadfastly towards our goals, we find that we’re mostly completing a […]

Stop Assuming; Start Asking

…if you want top talent (One of the 83 quick and practical life & work lessons from Sh*t Sandwich: Quick & Practical Success Lessons for Practically Anyone.) Stop Assuming; Start Asking Are you hoping to improve yourself by moving up or moving out? Are you a leader hoping to improve your team by adding someone […]

Don’t Overthink This

Shit sandwiches are not complicated (One of the 83 quick and practical life & work lessons from Sh*t Sandwich: Quick & Practical Success Lessons for Practically Anyone.) Don’t Overthink This I’m hopeful by now you understand that eating a shit sandwich is not always about getting the promotion and does not always mean agreeing with […]

Not Everyone Has to Eat Shit Sandwiches

In Fact, No One Has To… (One of the 83 quick and practical life & work lessons from Sh*t Sandwich: Quick & Practical Success Lessons for Practically Anyone.) Not Everyone Has to Eat Shit Sandwiches Does everyone have to eat shit sandwiches? As you can guess from the title of this lesson, the answer is, […]

This is the Business We’ve Chosen

From the Roth School of Management (One of the 83 quick and practical life & work lessons from Sh*t Sandwich: Quick & Practical Success Lessons for Practically Anyone.) This is the Business We’ve Chosen One of my favorite movie quotes of all time is delivered by Lee Strasberg’s character Hyman Roth in The Godfather: Part […]

Meet the New Boss…

Some advice for first-time managers (One of the 83 quick and practical life & work lessons from Sh*t Sandwich: Quick & Practical Success Lessons for Practically Anyone.) Meet the New Boss… Looking for my advice for a new manager? Okay, here goes: If you’re the new boss, try to be really mean during your first […]

Be The Expert; Not The Asshole

Anyone can be the Asshole (One of the 83 quick and practical life & work lessons from Sh*t Sandwich: Quick & Practical Success Lessons for Practically Anyone.) Be The Expert; Not The Asshole Every business and every industry has experts. Not the “fake it ‘til you make it” variety, but genuine experts who have a […]

The Art of Managing Up

Needed when the boss can’t manage down (One of the 83 quick and practical life & work lessons from Sh*t Sandwich: Quick & Practical Success Lessons for Practically Anyone.) The Art of Managing Up Okay, you’re pretty sure your boss is an asshole, but you have no place else to go. Now what? Certainly, living […]

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