Let me introduce you to the rule of equal incompetence. It applies to many of us. When a market of competitors all hire the same people and adopt the same practices you end up with equivalency. When business decisions are not based in fact, you create incompetence. Thus, the rule of equal incompetence.
If you’ve ever worked in a dealership, located in a competitive market, you know exactly what I’m talking about.
Over the years I heard a lot of “we should do this because I feel it is the best way to do it” and “I think we should ____.” I rarely heard “I looked at the numbers and even though I don’t personally feel it is something I would use, the numbers don’t lie so we are going to do this.” There are quite a few operators and General Managers who have made careers off of “feelings”. They did this through a mix of talent, luck, short memories and the rule of equal incompetence. I can’t say that my own career hasn’t had a few of these elements mixed in. I’ll be the first to raise my hand and say guilty as charged.
Lately, I have heard “I think” and “I feel” more times than I care to think about. I’m taking a stand. No more decisions by gut. Give me stats and A/B tests.
With so many numbers at our finger tips there is only one reason to ignore the facts: you don’t understand them.
Ignoring the numbers helps to fuel the rule of equal incompetency. It keeps you in the dark and it keeps you guessing. I don’t know about you but I don’t like guessing my way through the dark. So if you’re still gut-guessing I have to ask why?
- What do you not know about your website analytics?
- What do you not understand in the trends your financial reports show you?
- Do you not see that CRM activity breeds more sales?
- Can you pinpoint which reports to focus on that show whether your people are working smarter?
These are things you should be asking yourself. If you are finding areas inside your DMS, CRM, PPC, SEO, Marketing, or Website reports that don’t make sense find someone to clarify these things for you (usually your vendor). Make sure you’re not the equal incompetent.
I also suggest getting another opinion on what’s important from the DealerRefresh community. Sign-up and ask any question you want on the DealerRefresh forums. They say 1,000 heads are better than 1.
