Finger on the Pulse of Business

I had the pleasure of sitting with a dealer this week who redefined the phrase “having your finger on the pulse of your business.”

He’s the GM and co-owner of a store that’s outside a major metro market.  His dealership has enjoyed extraordinary growth over the past four years, to the point where they consistently outsell larger stores in the city.  The speed, effort, and execution from his entire team is nothing short of amazing – that’s why they’ve gained market share every year since the recession began.

Why have they been so successful?  Well, there are a lot of reasons.  Too many to list here, but one really stood out to me during our conversation about how business was going.  He told me he could tell how sales for the week are going to be by watching the Internet leads that come in daily.  He explained that if they get ramped up on leads early in the week, he can predict almost to the number how many deals they will do on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

When I asked to see his lead report from the last week, he simply spun his computer screen around.  He gets copied on every lead that is generated form his website and third-party sources. He leaves the responses to his very capable staff, but he can tell you at any minute how many Internet-generated leads are coming into his store.

That’s what I call truly having your finger on the pulse of your business.  And it’s something we can all learn from.