Blog

Our February auction, which is normally one of our busiest auctions of the year, is tomorrow.  Andy and the guys at the shop have been extremely busy keeping Approved Auto supplied with new vehicles and preparing for the auction.  I have mentioned on the blog before how important the auction is to our business, so please take the time to let Andy, Lynn, and all the staff at the shop know how much we appreciate the good job they are doing.

The best investment is in the tools of one’s own trade.

-Benjamin Franklin

Have a great weekend…Louis

I have seen many studies over the years about how much employees “goof off” or “waste” time at work.  As I was doing an audit in Aliceville this past Friday, the thought occurred to me that whoever was doing one of those studies never completed one while working with Janet and Brenda.  Wow is all that I can say.  As Janet was leaving for lunch, she was telling Brenda a few things to do while she was gone and as she was coming back in the door from lunch she was asking Brenda if she had taken care of those things.  While I am sitting in the chair trying to recover from the awesome food I just had from the restaurant next door, Gates, they never missed a beat.  On the phone, making notes, updating their database, asking me questions that had come to their mind. Oh and did I mention their audit was near perfect? Coincidence? I don’t think so! Way to go Janet and Brenda!!

Rachel

This morning I wanted to spend a little time bragging on the ladies at Approved Auto Sales.  Only a few days into the month, the Approved Auto team is off to a record start for any month in their history.  Their sales have been so good this month that we have been scrambling to make sure we can keep adequate inventory on the lots as we enter the busiest few weeks of the year.

If you spend much time at all at our car lot you would easily understand a large part of what makes our car business successful.  The relationships that the ladies have built with their customers are evident in the smiling faces lined up each Friday waiting, not only to make a payment, but to be able to spend a few minutes with the staff at Approved.  Grab a chair in our Approved Auto office on a Friday and you can learn a lot as the customers enjoy sharing life’s up and downs with the employees they have come to know and trust.

Another larger key to our success is that this relationship is mutual between our Approved employees and their customers.  The ladies really do take an interest in their customers and enjoy seeing them succeed in all aspects of life.

To be successful in business I am a firm believer that you have to like your customer.  Come to think of it, I can’t think of any business book I have ever read about a wildly successful entrepreneur who just absolutely hated their customer.

Thanks to all of you who treat your customers with the respect and care they deserve. — Luke

“The golden rule for every business man is this: Put yourself in your customer’s place.”  Orison Marden

I read an article last week by Dave Anderson on how to overcome the temptations of successful organizations.  I found the article very informative and I would like to share some of the temptations Dave warns about.

1.The temptation to stop working on yourself.  Successful leaders work hard on their jobs, but often times they stop working on themselves.

2.The temptation to stop thinking big.

3.The temptation to stop holding others accountable.

I hope you will keep these temptations in mind as you go about your daily activities.

The best time to fix the roof is when the sun is shining.

John F. Kennedy

Have a great day…Louis

This Sunday the San Francisco 49’ers and the Baltimore Ravens go head to head in the biggest sporting event of the year.  The winning team will take the Lombardi Trophy back to their hometown as a sign of their being the best team in the nation.  I thought some quotes by the trophies namesake, Green Bay Packers coach Vince Lombardi, would be fitting for the blog this week.

“The difference between a successful person and others is not a lack of strength, not a lack of knowledge, but rather a lack of will.”  Vince Lombardi

“Winners never quit and quitters never win.”  Vince Lombardi

“Confidence is contagious.  So is lack of confidence.”  Vince Lombardi

“The measure of who we are is what we do with what we have.”  Vince Lombardi

“Once you learn to quit, it becomes a habit.”  Vince Lombardi

“Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection we can catch excellence.”  Vince Lombardi

“It’s not whether you get knocked down, it’s whether you get up.”  Vince Lombardi

“Winning is not a sometime thing; it’s an all the time thing.  You don’t win once in a while, you don’t do things right once in a while, you do them right all the time.  Winning is a habit.  Unfortunately, so is losing.”  Vince Lombardi

Go Niner’s!!  . . .  Luke

Both of my girls love to watch a show called “Special Agent Oso.”  In every episode, a child realizes that he or she does not know how to do something such as hit a baseball, play duck duck goose, wrap a birthday present or say goodbye to a best friend.  Special Agent Oso will then receive a special alert on his palm pilot and immediately go to the rescue of the child.  His palm pilot will always break down the solution to the problem into three special steps.  The song to go along with the three special steps goes something like this:  “Three special steps, that’s all you need. Three special steps, and you’ll succeed.”  I’ve often thought to myself that it would be nice if every task we do or every problem we must solve could be completed in three special steps.  Not long ago, I visited our Fayette location and noticed that Christie and Rachel were using a dry erase board in the back of the store to condense a very important part of our day to day operations into three steps.  In my mind, I immediately starting singing…..”three special steps, that’s all you need.”  Yes, I have probably been watching too much Disney Jr. but I thought their idea was awesome.   We have all discussed the importance of keeping daily to-do lists so the dry erase board is just another way for them to keep the status of an important task in the forefront of their minds.  Our Vernon store also uses the dry erase board but for a different task.  All four of these ladies do an awesome job and I am sure that any one of them would be willing to share their ideas for use of the dry erase board.  Thanks to Christie, Rachel, Charlon and Susan for all the good work that they do!!

Rachel

After hearing from several employees we finally decided to make Lake Tiak – O’Khata as this year’s destination for our annual Employee Appreciation Family Day.  I am excited about the new venue myself as I have never been to this family owned lake resort that lies a mere couple of hours away from my home.  I have driven by several times on my way to the state capitol but have never stopped in.  From what several people have told me who have visited it is a hidden treasure for this region.

Click on the link below to check out all the resort has to offer.  This is sure to be a fun outting for all us old kids and the young ones too!

http://ltok.com

I hope everyone has a fabulous Friday and a great weekend! . . . Luke

“Wherever you go, no matter what the weather, always bring your own sunshine.”  Anthony D’Angelo

On my last blog I mentioned that we were headed to our quarterly Leedom meeting.  We returned early Monday morning and had a very successful meeting.  We came home with many new ideas and some areas we can focus on to improve our business.  I look forward to implementing some of our new ideas over the next couple of weeks.

Hope you have a great day…Louis

Luke, Shane, and I will be traveling today to attend meetings with the consulting group for our buy here pay here business.  As I have mentioned on the blog before, I am always anxious to get to these meetings to see how our numbers compare to the rest of our group.  I look forward to getting back in the office on Monday with new ideas on ways we can improve our business!  I will give y’all a report from the meetings next week.  I hope everyone has a great weekend!

Life is a storm, my young friend. You will bask in the sunlight one moment, be shattered on the rocks the next. What makes you a man is what you do when that storm comes.

– The Count of Monte Cristo

Louis

I recently read a blog that was discussing pointers on how a company should always be trying to improve their customer experience.  One of the pointers was entitled  “Retention.”  The writer noted that many businesses are so busy attracting new customers to come to their front door, they don’t take care of the customers leaving out their back door.  A recent visit to our store in Belmont immediately came to my mind.  I spent the day with Deborah and observed her gladly doing several things for existing customers that go a long way in retaining a customer’s business.  She had brought cookies and was offering them to customers especially those with small kids.  A customer had some questions about a title so she picked up the phone and called the courthouse for him in order to get the questions resolved.  She offered to bring the paperwork to the car for a customer who had recently been in the hospital.    I have observed a lot of you doing similar things that exemplify customer service at its best.  Keep up the good work and remember that if we don’t take care of our customers, someone else will!

I look forward to visiting with more of you very soon.

Rachel