This week David Long asked the question we've all been circling - How do we turn insights into actions? Special guests Germain Honda GM, Rich Newsome, and Morgan Salisbury, Director of Retail Development at Germain Motor Company, lent their experience and voice to the All Things Used Cars community. They dropped some realistic, actionable steps to get the ball rolling for operators at any point on their journey to mastery.
Listen to the customers. Often we want to use spreadsheets, but the customers are the primary source, and they are right in front of us. Learn where else they have been, who else they have worked with, and how it went. Listen for the human aspects of what they are looking for.
Morgan found that people needed rides to and from a vehicle buying center or vehicle delivery to their driveway. Something they didn’t know they could request until they were first asked.
Set your own KPIs. Morgan's team lives and dies by the calendar. They have a monthly goal that establishes a daily pace they track, so they know if they need to make up on Tuesday what was missing on Monday. A culture of accountability needs solid metrics to be accountable for.
Imperfect action > A perfect plan. Rich shared that using the data you already have to start attacking is the foundation of turning insights into action. David Long shortened this insight to "fail faster." This allows for finding issues as early as possible so they can be addressed.
So, in short, the secret sauce for turning insights into actions starts with high-quality insights becoming realistic goals that produce measurable steps with a willingness to fail fast so you can fail forward. With this fresh guidance, ASOTU has work to do, and we know you do too.