BEST and WORST decision that you've made in your business

[umesh 336]

Like everyone in any business we make so many decisions some without thinking ' auto pilot' !

So what's the BEST and WORST decision that you've made in your business !

premises , stock , eureka moment that made you fortune or blow a fortune ,  coffee choice !

Fire away. 

[Mark101 536]

Buying Online "unseen" or without having a look before returning and bidding Online.

[MrC 142]

By far and away making the change to get involved full time in the campers. I work longer hours for sure but I enjoy what I do, People seem genuinely interested in what I do, I get huge job satisfaction.

[Rory RSC 596]

Buying online - Game changer and time saver for me.

Ditching Warrantywise and using a great company to do the admin on our warranties before switching to running warranty completely on our own.

Video Ads.

Any decision - Giving things a go and making my own opinions rather than listening to other loud voices with no direct experience of what they are talking about. A lot of people hand out a lot of advice, not all of it good in this game so many different approaches that work for others all leading to success. Got to tweak and fine tune

 

[metcars 397]

Involving my wife as a partner? 

[NOACROSS 414]

Deciding to not pay Autotrader fortunes a month and dump them! (sorry- been a while and couldn't help myself ;0)

2 minutes ago, met said:

Involving my wife as a partner? 

Ha - you've not said if that was good or bad ( or maybe that was the intention)

[justina3 518]

I sold a car audio franchise after running it for 10 years was a bouncing little business to the manager who was paying me monthly he lasted 15 months and run the place into the ground, lesson learned dont lend money to someone if it goes belly up has nothing to lose or any means to pay you back.

Manager had control over my other car audio outlet and riffled it dry 50k plus (to my defense on this one my son was born and almost didnt make it so i was in the hospital every day and my head up my backside and mind not on my game) anyway its only money and my son is 16 and perfectly healthy so all good in the end.

But my worst ever bollux drop / missed chance was a local Hyundai car dealership back 20 years was told to upgrade his showroom or lose his dealership he decided to retire offered me the building and i said what on earth do i want an indoor car showroom for with 5 car workshop and valet bay, with 8 flats above it went for pennies as well i drive past on the way home and cringe every time i see it, which is now a wine merchants.

[grant8064 219]

Best: Opening the doors three years ago with no experience and a two week old drivers license. The insurance wasn't the kindest that year but it's been worthwhile.

No worst decisions yet. Lots of stuff hasn't worked out as planned or has had to be changed but that's not a bad thing so long as you learn from it.

[trade vet 702]

29 minutes ago, justina3 said:

I sold a car audio franchise after running it for 10 years was a bouncing little business to the manager who was paying me monthly he lasted 15 months and run the place into the ground, lesson learned dont lend money to someone if it goes belly up has nothing to lose or any means to pay you back.

Manager had control over my other car audio outlet and riffled it dry 50k plus (to my defense on this one my son was born and almost didnt make it so i was in the hospital every day and my head up my backside and mind not on my game) anyway its only money and my son is 16 and perfectly healthy so all good in the end.

But my worst ever bollux drop / missed chance was a local Hyundai car dealership back 20 years was told to upgrade his showroom or lose his dealership he decided to retire offered me the building and i said what on earth do i want an indoor car showroom for with 5 car workshop and valet bay, with 8 flats above it went for pennies as well i drive past on the way home and cringe every time i see it, which is now a wine merchants.

That must hurt Justin.....

[trade vet 702]

A long time ago against  a lot of competition,we acquired the lease on a very good pitch.It was expensive and the car dealer landlord made us pay one years rent in advance.However we did very well there.Come the first rent review,the rent was being doubled   so we sold the lease and bought what seemed to be a good out of town showroom.It was a bad move and we had to board it up and move out.....

[tradegirl 112]

4 hours ago, justina3 said:

I sold a car audio franchise after running it for 10 years was a bouncing little business to the manager who was paying me monthly he lasted 15 months and run the place into the ground, lesson learned dont lend money to someone if it goes belly up has nothing to lose or any means to pay you back.

Manager had control over my other car audio outlet and riffled it dry 50k plus (to my defense on this one my son was born and almost didnt make it so i was in the hospital every day and my head up my backside and mind not on my game) anyway its only money and my son is 16 and perfectly healthy so all good in the end.

But my worst ever bollux drop / missed chance was a local Hyundai car dealership back 20 years was told to upgrade his showroom or lose his dealership he decided to retire offered me the building and i said what on earth do i want an indoor car showroom for with 5 car workshop and valet bay, with 8 flats above it went for pennies as well i drive past on the way home and cringe every time i see it, which is now a wine merchants.

Ouch....
My worst mistake has been reading your name as "Justina 3" instead of "Justin A3", and calling you Justina all this time.

[trade vet 702]

1 hour ago, trade vet said:

A long time ago against  a lot of competition,we acquired the lease on a very good pitch.It was expensive and the car dealer landlord made us pay one years rent in advance.However we did very well there.Come the first rent review,the rent was being doubled   so we sold the lease and bought what seemed to be a good out of town showroom.It was a bad move and we had to board it up and move out.....

We all make big mistakes and cock ups but you rarely hear traders admitting to them,it is all past glories.It will be interesting to see how many admit to them on here.

[It's me 615]

dont lend stock or money to other traders

no matter how long you have known them they dont respect what you have done and will do you one way or another

best decision is working for me ,i might work harder but i reap better rewards

[trade vet 702]

A friend of a dealer friend of mine was retiring and he owned a long established pitch in East Dulwich where he sold and rented out motor homes.The rent was cheap,so I jumped on the train to London to view this pitch.Main road site,10 car frontage,half an acre in the rear,sub contract workshop on site.£500 per week inc rates,no competition within a mile or two,it was for nowt.It may have been good for motorhomes,but it was no good for selling cars.We found that punters would not travel from more than 5 miles away,because the traffic hardly moved.The paintshop was a few miles away and it took 2 hours to swap a car.We lasted 2 years and blew good money.

[trade vet 702]

Your turn Umesh......bad decisions please ( major ones )....thank you.

[sparky 274]

Best (with the benefit of hindsight) was buying my pitch as the world was ending back in 2008 and making the decision to try and pay a huge mortgage off asap, thankfully it got paid off last year. 

Leaving Belle Vue and heading to Scotland to buy back in the noughties was another good move, sadly that golden goose no longer lays.

More recently, setting up a proper indoor prep/valet bay has been a game changer, can't believe I suffered outside for so long.

Worst, apart from the normal howlers nothing really keeps me awake at night, although the time I sent 25k to the wrong company instead of the auction could have been a disaster.

I sometimes regret not getting into motorhomes and caravans and maybe golf buggies (long story). 

In a year's time I might revisit this thread with a real clanger if my storage business doesn't take off 

[justina3 518]

18 hours ago, tradegirl said:

Ouch....
My worst mistake has been reading your name as "Justina 3" instead of "Justin A3", and calling you Justina all this time.

shhh its my weekend gig

[tradegirl 112]

58 minutes ago, justina3 said:

shhh its my weekend gig

Lol! Does it help with car sales?

[Stephen 21]

Worst - thinking I could be a car trader 

[have a word with the wife 299]

worst decision, thought i could build one good gearbox out of two, that went through the block, first and third only, no reverse, told driver dont let anyone in, lock the door heres a fiver 

best decision, no sunday working 

[trade vet 702]

7 hours ago, tradex said:

Forgot that one, great choice

That’s interesting,I recall when we decided to close Sunday’s.It then became evident that it was costing at least 12 deals per month plus the Sunday punters who returned days later......and would have had a material effect on our bottom line.I think Sunday punters are easier anyway...If you have a pitch,this is a 7 day job.

[Rory RSC 596]

2 hours ago, trade vet said:

That’s interesting,I recall when we decided to close Sunday’s.It then became evident that it was costing at least 12 deals per month plus the Sunday punters who returned days later......and would have had a material effect on our bottom line.I think Sunday punters are easier anyway...If you have a pitch,this is a 7 day job.

i like opening on a Sunday everyone is a bit more laid back I find. Boosts our sales figures massively min 10 extra car's sold over a month. It also works out as a good day to catch up on videos in between customers or on the quieter Sundays, always something to do.

 

[sparky 274]

3 hours ago, trade vet said:

That’s interesting,I recall when we decided to close Sunday’s.It then became evident that it was costing at least 12 deals per month plus the Sunday punters who returned days later......and would have had a material effect on our bottom line.I think Sunday punters are easier anyway...If you have a pitch,this is a 7 day job.

I have a pitch, it used to be 7 days, not anymore. Life is too short. Well that's the VAT done so that's my Sunday done for this quarter

[Nick M.K. 574]

Best decision: get a stocking facility and move away from the £3995 price point. 

Second best: get a much cheaper stocking facility a year later. 

Worst: Quitting my full time job (Health & Safety, didn't enjoy it) in 2006 instead of 2005 when I first decided I want to deal in cars. 

[grant8064 219]

2 hours ago, sparky said:

I have a pitch, it used to be 7 days, not anymore. Life is too short. 

Snap. Used to but we got so many dreamers and people killing time while the wife shopped it wasn't worth it. Do far more business on a weekday than we ever do on a Saturday or Sunday.