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

[It's me 611]

never done sundays apart from appointments,i think you need to make a decision oneway or the other and stick to it or get someone trusted to run the place and not rob you and thats not easy either as the customer comes back a few weeks later with a small problem and asks you how you did with their p/x that you've never seen

so 7 days in a week 52 weeks in a year

long time dead

for some crazy reason i didnt go away last year so thats a year out of my life

times that by working till you drop

no thanks

[NOACROSS 414]

Sundays are very good for us (surprisingly not so on Saturdays). I have a lovely retired guy who does sundays for me. 

Depends on the size of your business and stock level I suppose. 

Would be a massive mistake not to open Sundays. 

Edited May 27, 2018 by NOACROSS

[trade vet 697]

1 hour ago, NOACROSS said:

Sundays are very good for us (surprisingly not so on Saturdays). I have a lovely retired guy who does sundays for me. 

Depends on the size of your business and stock level I suppose. 

Would be a massive mistake not to open Sundays. 

You are right,I should have said when I decided to close on Sundays,we then had 5 salesmen,how stupid was that.Mind if you are a one man business and you are having a purple patch and knocking them out,who takes a day off because you know it is not going to last.

[Nick M.K. 574]

17 hours ago, NOACROSS said:

Sundays are very good for us (surprisingly not so on Saturdays).

Exactly the same even though we are appointments only. 

Saturday buyers all want to arrive at 11am with a list of 15 cars to see this weekend. Sunday buyers are so tired after the 15-car-Saturday and are much more willing to deal. 

10 sales this month (15 stock), 3 of them yesterday on Sun. 

[BHM 994]

Never mind no viewings, thare’s absolutely no chance of even getting to speak to me on a Sunday because my phone is off. I don’t care whether I’ve had a purple patch or not sold a car in a fortnight - I made the decision about 5 years ago to sack off Sundays due to the tyrekicker contingent.

I should add that about 6 or 7 years ago Sunday’s were often my best day then all of a sudden it changed to dickheads’ day so after a year of it made the decision. I now enjoy at least one arsehole-free day every week & have no regrets whatsoever. If I have too much to drink on a Sunday I sometimes have a second arsehole-free day with a hangover on a Monday &, again, I have no regrets whatsoever. The joys of working for oneself.

[RhinoHorn 7]

We don't open weekends at all. We only sell part exs on our site, rest of our sales comes from car sourcing or fleet management. 

Best decision we ever made. Starting the business. At the time was a completely unique offering.. All online based and we just grew from there. 

Worst decision.. Taxi conversions. Been looking at the same two brand new Renault trafics for over 8 months now. Think we've finally got them sold now though. No more. We'll do them to order but nothing else. 

[trade vet 697]

I think if you start the thread,you should contribute.......Decisions,I have admitted to 2 bad ones,here is an unintentional good one ( sorry if it goes on a bit).When PPI started before the millennium,we thought it was crap and sidestepped it despite the big commission you could get from finance companies for selling it.Our finance rep was under pressure to get us to offer it so I said we might try and do a few.I then heard about some dealer being fined by the FSA or whatever for not offering PPI to his customer,who had later got made redundant and had his car repossessed.So that made my mind up,we would offer it but I still thought it was crap and expensive and punters would not bother.So we knocked up a ‘ Notice of Understanding’,which explained to punters that they were being given the opportunity to make their own mind up about taking out PPI to run alongside their finance agreement. They had to sign our notice confirming acceptance or rejection after reading the PPI leaflet.What happened....70% of the punters taking out finance opted for PPI.,which was unheard of and we were not actively selling it.The average dealer conversion rate apparently was 20%.,so we got paid huge advance commission and our sales guys were also  paid direct by the finance company.Even our finance rep was winning holidays to the US for smashing targets because of our conversion rate.............Anyway,fast forward 5 or 6 years and the PPI misselling scandal breaks.We were inundated by claims  companies for alleged misselling.Luckily we had kept copies of our signed notices so we could prove we did not missell,otherwise we would have been done for a lot of money or even wiped out with legal fees......past glories!

[andymc1973 199]

offering to pick my daughter up tonight from Newcastle at 11pm when everyone else is flat out on the drink

[trade vet 697]

36 minutes ago, andymc1973 said:

offering to pick my daughter up tonight from Newcastle at 11pm when everyone else is flat out on the drink

Offering....should be  insisting.....if it is the town centre ,she would be safer in south central LA

[andymc1973 199]

good point

[Nick M.K. 574]

2 hours ago, trade vet said:

I think if you start the thread ,you should contribute...

Go on Umesh, gives your best & worst...

[umesh 336]

Sorry Guys, Some great comments , thanks for your input! 

Happy to contribute just a wee bit busy !  

Best decision was to walk away from paid job at the main dealers I'd been with for 15 years and start up on my own in 1997.( And close Sundays from day 1) !

Worst decision was to take a friend on as a salesman many ,many years ago who wasn't performing but I 'lived' with the situation for far too long ... nearly 3 years too long before parting company with him.( should have moved him on with in 6 months!)    Expensive mistake but we all learn! 

 

 

[trade vet 697]

1 hour ago, umesh said:

Sorry Guys, Some great comments , thanks for your input! 

Happy to contribute just a wee bit busy !  

Best decision was to walk away from paid job at the main dealers I'd been with for 15 years and start up on my own in 1997.( And close Sundays from day 1) !

Worst decision was to take a friend on as a salesman many ,many years ago who wasn't performing but I 'lived' with the situation for far too long ... nearly 3 years too long before parting company with him.( should have moved him on with in 6 months!)    Expensive mistake but we all learn! 

 

 

Thank you Umesh,I think in 35 years you must have better stories than that,..........no hurry.

 

 

 

[umesh 336]

11 minutes ago, trade vet said:

Thank you Umesh,I think in 35 years you must have better stories than that,..........no hurry.

 

 

 

I could write a book on the rest  

[trade vet 697]

54 minutes ago, umesh said:

I could write a book on the rest  

I could probably write a book on cock ups and bad decisions.

[umesh 336]

14 minutes ago, trade vet said:

I could probably write a book on cock ups and bad decisions.

Think we all could  #lessons #skoolday 

[SC Derby 259]

My worst decisions too would involve working with/employing friends/family/relatives. It just makes sense at the time but rarely works out imo.

[RhinoHorn 7]

3 hours ago, SC Derby said:

My worst decisions too would involve working with/employing friends/family/relatives. It just makes sense at the time but rarely works out imo.

I've been working with my husband now for 5+ years. Haven't managed to kill each other yet even though he has now moved his desk next to me 

[NOACROSS 414]

Long as he always gets the last word (“Yes Dear”) I guess it works. ;o)

[BHM 994]

5 hours ago, SC Derby said:

My worst decisions too would involve working with/employing friends/family/relatives. It just makes sense at the time but rarely works out imo.

It never works in the end.

[Nick M.K. 574]

Except working with family do you think dealing with USED cars is best done on your own or with a partner?

[trade vet 697]

5 minutes ago, Nick M.K. said:

Except working with family do you think dealing with USED cars is best done on your own or with a partner?

When you are starting out,it can be a good idea to have a partner.I did when I was 23,we pooled our resources and contacts and it worked for 4 years then we split.I cannot think of any car dealer partnerships that have lasted.

[Arfur Dealy 823]

6 minutes ago, Nick M.K. said:

Except working with family do you think dealing with USED cars is best done on your own or with a partner?

Lol....Lol again..... Lol extremely loudly again.... Nik, I couldn't share, they'ed find out how lazy I am 

[Screenman 47]

Not hanging onto many of the cars I sold in the seventies and eighties, they would have made a nice pension pot.

[BHM 994]

12 hours ago, Nick M.K. said:

Except working with family do you think dealing with USED cars is best done on your own or with a partner?

Self.

One of you will begrudge the other their share of a particularly nice deal you/they have made and then you’re on the slippery slope downhill. It’s human nature, the only way I can see it working is in a husband/wife type scenario where the money/losses all go into the same pot.