In my time, I’ve come across many great eCommerce minds working in dealerships across the country, mastering their craft. A few are recognized for their gift and contribution to their stores. A good majority are unappreciated and overlooked. The rest, no matter how dedicated, work in dealerships with limited resources and management that might seem stuck in the last century. More than likely, if you are reading this, you fall into one of the latter categories.
My advice to you? Stick with it. You are not alone. All experts were once where you are today. Often you feel like, no matter how much you want to grow your knowledge or your store’s online presence, it will go unnoticed. In some cases, you may even have your hands tied from improving your dealership’s online profitability. I repeat myself. Stick with it.
Keep reading the blogs/forums/magazines/e-newsletters. If you must, pay your own way to a conference or seminar. Employ the strategies that you feel will be most effective, even if you haven’t been given the green light. (I’m not trying to get you in trouble, but you and I both know that your boss at the top doesn’t have the know-how to monitor your activity in the CRM so your results will be the only indicator that something is different. If you’re right, you win.)
Mastering stick-to-it-ivness is an art. A fine art. It is the Mona Lisa of resilience. In this industry, as brain damage is thrust upon you and more work is laid in your lap than necessary, staying determined to improve yourself and your store is a tall order. We know how easy it would be to follow the orders from the top… phone it in, essentially. It would be easy to follow their antiquated orders on how to connect with internet customers. You could continue to hit mediocre metrics and be safe. The people in power and not “in-the-know” will let you do (what you know is) the wrong things. You can listen to their old-school demands, turn in an average performance and make them think you are doing your job.
Don’t. Fight the urge. Stick to growing. Stick to improving. Stick to experimenting. Stick to enhancing everything you do and then learning more.
It may put you in the sights of management, which can be an uncomfortable place to be, but if you are as passionate about this automotive Internet landscape as the rest of us, you’ll only end up happier by following the path to improvement. No matter if “the man” has got you down, I urge you to always try mastering the fine art of stick-to-it-ivness. It will define you.
Are you sticking with it?
