If there’s anything that I’ve learned as an entrepreneur, it’s the importance of teamwork. This wasn’t something I learned over night, or within a few years. It’s been a revelation that has taken years of work to come to fruition. I spent plenty of time trying to focus on my own goals, without realizing the only way to win is if the whole team wins.
Like many fellow dealers, I grew up playing high school sports and learned the value of teamwork. I was the starting point guard on our varsity basketball team. One year, we had an undefeated season in our hands at the state championship game. We were a dominant team all year and were never truly tested during the regular season or playoffs until the last minute of the final game. Up by two with less than 20 seconds to go, we felt the game was in the bag. The opposing team shot the ball and missed. The rebound was up for grabs and deflected into the corner where they regained the ball and let a 3-point shot fly. Time stalled as the shot bounced high off the rim and eventually went through the net.
I’ll live the rest of my life one rebound away from a state championship and undefeated season. However, we never blamed anyone for the loss. We won as a team and lost as a team. It was not that one play that sealed our fate, but a collection of all the players doing their best.
The same kind of mentality applies to dealerships, which are the ultimate team game. It takes the combination of sales, marketing, finance, shop, and detail for every used car deal to come together. Dealerships that understand this and have teammates working together, ultimately succeed.
When we started DealersLink, we had a vision of allowing dealers to work together. Too often, dealerships think of each other as only competitors – not teammates, but we envisioned it differently. We believed dealers should team up when it makes sense and compete when it makes sense. Why? Today, more than ever, small local dealers face the challenge of competing with larger local and national chains. Individually this can seem menacing, but with the help of teammates on the DealersLink platform, any small dealer can give a large dealership a run for its money.
To help level the playing field, we allow dealers to team up with their fellow DealersLink members to pool and share used inventory when they want – a crucial tenant of our platform. Dealers are free to buy/sell/trade 100 cars a month or 10 cars a month. It’s their choice. Today, with inventory being tighter than ever, many members are grateful to have long established trading relations, with fellow DealersLink members, to fill the gaps in inventory without taking massive risks on inventory acquisition. By working together, members are able to reduce their wholesale fees and preserve more profit margin.
Yes, DealersLink is ultimately designed to help you succeed and give your dealership a competitive advantage. But the more dealers that join the platform and add inventory to the DealersLink Marketplace, the more opportunities you will have to find success.
While we operate in a cutthroat market, it’s important to remember that we’re all one. We’re all car dealers, who are passionate about, well, cars. The better the automotive industry is doing as a whole, the better your dealership will be doing. It’s as simple as that.