George Russell is a founding member of the Machinery Advisors Consortium. The group offers training, consulting and coaching to improve processes and people, resulting in increased customer satisfaction, customer value and business profitability. He can be reached at George.Russell@MachineryAdvisors.org .

Leadership Lessons: Catch & Release or Catch & Keep

By George Russell and Daniel Surprenant posted on March 26, 2021 | Posted in Best Practices

Can fishing help you appreciate the value of customer retention? If you’re “just fishin’,” catch and release is OK. But if you want to eat or sell the fish you catch, you want to do the things that hook the biggest fish.

Leadership Lessons: Focus on Satisfied Customers, Not Customer Satisfaction

By George Russell and Bill Mayes posted on January 28, 2021 | Posted in Best Practices

The customer is king! The customer is always right! The customer pays all our paychecks! You’ve heard these things and you’ve probably said them many times. I know I have. So, how can I possibly hate customer satisfaction?

Leadership Lessons: Good to Great Dealership Flywheel – SPOKE #5, Robust Marketing Process Drives Segment Sales

By George Russell posted on October 11, 2020 | Posted in Best Practices

The fifth spoke in the upper right completes the Good to Great Flywheel — “Building your dealership brand with all segments” by employing a robust marketing process.

Leadership Lessons

Good to Great Dealership Flywheel Spoke #4 - Build a Balanced Dealership that Sells Solutions and Earns Trust

By George Russell posted on September 1, 2020 | Posted in Best Practices, Department Management

How your entire dealership hears and serves the customer is at the core of the 4th spoke of the flywheel. Dealerships that are built with balance and whose people are trusted to deliver and serve consistently will retain those customers and attract more new customers.

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Consutlant Perspective

George Russell, Machinery Advisors Consortium

By George Russell posted on August 30, 2020

The Dealership of 2030 will leverage technology to improve productivity while increasing contact with customers and prospects over broader areas and market segments.

Leadership Lessons: Good to Great Dealership Flywheel – Leveraging Technology Assessing Technology as a Force Multiplier

By George Russell posted on June 30, 2020 | Posted in Best Practices, Department Management

Technology is a “Force Multiplier” for your dealership. The force multiplier concept comes from the military but to explain it simply, think of a hammer. A hammer amplifies your effort to produce more output.

Good to Great Dealership Flywheel — Leveraging Leadership

Coping with COVID-19 – Be Scared & Be Calm

By George Russell posted on April 3, 2020 | Posted in Best Practices, Department Management

The COVID-19 pandemic has been called a “black swan,” a metaphor for an extremely rare event that is unforeseen, but which can have enormous impacts. Examples of black swans were the 9/11 attacks which had bad impacts, and the development of the internet which has had a generally good impact.

Leadership Lessons: Good to Great Dealership Flywheel Spoke #3 Build a Strong Culture & Leverage Vital Processes

By George Russell posted on March 27, 2020 | Posted in Best Practices, Department Management

“Culture eats strategy for breakfast” — a quote attributed to management guru Peter Drucker defines the core idea of this spoke. The best plans fail without a strong culture to support them. On the flip side a strong culture means your dealership is more likely to overcome setbacks and changes even without a strong strategy.

Leadership Lessons: Good to Great Dealership Flywheel Spoke #2 Invest to Grow: High Absorption

By George Russell posted on February 28, 2020 | Posted in Best Practices, Department Management

Absorption is simple to calculate, but to understand its “Good to Great” power in a dealership is complicated.

Leadership Lessons: Good to Great Dealership Flywheel, Leveraging the New to Used Cascade

By George Russell posted on February 7, 2020 | Posted in Best Practices, Used Equipment Remarketing

What is the New to Used Cascade and why is it important as the first spoke to describe in the Good to Great Dealership Flywheel?

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