Welcome to the Shifting Gears, First Issue of 2022.
Hello! It’s that time – your Shifting Gears Newsletter is here. Our goal is to keep our Spectrum family of sales professionals connected, and in this issue, you can find out more about Chris Hochstein, Dave Paz, and Tanya Angeloni in the Headlights column. Learn more about Bridge and those opportunities. Get some insights about Mental Agility and Sales Performance in our HR Corner. Check out some examples of really good social posts, see if you can answer fun trivia questions, and more.
This newsletter is dedicated to you, so if you have any suggestions, please feel free to pass them on to anyone on the Marketing Team or email [email protected]
Enjoy!
HEADLIGHTS
Dylan Doran
Dylan’s story is truly a culmination of a life spent in the automotive industry. As a child, the school bus dropped and picked him up in front of a dealership. He grew up knocking around the car lot doing odd jobs, sweeping, picking up garbage, until he got promoted to washing cars. He started professionally with JM&A in 2001 which led him to an executive role with a national insurer/administrator. In 2014, Dylan took a leap of faith and started WFIS, a West Coast based agency that grew to do business across nine states. Dylan decided to join Spectrum in November 2021.
What advice would you give to new sales team members?
Never let rejection burn you out! Michael Jordon famously said “I’ve missed more than 9,000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.” Never let rejection get you down!
What are your favorite hobbies?
I enjoy boating and fly fishing.
What is your all-time favorite car?
I really like the 1966 Ford Bronco
What is your favorite food?
Lots of different food, but Italian is my favorite.
What would you do if you hit the lottery for millions of dollars?
I don’t play the lottery; the lottery is for suckers.
What is your favorite place to visit?
My favorite place in the world in the Canadian Yukon Territory.
Dylan Doran
Partner
WFIS – A Vanguard Dealer Services Company
(c) 206-240-2575
[email protected]
Joe LaPelusa
Joe grew up around automotive. His father, Jim Lapelusa, founded Expert Dealer Services. Joe worked in different positions within dealerships before going to work for his family’s agency. In 2017, Expert joined Spectrum. Joe’s take is that the merger allowed him to grow and learn from the Vanguard team and it has provided him with many additional resources.
What advice would you give to new sales team members?
Don’t hesitate to ask questions or ask for help. Everyone in our company has been an amazing resource for me and more than willing to assist in any way possible. You just have to be willing to ask.
What are your favorite hobbies?
I like anything active including hiking, cycling, working out, climbing, shooting, and camping.
What is your all-time favorite car?
The classic 1968 Camaro RS/SS
What is your favorite food?
For me, Sushi would top the list.
What would you do if you hit the lottery for millions of dollars?
If I hit the lottery for millions, I mean enough where I wouldn’t have to worry about money anymore, I would invest a good amount of it and use the rest to travel the world.
What is your favorite place to visit?
So far, my favorite place that I have visited is Yellowstone National Park.
Joe LaPelusa
District Manager
Expert Dealer Services – A Vanguard Dealer Services Company
Cell: 704-930-3947
[email protected]
DRIVE TRAIN
Spectrum Learning Continues to Expand
Spectrum, Vanguard, and APC are all utilizing our LMS Platform, Bridge, as of the end of 2021. We are excited to announce that both CalTex and CARS will be launching Bridge for their employees before the end of Q1!
Bridge provided the opportunity to successfully conduct annual performance reviews via a streamlined and digital process across Spectrum, Vanguard, and APC for 2021. Employees that participated in that process were provided with a survey link, and we gathered many great takeaways to further improve our process for 2022.
Our Bridge team goal for 2022 is not only to ensure we get all employees across our Spectrum family onto the platform, but to ensure we begin leveraging some of the great tools offered within Bridge, such as:
- Goal Setting
- One on One Agendas
- Sales Certifications
- Peer to Peer Skill Feedback
If you have ideas for specific training topics or courses that you think would be beneficial, email them to Carleigh at [email protected].
Industry Updates
How to Sell More F&I in the Service Bay
How dealerships can enlist service advisors to sell protective products after the sale.
Little Left to Burn’: Fire Dies Down in Cargo Ship Full of Porsches, Bentleys, VWs
Five days after the Felicity Ace started burning, it looks like the VW Group’s nightmare shipping saga is finally starting to come to an end.
Black Book: Market Update
The rate of week-over-week declines has accelerated, exceeding the typical seasonal expectations for this time of year.
Car discounts won’t come back post-pandemic, AutoNation says
The largest car dealership chain in the U.S. said discounts on new cars may be a thing of the past as the auto industry seeks to lock in higher prices resulting from pandemic-induced production cuts.
Auto Blog Article
Undelivered Ford Broncos Thaw in Giant Lot Today, Chip Shortage Blamed
A massive number of Ford Broncos have been spotted parked up outside of Ford’s Michigan Assembly Plant.
GPS
- Be sure to respond to those who comment on your posts.
- Take time to review your notifications and direct messages in case anyone is trying to contact you.
- Get into a rhythm of posting content on a consistent basis.
- Continue to send all content ideas to [email protected] to get reviewed and approved before posting
- Don’t get involved with debates and arguments in the comment section of posts.
- Don’t use too many hashtags (#) in any one post. One to three tags are a fair amount.
- Don’t Direct Message every single person you connect with.
- Don’t just Like a comment that is speaking to you. Take the time to comment back
Social Media Posts that work
SPIRO Tips
Applying Filters (Contacts, Companies, Opps, Lists)
Apply filters to the Contacts, Companies, Opportunities, and Lists tabs in Spiro to find the information you are looking for. You can save filters and even export data to a spreadsheet.
1. Navigate to your companies, contacts, opportunities, or list tab
2. Choose Filter > Create New Filter (at the bottom)
3. Pick the field you would like to filter by and apply your filter. You can use multiple filters with “And” and “Or” statements. In this case, let’s build a filter that will let me see Opportunities owned by Johnny OR Mookie that are in the Prospecting OR Qualifying.
4. Once you’ve finished building your filter, you have two options. You can SHOW RESULTS which will simply display the results of the filter without saving it. This is helpful if you want to go back and forth to the filter to continue to make edits.
You can also hit SAVE FILTER which will present you additional options, like setting the filter as your default, or, if you are an admin, making it a public filter.
6. When you apply a filter, you can see it show up at the top of the list, making it super clear which data you are looking at. You can clear a filter by clicking the (x).
7. To edit your filter, open up the filters drawer again, and select your filter and click the pencil icon. To delete your filter, hit the trash can icon.
Note: For admins making public filters, you can select “My Records” value in the owner field to make a generic filter that can be used by anyone. For example, if you create a public filter for opportunities called “My Opportunities” and use the “My Records” value, no matter who selects that filter, they will always see their records. This means you don’t need to make a filter for each person on your team, you can make one that will dynamically adjust depending on who uses it
Relative Dates
Relative dates are used when you want to build a filter based on a date field in Spiro, such as opportunity close date, or activity date. For example, if you want to build a filter that shows opportunities closing in the current month (ie. November), you could of course build a filter showing opportunities closing between November 1 and November 30. But you’d have to build that filter all over again in December. So instead, you can use a value like “This Month” so that regardless of the month you’re in, that filter will always show you opportunities closing in the current month.
Fun Facts – So you know automotive?
What sports car is featured in the Back to the Future trilogy movies? - Click for the Answer
DeLorean
What does ‘Volkswagen’ mean? - Click for the Answer
The People’s Car
The Japanese car company Toyota was originally established as a textiles manufacturer? True or False? - Click for the Answer
True
What is the fastest road-going car in the world? - Click for the Answer
Bugatti Veyron, with a top speed of 267 mph
What is the oldest car company still in business today? - Click for the Answer
Mercedes Benz founded in 1883
TURBO CHARGED
Gina Dewar, M.S. SHRM-CP
Spectrum Human Resources
862.400.0757
[email protected]
HR Topics – Staying Motivated
Is my New Year’s Resolution my Motivation?
Did you know the most deeply motivated people, those individuals who are the most productive and satisfied, constructively attach their desires to a cause larger than themselves? They define their motivation by its purpose. Jim Carrey’s Grinch said, “down a size and a half, and this year I’ll keep it off!” His motivation was revenge on the Who’s, and he committed to it.
As we kick off 2022, we often make resolutions for the coming year. We are motivated to make changes and do things we haven’t done before. Whether it’s a weight loss goal, planning a trip to a bucket list destination, DIY project, or work related, for example aspiring to get 100 new rooftops, we set an intention and commit to doing them. Well, that’s January. Fast forward to September and the last quarter, and we wonder where did the time go and what happened to those resolutions I made? They stalled out. Never made it to a second thought. Why did this happen?
Most likely you never tied your desires to your motivation or purpose. Scientists have concluded that the secret to high performance isn’t our biological drive, nor is it our drive for reward versus punishment, but it’s out deep-seated desire to direct our own lives, to expand and extend our abilities and to contribute.
When you decide to lose weight, do it with a friend or a group. When you make plans for at trip, tie it to a humanitarian event. IF you are longing to complete a DIY project, get some friends to help, and in turn do another DIY for one of them. If your resolution is to grow the business by adding 100 new rooftops, do it not only for your own monetary gain, but for the betterment of the company, knowing that “rising tides raise all boats”.
It’s human nature to seek purpose. Find yours in experiences that service a cause greater than your own, and then you will commit to it.
Top Podcasts
The Shifting Gears Podcast has Launched!
Spectrum Automotive has officially launched its very own podcast series called the Shifting Gears Podcast. We talk about anything, and everything, related to the automotive industry. In each episode we bring on an industry expert to discuss specific topics and discussions. All episodes can be found on the Spectrum website and social media pages. Be sure to follow our pages and subscribe to our YouTube channel so you don’t miss any episodes. Would you enjoy being a podcast guest? Please reach out to Justin LaRocque, our podcast host, who will happily get you scheduled. In the meantime, check us out here:
http://spectrumautoholdings.com/podcasts/
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLYooB566buNF-vKXNLxeHQ
https://www.linkedin.com/company/spectrum-automotive-holdings-corp/
https://www.facebook.com/Spectrum-Automotive-Holdings-Corp-109362237270955/
Attention Sales Team
Please share your favorite podcasts with us to include in the next newsletter. Send a quick email to [email protected].
Are you a reader? These are a few titles you may enjoy that will also help you advance your skills.
Author: Oren Klaff
A knockout book with principles that can help make you become more of an expert in just a few hours. In this book, Klaff describes his sales method to delivering a win pitch in any situation.
Author: Steve Stauning
Take charge of your sales career by recognizing that everyone is a potential buyer and assume that they want to buy today.
A Movie to Watch
The Car (1977)
Think ‘Jaws’ but a car version. It’s James Brolin’s job as the local lawperson to stop it. Definitely a must for cult horror flick appreciators.
Smoky and the Bandit (1977)
Bootlegging Coors to west of the Mississippi River, a marriage promise that turns a Sheriff angry, blows up into a full-fledged high-speed chase after the Bandit (Burt Reynolds).
LinkedIn Do‘s and Don’ts to get 2022 Started