What Are You Reading?

 

Those of you who have had the (pleasure?) of interviewing with me you probably had to come up with an answer to that question.  And if you are currently working for us, you probably came up with a good one!

I ask this for several reasons:  First, I’m genuinely interested in understanding what makes a person tick, what they’re interested in and how they occupy their mind in quiet times.  Second, I have found that the smartest, most creative people I know tend to be life-long readers.  Third, I believe that you have to continually challenge and inspire your mind if you expect to keep it sharp over the course of a career.

By the way, it doesn’t matter so much WHAT you read, just that you DO read.   Business books, novels, magazines – they’re all valuable.  While I subscribe to about 15 magazines, The New York Times, the local paper and several online magazines that are personalized for me, I also try to have one or more books going at the same time.

So, I’m adding a new feature to the blog that will hopefully inspire you to pick up a book of your own (maybe even one I’ve described).

What Am I Reading?

The Last Greatest Magician in the World by Jim Steinmeyer.  This biography of Howard Thurston, who at one time rivaled Houdini but today is all but forgotten, is a fascinating look into the worlds of illusion and show business in the early 20^th Century.

“I Choose Not to Participate In That!”

Our Vice President of Agency Development, Marty Walsh, is becoming well-known within GWC for his quick wit and snappy comebacks.  My favorite of Marty’s golden nuggets is a response he learned years ago whenever someone complained about the tough economy:  “I choose not to participate in that!”

What a great and self-fulfilling attitude!  And it’s worth keeping top of mind as we all continue to grapple with the ongoing “Great Recession.”  In fact, more than a few of GWC’s Dealer Consultants have done just that.  In a market that on a year-to-date basis has seen used vehicle sales by Independent dealers increase by 5% (or well below the 12+% forecasts we saw at the beginning of the year), many of our Dealer Consultants have “chosen not to participate” in the doom and gloom:

·         Cindy H. has taken her sales in a market where we added several DCs up by almost 75%!

·         Becky E. has grown her “mature” market up by almost 50%!

·         Dominic L. moved into an underserved territory and has expanded it by about 45%!

·         Jim J., Ruthie S., Sal R. and Kent N. have all taken their existing markets up by 30+% this year!

I could go on and on; in fact, these high performers are among a large cadre of top sellers who are successfully demonstrating to dealers across the country that GWC’s products and people add tremendous value to their businesses.

The next time someone tells you that the economy is tough, think about our great GWC sales team, including the champs listed above, and tell them “I choose not to participate in that!”