Truth time my friends. This may be one of the most challenging pieces I have ever written. In November of 2019, my health took a turn, and painfully begin to control my every effort for these last 22 months.
Short personal history: At 8 years old I was told I would never walk; With great perseverance and determination, the brace, wheelchair, and crutches were gone by 10 years old! I took 6 years of speech therapy as a child because I stuttered severely; I have since then, spoken freely and effortlessly. I have lived with chronic nerve pain ALL my life and put on mass doses of pain killers as a young adult; I have not taken a prescribed pain pill with any kind of regularity for over 30 years. For the past 14 years, 70 + hour work weeks were the norm and I traveled at a minimum of one week a month. For 7 of those years, I successfully managed my family’s business in conjunction with my own, after my dad passed.
I tell you these pieces of my personal history to show you, my friends, that you are not alone. We are all overcoming personal and business hurdles of all varieties. Please, take care of your health. Drink plenty of water. Stay positive. And embrace challenges head-on with strength and determination! Through it all, with much support from my amazing team, I have been able to keep pursuing my goals to grow my business helping to support dealers in their own growth.
Things are changing, both here at Car Guys Agency and with me personally. Most of you are used to having me pop by your lot, check up on you, and dish out some awesome advice while I am there! (Toot, Toot!! 😉)
Those days my friends can sadly be no more. As much as I dislike it, my decreasing mobility has become the reality of my days. So, in the future, I will be reaching out to you via telephone, email, and text. By the way, as always, my team and I are here in any way we can help support our fellow dealers.
I know how hard you are pushing yourselves, especially in this unstable market, just to keep afloat. We are not out of the woods yet. Markets are predicting there are another 6 to 8 more months of retail-priced units rolling across the auction blocks nationwide. It is unnerving to have a 60-car lot with only 14 units on it. I am also betting we will soon see Floor Plan companies start dropping dealers and smaller dealerships with limited financial resources who just cannot buy. Sooner, rather than later, the public will start pushing back at the higher retail prices and sales may just keep tanking.
The nationwide market is constantly readjusting itself. The dealerships that survive and thrive over the next wave of challenges, yet again- must reinvent themselves and how they do business. A growing dealership will be operating with new resource partners, rely even more on their communities, and embrace & adapt to changing paradigms.
The large dealerships have 20+ groups of high-paid professionals that use their collective knowledge to market the company. So, with my own advice in mind, we too are adapting and redesigning how we grow as a company. To our loyal readers and longtime customers, we want to personally extend a VIP Invitation to be a part of our newest upcoming project! In June/July of 2021, Tom Hampton Agency will be forming a new group focused on bringing together like-minded dealers motivated to be a part of creating Strategic Growth Plans for the benefit of all. If you are interested in joining and growing with us, email us here!
Change is uncomfortable and often painful. I remind you; Olympians never won a medal because it was easy. They got it because they pushed, shaped, and molded their potential until the dream met reality. You have got to MOVE and DO to accomplish your goals. Repetition WILL create change in you, your salespeople, and your entire organization.
To best survive this next incoming wave of industry evolution, we must grow; Grow new resources, new alliances, and more courage to jump in and start now. Waiting to see how things may go, could leave you left behind to play catch up. With great new products added to their lineup, Tom Hampton Agency is a great place to start finding those new and inventive (additional income bringing) resources!
Here is to YOUR bright and successful future! Let us face this evolving world together to do and create what others say is impossible!
Create-A-Great-Day,
Tom Hampton
832-723-3976
[email protected]
