Pub. 1 2019-20 Issue 3

http://wvcar.com WVADA 30 A lthough the U.S. economic climate is now far different (and far worse) than anyone expected at the begin - ning of the year, the ability to pivot and adjust to the current situation has never been more critical. Restrictions to pre - vent the spread of COVID-19 are loosening up in the U.S., but the crisis is still fluid. If states see an increase in diagnosed cases, then the country could go back to shutdowns across the continen - tal U.S. In the fall, experts are warning people to expect a second wave of disease. Although sci - entists are working hard to create a vaccine, no one knows when (or if) they will succeed. Early results are promising, which is good news, but you have a dealership to run, and you can’t afford to wait for the scientists. The first goal is to survive. If you can accomplish that much, what can you do to maximize your efforts so your deal - ership can be as profitable as possible? NADA has launched a Coronavirus Hub at nada. org/coronavirus to help dealers. Instead of in-person training, NADA is also working on a series of Dealership Lifeline Webinars. A webi- nar about how to create a plan to reopen your dealership took place on May 15, 2020. (To ac - cess the webinar, visit nada.org/comprehen- sive-planning-for-re-opening-form/. ) The webi- nar was taught by Ian Grace, Senior Manager, Partner Performance, who works at automo - tiveMastermind. When times are good, paying attention to max - imizing your resources may not matter. You may not need to care about what you missed as long as you still have plenty of sales taking place. But that is not the current market. As Ian Grace pointed out, now is the time to make sure you don’t miss any opportunity to make money, because those missed opportunities will deter - mine whether you can stay in business. Do not neglect them. You may have furloughed staff. Going forward, you are going to need enough staff so that each department can work efficiently, but you might want to consider staggering shifts. Be sure that whatever you do is compliant with health recommendations. As you work to motivate your team, you will want to make sure that all employees are doing the same things: • Practicing social distancing • Wearing masks and (in some cases) gloves • Not shaking hands with potential customers • Rearranging work areas to allow more room than was allowed previously Back to Business: Recovering From COVID-19 A NADA Dealership Lifeline Webinar