Jim Fitzpatrick discusses the key to success in auto retail with New York Time’s Bestselling Author Rory Vaden of Take The Stairs: 7 Steps to Achieving Success and Co-Founder, Southwestern Consulting.
Discipline is a Habit
You are in a unique position working with fortune 500 companies and medium-sized companies around the world. From your perspective, you’ve got your hand on studying successful people. According to your experience, what is the Key to success?
“At Southwestern Consulting, we’re studying successful people for a living, looking at data. And we’re also coaching people every single day. And when you ask successful people, just tell me your story, how did you get there? What you find is:
- Success has nothing to do with age
- Success has nothing to do with education level
- Success has nothing to do with race, religion, political orientation
But the one thing that every single successful person has in common, is that successful people have formed the habit of doing things they know they should be doing even when they don’t feel like it. In other words, success is not about taking the elevator – it’s about taking the stairs.
In a word, Jim, to answer your question we call that, discipline. Enjoying it isn’t a requirement of doing it. Discipline is different than hard work. It’s doing the thing you know you should be doing even when you don’t feel like it,” says Vaden.
Car Selling: Make Yourself Rejection-Proof
It’s the yeses that give you the money, but it’s the no’s that give you experience. It’s the no’s that truly make you the most valuable in the long run. Because as you learn to become rejection proof, then nothing can stop you.
Discipline is An Important Part of the Auto Retail Industry
The discipline thing is part of the auto retail industry. It is doing the thing that other people aren’t willing to do. So many people come into the industry bright-eyed and bushy-tailed and ready to go get them. And what turns them off is not the deals that they write or then deliver to customers, but it’s the rejection that they get maybe 75% to 80% of the time. That’s typically what they get burned out on not writing the deals. The sales people that succeed on the retail side of our business are the people that accept rejection and the word no, just as easy as they accept the word yes.
