Delegating 101 - Backfire

I'd had enough. It's one thing to work on the business and not in the business, but the thing had taken on a life of its own. I don't have to worry about parts and accessories, as Jason and Patrick have everything so organized that I don't even know when the bookings are due--they just show up. In service, Albert has the mechanics purring to capacity. Even the warranty claims are up to date. And in sales, Samuel is so good that he could sell snow to Eskimos. Our new PDI guy, who gets all the units ready for delivery, has gotten things running so incredibly well that the guys have taken to calling him "Radar."

I was fed up with having to pretend I was doing something useful. It was time I went back on the floor. I used to be quite a good salesman, and I was sure that I still had it. So away I went. Samuel had a family in his office, so I didn't disturb him.

There was a guy hovering around a new sportbike. I asked, "How are you doing today?"

"Look," he shouted, giving me the evil eye, "I just want to be left alone. I'm not buying a bike today, and if you don't leave me alone, I'll just be forced to leave!" He stomped to the other side of the showroom and began looking at a touring bike.

I wandered down to a young couple looking at the dirtbikes. "Hi there!" I said. "Can I pull one out so you can look at it better?"

"No thanks," the husband responded. "We have decided on these two machines here." He pointed to a pair of his-and-hers playbikes. He then gave me a price that seemed to be way lower than cost. "That sounds kind of low," I replied through gritted teeth.

"Well, that's all we're going to pay!" he retorted, both of them glaring at me.

"Let me look in my price book, and I will see what I can do for you," I said.

Walking over to one of the sales desks, I noticed that Samuel was talking to the guy who shouted at me. I silently wished him luck.

The price that the couple had offered was, indeed, well below cost. I went back and informed them that I couldn't possibly do the deal for that price--it was below cost, and we would need more money.

"I know what kind of markup you guys make on these things, and I know I can get them for that at Elmer's shop. We would rather deal here, though, because we live here. We want to talk to Samuel." He turned his back on me.

Before I got back to the sales desk, Radar came up and said, "Could you tell Samuel that I got the two playbikes and the big dual-purpose ready for him?"

Samuel was sitting in his office with the shouter. Later, I went into Samuel's office. "Look!" he said. "I sold that last big dual-purpose bike to this gentleman." He nodded to the shouter. Samuel then said, "Excuse me, I think that Ron and Nancy want to talk to me." He nodded at the couple who had made me the silly offer for the playbikes.

We had gotten a whole bunch of dual-purpose bikes from the distributor that no one else wanted, and Samuel had sold this one at full list plus a hefty PDI and freight charge. I had to shake my head. All the other shops had a hell of a time selling them, at any price. Samuel never discounted. Some of the other bike shop owners didn't believe me, but let me tell you: He never discounts.

Samuel then brought the couple past me and into the P&A department, handing me their deal as he went by. "Boss," he said, "can you tell Radar to get those two playbikes and the last dual-purpose bike ready for delivery?"

I looked at the deal. Not only had he gotten full list price out of them, he had raised the PDI charge to take care of the cost of the gloves he had thrown in.

I went to the door of my office and looked out at the shop. I picked up my helmet and riding jacket.

The Anonymous Dealer

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