Saddleback Leather - 2 Years

Classic Briefcase - Large - ChestnutYes...time goes by quickly...its 2 years that we have our Saddleback briefcase.

We agree with Dave Munson of Saddleback, these things are probably indestructible and last at least one lifetime.

If you require a rugged, go anywhere leather briefcase to carry all of your stuff. We encourage you to get a Saddleback.

Yes...it still attracts attention, especially at airport security when its full of all of our travel stuff, from a laptop, smart devices, to a plastic bag with change; while still generating all sorts of positive comments. 

When most folks go around with a backpack...we go around with a Saddleback.

It continues to get shoved under airplane seats on a regular basis. 

Its an endearing briefcase especially if you have a "thing" for leather briefcases. Its big enough to hold all sorts of stuff when travelling on business, holds stuff when travelling on pleasure, takes all sorts of abuse especially shoved under airplane seats, and is slowly acquiring its own "patina".

At a time when most folks have a nylon something or other, this one is leather. 

Where has the briefcase gone during the past year? Farthest west was Sakatchewan, east was New Brunswick, north was probably Quebec City, and south the Caribbean, and a bunch of places in between...yes by now its travelled across Canada. 

Vroom Room

Good Morning!

Its the last Friday of the month, we agree this month has just sped by in a real hurry. Come in make yourself comfortable, we have cappuccino and biscotti, join the conversation.

If you have been around hot rodding and drag racing long enough, you certainly remember the name Kent Fuller, take a look at an informative video on Kent Fuller from our Notes section. 

Our Notes section replaces our content on Posterous which as you probably know shuts down at the end of the month, and yes we completely ran out of time to transfer additional material from Posterous to Notes. Its one of those where you start with time frames, and other things happen, and it becomes a flurry of activities while time frames get altered.

If you have had an opportunity to travel by plane on business at times you surely wonder what all these folks are doing on planes, with all the technology that is available to replace travel. Subsequently you probably wonder the direction of further cost cutting by the airlines, and the direction of carry on luggage (how much bigger can it get).

Tomorrow RM Auctions is selling the Don Davis Collection, comprised of some fascinating cars.

This week we were thinking of multi speed transmissions, time, and getting an edge, scroll down for our thoughts. Especially at a time when technology accelerates time, and commoditises many of the old advantages. 

The other day we were reading comments from an auto pundit on finance terms, and leasing, we shared our thoughts s few months ago with Money for the Deal. Fascinating how auto pundits that write about vehicles for some reason have a superficial understanding of how vehicles are sold, and the financial services related to vehicles. 

Our usual old race cars from the HGPCA Test day at Silverstone.

Getting an Edge

Getting an EdgeFrom way back in the day, in the retail auto business everyone is always seeking "getting an edge", we all know that its a competitive business, it has not changed, while the level of competition has increased.  

If at one time there was a wide margin for a dealer to acquire an edge/competitive advantage, its fair to say that in 2013 the margin is very narrow, the time frames are brief, with increased transparency, and variables.

Instinctively all dealers are seeking a competitive advantage in one fashion or another over their counterparts. Its an ageless intrinsic part of the auto retail landscape. 

Ounce you subscribe to what everyone else is doing, attend the same conferences, participate in the same performance groups, acquire from the same vendors.

Are you enhancing or diluting your competitive advantage?

Agreed there are several industry standards, be it metrics, suppliers, software, that it does not make much sense to deviate. 

Perhaps too many folks are all swimming in the same direction, doing the same thing, using the same tools, and achieving the same homogeneous results that fit the metrics.

What do you think?

Take a few moments to review this presentation from HubSpot...

 

Time

We all know that time is a rare, priceless, and a very precious commodity!

You have noticed that since the advent of "information technology" almost 2 decades ago, and more recently "social media" time has increasngly accelerated.

As we often say, in 2013 a minutes is 55 seconds and rapidly counting down.  

In the auto business at the retail level we have for years accurately measured time in the service department, where it is sold on a per hour basis as a labour rate. 

We also measure how long parts stay in inventory, vehicles linger in inventory, there are a myriad of estblished benchmarks that include an element of time as one of the variables.

Its fascinating to see countless folks attend the various conferences to seek additional knowledge, to gain some sort of competitive advantage while often overlooking time. 

There is talk of processes, saving time, making it easier, communicating better, partcipating in social media, acquiring the latest software...and the constant chorus of no one having time.

Keep in mind that the service departement still counts time by the tenth of an hour, and still accounts for unapplied time.

Imagine for a moment if a dealer and or customer accounted for unapplied time in a showroom environment, in how long it takes to sell/assist a customer with a purchase decison...think about this for a moment...especially that customers increasingly want to conclude a transaction in 0.25 of an hour. 

Time although often misunderstood, is the equaliser, and provides a priceless competitive advantage, to all the folks that are adept in the application and usage of time to achieve their goals and objectives.

Keep in mind that time is a finite resource, and the same amount is available to everyone.

1963 Jaguar XKE

Fascinating completely original 1963 Jaguar XKE recently acquired by Jay Leno...