March 31, 2024 • 13 mins
Often times, Prosperity is the Enemy of Excellence. When things are going great, we tend to forget the hard work and effort it took to get us to that point. Tune in to David Lowe and Grace Lupoi on this episode of 'Prepare to Win' as they discuss this theory. Be inspired to not only reach excellence, but to sustain excellence, and learn how to cultivate a culture of enduring success.
Connect with us at https://preparetowin.com
Call or Text David @ 765-560-7338
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
David Lowe (00:00):
Can prosperity be the enemy of excellence?
Stay tuned to find out.
Grace Lupoi (00:14):
Hi guys, Grace Lupoi and I'm here with David
Lowe, the Automotive Sales Coach, and today, like he said, we're
talking about prosperity beingthe enemy of excellence.
Right?
This is a big thing that we'veseen all the time, right?
David Lowe (00:25):
Right.
It's funny how a lot of timessuccess creates failure, right?
So I think that a lot of timeswe work really hard to get
somewhere and sometimes, when weget there, we take how we got
there for granted.
So it's often in prosperity,when things are really good,
(00:45):
that people focus less on theirpersonal excellence, isn't that?
Grace Lupoi (00:49):
weird, that's right , yeah, absolutely.
David Lowe (00:51):
So people like I see people all the time, like I'm
so proud of myself, I'm going tothe gym all the time and what's
happening?
Well, I've lost 16 pounds,right, and I don't run into them
for a couple of months and I'mlike, hey, how's your workouts
going?
I'm like, oh, I'm kind of notgoing anymore.
I said, well, it works so well,you stopped right.
So I think it's pretty easy.
(01:14):
It's pretty easy to let thathappen to you.
In fact, we have some.
In history we've hadpopulations that lived well and
became complacent and entitled,apathetic, almost enslaved, and
repented and restored.
(01:35):
In fact, we see it in the OldTestament six times right, and I
see it in my own life.
I think probably all of us haveseen where we've taken, where
we are for granted.
Sometimes you don't appreciatewhat you have until it's gone
right.
So you're working hard to getsomewhere, and it's often when
(01:55):
you get there that the made it.
And what you really have toreally focus is on what got me
here and how do I keep thatgoing?
Right, so you're either gettingbetter or you're probably
getting worse.
Right, staying at top may beharder than getting to the top,
I don't know.
Right, right, so, prosperitybeing the enemy of excellence,
(02:18):
there's an old saying in the carbusiness selling cars fixes all
the problems in the dealership,and selling cars fixes all the
problems in the dealership.
In other words, when thetraffic is down and the market
is down, every crack shows Allthe problems are so evident to
everybody, but when the marketpicks up and sales increase,
(02:41):
nobody is paying any attentionto all of that.
Everything's great again, eventhough they're not, and the
slowdown, you see those things,but when the pockets are full,
nobody's worried about fixingthe cracks the only time we
focus on it.
So I think that's what we meanby prosperity being the enemy of
(03:02):
excellence.
When you have $10, you watchhow you spend it.
When you have 100, you may not,and so this episode is really
dedicated.
I know you've been doing a lotof work going to dealerships and
in our Automotive Sales Coach,the dealership playbook our
industry of.
By the way, this is not carbusiness specific, not this Ross
(03:26):
.
Berry being the enemy ofexcellence.
I remember, oh, great baseballplayer from the Cubs.
I remember when he got his hugecontract that was all he wrote,
everything after Ryan Sanfordand I thought, yeah, he did a
great job.
He got that huge contract andthen it's kind of disappeared
from there a little bit in mymind and so you kind of see that
(03:47):
in other things.
You know, that's why outlierslike Tom Brady and Michael
Jordan that get to the top andstay at the top are so
impressive, right, but anyway.
So we're going back to sellingcars and you're going into
dealerships and one of the bigthings with you is not just what
(04:07):
are we doing, but why.
What is the result?
Right, right.
So as people are selling a lotof cars, what happens?
So walk through what you do andlet's talk about how sometimes
selling a lot of cars end upworking against people.
Grace Lupoi (04:23):
So I mean, the same thing I think we've been
talking about is when we'redoing really well, sometimes we
forget about how we got thereand then we say, oh, I'm done, I
did it Right.
And we're going through in thedealerships and talking through
the sales process steps and, asyou know, of course, if you're
on the dealership playbook, youknow this that our sales process
we don't just have the steps,right Next to it, we have the
(04:46):
goal or the why behind it, themotivation.
Here's why I'm going to do thisstep.
And when I was selling cars Istruggled with the same thing is
sometimes I would look at it Isaid, oh my gosh, I have all
these steps to do and I forgotwhat the real goal is,
especially when you're seeingsuccess oh, I'm just really
great, because I'm really great,I have all the skill.
And sometimes we forget to lookback and say, well, it's
(05:08):
because each of these steps hasa purpose and serves me in doing
so.
And so typically in the wintermonths sometimes it's maybe a
little slower traffic we mightsee, and so those cracks are
very visible and talking withdifferent sales consultants and
managers at different stores,it's all the same thing.
Well, I don't want to do thatstep.
(05:29):
Why do I have to do that?
And we forget there's the goaland there's a reason behind it,
and so when we're seeking theprize money and we were doing
really well in the summer andfall, I'm really good and I
forget how great I am.
And how great I am is becauseI've been working through these
steps and the reason behind it.
David Lowe (05:48):
Isn't that true?
So we have we're selling a lotof cars, business is good, I'm
making money, and now I starthurrying to make more money and
in the process I skip doing itright so many dealerships.
When the market heats up, itbecomes about product and price.
Grace Lupoi (06:07):
Absolutely.
David Lowe (06:08):
And I think what people forget is people are
buying cars and they buy a carregardless of what we do have
the right car at the right priceand it's sold.
I'm sorry, but our trainingisn't about selling cars.
Because people want cars,they're going to buy cars, no
matter what.
Our training is about sellingcars with excellence, right how
to close a higher percentage ofcustomers, hold that fair profit
(06:31):
and do both, and so well thatthe customer leaves.
Thank you, I'm sending all myfriends and family here and I'm
never going anywhere else anddoing it so well that we have
that healthy pride.
However, when the market heatsup and more leads are coming in
and you make an easy sale hey, Ifound this car on your website.
(06:54):
Is it still available?
I want it, and you didn't haveto do those steps to make it.
Now the value of those steps inyour mind starts diminishing.
And then we hear things likethis oh, I had a customer.
Yeah, we just couldn't get tothe payment, they just couldn't
afford it.
And now, all of a sudden, thedeals that are being lost are
somehow the customer's problem,the customer's fault, the
customer wouldn't pay, or maybeit's the manufacturer's prices
(07:17):
are too high, or maybe thedealership won't pay enough for
their trade.
It's funny how all the reasonswe don't sell the car don't go
back to the true reason is valueis not exceeding price.
Grace Lupoi (07:30):
That's exactly right.
David Lowe (07:31):
Whose job is it to build value?
Grace Lupoi (07:33):
Consultants.
David Lowe (07:34):
Whose job is it to build desire that nobody wants
to pay what it takes to buyRight?
So the sales process steps aredesigned To guide your guests or
your buyer step by step throughthe this is the right product,
this is the right price, this isthe right place, today's the
right day, everything that'sright.
(07:55):
So if you start shortcuttingthat because you're making money
pretty soon you have the cycle.
Grace Lupoi (08:01):
And it snowballs.
So we said I'm doing reallygood, I'm skipping the steps
because I don't need those atthat time to sell the car or
whatever you're selling.
David Lowe (08:09):
I'm selling cars without it.
Grace Lupoi (08:10):
Right.
And then we forget the valuebehind it.
And then when those cracksstart showing, when business
slows down a little bit, we'rehurting for a car deal or a sale
and so we speed up.
That's right.
And when we speed up we losethe value in the step.
We forget that it's not justthe step we're doing, it's
really the why behind it.
And what does that step help meas a consultant accomplish?
(08:32):
Or what does it do for thecustomer and help them
understand or see or accomplish?
And when we speed up we skipthose steps and then it just
snowballs right.
David Lowe (08:40):
That's right.
Grace Lupoi (08:41):
And sometimes it might take that reassurance or
something in the dealership orteammate or something to
re-energize them and remind themMaybe watching one of our daily
videos.
David Lowe (08:51):
That's a good idea.
Grace Lupoi (08:52):
So that's what Daily Train is about, isn't it
Right?
David Lowe (08:55):
The Daily Training is all about reminding us what
we know.
We need a partner, we needaccountability.
So our daily emails from ourplaybook or, of course, just
logging onto our Facebook pageat Arm of a Sales Coach or
watching one of the episodes ordoing something daily to learn,
could help you from falling intoa batting slump.
(09:16):
It's funny the batters fallinto a batter slump in baseball.
I just need to get a hit, andthe more they focus on the hit,
the deeper they go.
That's what you're saying.
So the coach will take themback to the mechanics of the hit
.
Right, so prosperity can be theenemy of excellence, because
when we're selling a lot of cars, we don't notice problems.
(09:37):
Now I'm going to tell you thisis freaky and a freak out, but I
will have GMs or dealers cometo me and say I'm so blessed to
have the team I have.
They're so great, I'm so lucky,we're killing it.
They're killing it right.
See, the market's hot.
They're selling a lot of carsand make a lot of money.
Two months later, two monthslater, it's January, the market
(09:59):
has fallen off a little bit andthey're calling me.
Do you know any managers?
My managers can't do their job.
It's amazing to me how fickleleadership is that we're not
looking beyond the market effecton our business what we should
be looking at.
I said to a sales team indealership yesterday.
(10:19):
I said what impact are youhaving on the buyer's decision?
We know that the dealershipstocking the car and marketing
the car drives the traffic in.
What are you adding?
Are you just riding thedealership's coattails?
Are you making yourself valueby what you do?
And unfortunately, if you'reselling cars without doing the
(10:44):
steps, it may lead you tobelieve you don't need to do it.
And when things get tough,you're going to lose deals.
You're not going to maybe evenlose your job, but certainly
when things are good, you'restill not going to maximize your
potential.
You're going to be workingdeals and the deals you lose
you're going to think it's overmoney, but I'm telling you it's
(11:05):
over desire and value.
Shortcutting costs your buyerthe experience they're looking
for.
But in prosperity we're makingmoney.
We're less focused on it.
So why do we have this episodetoday?
We want to remind everybodythat what we do matters.
I mean, doesn't it?
Grace Lupoi (11:23):
It does.
David Lowe (11:24):
How you feel about yourself.
I think that's one of thebiggest things that matter.
How do I feel about myself andam I working with character and
integrity?
Do I feel good about what I'mdoing and how I'm doing it?
Am I self-examining?
I know we did an episode onself-examination and trying to
(11:47):
improve myself, being bettertoday than yesterday.
I think somebody who'squestioning what they can do to
be better lives with more joy.
We know that.
And also, if you're doing thosethings during good times, not
bad times Everybody does itduring bad times but if you do
(12:08):
those things while you're on top, that's how champions are made.
So, instead of prosperitybecoming the enemy of excellence
, why don't we, instead ofwaiting to fall, to regroup, why
don't we rise while we're atthe top?
So the message of today'sepisode is what?
Don't wait for things to gettough, to get back to the basics
(12:28):
, to doing what you do.
Don't let prosperity hide thefact that we need to be better
today than yesterday.
Let prosperity be a reminderthat you know what being on top
is a gift, and I have astewardship of that gift.
To remain on top means I needto do what I need to do to keep
that going.
Grace Lupoi (12:48):
That's right, right , absolutely.
David Lowe (12:50):
Everything we do in this podcast.
The episodes are dedicated tohelping you live and work better
, and we thank you for joiningus.
Grace is always reminding youto like us and we'd love to hear
what your opinion is.
Share it with us, right?
Make a comment?
We'd love that.
If any of the episodes have animpact on you and they think
they would impact a friend,share it.
(13:10):
That's a great way to get aconversation going with a friend
and iron sharpens iron.
It's a great way to start thatand we hope that these episodes
will do that for you.
So thank you so much and goodselling.
Can prosperity be the enemy of excellence?
Stay tuned to find out.
Grace Lupoi (00:14):
Hi guys, Grace Lupoi and I'm here with David
Lowe, the Automotive Sales Coach, and today, like he said, we're
talking about prosperity beingthe enemy of excellence.
Right?
This is a big thing that we'veseen all the time, right?
David Lowe (00:25):
Right.
It's funny how a lot of timessuccess creates failure, right?
So I think that a lot of timeswe work really hard to get
somewhere and sometimes, when weget there, we take how we got
there for granted.
So it's often in prosperity,when things are really good,
(00:45):
that people focus less on theirpersonal excellence, isn't that?
Grace Lupoi (00:49):
weird, that's right , yeah, absolutely.
David Lowe (00:51):
So people like I see people all the time, like I'm
so proud of myself, I'm going tothe gym all the time and what's
happening?
Well, I've lost 16 pounds,right, and I don't run into them
for a couple of months and I'mlike, hey, how's your workouts
going?
I'm like, oh, I'm kind of notgoing anymore.
I said, well, it works so well,you stopped right.
So I think it's pretty easy.
(01:14):
It's pretty easy to let thathappen to you.
In fact, we have some.
In history we've hadpopulations that lived well and
became complacent and entitled,apathetic, almost enslaved, and
repented and restored.
(01:35):
In fact, we see it in the OldTestament six times right, and I
see it in my own life.
I think probably all of us haveseen where we've taken, where
we are for granted.
Sometimes you don't appreciatewhat you have until it's gone
right.
So you're working hard to getsomewhere, and it's often when
(01:55):
you get there that the made it.
And what you really have toreally focus is on what got me
here and how do I keep thatgoing?
Right, so you're either gettingbetter or you're probably
getting worse.
Right, staying at top may beharder than getting to the top,
I don't know.
Right, right, so, prosperitybeing the enemy of excellence,
(02:18):
there's an old saying in the carbusiness selling cars fixes all
the problems in the dealership,and selling cars fixes all the
problems in the dealership.
In other words, when thetraffic is down and the market
is down, every crack shows Allthe problems are so evident to
everybody, but when the marketpicks up and sales increase,
(02:41):
nobody is paying any attentionto all of that.
Everything's great again, eventhough they're not, and the
slowdown, you see those things,but when the pockets are full,
nobody's worried about fixingthe cracks the only time we
focus on it.
So I think that's what we meanby prosperity being the enemy of
(03:02):
excellence.
When you have $10, you watchhow you spend it.
When you have 100, you may not,and so this episode is really
dedicated.
I know you've been doing a lotof work going to dealerships and
in our Automotive Sales Coach,the dealership playbook our
industry of.
By the way, this is not carbusiness specific, not this Ross
(03:26):
.
Berry being the enemy ofexcellence.
I remember, oh, great baseballplayer from the Cubs.
I remember when he got his hugecontract that was all he wrote,
everything after Ryan Sanfordand I thought, yeah, he did a
great job.
He got that huge contract andthen it's kind of disappeared
from there a little bit in mymind and so you kind of see that
(03:47):
in other things.
You know, that's why outlierslike Tom Brady and Michael
Jordan that get to the top andstay at the top are so
impressive, right, but anyway.
So we're going back to sellingcars and you're going into
dealerships and one of the bigthings with you is not just what
(04:07):
are we doing, but why.
What is the result?
Right, right.
So as people are selling a lotof cars, what happens?
So walk through what you do andlet's talk about how sometimes
selling a lot of cars end upworking against people.
Grace Lupoi (04:23):
So I mean, the same thing I think we've been
talking about is when we'redoing really well, sometimes we
forget about how we got thereand then we say, oh, I'm done, I
did it Right.
And we're going through in thedealerships and talking through
the sales process steps and, asyou know, of course, if you're
on the dealership playbook, youknow this that our sales process
we don't just have the steps,right Next to it, we have the
(04:46):
goal or the why behind it, themotivation.
Here's why I'm going to do thisstep.
And when I was selling cars Istruggled with the same thing is
sometimes I would look at it Isaid, oh my gosh, I have all
these steps to do and I forgotwhat the real goal is,
especially when you're seeingsuccess oh, I'm just really
great, because I'm really great,I have all the skill.
And sometimes we forget to lookback and say, well, it's
(05:08):
because each of these steps hasa purpose and serves me in doing
so.
And so typically in the wintermonths sometimes it's maybe a
little slower traffic we mightsee, and so those cracks are
very visible and talking withdifferent sales consultants and
managers at different stores,it's all the same thing.
Well, I don't want to do thatstep.
(05:29):
Why do I have to do that?
And we forget there's the goaland there's a reason behind it,
and so when we're seeking theprize money and we were doing
really well in the summer andfall, I'm really good and I
forget how great I am.
And how great I am is becauseI've been working through these
steps and the reason behind it.
David Lowe (05:48):
Isn't that true?
So we have we're selling a lotof cars, business is good, I'm
making money, and now I starthurrying to make more money and
in the process I skip doing itright so many dealerships.
When the market heats up, itbecomes about product and price.
Grace Lupoi (06:07):
Absolutely.
David Lowe (06:08):
And I think what people forget is people are
buying cars and they buy a carregardless of what we do have
the right car at the right priceand it's sold.
I'm sorry, but our trainingisn't about selling cars.
Because people want cars,they're going to buy cars, no
matter what.
Our training is about sellingcars with excellence, right how
to close a higher percentage ofcustomers, hold that fair profit
(06:31):
and do both, and so well thatthe customer leaves.
Thank you, I'm sending all myfriends and family here and I'm
never going anywhere else anddoing it so well that we have
that healthy pride.
However, when the market heatsup and more leads are coming in
and you make an easy sale hey, Ifound this car on your website.
(06:54):
Is it still available?
I want it, and you didn't haveto do those steps to make it.
Now the value of those steps inyour mind starts diminishing.
And then we hear things likethis oh, I had a customer.
Yeah, we just couldn't get tothe payment, they just couldn't
afford it.
And now, all of a sudden, thedeals that are being lost are
somehow the customer's problem,the customer's fault, the
customer wouldn't pay, or maybeit's the manufacturer's prices
(07:17):
are too high, or maybe thedealership won't pay enough for
their trade.
It's funny how all the reasonswe don't sell the car don't go
back to the true reason is valueis not exceeding price.
Grace Lupoi (07:30):
That's exactly right.
David Lowe (07:31):
Whose job is it to build value?
Grace Lupoi (07:33):
Consultants.
David Lowe (07:34):
Whose job is it to build desire that nobody wants
to pay what it takes to buyRight?
So the sales process steps aredesigned To guide your guests or
your buyer step by step throughthe this is the right product,
this is the right price, this isthe right place, today's the
right day, everything that'sright.
(07:55):
So if you start shortcuttingthat because you're making money
pretty soon you have the cycle.
Grace Lupoi (08:01):
And it snowballs.
So we said I'm doing reallygood, I'm skipping the steps
because I don't need those atthat time to sell the car or
whatever you're selling.
David Lowe (08:09):
I'm selling cars without it.
Grace Lupoi (08:10):
Right.
And then we forget the valuebehind it.
And then when those cracksstart showing, when business
slows down a little bit, we'rehurting for a car deal or a sale
and so we speed up.
That's right.
And when we speed up we losethe value in the step.
We forget that it's not justthe step we're doing, it's
really the why behind it.
And what does that step help meas a consultant accomplish?
(08:32):
Or what does it do for thecustomer and help them
understand or see or accomplish?
And when we speed up we skipthose steps and then it just
snowballs right.
David Lowe (08:40):
That's right.
Grace Lupoi (08:41):
And sometimes it might take that reassurance or
something in the dealership orteammate or something to
re-energize them and remind themMaybe watching one of our daily
videos.
David Lowe (08:51):
That's a good idea.
Grace Lupoi (08:52):
So that's what Daily Train is about, isn't it
Right?
David Lowe (08:55):
The Daily Training is all about reminding us what
we know.
We need a partner, we needaccountability.
So our daily emails from ourplaybook or, of course, just
logging onto our Facebook pageat Arm of a Sales Coach or
watching one of the episodes ordoing something daily to learn,
could help you from falling intoa batting slump.
(09:16):
It's funny the batters fallinto a batter slump in baseball.
I just need to get a hit, andthe more they focus on the hit,
the deeper they go.
That's what you're saying.
So the coach will take themback to the mechanics of the hit
.
Right, so prosperity can be theenemy of excellence, because
when we're selling a lot of cars, we don't notice problems.
(09:37):
Now I'm going to tell you thisis freaky and a freak out, but I
will have GMs or dealers cometo me and say I'm so blessed to
have the team I have.
They're so great, I'm so lucky,we're killing it.
They're killing it right.
See, the market's hot.
They're selling a lot of carsand make a lot of money.
Two months later, two monthslater, it's January, the market
(09:59):
has fallen off a little bit andthey're calling me.
Do you know any managers?
My managers can't do their job.
It's amazing to me how fickleleadership is that we're not
looking beyond the market effecton our business what we should
be looking at.
I said to a sales team indealership yesterday.
(10:19):
I said what impact are youhaving on the buyer's decision?
We know that the dealershipstocking the car and marketing
the car drives the traffic in.
What are you adding?
Are you just riding thedealership's coattails?
Are you making yourself valueby what you do?
And unfortunately, if you'reselling cars without doing the
(10:44):
steps, it may lead you tobelieve you don't need to do it.
And when things get tough,you're going to lose deals.
You're not going to maybe evenlose your job, but certainly
when things are good, you'restill not going to maximize your
potential.
You're going to be workingdeals and the deals you lose
you're going to think it's overmoney, but I'm telling you it's
(11:05):
over desire and value.
Shortcutting costs your buyerthe experience they're looking
for.
But in prosperity we're makingmoney.
We're less focused on it.
So why do we have this episodetoday?
We want to remind everybodythat what we do matters.
I mean, doesn't it?
Grace Lupoi (11:23):
It does.
David Lowe (11:24):
How you feel about yourself.
I think that's one of thebiggest things that matter.
How do I feel about myself andam I working with character and
integrity?
Do I feel good about what I'mdoing and how I'm doing it?
Am I self-examining?
I know we did an episode onself-examination and trying to
(11:47):
improve myself, being bettertoday than yesterday.
I think somebody who'squestioning what they can do to
be better lives with more joy.
We know that.
And also, if you're doing thosethings during good times, not
bad times Everybody does itduring bad times but if you do
(12:08):
those things while you're on top, that's how champions are made.
So, instead of prosperitybecoming the enemy of excellence
, why don't we, instead ofwaiting to fall, to regroup, why
don't we rise while we're atthe top?
So the message of today'sepisode is what?
Don't wait for things to gettough, to get back to the basics
(12:28):
, to doing what you do.
Don't let prosperity hide thefact that we need to be better
today than yesterday.
Let prosperity be a reminderthat you know what being on top
is a gift, and I have astewardship of that gift.
To remain on top means I needto do what I need to do to keep
that going.
Grace Lupoi (12:48):
That's right, right , absolutely.
David Lowe (12:50):
Everything we do in this podcast.
The episodes are dedicated tohelping you live and work better
, and we thank you for joiningus.
Grace is always reminding youto like us and we'd love to hear
what your opinion is.
Share it with us, right?
Make a comment?
We'd love that.
If any of the episodes have animpact on you and they think
they would impact a friend,share it.
(13:10):
That's a great way to get aconversation going with a friend
and iron sharpens iron.
It's a great way to start thatand we hope that these episodes
will do that for you.
So thank you so much and goodselling.
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Therapy Gecko
An unlicensed lizard psychologist travels the universe talking to strangers about absolutely nothing. TO CALL THE GECKO: follow me on https://www.twitch.tv/lyleforever to get a notification for when I am taking calls. I am usually live Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays but lately a lot of other times too. I am a gecko.