One of Tom Peters rants is “Stick to the knitting.” For an automobile sales manager, my interpretation is stick to what you are paid to do – no deviation. In fact, this just might be one occasion when it really is okay to say “It’s not my job” if it isn’t related to selling automobiles.

I thought of this Peterism recently when a manager shared some thoughts about an upcoming project. He told me the project will be housed in his facility; but other than being landlord he has little to do with the proposal.

What happened is that the day after being informed his facility would be home for this project and given an overview of what the project is, he emailed the project leader a list of ideas he believed would be of interest.

Shortly after hitting SEND, the manager received a reply that essentially said “Thank you for the input but mind your own business.”

As he thought about this, he realized that although direct, the reply was spot-on.

Whether you are an automobile sales manager of a new car dealership or a used car store, if your next action is not focused on driving traffic to your automobile dealership, or following up on a prospect, or coaching the automobile salespeople then you are not sticking to your knitting. Sure, there are some administrative tasks you are accountable for. But I bet your bonus structure is not tied to them.

In an automobile dealership, it is so easy for a sales manager to get side tracked. Like the manager above, getting involved with stuff that isn’t even related to his position. I know he’s not alone in this regard.

There are all kinds of time stealers. One that is getting to be more prevalent is Socializing. Now before you get on your high and mighty rocker, some socializing is good. Automobile sales managers need to invest time just chatting with their car salespeople. Part of being an effective manager is knowing your people. The Socializing I am referring to is not so visible. Not so visible because if someone saw you, it wouldn’t be quite obvious that you are Socializing. In fact, at work you are often by yourself when participating in this type of Socializing.

You know the Socializing I am referring to, don’t you?

It is those quick little text messages between you and home, you and a friend, you and the bowling league, you and the world. Oh it is only thirty seconds here and a minute there and…

Recently I had a Business Manager take offense when I suggested she was spending a little too much time on her Blackberry texting and not doing what she ought to be doing. “Its only a few seconds, why be difficult about this?” is the Readers Digest version of her thoughts on my concern about her texting while at work. Read the rest of this entry »