By Christine Corelli

Join Corelli and the SEMA Education Institute (SEI) for a webinar, “Capture Your Competitors’ Competition and Keep Them, Thursday, December 6, at 10:00 a.m. (PST). SEMA webinars are free to SEMA members and only $29 for non-members.

Forget tough. Today’s competition is fierce! Now, more than ever, your commitment to establishing a true "team" culture is not optional—it is vital to the success of your automotive aftermarket business and a major key to survival in today’s volatile economy.

Is it easy to establish highly effective and proficient work teams? Absolutely not. Does it simply mean that everyone on your team and in every department is working toward a common goal? That would be too easy.

There are two major challenges when it comes to creating a true team culture. The first consideration is that teamwork is voluntary. You cannot force anyone to be a team player. The second is that it does not necessarily come naturally; teamwork requires training. Here's why. Most individuals have been programmed from childhood to excel as individuals and not as team players. Unless a person has had a teamwork training program or experience on a sports team under the direction of that rare, dynamic coach, he or she does not know how to perform effectively as a member of a team.

In spite of these obstacles, it is absolutely critical to develop teamwork within your business, regardless of whether you are a team of two or 2,000. You simply can’t achieve success through turbulent times without the full support of every employee.

You’re Only as Good as Your Pit Crew

Think of yourself as a professional race car driver. No matter how proficient and daring you are behind the wheel, a split second can make or break you on the course. You cannot win the race without a highly cohesive and dynamic pit crew.

A pit crew is a great example of teamwork, as they must work together as a highly cohesive team to assist the driver in winning the race. There are many similarities in what a pit crew must do for their professional driver and what your team must do for you. Review these few below:

• A pit crew is committed to the driver and focused on the goal of helping them win the race. Each individual must perform to the highest capacity and as a unified team, just as your team must deliver their best performance each day, be committed to helping you achieve your goals and be focused on your competitive strategy.
• A pit crew has all parts pre-staged before the race for greater speed and efficiency when the driver is being serviced. Your parts and service areas should be neat and organized, all parts should be shipped by the end of every day and new parts should be put away unless they are being installed. Your team should also have procedures and practices in place for fast and efficient customer service.
• A pit crew practices gassing, changing tires, engines, parts and tearing off breakaway windshields to achieve ever greater speed and efficiency. In addition, they train continuously. Your team must work together to increase sales, improve processes, procedures and find ways to streamline your business.
• Pit crews have meetings to share ideas for continuous improvement with an atmosphere of open communication. These meetings can be formal or informal. A huddle will do just fine. They stick to an agenda and don’t go off into discussions other than what has been set. Communication is “open,” where everyone feels free to voice an opinion or bring forth an idea and speaks up without being asked. You should have weekly meetings that last no more than a half-hour to discuss sales, service problems, ideas for new promotions or value-added packages to offer customers and more. If you have set the tone for open communication in your business, your people will and should participate, and speak openly.
• Often, a pit crew will participate in competitions with other race drivers. Your team must recognize that each and every day, they are competing for you against other businesses. They must develop an obsession to deliver their best performance each and every day, just like a pit crew.

Winning the Competitive Battle

Establishing highly effective and proficient team of professionals who can perform together in an environment of open communication and idea sharing—both internally and externally—is critical. It is the only way to ensure that your company can perform at the highest level of quality in all you do. And it is certainly key to whether you can stay in the race and win the competitive battle during these tough times.

What can happen when there is a lack of teamwork?

• Organization for projects can be compromised. Lack of coordination and planning can cause problems for you and your customers.
• You can bring disharmony into your environment. That's not healthy in today's highly competitive and stressful work climate. Harmony within your team is critical to job satisfaction, customer retention and business growth.
• The people in your business can fail to assist you and each other in driving business growth and doing all they can to increase sales, control costs and obtain higher levels of profitability.
• Your people can lack the capacity to understand the pressures you face of keeping your business afloat and customers happy.
• Your people will lack a clear understanding of what customers want, need and expect.
• Barriers can develop among people. Finger-pointing and blaming can occur.
• Walls can build. Territorialism can exist within your team. An “It’s not my job” attitude can exist, instead of a “What can I do to help you?” attitude.
• Silos can form, where each department or location operates in its own way.
• Quality workmanship can be compromised.
• Conflict can arise and not be resolved. Problems and can occur and not be “nipped in the bud.”
• Customers will not receive exceptional service.

No business can afford any of these situations. On the other hand, when there is a true team culture, positive outcomes are achievable. Effective teams can take problems and fragments of ideas and mold them into solutions and positive results. Ideas can build one on top of another. Individuals, working as a team, can take these scattered bits of information and structure a wide variety of options and solutions to the problems you encounter.

Consequently, teamwork promotes creativity and innovation. Relationships are strengthened—inside and outside your organization. Issues are uncovered, conflict is resolved and people all pull in the same direction to achieve their goals and provide exceptional service. Voila! Individuals are effectively becoming solid team players, and strong leaders emerge.

Sound too ideal? It's not. It’s achievable. All smart organizations operate at this level if their leaders insist they do. Why shouldn't yours? To begin, follow these steps to move your company forward and take its place among those that will be able to not only simply survive, but also prosper in the future.

1. Practice dynamic leadership: Remember whose job it is to keep your team motivated in today’s tough business environment. It’s yours! If they see worry, doom and gloom on your face, they won’t be inspired. You, as their team leader, must display dynamic leadership. As a leader, you are also a teacher. Think of yourself as a great sports coach, coaching and encouraging your team to excel. Coach them toward greatness. Make your team members feel as if they are working with you, and not for you. If they feel they are working for you, you will get robots that go through the motions of their job and never show initiative beyond their job description. If they feel they are working with you, they are more likely to look forward to coming to work each day.

2. Get the right players on the team: Have the courage to remove anyone who might prevent the team from performing at the highest possible level. You can't afford to have even one weak player. Once you have the right people on your team, your job will be infinitely easier. When you have people who perform to their highest capacity and provide outstanding service to customers and the other members of their team, you will be able to focus on business growth and development.

3. Communicate: Sit down with your team and tell them how much you appreciate the good job they do for you. Then, describe what you would like to accomplish. Explain that you need their involvement in an important team-building and idea-sharing process. People tend to promote what they help to create. Asking for their ideas and input in this initiative is the first step in effective team-building. Employee involvement is critical to the success of your business.

4. Set expectations and competencies specific to each job role: Communicate your expectations for each team member,and also the expectations you have of them as a team. As a team they should demonstrate the following:

• They are all working toward the common goal of carrying your organization into a more successful future.
• Peer support will be practiced day to day.
• Conflict will be resolved amongst each other. If it cannot be resolved, they are to come to you.
• The team is empowered to solve problems on their own.
• Team members will speak openly about their opinions without being asked.
• Team members will not be afraid of losing their job when they do speak up.
• A high level of trust must exist between you, your team and the team members with each other.
• Team members are to demonstrate the core values of honesty, integrity, safety, respect, customer focus, teamwork, accountability, professionalism, family and concern for Earth and the environment.

5. Set the highest standards for yourself and your team: Never settle for mediocre performance from an individual or your team. You will never be able to achieve success if you do. Another reason to set the highest standards, is that your people will respect you for it.

6. Ask for ideas: Ask for ideas on how you can modify or eliminate any procedure that does not allow for flawless execution. Ask them how you can avoid wasteful spending and how you can cut costs during this volatile economy. Ask how you can improve productivity and morale. It is amazing how many great ideas you will obtain if you do it right.

7. Create guiding principles for the way the team will communicate and operate, and how all customers will be treated: Create guiding principles, have them printed out and posted around the office. Have each team member sign them, and agree to adhere to them. Then, assign a team to add to them quarterly. Use this document for new hires. Let them know that they won’t fit in with the team if they don’t practice these guiding principles.

8. Set rigorous, but achievable goals for sales, error-free performance, customer complaints and safety: You can keep your team pumped up by setting goals and then giving the entire team a small reward when they reach these goals.

9. Train your team: Arm your team with knowledge and skills so they can drive faster and smarter than your competitors. Better yet, consider teamwork training to help your team become a truly effective entity.

10. Establish five critical success factors and use them as your road map: Work with your team to establish five critical success factors for business success in 2013. This will be your road map to get you where you want to go. Print them out and put them on cards and on your walls so that your team doesn’t forget to stay the course.

Take a good hard look at your team and begin these steps as soon as possible.

Look Who’s Driving

You are behind the wheel in the racecar, striving to drive your business forward. Drive as smart and safely as you can and surround yourself with the smartest and most supportive pit crew you can possibly find.

The Biggest Difference

There is one major difference between a professional race car driver and you running your business: for them, there’s a finish line to cross. For you, the race for business growth has no finish line.

Times are tough. Real tough. Forget the old adage, “When the going gets tough…” Remember what the driver uses for fuel—the love of the race. As you are driving, remember how much you love this industry. Put your heart into it.

Just remember to enjoy the ride.

Join Corelli and the SEMA Education Institute (SEI) for a webinar, “Capture Your Competitors’ Competition and Keep Them, Thursday, December 6, at 10:00 a.m. (PST). SEMA webinars are free to SEMA members and only $29 for non-members.

By Christine Corelli

Join Corelli and the SEMA Education Institute (SEI) for a webinar, “Capture Your Competitors’ Competition and Keep Them, Thursday, December 6, at 10:00 a.m. (PST). SEMA webinars are free to SEMA members and only $29 for non-members.

Forget tough. Today’s competition is fierce! Now, more than ever, your commitment to establishing a true "team" culture is not optional—it is vital to the success of your automotive aftermarket business and a major key to survival in today’s volatile economy.

Is it easy to establish highly effective and proficient work teams? Absolutely not. Does it simply mean that everyone on your team and in every department is working toward a common goal? That would be too easy.

There are two major challenges when it comes to creating a true team culture. The first consideration is that teamwork is voluntary. You cannot force anyone to be a team player. The second is that it does not necessarily come naturally; teamwork requires training. Here's why. Most individuals have been programmed from childhood to excel as individuals and not as team players. Unless a person has had a teamwork training program or experience on a sports team under the direction of that rare, dynamic coach, he or she does not know how to perform effectively as a member of a team.

In spite of these obstacles, it is absolutely critical to develop teamwork within your business, regardless of whether you are a team of two or 2,000. You simply can’t achieve success through turbulent times without the full support of every employee.

You’re Only as Good as Your Pit Crew

Think of yourself as a professional race car driver. No matter how proficient and daring you are behind the wheel, a split second can make or break you on the course. You cannot win the race without a highly cohesive and dynamic pit crew.

A pit crew is a great example of teamwork, as they must work together as a highly cohesive team to assist the driver in winning the race. There are many similarities in what a pit crew must do for their professional driver and what your team must do for you. Review these few below:

• A pit crew is committed to the driver and focused on the goal of helping them win the race. Each individual must perform to the highest capacity and as a unified team, just as your team must deliver their best performance each day, be committed to helping you achieve your goals and be focused on your competitive strategy.
• A pit crew has all parts pre-staged before the race for greater speed and efficiency when the driver is being serviced. Your parts and service areas should be neat and organized, all parts should be shipped by the end of every day and new parts should be put away unless they are being installed. Your team should also have procedures and practices in place for fast and efficient customer service.
• A pit crew practices gassing, changing tires, engines, parts and tearing off breakaway windshields to achieve ever greater speed and efficiency. In addition, they train continuously. Your team must work together to increase sales, improve processes, procedures and find ways to streamline your business.
• Pit crews have meetings to share ideas for continuous improvement with an atmosphere of open communication. These meetings can be formal or informal. A huddle will do just fine. They stick to an agenda and don’t go off into discussions other than what has been set. Communication is “open,” where everyone feels free to voice an opinion or bring forth an idea and speaks up without being asked. You should have weekly meetings that last no more than a half-hour to discuss sales, service problems, ideas for new promotions or value-added packages to offer customers and more. If you have set the tone for open communication in your business, your people will and should participate, and speak openly.
• Often, a pit crew will participate in competitions with other race drivers. Your team must recognize that each and every day, they are competing for you against other businesses. They must develop an obsession to deliver their best performance each and every day, just like a pit crew.

Winning the Competitive Battle

Establishing highly effective and proficient team of professionals who can perform together in an environment of open communication and idea sharing—both internally and externally—is critical. It is the only way to ensure that your company can perform at the highest level of quality in all you do. And it is certainly key to whether you can stay in the race and win the competitive battle during these tough times.

What can happen when there is a lack of teamwork?

• Organization for projects can be compromised. Lack of coordination and planning can cause problems for you and your customers.
• You can bring disharmony into your environment. That's not healthy in today's highly competitive and stressful work climate. Harmony within your team is critical to job satisfaction, customer retention and business growth.
• The people in your business can fail to assist you and each other in driving business growth and doing all they can to increase sales, control costs and obtain higher levels of profitability.
• Your people can lack the capacity to understand the pressures you face of keeping your business afloat and customers happy.
• Your people will lack a clear understanding of what customers want, need and expect.
• Barriers can develop among people. Finger-pointing and blaming can occur.
• Walls can build. Territorialism can exist within your team. An “It’s not my job” attitude can exist, instead of a “What can I do to help you?” attitude.
• Silos can form, where each department or location operates in its own way.
• Quality workmanship can be compromised.
• Conflict can arise and not be resolved. Problems and can occur and not be “nipped in the bud.”
• Customers will not receive exceptional service.

No business can afford any of these situations. On the other hand, when there is a true team culture, positive outcomes are achievable. Effective teams can take problems and fragments of ideas and mold them into solutions and positive results. Ideas can build one on top of another. Individuals, working as a team, can take these scattered bits of information and structure a wide variety of options and solutions to the problems you encounter.

Consequently, teamwork promotes creativity and innovation. Relationships are strengthened—inside and outside your organization. Issues are uncovered, conflict is resolved and people all pull in the same direction to achieve their goals and provide exceptional service. Voila! Individuals are effectively becoming solid team players, and strong leaders emerge.

Sound too ideal? It's not. It’s achievable. All smart organizations operate at this level if their leaders insist they do. Why shouldn't yours? To begin, follow these steps to move your company forward and take its place among those that will be able to not only simply survive, but also prosper in the future.

1. Practice dynamic leadership: Remember whose job it is to keep your team motivated in today’s tough business environment. It’s yours! If they see worry, doom and gloom on your face, they won’t be inspired. You, as their team leader, must display dynamic leadership. As a leader, you are also a teacher. Think of yourself as a great sports coach, coaching and encouraging your team to excel. Coach them toward greatness. Make your team members feel as if they are working with you, and not for you. If they feel they are working for you, you will get robots that go through the motions of their job and never show initiative beyond their job description. If they feel they are working with you, they are more likely to look forward to coming to work each day.

2. Get the right players on the team: Have the courage to remove anyone who might prevent the team from performing at the highest possible level. You can't afford to have even one weak player. Once you have the right people on your team, your job will be infinitely easier. When you have people who perform to their highest capacity and provide outstanding service to customers and the other members of their team, you will be able to focus on business growth and development.

3. Communicate: Sit down with your team and tell them how much you appreciate the good job they do for you. Then, describe what you would like to accomplish. Explain that you need their involvement in an important team-building and idea-sharing process. People tend to promote what they help to create. Asking for their ideas and input in this initiative is the first step in effective team-building. Employee involvement is critical to the success of your business.

4. Set expectations and competencies specific to each job role: Communicate your expectations for each team member,and also the expectations you have of them as a team. As a team they should demonstrate the following:

• They are all working toward the common goal of carrying your organization into a more successful future.
• Peer support will be practiced day to day.
• Conflict will be resolved amongst each other. If it cannot be resolved, they are to come to you.
• The team is empowered to solve problems on their own.
• Team members will speak openly about their opinions without being asked.
• Team members will not be afraid of losing their job when they do speak up.
• A high level of trust must exist between you, your team and the team members with each other.
• Team members are to demonstrate the core values of honesty, integrity, safety, respect, customer focus, teamwork, accountability, professionalism, family and concern for Earth and the environment.

5. Set the highest standards for yourself and your team: Never settle for mediocre performance from an individual or your team. You will never be able to achieve success if you do. Another reason to set the highest standards, is that your people will respect you for it.

6. Ask for ideas: Ask for ideas on how you can modify or eliminate any procedure that does not allow for flawless execution. Ask them how you can avoid wasteful spending and how you can cut costs during this volatile economy. Ask how you can improve productivity and morale. It is amazing how many great ideas you will obtain if you do it right.

7. Create guiding principles for the way the team will communicate and operate, and how all customers will be treated: Create guiding principles, have them printed out and posted around the office. Have each team member sign them, and agree to adhere to them. Then, assign a team to add to them quarterly. Use this document for new hires. Let them know that they won’t fit in with the team if they don’t practice these guiding principles.

8. Set rigorous, but achievable goals for sales, error-free performance, customer complaints and safety: You can keep your team pumped up by setting goals and then giving the entire team a small reward when they reach these goals.

9. Train your team: Arm your team with knowledge and skills so they can drive faster and smarter than your competitors. Better yet, consider teamwork training to help your team become a truly effective entity.

10. Establish five critical success factors and use them as your road map: Work with your team to establish five critical success factors for business success in 2013. This will be your road map to get you where you want to go. Print them out and put them on cards and on your walls so that your team doesn’t forget to stay the course.

Take a good hard look at your team and begin these steps as soon as possible.

Look Who’s Driving

You are behind the wheel in the racecar, striving to drive your business forward. Drive as smart and safely as you can and surround yourself with the smartest and most supportive pit crew you can possibly find.

The Biggest Difference

There is one major difference between a professional race car driver and you running your business: for them, there’s a finish line to cross. For you, the race for business growth has no finish line.

Times are tough. Real tough. Forget the old adage, “When the going gets tough…” Remember what the driver uses for fuel—the love of the race. As you are driving, remember how much you love this industry. Put your heart into it.

Just remember to enjoy the ride.

Join Corelli and the SEMA Education Institute (SEI) for a webinar, “Capture Your Competitors’ Competition and Keep Them, Thursday, December 6, at 10:00 a.m. (PST). SEMA webinars are free to SEMA members and only $29 for non-members.

By Christine Corelli

Join Corelli and the SEMA Education Institute (SEI) for a webinar, “Capture Your Competitors’ Competition and Keep Them, Thursday, December 6, at 10:00 a.m. (PST). SEMA webinars are free to SEMA members and only $29 for non-members.

Forget tough. Today’s competition is fierce! Now, more than ever, your commitment to establishing a true "team" culture is not optional—it is vital to the success of your automotive aftermarket business and a major key to survival in today’s volatile economy.

Is it easy to establish highly effective and proficient work teams? Absolutely not. Does it simply mean that everyone on your team and in every department is working toward a common goal? That would be too easy.

There are two major challenges when it comes to creating a true team culture. The first consideration is that teamwork is voluntary. You cannot force anyone to be a team player. The second is that it does not necessarily come naturally; teamwork requires training. Here's why. Most individuals have been programmed from childhood to excel as individuals and not as team players. Unless a person has had a teamwork training program or experience on a sports team under the direction of that rare, dynamic coach, he or she does not know how to perform effectively as a member of a team.

In spite of these obstacles, it is absolutely critical to develop teamwork within your business, regardless of whether you are a team of two or 2,000. You simply can’t achieve success through turbulent times without the full support of every employee.

You’re Only as Good as Your Pit Crew

Think of yourself as a professional race car driver. No matter how proficient and daring you are behind the wheel, a split second can make or break you on the course. You cannot win the race without a highly cohesive and dynamic pit crew.

A pit crew is a great example of teamwork, as they must work together as a highly cohesive team to assist the driver in winning the race. There are many similarities in what a pit crew must do for their professional driver and what your team must do for you. Review these few below:

• A pit crew is committed to the driver and focused on the goal of helping them win the race. Each individual must perform to the highest capacity and as a unified team, just as your team must deliver their best performance each day, be committed to helping you achieve your goals and be focused on your competitive strategy.
• A pit crew has all parts pre-staged before the race for greater speed and efficiency when the driver is being serviced. Your parts and service areas should be neat and organized, all parts should be shipped by the end of every day and new parts should be put away unless they are being installed. Your team should also have procedures and practices in place for fast and efficient customer service.
• A pit crew practices gassing, changing tires, engines, parts and tearing off breakaway windshields to achieve ever greater speed and efficiency. In addition, they train continuously. Your team must work together to increase sales, improve processes, procedures and find ways to streamline your business.
• Pit crews have meetings to share ideas for continuous improvement with an atmosphere of open communication. These meetings can be formal or informal. A huddle will do just fine. They stick to an agenda and don’t go off into discussions other than what has been set. Communication is “open,” where everyone feels free to voice an opinion or bring forth an idea and speaks up without being asked. You should have weekly meetings that last no more than a half-hour to discuss sales, service problems, ideas for new promotions or value-added packages to offer customers and more. If you have set the tone for open communication in your business, your people will and should participate, and speak openly.
• Often, a pit crew will participate in competitions with other race drivers. Your team must recognize that each and every day, they are competing for you against other businesses. They must develop an obsession to deliver their best performance each and every day, just like a pit crew.

Winning the Competitive Battle

Establishing highly effective and proficient team of professionals who can perform together in an environment of open communication and idea sharing—both internally and externally—is critical. It is the only way to ensure that your company can perform at the highest level of quality in all you do. And it is certainly key to whether you can stay in the race and win the competitive battle during these tough times.

What can happen when there is a lack of teamwork?

• Organization for projects can be compromised. Lack of coordination and planning can cause problems for you and your customers.
• You can bring disharmony into your environment. That's not healthy in today's highly competitive and stressful work climate. Harmony within your team is critical to job satisfaction, customer retention and business growth.
• The people in your business can fail to assist you and each other in driving business growth and doing all they can to increase sales, control costs and obtain higher levels of profitability.
• Your people can lack the capacity to understand the pressures you face of keeping your business afloat and customers happy.
• Your people will lack a clear understanding of what customers want, need and expect.
• Barriers can develop among people. Finger-pointing and blaming can occur.
• Walls can build. Territorialism can exist within your team. An “It’s not my job” attitude can exist, instead of a “What can I do to help you?” attitude.
• Silos can form, where each department or location operates in its own way.
• Quality workmanship can be compromised.
• Conflict can arise and not be resolved. Problems and can occur and not be “nipped in the bud.”
• Customers will not receive exceptional service.

No business can afford any of these situations. On the other hand, when there is a true team culture, positive outcomes are achievable. Effective teams can take problems and fragments of ideas and mold them into solutions and positive results. Ideas can build one on top of another. Individuals, working as a team, can take these scattered bits of information and structure a wide variety of options and solutions to the problems you encounter.

Consequently, teamwork promotes creativity and innovation. Relationships are strengthened—inside and outside your organization. Issues are uncovered, conflict is resolved and people all pull in the same direction to achieve their goals and provide exceptional service. Voila! Individuals are effectively becoming solid team players, and strong leaders emerge.

Sound too ideal? It's not. It’s achievable. All smart organizations operate at this level if their leaders insist they do. Why shouldn't yours? To begin, follow these steps to move your company forward and take its place among those that will be able to not only simply survive, but also prosper in the future.

1. Practice dynamic leadership: Remember whose job it is to keep your team motivated in today’s tough business environment. It’s yours! If they see worry, doom and gloom on your face, they won’t be inspired. You, as their team leader, must display dynamic leadership. As a leader, you are also a teacher. Think of yourself as a great sports coach, coaching and encouraging your team to excel. Coach them toward greatness. Make your team members feel as if they are working with you, and not for you. If they feel they are working for you, you will get robots that go through the motions of their job and never show initiative beyond their job description. If they feel they are working with you, they are more likely to look forward to coming to work each day.

2. Get the right players on the team: Have the courage to remove anyone who might prevent the team from performing at the highest possible level. You can't afford to have even one weak player. Once you have the right people on your team, your job will be infinitely easier. When you have people who perform to their highest capacity and provide outstanding service to customers and the other members of their team, you will be able to focus on business growth and development.

3. Communicate: Sit down with your team and tell them how much you appreciate the good job they do for you. Then, describe what you would like to accomplish. Explain that you need their involvement in an important team-building and idea-sharing process. People tend to promote what they help to create. Asking for their ideas and input in this initiative is the first step in effective team-building. Employee involvement is critical to the success of your business.

4. Set expectations and competencies specific to each job role: Communicate your expectations for each team member,and also the expectations you have of them as a team. As a team they should demonstrate the following:

• They are all working toward the common goal of carrying your organization into a more successful future.
• Peer support will be practiced day to day.
• Conflict will be resolved amongst each other. If it cannot be resolved, they are to come to you.
• The team is empowered to solve problems on their own.
• Team members will speak openly about their opinions without being asked.
• Team members will not be afraid of losing their job when they do speak up.
• A high level of trust must exist between you, your team and the team members with each other.
• Team members are to demonstrate the core values of honesty, integrity, safety, respect, customer focus, teamwork, accountability, professionalism, family and concern for Earth and the environment.

5. Set the highest standards for yourself and your team: Never settle for mediocre performance from an individual or your team. You will never be able to achieve success if you do. Another reason to set the highest standards, is that your people will respect you for it.

6. Ask for ideas: Ask for ideas on how you can modify or eliminate any procedure that does not allow for flawless execution. Ask them how you can avoid wasteful spending and how you can cut costs during this volatile economy. Ask how you can improve productivity and morale. It is amazing how many great ideas you will obtain if you do it right.

7. Create guiding principles for the way the team will communicate and operate, and how all customers will be treated: Create guiding principles, have them printed out and posted around the office. Have each team member sign them, and agree to adhere to them. Then, assign a team to add to them quarterly. Use this document for new hires. Let them know that they won’t fit in with the team if they don’t practice these guiding principles.

8. Set rigorous, but achievable goals for sales, error-free performance, customer complaints and safety: You can keep your team pumped up by setting goals and then giving the entire team a small reward when they reach these goals.

9. Train your team: Arm your team with knowledge and skills so they can drive faster and smarter than your competitors. Better yet, consider teamwork training to help your team become a truly effective entity.

10. Establish five critical success factors and use them as your road map: Work with your team to establish five critical success factors for business success in 2013. This will be your road map to get you where you want to go. Print them out and put them on cards and on your walls so that your team doesn’t forget to stay the course.

Take a good hard look at your team and begin these steps as soon as possible.

Look Who’s Driving

You are behind the wheel in the racecar, striving to drive your business forward. Drive as smart and safely as you can and surround yourself with the smartest and most supportive pit crew you can possibly find.

The Biggest Difference

There is one major difference between a professional race car driver and you running your business: for them, there’s a finish line to cross. For you, the race for business growth has no finish line.

Times are tough. Real tough. Forget the old adage, “When the going gets tough…” Remember what the driver uses for fuel—the love of the race. As you are driving, remember how much you love this industry. Put your heart into it.

Just remember to enjoy the ride.

Join Corelli and the SEMA Education Institute (SEI) for a webinar, “Capture Your Competitors’ Competition and Keep Them, Thursday, December 6, at 10:00 a.m. (PST). SEMA webinars are free to SEMA members and only $29 for non-members.

	Tanner Foust visited the Irwindale Event Center last Sunday to drive a special, limited-edition Ford Focus.

New Tanner Foust Ford Focus Makes First Runs at Irwindale Event Center
Multi-discipline race driver, movie stuntman, TV star and now car designer Tanner Foust visited the Irwindale Event Center (IEC) last Sunday to "break in" a special, limited-edition Focus that had his name and "TF" logo emblazoned all over it.

The car had just come over to Los Angeles by truck from an award-winning turn as one of the stars of the recent SEMA Show in Las Vegas. The four-door hatchback had barely 50 miles on the clock, and Foust had not yet driven the prototype. The car was never driven in Las Vegas, so there was some interest in breaking it in and getting a bit of actual seat time before it went on display at the L.A. Auto Show, scheduled to open to the press November 28.

There were no formal specs officially available at the IEC shakedown runs. But this special Foust-signature model was loaded with features, and the estimated horsepower rating for this special-edition, turbo-charged six-speed Focus ST model was around 300.

Foust's co-conspirator in the custom-body, trick semi-gloss silvery paint and interior work was Mike Spagnola of Street Scene Equipment.

Bully Dog Sponsors Amsoil Championship Snocross
Fresh off the heels of its showing at the 2012 SEMA Show in Las Vegas, Bully Dog Technologies is a major sponsor of the AMSOIL Championship Snocross, series presented by Traxxas, which began at the Duluth National Presented by Bully Dog at Spirit Mountain, November 23–25.

For more information about the event, visit www.isocracing.com.

	Brian Deegan defended and held his title, winning back-to-back LOORRS Pro-2 Championships in 2011 and 2012.

FOX Athletes Win Off-Road Short Course Championships in 2012
In addition to the Ultra4 Racing Championship, Fox athletes won six out of eight possible professional class championships in The Off-Road Championship (TORC) and the Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series (LOORRS).

The TORC series runs 13 rounds at tracks across the country, racing on both stadium courses and long, fast outdoor tracks cut into natural terrain. They run two rounds at the track in Crandon, Wisconsin.

Ricky Johnson, TORC Pro-4 champion, and Bryce Menzies, TORC Pro-2 champion, claimed back-to-back victories in 2011 and 2012. Brad Lovell took home the TORC Pro Lite Championship and the Ultra4 Championship this year. In his first season in TORC Pro Buggy, Mitchell DeJong won the championship at 16 years old.

The LOORRS is run as a 15-round race series that visits tracks in California, Arizona, Nevada and Utah. The stadium tracks are tight and technical with huge jumps that launch the vehicles high and far. The door-to-door action is aggressive, with a lot of contact and spectacular crashes.

Brian Deegan defended and held his title, winning back-to-back LOORRS Pro-2 Championships in 2011 and 2012, while Steven Greinke triumphed as the LOORRS Pro Buggy champion.

	Tanner Foust visited the Irwindale Event Center last Sunday to drive a special, limited-edition Ford Focus.

New Tanner Foust Ford Focus Makes First Runs at Irwindale Event Center
Multi-discipline race driver, movie stuntman, TV star and now car designer Tanner Foust visited the Irwindale Event Center (IEC) last Sunday to "break in" a special, limited-edition Focus that had his name and "TF" logo emblazoned all over it.

The car had just come over to Los Angeles by truck from an award-winning turn as one of the stars of the recent SEMA Show in Las Vegas. The four-door hatchback had barely 50 miles on the clock, and Foust had not yet driven the prototype. The car was never driven in Las Vegas, so there was some interest in breaking it in and getting a bit of actual seat time before it went on display at the L.A. Auto Show, scheduled to open to the press November 28.

There were no formal specs officially available at the IEC shakedown runs. But this special Foust-signature model was loaded with features, and the estimated horsepower rating for this special-edition, turbo-charged six-speed Focus ST model was around 300.

Foust's co-conspirator in the custom-body, trick semi-gloss silvery paint and interior work was Mike Spagnola of Street Scene Equipment.

Bully Dog Sponsors Amsoil Championship Snocross
Fresh off the heels of its showing at the 2012 SEMA Show in Las Vegas, Bully Dog Technologies is a major sponsor of the AMSOIL Championship Snocross, series presented by Traxxas, which began at the Duluth National Presented by Bully Dog at Spirit Mountain, November 23–25.

For more information about the event, visit www.isocracing.com.

	Brian Deegan defended and held his title, winning back-to-back LOORRS Pro-2 Championships in 2011 and 2012.

FOX Athletes Win Off-Road Short Course Championships in 2012
In addition to the Ultra4 Racing Championship, Fox athletes won six out of eight possible professional class championships in The Off-Road Championship (TORC) and the Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series (LOORRS).

The TORC series runs 13 rounds at tracks across the country, racing on both stadium courses and long, fast outdoor tracks cut into natural terrain. They run two rounds at the track in Crandon, Wisconsin.

Ricky Johnson, TORC Pro-4 champion, and Bryce Menzies, TORC Pro-2 champion, claimed back-to-back victories in 2011 and 2012. Brad Lovell took home the TORC Pro Lite Championship and the Ultra4 Championship this year. In his first season in TORC Pro Buggy, Mitchell DeJong won the championship at 16 years old.

The LOORRS is run as a 15-round race series that visits tracks in California, Arizona, Nevada and Utah. The stadium tracks are tight and technical with huge jumps that launch the vehicles high and far. The door-to-door action is aggressive, with a lot of contact and spectacular crashes.

Brian Deegan defended and held his title, winning back-to-back LOORRS Pro-2 Championships in 2011 and 2012, while Steven Greinke triumphed as the LOORRS Pro Buggy champion.

Sign up for one of the few remaining slots for the 2013 SEMA Middle East Business Development Program.

The SEMA Middle East Business Development Conference is a low-cost program providing the opportunity to meet face to face with buyers from throughout the Middle East. The 2013 event will take place March 13–16, at the Middle East Motor Tuning Show (MEMTS) in a dedicated SEMA hall. Day-long meetings with buyers, visits to local specialty-equipment retailers, briefings by U.S. embassy officials and networking receptions fill out the three-day schedule.

Qualified companies are eligible for a $1,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Commerce to defray the cost of participating. Buyers are expected from the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Jordan and Oman.

Last year’s event sold out—don’t miss this year’s event! For more information, contact lindas@sema.org or visit www.sema.org/middleeast.

Sign up for one of the few remaining slots for the 2013 SEMA Middle East Business Development Program.

The SEMA Middle East Business Development Conference is a low-cost program providing the opportunity to meet face to face with buyers from throughout the Middle East. The 2013 event will take place March 13–16, at the Middle East Motor Tuning Show (MEMTS) in a dedicated SEMA hall. Day-long meetings with buyers, visits to local specialty-equipment retailers, briefings by U.S. embassy officials and networking receptions fill out the three-day schedule.

Qualified companies are eligible for a $1,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Commerce to defray the cost of participating. Buyers are expected from the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Jordan and Oman.

Last year’s event sold out—don’t miss this year’s event! For more information, contact lindas@sema.org or visit www.sema.org/middleeast.

	"Overhaulin’" will air its SEMA special Tuesday, December 4, on the Velocity channel.

Tune in to the Velocity channel, Tuesday, December 4, as "Overhaulin’" showcases its SEMA Show special. The one-hour episode features Chip Foose and the team as they transform a Chrysler 300 direct from the SEMA Show floor in Las Vegas. Check your local listing for details.

	"Overhaulin’" will air its SEMA special Tuesday, December 4, on the Velocity channel.

Tune in to the Velocity channel, Tuesday, December 4, as "Overhaulin’" showcases its SEMA Show special. The one-hour episode features Chip Foose and the team as they transform a Chrysler 300 direct from the SEMA Show floor in Las Vegas. Check your local listing for details.

	Our auto hobby's "holiday" is back! Exciting events such as this one, hosted by the Deerfield Lions club at Yankee Candle Village in South Deerfield, Massachusetts, will be held in honor of the occasion.
	International interest in the celebration continues to grow, as evidenced by this gathering of beautiful rides at Mick’s U.S. Musclecars & Classics in Sydney, Australia, last year.

SEMA and its Automotive Restoration Market Organization (ARMO) and Hot Rod Industry Alliance (HRIA) councils announced that the next Collector Car Appreciation Day will be celebrated July 12, 2013. The date marks the fourth consecutive commemoration in what has become an annual event to raise awareness of the vital role automotive restoration and collection plays in American society.

SEMA and its councils will once again seek a congressional resolution to recognize the day's significance. The industry endeavors to preserve our nation's automotive heritage while providing well-paying, high-skilled jobs nationwide. Collector Car Appreciation Day is a singular tribute to the collector car industry and the millions of hobbyists it supports.

“The U.S. Senate helped launch Collector Car Appreciation Day by passing resolutions each year at our request,” said SEMA Vice President of Government Affairs Steve McDonald. “As we prepare for the fourth celebration of our nation’s automotive heritage, enthusiasts and related businesses are already planning open houses, car cruises, club gatherings and educational events throughout the world to mark this annual commemoration. In fact, Collector Car Appreciation Day is quickly taking on a global character, with events held in the United States, Canada and Australia.”

The previous resolutions were sponsored by Congressional Automotive Performance and Motorsports Caucus Co-Chairs Senator Jon Tester (D-MT) and Senator Richard Burr (R-NC). Senators Tester and Burr have been strong advocates for the automotive hobby in Washington and recognize the integral role collector cars have played in fostering our nation's appreciation for the automobile's unique place in our history. The Caucus is an informal, non-partisan group that pays tribute to America's ever-growing love affair with the car and motorsports.

“Over the past three years, thousands of enthusiasts and collectors have celebrated their hobby at events throughout the country,” said Alex Tainsh, ARMO chairman. “The event continues to grow in prominence as a summer holiday for the hobby. This year, we look forward to partnering with enthusiasts, car clubs and businesses to make this the largest celebration to date.”

Rick Love, HRIA chairman-elect, said, “Collector Car Appreciation Day is an opportunity for hobbyists to share their passion for the automotive hobby. Each year, more events are held to raise awareness of the unique educational and economic impact of collector car enthusiasts across the globe.”

SEMA will maintain and publicize a list of scheduled events to commemorate America's time-tested love affair with the automobile. Individuals, car clubs and business owners interested in publicizing events should contact Colby Martin, director of the SEMA Action Network (SAN), at 909-978-6721 or san@sema.org. If you are unable to celebrate July 12, SEMA encourages events to be scheduled throughout the month of July.