Scale up and dominate your Industry
“How do we know who we are? What if we’re believing our own BS?” This is one of the first things Christian Chia said to me. He has a great point and it is one we take very seriously. In fact, when we rebranded our own company we worked with an outside agency for the same reason.
OpenRoad is BCs largest vehicle retailer and they intend to keep growing, for this to happen alignment became of critical importance. They have over one thousand employees and over twenty vehicle brands each with their own store, management, and teams.
What is the grand vision for the company? What are they going to rally around? What makes them different and why do customers buy from them when they could easily go elsewhere? All of these questions point to what we refer to as a companies Core Brand Concept. This is that little bit of magic that makes each company unique. Let me explain. OpenRoad sells the same cars, in the same city, with the same sales training, same stores, and the same prices as their competition. Imagine that! With this in mind, they have grown faster than almost all their competitors and in the span of twenty years earned the top spot in regards to the number of locations.
When almost all tangible areas of their business are the same (dictated by the OEM – Porsche, VW, RR, Audi etc..) as their competition then what is left? Well, a lot! The fact remains they are growing for a reason, their stores are outpacing the competition for a reason. This is the key to understand just what the Core Brand Concept is.
Our team worked with 15 of their executive team, including the founder, over a six-month timeframe working towards alignment and clarity. We interviewed 90% of their GM’s, secret shopped every location, went to their events and talked directly to their customers, and even bought a car so we could go through their entire sales process.
David Childs working through the team retreat presentation
Once we help you understand your Core Brand Concept it is now time to work towards it. When we create a Company Blueprint it is the best version of who you were, who you are, and what you can become. This is idealism at it’s finest – think about it – when you go back to your desk are you 100% ideal? Of course not. So what is the gap? We look at it from two standpoints. The first being the company itself – what is your day-to-day reality and how does it compare to the Company Blueprint. The second being the individuals. What is the gap between them, their divisions, their teams, event their dispositions and the Blueprint?
We work with each team member to make a plan. Explore what resources they need, what key items they will focus on over the next 12 months, what roadblocks they may encounter and so on. Once each person has a plan it is time to share.
Kevin Boothroyd, Pacific Coastal Airlines
Pacific Coastal Airlines went through the same process with us a few years earlier and as they share a few key similarities it was decided to have them share their experiences. Kevin did a great job talking through how he and his team took the messaging to their 300+ staff in various BC cities and towns. This resulted in a 28% growth in passenger traffic.