What do the top dogs do?

A look at what the top leaders within a dealership do to contribute to its success

Do you ever think about what your “C-Suite” executives do every day? 

You see them all the time, walking around your dealerships, shaking hands and attending important meetings, but what is really going on in their minds. What are they really thinking about? What really keeps them up at night?

Every large organization traditionally has three levels of corporate executives: Chief Executive Officer, Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer. While they are all related and, certainly all work cohesively, their objectives and mandates are very different. 

Let’s explore these together.

Chief Executive Officer (CEO)

The CEO leads the company. He or she drives strategic growth and innovation within your dealer group. This means they spend most of their day trying to find ways to make your organization bigger and better. This could mean finding acquisition targets, technology advancements or new relationships to take your company to the next stratosphere. 

As the face of your group, the CEO is the main representative to stakeholders and in the public eye. With that responsibility at hand, they will set corporate values and define the company’s risk appetite. They will spend a ton of time developing your group’s brand and investment strategy, while developing new ideas on service approaches and revenue streams. 

Chief Financial Officer (CFO)

Your CFO manages your group’s financial strategy. They are responsible for the total stability and discipline of your dealer group. This means focusing on liquidity, debt levels, and building a foundation for your company’s growth. They have deep relationships with your bank and, at a whim, can access capital to meet your company’s needs. Want to expand your business or buy another dealership? Your CFO will play a critical role in making this happen. 

CFO’s reports the company’s financial position to the board of directors. They tell the story behind the numbers and explain what changes have occurred in your organization and, perhaps more importantly, how this impacts the company’s financial health. They focus on setting benchmarks for your dealership using industry knowledge and their experience. They optimize existing markets and maximize profitability. 

To succeed in today’s automotive space, it is extremely important to have the right leadership in place. A blend of visionaries and risk mitigators, thinkers and doers, model builders and executors. 

Perhaps their biggest role is to manage risk. While the CEO is generally a risk taker, the CFO’s role is to pull the reins from time to time. It’s about maintaining a healthy organization that will sustain the test of time. The CFO is an expert at that. 

To do this, they must track performance, manage investment portfolios and monitor profitably in your variable and fixed operations daily. This will help mitigate future exposures and ensure you are on the right track to success. 

Chief Operating Officer (COO)

The COO oversees the daily operations of your dealership. They are responsible for the new, used service and parts departments of your group. 

They will work with your GM to implement strategic initiatives and coordinate with your department managers for smooth execution. They have a direct line to both the CEO and CFO and therefore have a deep understanding of the corporate vision of your organization. Therefore, their daily focus is to align operational processes with the big picture corporate values. 

They help manage the operational aspects of your business and seek to penetrate new markets and revenue streams. To do this, they will work directly with your team to enhance customer experience and create efficiencies within your variable and fixed operations. In other words, they optimize operational performance.

The COO and CFO work closely to mitigate operational risk. They understand market conditions and economic factors that could cause the business to underperform. They are constantly allocating and reallocating resources to meet strategic objectives and create a “win-win” environment for customers, employees and the company as a whole. 

To succeed in today’s automotive space, it is extremely important to have the right leadership in place. A blend of visionaries and risk mitigators, thinkers and doers, model builders and executors. 

CEO, CFO and COO all contribute differently to the success of your dealer group. Each is necessary and adds value, especially as groups get bigger and bigger. Respect what they do and leverage their knowledge and experience. It will help you get to where you want to go. 

About Robert Arena

Robert Arena, CPA, CA is an automotive and transportation executive and a long standing faculty member in the Automotive Business School of Canada. He can be reached by email at rob.arena@outlook.com

Related Articles
Share via
Copy link