In teaching auto dealers...                                

how to retain service technicians or train former sales people to be efficient managers or motivate current sales people to become better sales people, Curt Dombecky likes to break it down into manageable—and affordable—"bite-size nuggets."

That involves his "change strategy."

"I give my clients little affordable chunks of information that they can do in less than 20 minutes a day until they have built their own strategy for a more mutually profitable employee performance," he explains. "In this process, I also show them how to create a strategy for management that can be used for any large task or project."
He uses a multi-media approach to provide information, techniques and support for his clientele: Live seminars, one-on-one mentoring, teleconferencing, plus audio and video tapes.

Dombecky Has Extensive Dealership Experience

To See Curt's Bio, Click Here

 Dombecky combines his own extensive experience in auto sales, service and parts— dealership management positions—to prepare a program tailored for a specific store.
"I think I have a way of looking at things that helps me teach people how to improve their lives," he says.

Utilizing concepts learned from years of management, Curt teaches personal and professional growth skills such as self-talk, goal-setting, situational awareness, visualization and personality profiling.

With 13 years of practical dealership experience in a Michigan dealership, Curt even then had success stories as he was developing his teaching skills.

"One day the dealer came in and told us we were all going to come in early for the next several days and watch some videotapes," Curt recalls. Although this was quite an inconvenience for him as a single parent, he made the necessary arrangements and showed up early every morning. That's when he learned the valuable concepts management.

Building on the Concepts Resulted in Soaring Sales

"I was instantly sold on the ideas and concepts," says Dombecky. "I tried them immediately. They worked and my sales began to soar."

Before long, Curt was promoted to a sales team leader and then to training and recruiting manager, fixed operations and back to sales. Wherever there was a department that needed some attention there he went, because the boss liked his "can do" attitude.

"Of course, my 'can do' attitude came from many successes along the way and adhering to a few basic principals. What the boss was mistaking for my 'can do' attitude, was actually an 'already done' attitude.

"This service department was in a shambles," Curt remembers. "There was no area that was not failing. The biggest failure was employee retention. I immediately saw how fast we were turning over technicians and how poorly they were treated. And the technicians were treating each other poorly, too. The negative self-talk was so thick, you could cut it with a knife.

"I also observed the techs that were quitting were those I would have rather stayed—but no one with any self-image at all would have stayed in those surroundings.
"The most powerful technique you can employ in retaining employees: Provide them with skills that can be used to achieve success on the job as well as in their personal lives," Dombecky stresses.

"I decided that it was time for a dose of Dombecky’s basic concepts. We had ‘lunch ' meetings every week. The basic concepts were presented and discussion followed. Within the first quarter, my good people stopped quitting. The department won several awards in the years that followed, and we took the service department from last in customer satisfaction to a consistent first or second."

Starting Out: "Give Me 20 Minutes a Day"

Dombecky starts managers with a series of small tasks to perform when hiring new people—people that they want to keep for a long time.

"I ask, 'Can you break out 20 minutes for me each day?'

"We create a hanging file folder titled 'Employee Retention.' You have a filing system for other important items," he reasons. "Why not this?" (He also provides pertinent materials such as an interviewing script "so you don't ask any illegal questions.")
Dombecky uses personality profiling and recommends hiring all personality types—dominant, influencers, steadiness and conscientious—to achieve a good mix of team players.

"Although you advertise for a task to be done," he notes, "the ideal candidate is a student of the business. When you start hiring people like that, you start attracting people conducive to long-term employment."

"After all, you get more production from an employee that has been there for two years, rather than two weeks."

The hiring process begins with a blank piece of paper describing the ideal candidate, including preferred personality traits and tendencies.

"This is different that just preparing a job description," says Dombecky. "If you can't describe the person you want, then how will you know when you see her or him? If you're looking for longevity in a new hire, you've got to create a culture—not just hire another toolbox.

Teaching Sales People to Become Efficient Managers

"And this starts with the boss. But some managers—many of them former sales people—have not been provided with those skills. Too often, they rely on personality and position power, which can lead to a negative mind-set.

"Your sub-conscious experiences everything that you take in and that becomes an attitude—both positive and negative," Dombecky notes. "You program yourself through that ongoing conversation you have with yourself . You build on the positive and reject the things you don't want."

Invariably, that involves change—often something we tend to resist.
But, he declares: "Every time I've had a change in my life, my life improved. That's where opportunity lies. It sounds opportunistic, but that's the way it is.
"When I see change, I think, 'Ah-ha! Where's the opportunity? And it's not necessarily financial."

Personal Change: From the Dealership to the “The Big Three”
Curt experienced change in 1995 when he moved from the dealership to become an independent contractor. Since then, he has taught more than 4,000 live interactive training broadcasts via satellite. He is versed in all aspects of dealership operations, fixed or variable.

He has also taught soft skills (management courses on how to process information and create change) and "ride & drives” (competitive comparisons). He has worked for all of the “Big Three” makers and is held in esteem by all.
More recently, Curt Dombecky has instituted another major change in his life. And you've been reading about it right here!

While he continues to facilitate over 400 satellite training sessions a year and various seminars, Curt has completed the development of his own exclusive dealership training program.

Simply stated: "I want to be known as The Guy you go to when you must stop your employee turnover so you can begin enjoying the benefits of a highly productive workplace.

"My credentials are in my bio,"(click here to read bio) he declares. "I think of myself as a person who will only deliver things that work—not based on observations of others putting the steps in place, but based on my own success using the concepts I teach.
"I only teach what I have already put to use successfully. The stuff I teach, I did in the real world. It works well, stops employee turnover, increases productivity and makes money for the dealership.

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