Would you believe that some people and training companies are so committed to certain practices and phrases that they will do – and have to do – almost anything to keep them alive, even if they don’t work anymore?  They also make the necessity for the practice a fib along with the results! Every industry has myths, fibs or dirty little secrets. Slick and persistent ideas that are repeated over and over, until everyone starts believing them. As those fibs start to get mind-share they then get wallet-share. Worse yet, the search for better solutions stop as everyone starts to buy and sell the fib and then replicate it. Of course, those little fibs are spread to create and protect the cashflow of the people selling you the solutions to the fibs. So we have problems and solutions that are fib based, and this industry is no different from any other that way. If you’re saying “come on Duane, get real” you are probably involved in one or more of these fibs on some level, and aren’t sure what to do about it. Whistle blowers are not liked very much for pulling back the curtains, and are of course ridiculed by the fibbers. Your world and your results change when you do. I love when I read things like “our focus group showed” or “statistics say” or “the market indicates”. My friends, there is virtually no way to obtain any real, hard, data that can be verified by all brands in all markets and all size stores.  Yes, those things do matter and change virtually everything about your business and how you should run it. I’ve done everything except build cars.  I’ve worked in corporate automotive and corporate finance and was privy to some very top level conversations, right down to being a detailer and all the stops in between.  And I can’t recall one co-worker, customer or myself ever actually being part of any of the data collection to get some of the so-called ‘research’ that goes into some of the stuff being pushed on us that was supposedly years in the making.  Sales data and sales training data are two different things my friends. There’s a simple bench mark in business:  results.  Judge by that.  No one is a guru.  We all have personal preferences based on our own experiences, personalities and information.  And it’s that differentiation that sets us apart from each other.  The best approach is the one that works for you, in your market.  And to find out what that is, you need to keep an open mind and see what’s out there, and then work towards a hybrid that is best suited for your environment. So, stay a student and keep looking for solutions that can and will work for you!  There is no ‘one size fits all’ in our business.  If there was, we would have all been told about it (and been using it SUCCESSFULLY) years ago.