Turning around an underperforming store takes more than fresh advertising. It means fixing culture, tightening processes, and having financial discipline. That’s the challenge Scott Simons, Owner of Simons Automotive Group, took on when he bought Simons Chevrolet GMC, then an underperforming store, in the small town of Whiteville, North Carolina, last year. Simons joins host Adam Marburger on today’s episode of Training Camp for a closer look at how he took the store from 24 units a month to 103, growing gross profit 115% year over year while holding expenses to a 4% increase, and pushing customer satisfaction to 280% of the dealer’s objective. Fixing the culture When Simons first took over, he mentioned how he retained the majority of the staff. Every employee got a chance to stay, and before making any changes, Simons sat down with each person individually to learn about their families, their goals and how long they’d been in the business. Once he understood the team, he laid out the plan. Initially, the store had been selling 24 units a month, a number he told staff they could grow and eventually surpass 100 vehicles for the first time in the store’s history. "In this town, this Chevrolet store has never sold 100 vehicles; well, we just sold 103 vehicles." He implemented a new sales standard gradually, beginning with employees selling one car every other day, which amounted to around 11 vehicles over a 22-day month. He then aimed to increase this to a rate of one car sold for each day worked. Despite the changes, some staff chose not to remain during the transition. But to strengthen the new leadership team, Simons brought in a general sales manager he had collaborated with for 25 years, along with a finance manager. Fixing the infrastructure With culture