"Seven Tuesdays left in 2025."
When Chris Keene said that at the top of this LotTalk episode, it hit different. Not because the year went by fast (though it absolutely did), but because of what it means for your dealership's future.
Here's the reality: While everyone's focused on closing out November and December, the smartest operators are already positioning themselves for Q1 2026. And if you're not one of them, you're about to spend the first half of next year fighting through quicksand while your competition races ahead.
The automotive industry has a brutal truth baked into it: you're only as good as your last month. As John Anderson puts it, this business has a way of humbling you just like football. One day you're five-car Fred, the next you're riding high. The cycle never stops.
But here's what separates championship teams from everyone else: they use the off-season strategically.
Think about it. When the market gets busy, you can hide your mistakes. Things move fast, volume covers inefficiencies, and everyone's too busy to fix the fundamental problems. But the best operators don't wait for the busy season to get their house in order. They use the slow periods to fine-tune everything.
And according to Anderson, things might be moving faster than you think. The data from LotPop's lot predictor is showing something interesting: days-to-sell are speeding up, and price-to-market percentages are climbing. Translation? The market might be shifting earlier than usual this year.
Renaldo Leonard's first move? Audit every piece of software and technology in your operation. But here's the catch that Anderson emphasized: don't just start swinging the axe.
"Make sure you understand completely the technology before you go in and start wielding a hammer," Anderson warns.
Too many dealers acquire technology, kick it to a manager, and never really understand its capabilities. Then when that manager says "get rid of it," they do, without realizing they might have been sitting on a goldmine they just didn't know how to use properly.
The Process:
Remember: you can't save your way to a profit. Those tools are there to help you make money, not just cost money.
Here's where Anderson gets passionate, and for good reason. If you're sitting on aged inventory right now, you're about to have a problem.
When shoppers enter the market (and the shopper index is starting to tick up), where do they feed? Your aged inventory. They'll sort low to high on price, and guess what's sitting at the bottom? Your 61-plus day units.
"That's when a dealer will say to us, 'I'm not making any gross,'" Anderson explains. "You're not because you have aged inventory and your customers are coming in and that's where they're feeding."
The Data That Matters:
LotPop's lot predictor pulls your previous 60 days of sales data (not the market, YOUR sales) and compares it to your 15-day performance. It predicts when inventory should sell and at what price-to-market. And according to Anderson, it's "spot on, man."
One dealer they work with sells at a 75% two-week sell rate, but they have aged inventory bleeding through. The problem? They're so focused on moving aged units that fresh inventory sits waiting for a photographer who only comes three days a week.
The Solution:
You can't just focus on aged inventory. That creates a vicious cycle where more inventory ages while you're fighting the old stuff. You have to balance both:
As Anderson says: "The lowest loss is the fastest loss."
This is where Keene dropped a bomb, and it's worth paying close attention to.
He shared a used car manager comp plan that incentivizes exactly the behaviors dealers say they want. Here's the framework:
Four Core Components:
In Keene's example, a manager hitting all targets could earn $21,000+ monthly. And here's the kicker: you'd gladly pay it because they're running exactly the operation you want.
"Every manager, every salesperson is going to dissect their pay plan and figure out how to work it," Anderson notes. "You can't blame them."
So why not design pay plans that align perfectly with dealership goals?
Anderson dropped this truth bomb late in the conversation: "If you're managing one store, you're managing two. If you're overseeing two stores, you're overseeing four."
Why? Because 99.9% of your business starts on your virtual lot.
Most dealers obsess over their bricks-and-mortar operation while giving minimal attention to what's happening online. But everything that happens on your physical lot starts with what happened on your virtual one.
As Ed French used to tell Anderson: "John, the dealership can only run as fast as you can run. And trust me, son, you can't run that fast."
You need help managing that virtual lot. Whether it's better tools, better processes, or better people, figure out where you're falling short online, because that's where your 2026 success starts.
Ed French hammered this point home repeatedly: how you perform in Q1 sets the tone for your entire year.
Roll into January, February, and March strong? You're positioned for a successful year.
Struggle through Q1? You're fighting uphill for the next nine months.
"Now's the time to do what's not easy," Anderson emphasizes. "So that when we get into January, February, we're ready."
Here's what you should be doing between now and December 31:
Week 1-2: Assessment
Week 3-4: Planning
Week 5-6: Implementation
Week 7: Fine-Tuning
You have seven Tuesdays left. You can use this time to prepare, or you can let it slip away and spend Q1 2026 scrambling.
The dealers who dominate next year are the ones using these next seven weeks strategically. They're auditing systems, fixing comp plans, clearing aged inventory, and positioning themselves to come out of the gate strong.
As Keene put it: "Do you want to sit there and fight through the quicksand in the first half of 2026 trying to figure it out and continue to make mistakes? Or should you take these next six, seven weeks here and formulate yourself a plan?"
The choice is yours. But seven Tuesdays go by fast.
Want the comp plan template Chris shared? Visit lottalkpodcast.com or reach out to the LotPop team directly.
Ready to get serious about your virtual lot? The LotTalk crew would love to hear from you. Find them on Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts.
Next week, they're continuing this off-season series with more actionable strategies to close 2025 strong and dominate 2026. You won't want to miss it.