By Matt Davenport

Each year early in the spring, I crew the "12 Hours of Sebring" car race in Florida. It's America's longest-running sports car race in Florida. I love spring and the smell of first-cut grass and first-blooming flowers and of course, for a gear head, the first smell of scorching brakes and race fuel.

I was interested this year to note how the American LeMans Series (ALMS) has converted all competition vehicles to alternative fuels. Exotic cars like production-derived Ferraris, Corvettes, BMWs, Audis, Peugeots, Porsches, Aston Martins, Acuras, and more now run on something other than traditional gasoline. Fuels used include E10 Ethanol, E85 gas/Ethanol, GTL (natural gas to liquid) biodiesel, E10 electric hybrids, and now even an isobutanol/ethanol blend.

The significance to me is not the engineering properties of the fuels, but the alternative approach the Series, manufacturers, and teams are taking to stay relevant in the world of seemingly discretionary spending on race programs. The argument is that if the cars and fuels can perform in severe-duty conditions like the crucible of a 12-hour all-out race, they can certainly perform in daily driving. Thus, the race, cars, programs, fuels, and transferrable learning all become relevant to the companies and consumer markets they serve; hence the financial justification.

The challenge of staying relevant is the same challenge dealers face today in an automotive world loaded with technology tools and options for their use. The struggle is not in getting the tools to work - but rather to use them effectively in the dealership to remain relevant in the eyes of your customers and prospects and solidly profitable to keep you in business.

Like the ALMS and its teams, there's no set prescription for how to make key parts of all these tools relevant to users. There's a variety of approaches based on what each manufacturer and your dealership are trying to accomplish. You also have unique business challenges based on your location, consumer demographics, employees, and more.

The key to solving these challenges is twofold. First, prioritize what problems you're facing and second, be willing to apply the relevant technologies and processes to solve for them.

OEMs, teams, and fuel companies partner together to stay relevant in the ALMS. You can do the same by partnering with your OEM and Reynolds Consulting Services to prioritize what you're trying to accomplish and select and use the right "fuel" for your business challenges. That "fuel" might be a process improvement initiative, establishing a new process, re-setting job performance standards, coaching management performance, or even re-visioning where you're taking your business. Having served the automotive retail market for over 20 years, Reynolds Consulting Services can help you do all of these and "Fuel Results" - hence the name of our publication. If you think you could benefit from a high performance fuel additive, or even an alternative fuel, please get a hold of us. We'd love to work with you!

Matt Davenport is the director of Practice Development and Customer Care Services for Reynolds Consulting Services and has worked for Reynolds and Reynolds for over 16 years.

Who We Are Reynolds Consulting Services, one of the most skilled and knowledgeable consulting groups in the automotive industry, offers dealers a fresh perspective on common challenges. Experience proven results from over 25 unique process improvement projects, specially designed to focus on specific departments and drive results for your dealership. Contact Us: Phone 866.850.8194 option 2 E-mail consulting@reyrey.com