The Dealer Lab: Behavior change No. 1 — DREAM

By Max Materne

This article originally appeared in the March issue of Powersports Business.

Maybe it’s just me, but does it feel like everything is moving at warp speed?

Q1 is almost over and it feels like we just closed out December. Six months ago might as well have been a different era. And lately, it feels like I’ve been force-fed every new tool, every new platform, every “this changes everything” breakthrough whether I asked for it or not.

Whatever the cause, one thing is undeniable: the pace of change, especially in software, is staggering.

AI has poured gasoline on an already burning fire. The tools we rely on are evolving in real time. Entire platforms are being rebuilt overnight. And now, with what people casually call “vibe coding,” you can spin up custom software almost instantly. The barriers that once slowed innovation aren’t just lowering, they’re disappearing.

The opportunity is incredible. But there’s a hard truth underneath it: you cannot evolve at the speed of technology unless your team evolves with you.

And that’s where most change efforts die.

The real bottleneck isn’t technology

At The Dealer Lab, our mission is to test what the dealership of the future could look like. That means experimenting with new things, such as processes, staffing models, pay plans, and tools.

But here’s what I’ve learned: people don’t love constant experimentation. Especially when it touches their pay plan.

The biggest hurdle isn’t coming up with better ideas. It’s getting the team to embrace them. This is the work of change management. I’ve become convinced that people don’t resist change because they’re stubborn. They resist it because they don’t understand it, don’t believe in it, or don’t see themselves inside of it.

If my team doesn’t understand why we’re changing, they won’t care what I want to change. That realization forced me to build a framework I use every time we introduce something new. I call it DREAM.

DREAM: A framework for buy-in

Before I launch any new idea, I run it through five filters:

Direction. Responsibility. Expectation. Accountability. Motivation.

DREAM.

Direction

When a new idea is presented, people need the 30,000-foot view. Where are we going? Why are we going there? What does the future look like if this works?

This is the map. And I’ve learned you can’t just talk through it. You have to show it. I draw process maps, sketch the flow, and connect dots visually. People follow pictures better than paragraphs. If they can’t see the destination, they won’t move toward it.

Responsibility

Once the vision is clear, roles must be clear. Think of a football coach installing a new play. After explaining the strategy, he doesn’t say, “Alright, let’s see what happens.” He assigns routes. Who runs where. Who blocks whom.

Change works the same way. Every new initiative needs names next to responsibilities. Not “the team.” Not “we.” Specific people owning specific actions. Clarity reduces friction.

Expectation

Responsibility without expectation creates chaos. If I say, “You’re responsible for follow-up,” that’s vague. But if I say, “You will make three calls, log them this way, and send this templated message within 24 hours,” now we have something measurable and repeatable.

Expectations create consistency. And consistency creates trust across departments. When everyone knows what “done right” looks like, they stop worrying about whether others are doing their job.

Accountability

With expectations must come measurement. Not punishment. Measurement.

Every role needs a scorecard. Not just lagging indicators like gross profit or total sales, but leading indicators that prove the process is being followed.

In football, players aren’t only judged on touchdowns. They’re graded on footwork, timing, assignments, execution.

If you want a process to stick, you must define how success is tracked. Otherwise, it becomes optional.

Motivation

Finally, and this is the part most leaders forget: why would anyone care enough to stick with this new process?

What lights the fire? Yes, compensation can be a lever. But so can recognition. A public thank-you. A leaderboard. A team dinner. A goofy employee-of-the-month trophy. Even a Snickers bar.

The point isn’t what you use. The point is that you intentionally tie motivation to execution. If you want behavior to repeat, reward it.

Why most change fails

Most ideas fail not because they’re bad ideas, but because they were never fully DREAMed through.

Leaders get excited. They announce the vision. They expect alignment. And then they’re confused when eyes glaze over.

I’ve been there. Halfway through explaining some grand idea, you can feel the room drifting. You’re mid-sentence, passionately describing the future, and suddenly you realize you sound like someone recounting a bizarre dream about flying naked through your old high school hallway while your teeth fall out.

Your audience isn’t inspired. They’re searching for an exit. That’s not a vision problem. That’s a communication problem. And that’s where the next framework comes in. Because even if you DREAM it well, you still have to present it in a way that people can receive it.

Next time, I’ll break down the second framework I use for that: the 6Is. If you’re going to build the dealership of the future, it won’t happen because you had a great idea.

It will happen because your team believed in it enough to change their behavior. And that starts with a DREAM.