How a Lightspeed Leader is Now Experiencing the Fun Outdoor Lifestyle
As Lauretta Sechrest, an early leader of Lightspeed and the company’s first official employee back in the late 1980’s, prepares for a months-long Mediterranean sailing adventure on her new catamaran, she reflects on what sparked her adventurous spirit: “I think my time in dealerships and working for Lightspeed definitely fueled my desire to explore, go on adventures, and see the world. I didn’t do any of that when I was younger.”
Since retiring five years ago, Lauretta has traveled extensively, including international mission trips, and has also spent the last few years overseeing the build of a 51-foot catamaran that she and her husband plan to sail across the Mediterranean and eventually the Atlantic. It was during her time at Lightspeed that she first embraced the outdoor recreation lifestyle that now shapes her retirement.
“We sell to those who sell fun”
A lasting sentiment throughout Lightspeed’s history has been the idea that Lightspeed sells streamlined software to dealerships, which help dealerships sell “fun” to their customers who are buying boats, RVs, and motorcycles. But even before that, Lauretta was learning about the outdoor industry as she worked at Newgate Honda, a motorcycle dealership in Ogden, Utah.
Lauretta explains that she learned from the dealership and Lightspeed that you have to have fun in order to do great work. Not only that, she describes that being passionate about your work and about the outdoor lifestyle is what keeps customers coming back: “A big part of the success of any dealership is customer loyalty. If you can show them you care about them and their experience, you’ll have a customer for life.”
Making it fun for employees
While Lauretta wasn’t a programmer, her role and her legacy at Lightspeed was about creating a culture for employees and ensuring the software met the needs of dealers. When it comes to company culture, she was a firm believer that fun had to be a part of the equation. She describes an experience where the environment needed to foster fun and collaboration.
“We had run out of room in our offices, so we rented out space across the street,” she recalls. “Instead of building meeting rooms, our conference area was couches, bean bag chairs, a movable whiteboard, and a ping pong table.”
The goal was to ensure a positive attitude and room for collaboration rather than forced interaction or a rigid structure. It could be what the employees needed it to be.
“It was a reminder that work should also be enjoyable. We focused a lot on teamwork and team building.”
That culture poured into a platform that is integrated from top to bottom, where each piece of it supports another. It’s all housed under one platform for dealers to get all their information and run their business, and that all came from Lauretta’s influence to collaborate and connect with each other.
Having a balance
Now that she’s retired and is primed for perhaps her biggest adventure yet, Lauretta reflects on what she would say to both dealers and customers in the space where she learned so much.
“My advice would be that if you work hard, you also need to play hard; you need to have a balance. It’s easy to lose sight of that, and work can consume our lives.”
The reminder to “play hard” can impact both dealers and customers, and even current Lightspeed employees. Playing hard even in your work can mean enjoying the process and truly loving the journey to accomplish your goals.
For dealers specifically, it can be a reminder that customers are making a significant investment in the outdoor recreational lifestyle, and that the dealer’s job is to make that a reality for them. Don’t lose sight of the goal to open up a world of recreation to your customers.
And for customers, it can be an encouragement that an investment in a boat or RV is the beginning of countless memories and adventures.
And that is what Lauretta is experiencing now, a rich life full of adventure, thanks in part to seeing the importance of outdoor recreation in her dealership and her time at Lightspeed.
