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Unless you were trapped under a full-size SUV in 2013, you've heard by now that your vehicle detail pages (VDPs) play a critical role along a customer’s path to purchase. The experience a visitor has on a VDP can go a long way toward 

making or breaking the potential connection a shopper feels with a vehicle, and in turn, your dealership. So we set out to answer the question— What do shoppers want from your VDPs?

We studied real in-market car shoppers to determine how they engage with your inventory while researching their next purchase. We observed their shopping behavior and later asked what they expected to find while browsing your inventory. We poked, prodded, pestered and probed. All in the name of discovering what drives shopper engagement with your inventory.

The 2014 Inventory Shopping Experience Study.pdf

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We're Going to Wait Until After the Holidays!

Here are a few scripts that you can implement immediately while speaking with prospects and while working a deal. Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays! 

Customer on the showroom while working a deal:

Customer: We're going to wait until after the holidays?

Dealer Synergy Partner: I understand. So based off of your experience today, would this be the vehicle you're considering to purchase after the holidays? 

Customer: Yes it is.

Dealer Synergy Partner: And based on the numbers we were able to work out, will this vehicle fit your budget as we discussed?

Customer: Yes it does.

Dealer Synergy Partner: So other than wanting to wait until after the holidays, is there anything else holding you back from making a decision to move forward with the purchase of this vehicle today?

Customer: No, we just want to wait until after the holidays.

Dealer Synergy Partner: I understand. So what would be the difference between if you did it now versus waiting till after the holidays?

Customer: With the holidays we just want to save money and don’t want to spend any additional money.

Dealer Synergy Partner: That makes total sense to me. I’m a lot like you and agree with saving money. So with saving you money and not having you spend any additional money today, it would be safe to say you’d like move forward with the purchase of your new vehicle, correct?

Customer on the phone not wanting to come in:

Dealer Synergy Partner: What will be the best time for you to come in today, the afternoon or evening?

Customer: We're going to wait until after the holidays?

Dealer Synergy Partner: I understand. So in waiting, what would be the difference between if you came in now versus waiting till after the holidays?

Customer: With the holidays we just want to save money and don’t want to spend any additional money right now.

Dealer Synergy Partner: That makes total sense to me. I’m a lot like you and agree with saving money. As a matter of fact, we’re running time sensitive sales right now through the holidays, saving you more money now and before the holidays, then later after the holidays. With that being your main goal, sooner will definitely benefit you more than later, wouldn't you agree?

Customer: Yes

Dealer Synergy Partner: So then would this afternoon or evening work best for you to come in and receive your maximum savings? 

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Lead On Your Feet & Not From Your Seat

Your effectiveness in leadership will come from being around your team. You will have plenty of time at your desk to analyze reports, crunch numbers and work in your CRM, however resist the temptation to anchor down there and invest your time to the team.

You be the thermostat in your department and set the temperature every morning through your actions and by what you say. Your words are so important to the success & failure of your department. What you say, how you say it and why you say things will create an atmosphere and culture either positive or negative based on your choice of words. Think about it. Words are what you are reading right now. Words contain power. Words store within them energy to release into the atmosphere in which they are aimed towards. Words can create peace. Words can create wars. Words are powerful! Life and death are truly in the power of the tongue. Speak words that will inspire, encourage, teach, build up, and inject confidence. Let’s look at the power of words for a moment and see what they do to you when you just read and look at them let alone hear them spoken to you from someone. Don’t just read them to get through this, but behold them, think on them one at a time and let them marinate into your being as you do.

What do these words below remind you of? How do they make you feel when you see and experience them? Who do they bring into your mind when you see them?

  • Love

  • Warmth

 

  • Fun

 

  • Laughing

 

  • Peaceful

 

  • Calm

 

  • Tranquil

 

  • Exciting

 

  • Rich

 

  • Scared

 

  • Angry

 

  • Hate

 

  • Mad

 

  • Sad

 

  • Crying

 

  • Overwhelmed

 

  • Busy

 

  • Stressed

 

  • Depressed

 

  • Lack

 

  • Confused

 

Now this exercise was based on us only focusing on 1 word at a time. As I did this focusing on just 1 word at a time I experienced within me a wide variety of emotions, thoughts, memories, and feelings that I used to associate with these words listed above. If we can experience this much impact on just a group of single words alone, disconnected from other words creating sentences, then think about the impact these words will have once they are laser focused statements directed towards us with passion, feeling and meaning behind them. Words are powerful so use them wisely. They will create an environment, a culture and a temperature within your organization. Think before you talk, respond and react.

Talk to your team each morning. Create an open door to yourself so they can open up to you and give you access to help train, coach and teach them.

Stay approachable and be consistent. Consistency is so important. You do not want to be a roller coaster department always going up and down. Stay consistent in meetings, ongoing training, and anything else you say & do.

Recognize your team for who they are. They are people who are working together to accomplish individual & corporate goals every day. Whether they are performing well or poorly never minimize them, embarrass them or make fun of them in their abilities, lack of abilities, skillsets, good month, bad month or anything that would seem to lower their self-esteem.  Although this may not be the most popular way to lead this is very effective and will help keep your team happy and wanting to come to work with and for you. Nobody likes to feel lowered in how they feel or are viewed in any sense of the meaning. Treat them with the same courtesy, kindness and respect as you would like to be treated.


Ask Your Team Questions

Your success is directly related to your team’s success. It’s your responsibility to remove any hindrance, roadblock or distraction negatively affecting their results, energy, morale and efforts. Here are just a few questions that you can ask your team to help discover these possibilities:

  • Is there anything slowing you down as you perform your duties each day?
  • What can I do to help you perform to your highest capacity?
  • Do you have everything you need to do your job?
  • What are some, if any, challenges you are facing?
  • What is the most challenging objection you hear and would like help overcoming?
  • What is your strongest rebuttal to overcome Price? Availability? Convenience? Research? Credit? Hate Buying A Car?
  • If you were me what could I do differently to make your experience better?
  • If you were the customer what could we do better as a company to make their experience better?
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"The failure to meet the expectations of our customers on line, on the phone & on the lot will cause the customer to eliminate our dealership from the list of potential stores to buy from." 

Unfortunately, our success & failures of this business depend on the ability to satisfy or fail to meet our customers expectations. If our customers expect a certain experience when they contact us in person, on the phone or on a website on the Internet and we fail to meet that expectation you will be crossed off and they will move to the next dealership until they receive the way they expect to be treated. Here are some ways to meet our customers expectations in the car buying process.

1. Online Expectations

When a customer comes to a 3rd Party Site or your own Dealership Website they are expecting to receive a specific experience, information and knowledge. Our ability to meet their expectations will add to their decision to do business with us or not. So what do they expect?

- Good Quality & Quantity of Vehicle Photos. The More The Better.

(Interior & Exterior)

- Prices (Competitive to The Market)

- A Story Behind Each Vehicle of Interest

- Any Specials & Offers Available

- Dealership Photos

- Dealership Sales & Service Staff

- Contact Info

- Map To Dealership

- Ease To Navigate Through Each Site

2. On The Phone Expectations

When a customer contacts your store through a phone contact the customer is expecting to hear something specific to why they're calling and they're expecting to be treated a certain way.

Your attitude, response and voice inflections towards the customer will play a big part in their response. It's also important to answer any questions and ask questions to help lead them down the road to setting up an appointment to come and see the vehicle of interest. What customers expect is:

- To Be Treated With Respect

- To Get Answers When They Ask Questions

- To Be Told Consistent Truth

- To Have A Good Experience With The Person They're Talking To

3. On The Lot Expectations 

When a customer comes onto your lot, they are mostly anxious & not liking the car buying experience. It's important to remember while you're taking the customer down the road to the sale that while you're expecting to make a sale, they're expecting a few things as well. Here are some things they expect:

- To See The Car They Came To See

- To Be Told The Truth

- To Be Treated With Respect

- To Make A Deal & Buy A Vehicle

We have to remember that although the customer may never tell us this, they really are expecting to find the right car, for the right price when they come to a dealership. I would always remind the customer who would be on the fence that the sooner they say yes, the sooner they can start enjoying their new vehicle and end the car buying process. I trust this will help you as you deal with your next customer.  

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It can be very easy to get down and negative in this business. One of the most important keys to succeeding is staying positive. As a Manager, General Manager or Owner it's vital to keep a positive outlook. Now I know that many negative people, circumstances and situations are going to happen. However, your response and reactions will either make things seem worse or not. 

 

When you miss your bonus, when you lose a deal, when you have to deal with angry and bitter customers who don't like sales people, when you have internal company stress, motor vehicle issues, and service problems, other sales reps skating you and the list goes on and on, it can cause a very positive day to turn real negative real fast!

Here are some Big Idea's to put to use when you see negative stuff spreading through the atmosphere of your store:

1. Have a quick huddle with your team and inject positive reinforcement

Talk to your team and give them inspiration. REMIND them that great things are in store for them. REMIND them that you got there backs and will help them to get through any of the negative stuff they're dealing with. You stay positive! As a leader of your organization, reassure the team you will help them take any stumbling block they have encountered and turn it into a stepping stone to become better and to improve. As the head goes so does the body. Lead by example and they will follow.

 

2. Allow time for you to recharge

If you have any wireless electronic devices eventually if you never recharge the batteries, the devices will not work any longer. So to avoid this we have chargers. Chargers for home, for work, for the car, etc... Wherever we go we make sure we have chargers, because if not we can't enjoy the benefits and features of our devices. When it comes to our work life and life in general we ALSO need to recharge ourselves. We should always be aware of our LIFE batteries charge throughout our days. We should have something with us everywhere we go, just like we do with our cell phones, laptops, ipads and tablets, to recharge our batteries when they become low. Something for at home, at work, in the car, on vacation and wherever we go. What recharges you? It can be different for everyone, but whatever it is find some form of it to have access to it at all times to help you stay recharged when you become drained from the dealings of work and other things that may drain your charge.

 

3. As best as you can, stay away from people and situations that are negative

There's no doubt that some negative stuff in life and at work will find us and we will have to experience it and deal with it. Then there's always going to be the negative people and situations that are happening around us that we can either choose to or not to be a part of. STAY AWAY from it! Choose to walk away and hang with someone or somewhere else. Keep yourself clean of it and free from it. You have a choice to choose whether you allow it in or not. As hard as it may be to hold back from joining in, especially when it's about something or someone you just experienced in your life, so now you can really let it out about how it made you feel, DON'T DO IT! Walk away and recharge!   

 

As you do you will begin to change the atmosphere of your life and take the weather with you wherever you go, rather then always living under the weather being subject to the atmosphere and surroundings you have no control over. Stay positive and you will see a change! 

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"Your Attitude Determines Your Altitude." 

Once upon a time a strong wood-cutter asked a timber merchant for a job. The timber merchant was happy to oblige. The pay was good and so were the work-conditions. Therefore, the wood-cutter was determined to do his best.

The timber merchant presented the wood-cutter with an axe and showed him where to work. The first day, the wood-cutter brought eighteen trees.

"Congratulations!" the boss said. "Go on working like that."

Motivated by the boss's words, the wood-cutter tried harder the next day, but he could cut down only fifteen trees. The third day he tried even harder but cut down only ten trees. Day after day, he brought fewer and fewer trees. "I must be losing my strength," the wood-cutter thought. He went to the timber merchant and apologized, saying that he could not understand what was going on. "When was the last time you sharpened your saw?" the timber merchant asked. "Sharpened ? I have had no time to sharpen my saw. I have been busy trying to cut trees," said the wood-cutter.

This story can relate to us in our industry through a number of ways. Are we too busy selling cars that we never have time to personally sharpen our skills in life. If you never take the time to do this, you will find yourself beginning to burn out. If you never take the necessary time to sharpen your skills and yourself you will have nothing in the reserve to give out.

 

Here are some ways to sharpen your skills:

1. Visit Websites That Will Support & Train You

Find sites that assist you as a dealer to help arm you with training, resources, and relevant practices to apply to your daily life in the dealership. Automotive Digital Training

 

2. Find Industry Current Sales Professional Trainers

This industry is changing all the time. We should never think we know all there is to this business no matter how long we have or haven't been in it. Search the web and look for reviews regarding the different trainers that are out there. Also contact other friends in the business and see the results that the trainer delivered to the store after they left. Dealer Synergy

 

3. Go To Conferences & Seminars

Attend conferences and seminars that will help you in the area of time management, processes, sales training and people skills. These are so valuable for your business and life in general. Franklin Covey, 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Internet Sales 20 Group

 

4. Sign Up For Webinars, Newsletters and Industry Emails

Go to different industry websites like AutomotiveInternetSales.Com, KBB.Com, Edmunds.Com, WeWorkForYou.Com, AutoMotiveNews.Com, Dealerelite.com, DealerRefresh.Com and sites like these to stay current on what's happening in the industry.

 

5. Continually Keep A Good Attitude

Your attitude is your posture, your mindset and your state of being. It can be seen on your face, in your words and how you respond and act towards others. Before talking with a customer make sure you do a check up from the neck up before you take the next up. Stay positive and keep a good attitude. Your attitude will ultimately determine your altitude. In other words, your attitude determines how high you go.

 

I trust this helped and if you need to contact me please don't hesitate. Be blessed!

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If you wanted to build a new dealership, how would you do it? Would you just grab a bunch of nails, screws, wood and material and start? Would you just wake up one day and say, "Today's the day" and go to the home depot and start buying the materials? Would you search the Internet and figure out how to do it yourself? In truth, you know as well as I, that there are a ton of steps needed to make a new building project become reality. However, I want to focus on a very important step that is needed to ensure the final product turn out correctly and that step is the creation of, "The Blueprint!"

A Blueprint is defined as a detailed outline or plan of action. It is the model to follow in order to reproduce the final product. Anything created is created 2 times. The first creation is in one's mind, as a thought and imagination. The second creation is when it is a living reality as a finished product. The blueprint is the bridge that connects the idea to the final product. The blueprint contains the steps, the plans, the map, the processes, the details, the model and the directions to cause what is not yet to become into a living reality. 

So as a dealer, as a sale professional, What is your blueprint for your position? The builder of a building can only build according to what the blueprint says. If the blueprint is a small house, the final product will be a small house. If you expect a large house and the blueprint is only for a small house, you will be very disappointed because the blueprint determines the final product.

You see many times in this industry we become upset at the end of the month when we fall short of hitting our bonuses and different commission levels but if we would be honest with ourselves, we would see that what we accomplished is directly a result of the blueprint we had for that month. A detailed blueprint takes time, takes work and takes discipline to follow, but the reward far outweighs the work. Your expectations will be more likely satisfied when you create the blueprint rather then allowing the blueprint to take shape by itself due to the default of no plan, no process, no steps and no actions being recorded. When nothing is done then you really have nothing to aim for. When you have nothing to aim for and you blindly shoot into the future month with no target in site, you may or may not hit something. You may have good results but with a blueprint you could've had GREAT results! You may have no results but with a blueprint you could've have GOOD results! 

Put together a blueprint for this up coming month. Write out the details, set the goals and put together an action plan on how to build that house! If the blueprint builds a 30 car month, then what steps, processes, actions and plans need to be implemented to build this 30 car house? How many phone calls, emails and pro-active prospecting actions need to be taken to achieve this? Create the blueprint and you will create the outcome that lines up with it. 

Remember that your house is the result of your blueprints! In order to change the results you need to first change the blueprints! Happy Selling!

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"It's nice to be important, but it's more important to be nice."   ~Author Unknown
Kindness is a very important characteristic in life and in selling. The hardest part of being kind is the decision to do it even when it is not being done back to us. Especially in dealing with a customer who doesn't like sales people and is not being nice because our titles in work are, "Sales Consultant." The greatest weapon we have against them is the ability to be Kind. WHAT? You might be saying, "The greatest weapon is to throw them out of the showroom!" LOL!
Have you ever heard the saying,  "Kill Them With Kindness!" Well that's exactly what you do when you act kindly towards people who are not so kind back to you. They will eventually begin to see that they are acting ridiculous and start acting nicer because their strategy of being nasty isn't working and they realize that you are a person too or they'll end up leaving because you're not falling into their so called trap. 
"Constant kindness can accomplish much. As the sun makes ice melt, kindness causes misunderstanding, mistrust, and hostility to evaporate."
~Albert Schweitzer   
 
This is not always the easiest thing to do because when treated wrong the natural response is to treat them wrong back the same way. When spoken to in a nasty way people feel as though they need to give them a piece of their minds. As if they can really afford to lose a piece of their minds. However, the higher way to respond is completely opposite.  We should be more interested in winning a sale rather then winning an argument with a customer. If you win the argument and lose the sale, then who really won? No one! 

Here are some things to remember while applying kindness to the sale:
1. Be kind even when it's not easy.
2. Treat customers as you would want to be treated if you were in their shoes.
3. Prefer the customer above yourself.
4. Win the sale not the argument. 
5. Be sincere.
6. Go the extra mile. Zig Ziglar said,  "There are no traffic jams on the Extra Mile Highway!"
7. Thank them for the sale. Let them know that you understand that there are many choices out there to buy a vehicle from today and that you really do appreciate them choosing your dealership to serve them in their automotive needs and then end it with a sincere thank you. Something like this,  "Thank you so much again for allowing me to serve you! It was an honor helping you & I truly appreciate your business!"
 
This will make the customer feel so special and I will guarantee they most likely remember the way your acts of kindness made them feel when they have to consider purchasing another vehicle. Also when they hear someone is in the market for a vehicle they're going to be more likely to send people your way.
 
"Kindness is the language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see."
~Mark Twain 
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Day 4 of my on-site training  from Dealer Synergy. What can I say? When I first saw Sean V. Bradley on the websites, Automotive Internet Sales, YouTube etc. I was in awe, shocked, overwhelmed and a bit..scared. Who is this young guy, fronting like he's all that and then some. Millionaire mogul, motivational speaker, music industry entrepreneur, and he owns so many businesses, on covers of magazines, internationally renown speaker and member of NSA and Covey trained..Omggg too many to name!
But when I actually met him, and over the two days that he was here, I realized that he is every bit of everything I read and saw of him online.. BUT, he is knowledgeable, kind, HUMBLE and sooo passionate about ALL aspects of his life, and he doesn't look down on anyone! He motivates, teaches and encourages you to do your best! I was in awe to meet and shake the hand of a millionaire, but now I'm in even more awe because he is so humble, and willing to help anyone achieve their dreams and be the best they can be.
I pretty much have the same background as him and I felt an enormous amount of relief, when he spoke about himself, his background, where he has been, how he became what he is now, gave me hope that I too can achieve my dreams. He has inspired me so much in the short time he was here with us. I just needed someone to guide me. He said something profound, that made me pause, well he said many things, but two things that got me was: he doesn't compromise, he comes to a agreement with whomever, so everyone can have a win-win situation, one doesn't have to feel like they lost a little to agree with one another, and he also said, there was a reason I was guided to come here to RC Lacy, because if I didn't accept this job. I wouldn't have ever met Sean  and I wouldn't have ever been motivated.
I have been feeling lost, drowning, but I feel like Sean is my buoy and if I follow him and his advice, I believe I can achieve everything I ever wanted..and more! I know he came to us to teach us about the automotive business and how to be a better BD Agent, but I feel like whatever he taught us, It can be utilized in life, and I will use it in my life! I hope I get a chance to attend another one of his workshop.
If you are feeling low, and feel like life has nothing more to offer or you think you have done everything possible in life and you still cant achieve anything, I beg you, go to one of Sean V. Bradley's seminars, and I can guarantee you 100% you will come away feeling motivated and KNOWING and DOING everything to achieve everything you always wanted. GUARENTEED!
Thank you Sean...

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To evaluate means to ascertain or fix the value or worth of something. To examine and judge carefully. Another word for evaluate is appraise. Now that's a word I'm familiar with. Appraise! In the car industry we use this word when we appraise or evaluate a customer's trade. What are we doing when we do this? Besides making our customers upset about what we appraise their trade for, we are examining, evaluating and looking over the trade carefully to see the condition, mileage and real time value of it. The appraisal shows us the trade as it is valued in the condition we see it. Now, if the trade has a dent in one door, is over mileage 20,000 miles and has a cracked bumper, the value of the trade will decrease. There will be deductions made for each area. But if the bumper is not cracked, the mileage is under by 5,000 miles and there are no dents at all on the vehicle the trade will be valued higher. The appraisal reveals to the one evaluating it and the one who owns it not only the actual value of it in the condition it's in now but also the reasons why it's worth what it's worth.

We do appraisals for people every day, but what about ourselves? Now, you might be thinking, "I don't need to do an appraisal on my car because I'm not trading it in!" But I'm not talking about appraising your car. I'm talking about you. Have you done an appraisal on yourself lately? Have you pulled out the "Self Appraisal" and took time to evaluate yourself? What about the "Life Appraisal"? Have you taken time to evaluate, examine and look over your life to see the condition, mileage and real time value of it? Have we been so busy working and evaluating things for everybody else that we've let ourselves' fall apart and we haven't had time to take proper care of us? Take the time to evaluate yourself today so you can fix and improve the areas that have caused you to lose self-value in your life. Here is a sample "Self Appraisal" for you to do right now:

Am I happy with the overall condition of myself?

Yes                   No

If no state why...

 

Is there any exterior damage?

Yes                   No

If yes list defects...

Is there any interior damage?

Yes                   No

If yes, list areas affected and the cause of damage...

 

Do I need any bodywork?

Yes                   No

If yes list areas...

Have I been in any accidents?

Yes                   No

If yes list areas...

This is just a sample but I trust you get the idea of how you can use this to evaluate your present reality whatever it may be. There are many other types of appraisals you can put together also. Here are a few more to consider:

  • Leadership Appraisal
  • Work Appraisal
  • Emotional Appraisal
  • Physical Appraisal
  • Spiritual Appraisal
  • Social Appraisal
  • Management Appraisal
  • Sales Appraisal

Now if we were to just do an evaluation and leave it at that than we'd all be depressed and in pretty bad shape. However, the evaluation is necessary to expose to us our current condition right now so we can fix, correct and adjust the value of what we see. This is where education comes in. 

Education

To educate means to provide with knowledge or training in a particular area or for a particular purpose. Once we have done our evaluation now we can fix, correct and adjust the necessary areas we have discovered.

"The great aim of education is not knowledge but action."

Herbert Spencer

Once we receive the knowledge and information we gather we are to than act correspondingly on the understood knowledge to make the necessary changes found in our evaluation. This is true education.

Knowledge + Corresponding Action = Education. When we are truly educated in an area we are no longer ignorant in that area. We have the know how to fix, change and adjust ourselves into a higher place than where we were without our education. This is called elevation.

Elevation

To elevate is to move or raise to a higher place or position; lift up. To raise to a higher state, rank, or office; exalt; promote. The end result of

Evaluation + Education = Elevation. This is always the result of someone who practices these principles in any area of life. Whether it is the workplace, the sale, the close, life, leadership, management, relationships or anything else this formula will hold true.

As you focus on making it a habit to evaluate and educate yourself in every area of life you will experience being elevated to new positions, promotions and higher levels of responsibility. 

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Are You Set Up For A Successful Weekend?

So as you head into the weekend, are you setting the stage to be successful? Are we reaching people how they like to be naturally reached? When you think about the most common and effective ways people communicate today; text messaging, social media, social media messaging and cell phones; are we ignoring these avenues only focusing on sending emails & calling home and work numbers only or are we engaging people the way they naturally communicate. Here is a friendly reminder for you to get ready for the weekend so you can sell more cars, more profitably, more often!

  • Put glue on the appointments by confirming them.
  • Secure cell phone numbers when setting the appointments.
  • Utilize social media messaging, cell phones and text messaging to confirm future appointments as well as to reset missed appointments.  
  • Work every deal as creatively as possible. Don't let anyone go until you've tried every option. (cash, lease, financing, extended terms, one pay leasing, trade, co-buyer)
  • Remember to focus on the majors and not be distracted by the minors.
  • Keep first things first.
  • Be yourself.
  • Be happy.
  • Be positive.
  • Be a team player.
  • Be a TEAM!
  • Give it your best!
  • Work Smart!
  • Work Hard!
  • Remember to smile - It increases your face value! : )
  • Always be thankful to your customers whether you sell them today or not. "Thank you for your business Mr. or Mrs.Customer! I truly appreciate you choosing me and allowing me the opportunity to serve you in your automotive needs. I understand there are a lot of dealers you could have chosen between where you live and here so Thank you for your business!" If they didn't buy, "Thank you for allowing me the opportunity to work on this with you. I know we didn't come to an agreement yet, but I want you to know it was a pleasure to help you today and I appreciate the chance to earn your business in the future." 
Have a great weekend!

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Finish Strong!

As we approach the end of this month let's finish strong and remember to:

1. Follow through and follow up with any leads that you haven't reached within the past 30 days.


2. Look over any deals you were working that came in this month that you weren't able to put together for some reason or another and bring it back to your desk and see if there's any life left in it. I always would say to my team, "You can't lose something that you don't have! So you have nothing to lose by working further and asking if there's anything else that can be done both to the customer and your management team!" Ask your manager these questions:

  • What else can we do to make this deal happen?
  • How can we be creative to find a way to make this come together?
  • Is there any money left in the trade?
  • Can we extend terms?
  • Can we show them the option of a new or newer vehicle instead?
  • How about a lease instead of a buy?
  • How about a one pay lease instead of them paying cash?
  • What if they put down more money?
  • If they had a cosigner can we make this happen?
  • If we could make the first payment start in 45 days instead of 30 days, could that help?
  • Can we include an extended service contract to sweeten the deal?


3. Managers get involved and follow up with the people who were in your store but didn't buy this month. See if there's anything you can do to influence moving this forward.

4. Managers confirm any set appointments for the weekend. This is what my one GM had said, "Puts Glue On Them!" This helps the appointment stick more when a manager confirms it.

5. Send out a blast email to all your active leads inviting them in for an end of the month Sale! Make it seem as if it's exclusive to them and time sensitive.

I trust this will help you in finishing your month with a strong finish!

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Be A Thermostat Not Just A Thermometer!

Being in the business for my short time, I've realized this one thing. Most dealerships are doing the same thing. Now I didn't say, "ALL Dealerships are doing the same thing" because I realize that there are some that really have set themselves apart from the masses of mediocrity. However, most dealerships are working to be the best of the worst instead of creating a different culture, a different atmosphere and a different experience to the customer and employee. 

I heard a dealer principal say, "Our problem as a dealer, is that we set our standards based off of what other dealers are doing, rather than setting a higher standard to doing what's right and different whether other dealers are doing it or not! If we keep using each other as a standard, then we will only ever achieve being the best of the worst!"

I love walking into dealerships that could care less about what the other guy is doing, because they are so focused on doing what they're supposed to be doing that they have no time to WASTE TIME watching the other guys. When you know your purpose and when you are attacking your mission to serve your community and client base, then you are focused and driven to reach your targets.

When you're watching everyone else, all you're doing is simply reading the temperature. You're never setting the tone or adjusting the thermostat to set the temperature because you're too busy studying, examining and watching the thermometer go up and down based on the market and the competition. 

You can't change the temperature of other stores that you are not in, but you can certainly change the temperature of the store that you're in. You can make a difference in how your customer base and fellow employees experience life in your store. Here are some easy ways to adjust the thermostat and change the atmosphere and culture of your customer employee experience:

1. Evaluate your current processes. 

You can do this by asking some very simple questions regarding them. 

  • How are they working?
  • Are they too complicated?
  • Can we adjust them in any way to make the overall experience BETTER?
  • What do the employees have to say regarding them? 
  • What do the customers think about them?
  • Are they in line with our mission as a company?
  • Are we creating an atmosphere to cultivate customer loyalty? 
  • If we've been here for 5 or more years and are not seeing a large number of repeat and referral business, then what are we doing wrong and how can we fix it and make it right?
  • What does our reputation look like online? 
  • How do people view their experience with our store?
  • How do employees view the customer experience at the store?

If employees and their family members are not buying vehicles from your store for other reasons beyond not liking the inventory make or models on the ground then there may be some digging that needs to be done. I can come up with a bunch more but I'm sure this helps get the juices flowing.

2. Educate & Train Your Team.

Dealers spend thousands of dollars a month to beautify the grounds, the buildings, the appearance of their inventory, to advertise their inventory and bring as many people as possible to come in online, on the phone or on the lot and fail to spend any further money on training, educating and building their sales team. Many times the people are the right people for the job, but they just haven't been PROPERLY trained. I emphasize PROPERLY because if you've been in the car business for any amount of time training has always been a majority problem for dealers. The greatest asset to your store is YOU! Without you and the people you have serving and selling the products, the products can't be sold. So instead of having them shadow other salesmen, and instead of having them watch VCR tapes of training from 20 years ago, invest in a current up to date trainer and training materials to help aid them in becoming a success in their positions. As they're successful, you'll be successful! 

3. Lead From Your Feet Not Your Seat

The success or failure of a department and store falls on the leadership. Don’t hide behind your computers in your office counting beans, analyzing charts, numbers and averages all day. Get up and touch the people who are working with and for your success. Get involved. Ask questions. Interact. See and hear what your people are saying and what’s being said. Stay touchable, accessible and seen. 

I trust this will help you. Have a great finish to the end of your month and if you'd like to contact me please do so at any time. Have a great day! 

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Often times when I chat with dealers I ask dealers what is keeping them, from getting to the next level of super success I hear responses like:

We need more quality leads.
Or... Cars are bringing brain damage at the sale.
Or... It's hard to find real salespeople anymore man, they just don't breed them like us, you know what I mean?

My answer to these issues are yes, yes and yes...so what. You have to control the controllable and you can control all of these issues so why aren't you.

More quality leads needed? Dump the lead providers that suck and invest in the stuff that is quality...heck, just train your people to prospect the right way and build repeat and referral business since they are the best quality leads. Change your way of thinking.

Cars too expensive? So what! That means they are too expensive for everyone and now your aged inventory just became a better deal. Change your way of thinking.

Sales team weaker than circus lemonade? This is a great! you now have an opportunity for you to step up as a leader and shape them into the rock star that you once were! They are going to love you even more once you help them learn what they need to know so they can make more money. You just have to change you way of thinking.

Often times we are holding everyone else accountable...scratch that, we are shifting blame to everyone and everything else for our lack of success but we have a toolbox full of success resources right between our ears and its more powerful than any technology we can buy.

Make a change in how you see the situation and you'll start to craft ideas for creating the success that you desire. As He-man said "I have the power!" (80's cartoon for the gang to young to remember)

As Steve Jobs said: "My job isn't to be easy on people, it's to make them better."

Helping the best get better,
Mat Koenig
CEO
KonigCo // AutoOption
www.konig.co/autooption

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http://makemoneymondays.net/

Make Money Mondays -  Orphan Owners

Sean V. Bradley talks about how sales leads left behind by customer sales reps who have left the company are opportunities that need not be left behind.

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