Blog

Cars, dealerships and sales people can be commodities. As a sales person, your job is to move everything you do and everything you have towards being a non-commoditized item or service. You must sell your difference.

When making a decision, customers look for deciding factors. Being able to know what the differences are and then helping the customer know what they look like, sound like and feel like is your job. Customers don’t spend an hour with you and say, “This is exactly the vehicle I’ve found everywhere, the dealership is exactly the same as every other one I have seen, your presentation was the same as every sales person gave me and the information you have given me is identical to everything else I have received, so I want to do business with you.”

People make buying decisions by matching up what they know or think they know to what you give them and then by finding what they did not know or understand. The first step is to match up with their thoughts and belief systems. If they don’t connect with who you are and what you give them, they won’t buy from you. Although that’s a big part of selling, it’s only the first half. The deal maker is making sure you stand out with your positive difference.

Go back to the 3Ms – Money, Me and Machine. What makes your vehicle unique? If nothing, what makes your dealership unique and the better choice? If you still say nothing, you better go on a mission to find something. When you have the answer, always ask yourself deeper questions about your answer, such as “How?” and “Why is that so?” Be concise and specific and be emphatic with your statements. Conviction creates confidence and confidence sells cars. If you are confident, it will be evident.

The last of the 3Ms is ME. Me means YOU. What about you personally will make you the unique and better choice among sales people? Nobody on earth is the same; we all have our unique experiences, talents, abilities, personalities and thoughts. Utilize that to not only connect with people, but to sell your difference. Relate to customers in a personal way that shows why they should do business with you.

If you are new, sell the difference of how they benefit from that. Show your eagerness to please and go beyond what most veterans would do. If you are a veteran sales person, sell your knowledge and experience in how that will make their life better. Let me say that again – “Make their life better.” That’s your job – to make their life better. People don’t buy a car from you because they thought you were going to take them out of their car, put them in a worse car, with more mileage, and worse terms and give them less knowledge, service or experience. TLC – Think Like a Customer, not a sales person.

Ask lots of questions. Find out what they liked while they shopped and bought before. Find out what they have not liked about shopping and buying a vehicle. Don’t assume that your uniqueness is enough. Package your uniqueness in a way that is appealing to the customer. People buy products every day because of the packaging. How do you present your package? How do you dress? What kind of questions do you ask? How do you present? If your customer shops five dealerships, will they have absolutely no choice but to choose you if the sales person truly makes the difference?

Write down every criterion a customer consciously and subconsciously considers about you and any other sales person when they buy. Rate yourself honestly from 1-10 on each. Then have someone else rate you on each from 1-10 on each. Once you have an accurate assessment of your position you can now create a game plan to improve on each one. Break your plan into small chunks. Make your growth and improvement plan gradual and consistent. Consistent = Persistent. When you see the improvement in you, your customers will too. You make the ultimate difference in everything.

Many sales people tend to always be chasing the next customer and worrying about the next paycheck. The good news is that this is unnecessary and can be fixed forever in two years or less. Sales people can eliminate future sales and income anxiety once and for all.

What’s the key to creating freedom? It’s marketing. If you are a sales person who is waiting for your business to provide an endless funnel of prospects and buyers, you are living in a fantasy land. Even with a ton of leads and traffic provided to you, you must have a marketing plan to utilize the traffic, leads and power of your customer base.

Write down everything you are doing to market yourself. Your goal should be to add to this list every month and strengthen or add dimensions to everything you already are doing. Eventually, you will begin to integrate your message from all your sources of marketing and the power of your marketing plan will begin to grow tremendously. You will appear to be everywhere at once. Your goal is to appear bigger, better and even more successful than you already are. Perception becomes reality.

All sales people should have direct mail in their marketing plan. The direct mail campaign should contain marketing letters that are geared towards multiple approaches, including: holidays, special events, news, new residents, existing customers, inactive customers, residents that surround existing customers, inactive customers, potential customers already using your service, newsletters and lead generation letters to potential customers offering a free report or service.

In your letters, utilize a consistent theme. You should, over time, make yourself a quasi-celebrity with your marketing. Always have a photo or caricature of you, or your family or staff in the marketing pieces. Make your likeness, theme and messages take on a status of recognition. Your marketing should grow legs and take on a life of its own that is enduring. Market share of mind creates greater market share.

Talk to people in your marketing in a personal and conversational tone. A great advertising person once said, “You must enter into the conversation they are already having in their head.” Don’t be afraid to be unique and controversial in your marketing. The worst mistake you can ever make in marketing is to be boring. There are way too many advertising messages today for you to put out just another look alike, same-old marketing piece that gets lost in the shuffle. Unique, bold, consistent and personal get rewarded today.

Don’t allow yourself to get caught in the excuse trap of saying, “I tried that once and it didn’t work.” You may not have done it right the first time; most don’t. That’s not a reason to quit.

Always think of the 3Ms – Message, Market and Media. What is your message? What is your marketplace you are delivering the message to, and does it match? What media will you use to reach the market?

The more you can target your message to a targeted audience, the better your results. There are list companies that can provide demographic, socio-graphic or just about any other filter you desire to qualify your potential and desired market. The old saying is that the best way to have a successful restaurant is to find a hungry crowd. You must also find your hungry crowd. Once you find them, you must bring them to you, gain them as customers, build a fence around them and never let them go.

The best way to create a sellable marketing approach in your message is to study copywriting and the masters of the craft. Writing copy for ads, letters, marketing pieces and newsletters that get people to take action is a learnable skill that will make you more money than robbing a bank. Study, practice and test your copywriting skills everyday. Nothing will teach you as much about sales, marketing and business as copywriting skills.

Learning to write copy, plan marketing sequences, doing the grunt work or hiring someone to do it certainly isn’t sexy. It won’t cure your traffic, lead or sales woes over night. But in the long run, they will be the things that make you successful, wealthy and free.

http://www.internetsales20group.com 

Canadian Internet & Digital Marketing Director, Ryan Holtz Reviews the Internet Sales 20 Group 

Ryan flew all the way from Canada to attend the most recent Internet Sales 20 group in Los Angeles. He was blown away by the #is20g. He said it was the BEST conference that he has ever attended... EVER!

What's the common image of a salesperson? The big bad wolf.

The big bad wolf seeks and destroys. It's a predator who pounces on its prey, eats the weak and leaves a bloody mess behind. This image makes the job of salespeople a lot harder than it should be. The good news is that this creates an opportunity to kill the wolf and turn the negative into a positive.

If you were to ask 10 customers what they hate about salespeople and the buying experience, you'd get an earful. Take each of those answers and list when it occurs in the sequence of your normal sales process. Begin to review the list and sequence with a TLC Mindset (Think Like a Customer).

Picture your customer, or even yourself as a customer, in the buying process and the negative experience. Remember, perception is reality: Selling is nothing more than helping customers solve problems in a manner they feel positive about. The key word is "feel." Emotions are key to everything in life, including sales and the buying experience.

In marketing and sales, you must constantly remove the barriers of entry for a customer. Picture a road with potholes, detours and obstacles and the emotions they create when encountered. This is exactly what a customer feels every time they encounter a barrier in your buying process.

Begin to think in terms of proactively eliminating each barrier. Now take this a step further and begin to promote the differences in a manner that separates you from the competition in a manner that is positive but not arrogant. Create a funnel process that allows the customer to move effortlessly and positively through the process.

Old school training methods that are based upon closing deals rather than opening relationships are dead. Consumers are too educated, have too many choices and demand a better experience today. Don't continue your current sales process just because that's the way you have always done it or because of the worst philosophy ever spoken - "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."

Create a selling philosophy and process that becomes a part of your brand, your defining message and your culture. I guarantee it's easier to recruit, hire and train winning salespeople with this philosophy and process.

Begin by analyzing everything from the initial contact on a phone call, a visit to your Web site or when they pull into your business. I can think of at least five negative things that occur in a traditional meet and greet and 10 absolute deal killers that occur at least 50 percent of the time or more when you are profiling and interviewing customers.

For a list of these deal killers, along with 10 suggestions to improve your process, feel free to e-mail me at info@tewart.com.

There are 24 hours and a total of 1,440 in every day. Successful people just seem to get a lot more done in a day than unsuccessful people. The main reason is successful people keep the main thing the main thing. Success is not an accident.

First, you must be honest about your strengths and your weaknesses. Spend your time in what you are strong at and delegate what you are not. A sales person reading this article may immediately think they don’t have anyone to delegate to. This is limited thinking. Find someone who is good at what you are not and make an alliance with them. Either pay them for their services, or offer them your services in exchange. If you go through your client list, you will come up with many people who can assist you in getting what you want. Keep this order: Be, Do, Have. The type of person you want to be, should determine what you want to do and have.

Before you begin to do anything, ask yourself these three questions:

1. What do I want to do?

2. Why do I want to do it?

3. How can I do it?

When the “why” gets strong, the “how” gets easy. A good exercise before you start a task is the Payoff Matrix Exercise. Draw four quadrants – The bottom left quadrant is titled “Quick Win,” The bottom right quadrant is titled “Waste of Time,” the top left quadrant is “Business Opportunity,” the top right quadrant is “Special Effort.” To the left of the quadrants put the word “Payoff.” At the bottom of the quadrants put the word “Effort.” When considering a task, measure the amount of effort you think it will take and then go from left to right until you think you have reached the correct measurement of effort and stop. Next, think of the amount of payoff you could expect from the task and measure it going upwards. When you stop, you will have an axis of measurement that will land in one of the four quadrants. This will tell you what the estimated bang for buck is for the task.

Successful people simply get tasks done that reward them greater. When something comes your way use the 4Ds of time management: Do it, Delegate it, Dump it, or Defer it. Make quick but educated decisions on what is the correct action based upon the reward potential.

Unsuccessful people think backwards. They get caught up in the “When-Then” Syndrome. “When I get to here, then I will do that.” The problem is they never get there. Always start with the end in mind. Everything else is a mind game. Unsuccessful people work for wages to pay bills. Successful people work for profits and opportunities.

Successful people educate and motivate by reading, learning and practicing personal development; unsuccessful people watch TV. Successful people think big and live large; unsuccessful people think small and live little. Unsuccessful people hate change; successful people embrace change and create it.

Successful people play to win; unsuccessful people play not to lose. The root of scarcity is scared, success and money does not follow scared. Unsuccessful people believe in luck and lotteries; successful people make their luck and lottery everyday.

Unsuccessful people wish for success; successful people create it. Unsuccessful people quit easy; successful people never quit. Unsuccessful people fear failure; successful people know it’s a part of the process. Unsuccessful people talk about things and people; successful people talk about ideas and possibilities. Unsuccessful people think about today; successful people think about the future and live today.

Success or failure, it’s your choice. If you would like the Payoff Matrix, e-mail me at info@tewart.com and put “Payoff Matrix” in the subject line.

As a sales professional, it can be an eye-opening experience when you go shopping for yourself. Weaknesses in other’s presentations can teach us lessons about how to strengthen our own. One common theme you might notice is that many people don’t seem to recognize that people don’t buy products or services. People buy from people.

People buy solutions to perceived or real problems. Good sales people assist buyers in solving their problems through emotions, visual imagery, and proper logic and people skills. The one component of sales that makes everything come together is people skills. You may be great at product knowledge, presentation, demonstrations or closing skills, but none of those things will matter if you don’t create a relationship with your customer.

A catalyst is an agent of change. There’s not a better way to describe sales people. When your customer begins to shop, they are beginning a process of change. If you are the sales person who makes the sale, it will usually be because you were better at assisting the customer to make that change. Let’s look at some ways to make those changes happen in a positive way that allows your customer to buy. Take notice of the phrase “allows your customer to buy,” rather than “you selling the customer.”

Imagine, for example, going to shop for a hot tub. You go to a nationally known store that has obviously conducted sales training for their sales representatives. The sales person has a very specific sales presentation. He also has considerable knowledge about his product and the competing products. The sales person is enthusiastic and energetic. In other words, he has a lot of good things going for him.

However, the sales person has a fatal flaw in his approach that probably costs him lots of business. The sales person tries very hard to be a sales person but he misses being just a person by a mile. What’s the difference?

The sales person begins to immediately show you the hot tubs and begins his process without taking the time to ask any questions and build a rapport that creates trust. When someone starts off a sales process in this manner, they are beginning what could be called the “Spray and Pray Method of Selling.” They spray out a presentation and pray that the customer gets excited about something in their verbal barrage about the product. They have no idea what that something might be.

This method lacks specifics, empathy, warmth, personalization, communication and listening skills, just to name a few problems. Imagine a different approach. A sales approach where the salesperson would have asked the some of the following questions:

• “Who will be primarily using the hot tub?”

• “How many people will usually use it at a time?”

• “Will it be used for recreational purposes, therapeutic or both?”

• “Will kids be using the hot tub?”

• “Do you currently have or have you had a hot tub in the past?”

• ”If so, what did you like and dislike?”

• “Where will the hot tub be located?”

• “What kind of foundation will it be on?”

• “Will the area that the hot tub will be located at be enclosed or open?”

• “What is the most important thing to you about a hot tub?”

• “How long have you been shopping for a hot tub?”

• “During this shopping process, what has been the No. 1 thing about a hot tub or any features that has excited you the most?”

• “During your shopping process, has there been anything you may have wanted that you have not seen or anything in particular that has disappointed you?”

You can think of a ton of questions that would allow specific answers and enable the customer to experience the change they are looking for. You can use the keywords and answers the customer supplies you to laser in on what they want to accomplish, using specific examples that involve active and present-tense ownership imagery.

When you are doing these things, you are relating to your customer in an empathic and personal way that separates you from all the other sales people. Never forget that you were a person before you became a sales person, and that people buy from people.

For every one on this board that didn't get to make it to Internet Sales 20 Group in LA.....Shame on you! Once again, Sean V. and his band of industry phenoms blew it out of the water! Every once in a while I will catch my wife off guard and I'll say, "I can't wait until tomorrow." She always responds, "Why, what's happening tomorrow?" to which I respond, "I get better looking every day!" Then she punches me and moves on. This is kind of like thinking about what these people could possibly do to trump this trump of the last trump! No matter how good it gets, the next one always seems to get better. In this digital world that we live in, information changes dramatically between these events. The speakers at the IS20G are the people who are right in the middle of these changes...whether they are writing about them or making the changes themselves! I don't care how many conferences that you have been to...I guarantee you have never been to one like this. The interaction is a game-changer.

I will say that Sean V. Bradley is the finest moderator in the country, in ANY industry. Whether he agrees with the speaker or not, he will explore EVERY angle of the conversation. He encourages...no, he INSISTS on participation from everyone. Attendees will tell you that they get as much from other dealers as they do from the speakers. First, a presenter will speak to a point, then a dealer will chime in on the effectiveness of the method. Then another attendee will ask THAT dealer specific questions. It's awesome to be a part of these discussions. Then, as if that is not enough, at the end, you get a chance to get together with accountability partners to formulate a plan to execute what you have learned. IS20G was over less than a week ago and I have already had communication with MY accountability partner...and I'm a General Manager!

Now, to my friends who DID attend...

Rubber. Meets. Road.

Ideas are easy, execution is hard. Why don't we lift weights? Because they're frickin' heavy, that's why!

From the book "The Greatest Salesman in the World".  A book, second only to the Bible, in shaping my life.

I will leave you in the capable hands of Og Mandino...

My dreams are worthless, my plans are dust, my goals are impossible.

All are of no value unless they are followed by action.

I will act now. Never has there been a map, however carefully executed to detail and scale, which carried its owner over even one inch of ground. Never has there been a parchment of law, however fair, which prevented one crime. Never has there been a scroll, even such as the one I hold, which earned so much as a penny or produced a single word of acclamation. Action, alone, is the tinder which ignites the map, the parchment, this scroll, my dreams, my plans, my goals, into a living force. Action is the food and drink which will nourish my success.

I will act now. My procrastination which has held me back was born of fear and now I recognize this secret mined from the depths of all courageous hearts. Now I know that to conquer fear I must always act without hesitation and the flutters in my heart will vanish. Now I know that action reduces the lion of terror to an act of equanimity.

I will act now. Henceforth, I will remember the lesson of the firefly who gives of its light only when it is on the wing, only when it is in action. I will become a firefly and even in the day my glow will be seen in spite of the sun. Let others be as butterflies who preen their wings yet depend on the charity of a flower for life. I will be as the firefly and my light will brighten the world.

I will act now. I will not avoid the tasks of today and charge them to tomorrow for I know that tomorrow never comes. Let me act now even though my actions may not bring happiness or success for it is better to act and fail than not to act and flounder. Happiness, in truth, may not be the fruit plucked by my action yet without action all fruit will die on the vine.

I will act now. I will act now. I will act now. I will act now. Henceforth, I will repeat these words again and again, each hour, each day, every day, until the words become as much a habit as my breathing and the actions which follow become as instinctive as the blinking of my eyelids. With these words I can condition my mind to perform every act necessary for my success. With these words I can condition my mind to meet every challenge which the failure avoids.

I will act now. I will repeat these words again and again and again. When I awake I will say them and leap from my cot while the failure sleeps yet another hour.

I will act now. When I enter the market place I will say them and immediately confront my first prospect while the failure ponders yet his possibility of rebuff.

I will act now. When I face a closed door I will say them and knock while the failure waits outside with fear and trepidation.

I will act now. When I face temptation I will say them and immediately act to remove myself from evil.

I will act now. When I am tempted to quit and begin again tomorrow I will say them and immediately act to consummate another sale.

I will act now. Only action determines my value in the market place and to multiply my value I will multiply my actions. I will walk where the failure fears to walk. I will work when the failure seeks rest. I will talk when the failure remains silent. I will call on ten who can buy my goods while the failure makes grand plans to call on one. I will say it is done before the failure says it is too late.

I will act now. For now is all I have. Tomorrow is the day reserved for the labor of the lazy. I am not lazy. Tomorrow is the day when the evil become good. I am not evil. Tomorrow is the day when the weak become strong. I am not weak. Tomorrow is the day when the failure will succeed. I am not a failure.

I will act now. When the lion is hungry he eats. When the eagle has thirst he drinks. Lest they act, both will perish.

I hunger for success. I thirst for happiness and peace of mind. Lest I act I will perish in a life of lure, misery, and sleepless nights. I will command, and I will obey mine own command.

I will act now. Success will not wait. If I delay she will become betrothed to another and lost to me forever. This is the time. This is the place. I am the one.

I will act now.

Who's your Danny?

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?

http://www.dealersynergy.com 856-546-2440

The Evolution Of The Automotive Sales Industry - Automotive Internet Sales - Car Sales 

On November 19, 2005, a day after having surgery, I was diagnosed with squamous cell carcinoma cancer. I would compare receiving the news to going to the dentist and being numbed. However, this numbed my whole body. For 20 minutes I rushed through all kinds of thoughts and emotions – shock, anger, “why me?” questions, sadness.

After the 20 minutes, I made a big decision. I decided to live. I decided that all of the emotions and thoughts I was experiencing were not supporting me. I decided right then and there to switch my mind and all actions to that of support and complete cure. At that moment, I was cured.

On January 31, 2006 I received my 33^rd and final daily radiation treatment. I am now cancer free. I did not need the doctor to declare that for me; I had already made that decision from the day of diagnosis. I had even told my doctor that at my first appointment.

My whole life I have believed in the power of the mind. The ability to create your outer life from thoughts and emotions from within are undeniable. Nothing is as powerful as your personal philosophy in life. The good news is that your personal philosophy is simply decided by you and your own free will.

In my lifetime, I have been both poor and rich. I have had both sad and happy times. I have lived through tragedies and triumphs. One thing that has never wavered has been my mental approach to whatever has come towards me. Nothing can create wealth and abundance in any segment of a person’s life more than their attitudes and thoughts.

I have seen materially rich people with great poverty of mind and I have seen people in great struggles with an attitude of abundance. Wealth and possessions can flee in an instant, but nothing or nobody can take away your mind and your choice of thought.

Whenever friends or relatives would begin to discuss my disease, they would focus on how it was so unfair, especially since I am a lifetime non-smoker. Ninety-nine percent of the particular cancer that I had occurs in heavy smokers. I had to make a decision not to focus on whether it was fair or not and focus on what could be done to move forward.

I made a decision to research my disease. I wanted to be empowered in my decisions. I created a regimented approach that included traditional treatment along with nutrition, supplements, whole body detoxification, exercise, proper rest, mental imaging and prayer. Some of these approaches were never mentioned by traditional medicine practitioners. However, I made the decision to be in charge of my knowledge and my actions.

After witnessing many people going through treatment for cancer and experiencing both my parents passing from the disease as well, I am more convinced than ever that your attitude and power of your mind makes a difference in everything you do in life. Your decision about your attitude in life is the most important choice of your life.

Words are cheap. What matters is the true belief system behind your words and the actions you take because of those belief systems. Economies don’t improve, people improve. Waiting for something to happen is for losers. The most important economy is the one created between your ears.

During down markets you have to get creative to make things happen. Although you may not be able to push a new car market if it’s not there, you can niche market, create affiliations, utilize your customer base better and push a used car market. In other words, there are options for success. Standing and waiting for the world to create your economy is not a good option.

There is an old quote that says, “When you go to work on yourself and get better it’s amazing how much better your customer’s get.” The one activity that can always pay off during a down economy is individual and organizational development.

Everything boils down to the four P’s of business - people, process, product and positioning. Do you work daily on your personal development? Do you work daily to increase your knowledge and ability to sell your product? Do you work daily to increase the effectiveness of your process? Do you work daily to increase your positioning through better marketing? If you work on these things daily you will determine your sales success in good times or bad. Good times will now become the norm.

Thoreau said it best: “Things don’t change; people change.” Make a commitment to figure out why you want to do something. When the why gets strong, the how gets easy. When you know why you want something, ideas of how will flow to you. Concentrate on the solution, not the problem. When you dwell on the idea of a prosperous market you create the reality of a prosperous market.

When you open the door to your belief system, you close the door of scarcity. When you are suffering from a lack of something it’s because you have a mental condition of lack. Everything apparent in your outside world of today is a direct reflection of your inside world from yesterday.

As you improve yourself you begin to think and act on another level of energy. Imagine the analogy of playing a video game and having to get a good enough score at one level to go to the next level. Once you improve enough you enter a whole other level that creates another opportunity for improvement.

Negotiating can be done in a professional manner that can increase customer satisfaction while helping to protect both parties’ interests.

Let’s first look at some of the problems that give negotiating a bad name and then look at the solutions. A lack of training in negotiating in the automotive industry has put sales people at a disadvantage. Usually, a sales person is taught how to negotiate in a learn-as-you-go method. Although all learning must be accomplished by doing, some preparation has to be done to make the learning experience more effective. All sales people and managers should go through a course on basic and advanced negotiating. Assuming that sales managers can automatically teach your sales people to negotiate professionally is asking for trouble. How did the managers learn to negotiate?

Sales people should be taught the expected procedures. I like to call these routing procedures. Routing procedures will define everyone’s responsibilities, from the moment a customer is greeted until they are delivered, including the necessary paperwork and who initiates what. Included in the routing procedures are items known as, black and white items. Black and white items are the things that should never vary at your dealership. These items are to be defined by your top management and can include such things as not quoting discounted prices on the lot or never low-balling on price.

Another source of problems in negotiating is the misuse of traditional negotiating techniques. The “higher authority technique” is a technique of always deferring to a higher authority for a decision. The technique is a solid negotiation tactic that has been run into the ground by automotive people. Having your sales people run to the manager more than once or twice in negotiations is a crime. Not giving the sales person any latitude or decision-making capability in negotiations leads to the yo-yo effect that creates mistrust in the sales person and customer.

When is the last time a sales person in your dealership was taught what to do when a customer asks for a lower down payment, lower payment, higher trade values or a reduction of the sales price. Most veteran sales people in dealerships all over the country could not verbally and written give you at least three or four steps to each one of the above objections without having to think or blink. How many objections in negotiation are there? Most objections fall into only a few categories. Have your sales people role played recently on those objections and the potential answer to them? Example: “Mr. Customer, we would be happy to lower your monthly budget $50 a month. Did you want to go 60 months instead of 48, or put $1,500 more cash investment, or look at the car with about $50 a month less in equipment, or look at a lease/Smart Buy program? Which would be best for you?” Whether you like my words or there are some others you prefer is not as important as having a way to handle the objections and practicing them over and over until the sales people know their negotiating skills.

“He or she who prepares the most, wins the most.” A large part of negotiating is knowing when and how to negotiate, as well as being prepared for all situations. The tragic death of John Kennedy Jr. might have been prevented with more preparation. Although negotiating may not be life or death for a sales person, it can feel like life or death to a sales person that wants to help his or her customer and doesn’t know how.

The following are few simple negotiating techniques:

1. Flinch - always fl inch at any proposal or counter proposal.

2. Split the Split - When customers offer to split the difference, offer back to split their proposal again. Example: $3,000 apart $1,500 split offered $ 2,250 your counter

3. Bracket proposals - If your desired gross profit is $3,000 and the customer offers you $1,500, propose back as much above your desired profit as they proposed below, example: $4,500 gross would be the same $1,500 amount above your desired gross, as they had offered below. Most likely they will offer to split the difference and it also lends credence to your offer.

4. Give/get - Try always to get something in return for giving something. This will stop the customer from nibbling and eroding your gross. If you don’t use give/get, you will not only give away all your gross but will also create a shopper.

Everyone negotiates everyday. Whether it’s on vehicles, houses, relationships or pay plans etc., everyone negotiates on things we sometimes didn’t even realize we had negotiated on. Somehow people walk away from negotiating things other than  automobiles feeling extremely positive about the process. Why? I invite you to ask how you would feel negotiating at your dealership and what you could do to make it better for the customer, sales person, manager and dealership.

When you have a first encounter with a customer, they are usually wondering one simple question. Can I trust you?

There are three stages of buying:

1. Character and Trust

2. Emotion

3. Logic

I don’t know that one stage is more important than the other but I do know that the trust stage usually happens first. When you build a house and the foundation is weak, no matter how nice a house you build it comes crumbling down eventually. A sale is the same way. You can sell all you want. You can create an emotional frenzy. You can justify emotions with logic and reasoning but at the end if the customer has a twinge of doubt about you they will pause and hesitate to complete the sale.

Usually when the customer stalls after showing all the right buying signs, we blame the customer and create some unflattering names for him or her. Here’s a news fl ash: Most of the time it’s your fault. It’s not the customer’s job to trust you. It’s not the customer’s job to create a rapport and a bond. It’s not the customer’s job.

Often, the customer comes in sold on your product and has a need and desire for it. They want to buy it. But when it gets to the end, one thing keeps them from buying – fear. Fear of making a mistake. Your customers are human. Customer’s have fears of making a mistake in buying the wrong vehicle, getting the wrong price, getting the wrong information or having a bad experience.

To sell more, you must allow the customer to buy. To buy a customer needs a path without obstacles and doubt. To remove the customer’s doubts and fear you must practice risk aversion and reversal.

Sales training has focused primarily on handling objections and other reactive selling approaches. Practicing risk aversion is a proactive approach to selling that addresses common fears up front and removes them before the become an obstacle. Fifteen minutes spent on proactive risk aversion can eliminate two hours of reactive objection handling.

Take a pencil and paper and write down all the common fears of your customers and common objections you receive. Write down the silent objections you don’t get but you know are really there. No matter what you sell, it’s the same objections over and over. It doesn’t take that much to be aware of the objections, to be prepared to proactively eliminate them and even answer them if they still come up.

Listen to what customers say and what they are trying to say. Listen to what customers really mean. And, listen to what customers aren’t saying but intuitively you know they are thinking. Increasing your intuitive ability is a major step in becoming a master sales person. Watch your customer’s body language. You don’t need a course to teach you what people are thinking by their body language. You simply need to observe, think and feel as they do. TLC – Think Like a Customer.

Remember, that trust comes before money.

This scene was the inspiration for my blog, "My Lean, Mean, Lead-Handling Machine".  You're spending a lot of time and money on lead providers, SEO, SEM, website goodies, etc........Are Lucy and Ethel handling your leads?  Why go to all of this trouble and expense if you are not serious about training.  This clip is one of the funniest moments in television history.  When you think of those little candy chocolates as $3000-$4000 missed car deals, it's not that funny.

If this reminds you of your Internet Department, then pay close attention to every word you hear at Internet Sales 20 Group.

Who's your Danny?

Do you want to be more successful? You can achieve greater success if you begin to follow certain secrets that blow open the doors that are closed for you now. I am comfortable in saying that all people have some closed doors that limit their achievement. What are the doors that I am talking about and how can you open them?

The doors are a metaphor for the gateways to successful achievement. The keys are the secrets that unlock them and allow you move forward faster and with less conflict toward your dreams than ever before.

Key #1 - Energy

Everyone needs physical, mental, emotional and spiritual energy to propel them toward their goals. It’s often been said that “fatigue makes cowards of us all.” What do you do that gives or robs you of energy? Make a list of 10 common actions in your day. Next to each, put a plus or a minus according to whether it gives or depletes energy. The mind, body and spirit go hand in hand. If one source is constantly drawing energy it will affect the energy in the other area. Do you ever feel so depleted mentally that physically you are just going through the motions?

Create an action plan to eliminate or greatly reduce all things that deplete your energy. Decide what your tolerance is. Successful and satisfied people create levels of tolerance for themselves and others who come in contact with them.

Key #2 - Enthusiasm

Ethos loosely translated means, “The Breath of God.” This means enthusiasm is contagious. It’s hard to get others excited unless you are excited. Nobody is excited all the time. We all have our ups and downs. What anchor do you have that will immediately connect you to the enthusiasm that you need to achieve the successful level of living that you want? Just by having a built-in and pre-arranged filter that detects when you are not at your peak level of enthusiasm will enable you to make corrections quickly. Without the filters you can become a zombie simply going through the motions until you or someone else makes you aware of your lack of enthusiasm.

Key #3 - Emotion

Do you live with emotion? You don’t have to be drama queen to live emotionally. Emotions are about feelings. Successful people tend to live in the moment. Stress, fatigue and worry detract from the joy of living in the moment. “Worry is paying interest on a debt not yet due.” Everyone experiences levels of depleting emotions that create a false and overwhelming sense of reality. How many times have you heard of people with near death experiences who now live with a greater sense of awareness and emotion?

Colors become brighter, jokes become funnier and experiences become richer. Your level of attainment in emotional living will increase your connection to others. To enrich your chances of success, you have to enrich others.

Key #4 - Humor

Nothing can bond people quicker than humor. Nothing can change your attitude, emotions, enthusiasm and outlook more than humor. Humor releases endorphins in the brain and creates a feeling of euphoria. Humor is an instant-on switch for changing your actions and outlook toward everything you face in your day. Experiencing humor is powerful. Being a conduit of humor for others is power multiplied exponentially.

Key #5 - Persistence

Persistent = consistent. Persistence is perhaps the most common denominator of successful living. Successful people keep moving when others quit. It’s been said that most of success is just showing up. Persistence is the key to showing up when other have quit. History is full of examples and testimonials to the power of persistence. Failure only occurs at the time when you quit. Those who live successfully know the power of persistent pursuit.

Persistent pursuit of goals and dreams creates a powerful sense of living unmatched by anything else. Persistence becomes a life force that creates self confidence for those who execute the power of persistence on a daily basis. In a world where the strong survive, persistence equals the playing field and gives the edge to those who apply its power.

Combining all the keys to success will create a sense of urgency needed for success. Examine the current level of each of the five keys to success in your life and create a personal game plan for successful living.

Great managers view themselves as coaches more than managers. There is an old adage: “Lead people and manage things.” There is a fine line between creating and utilizing systems and processes and micromanaging details without emphasizing the power of personal interaction.

Good systems and processes should allow employees to raise their performance by giving them confidence in their direction and lessening the burden of the manager and coach from having to constantly inform people of their expected actions.

The problems and obstacles for mangers and coaches happen when the process is elevated over the players who utilize those systems and an improper implementation training process is used. Great systems with poor people make for poor results. Great systems tied to poor coaching of people in the system results in poor results. Managers and coaches can’t give a process to their players and expect the process to work without consistently motivating and leading the players in the system.

Think of your process like a machine. A machine is created to perform the desired function. Once you create the machine, you test it and know it will work. It fails when the mechanics of the machine break or when the operator has an error in operating the machine. Your business process is much the same.

When you integrate a player into a system, you must explain what they are to do. Next, a coach must explain why the player must perform the tasks required utilizing the desired process. When the why gets strong, the how gets easy. If a player is clear about the why, the process will be performed with maximum results.

The third step is to demonstrate how the tasks and process work. Don’t just tell – demonstrate. If the player believes the process can be executed properly and has evidential proof that his or her coach or someone else can do it in the way that is expected, the player will emotionally buy into the process. The coaches must get the commitment or buy-in for anything to work. Therefore, coaches must have the trust and respect of the players. There is also a second part of the demonstration that must take place. The demonstration phase should move from the coach demonstrating to the player to the stage where the player performs the functions with close direction and inspection of the coach.

The last step of the implementation is never-ending. This stage is continual coaching and inspection. Players must know they are continually being coached, inspired and reviewed in their performance.

Recently, my daughter Erin secured a summer job after her first year in college. She is employed by the J. Alexander chain of restaurants. The process employed by J. Alexander’s is not only a good reference point for the steps of coaching that I have mentioned, but is a reference for excellence.

Erin was interviewed and profiled by three different managers on three different occasions. When Erin was hired, she had to complete detailed training that would make many businesses green with envy. Erin had to train with a study guide consisting of more than 100 pages. Erinhad to pass six written tests just to begin serving as a waitress or as they are called in their culture – champions. She had to be able to recite the company creed. Further training and testing was required to be able to serve on the weekends, which are their busiest days. Before being released to begin her position, Erin had to shadow another trained champion and then switch and have the experienced person trail her. Both Erin and I were amazed at the commitment to process, training and implementation.

Remember, the processes and dedication of J. Alexander’s produces a champion who can serve and produce an experience that is measured in small dollars. Your business may produce a product and experience that is measured in many thousands of dollars. Based on your process, training, implementation and coaching, are you a coaching champion?

"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.  

Customers don’t buy vehicles, and sales people don’t sell vehicles. Customers buy solutions to problems they can feel emotionally. Sales people are the conduit that helps customers discover those emotional solutions.

People buy from people. Customers generally do business with people they like and trust. Your customers don’t walk out of your dealership telling you that they bought from you because you are a jerk. Customers can get vehicles anywhere. Most of you are not selling a rare commodity. Therefore the decision criteria of a customer are based upon money, me and machine. However, you are the secret ingredient. You have the power to influence the perception of the customer about you, the machine and the money.

A customer will move through three stages of the selling process – Character/Trust, Emotion and Logic. People have to like and trust you, then they allow you to guide them to emotions that eventually combine with logic. Emotion distorts reality. That’s why everyday customers walk out of F&I and tell you that they did not plan to buy a vehicle today.

The number one reason people buy a vehicle is and always will be confidence. Confidence they feel in the money, me and machine that you give them. Therefore the most empowering decision you can ever make as a sales person is accept full responsibility for every sale made or lost.

Once you accept full responsibility for winning and losing and eliminate the easily accepted notion that it’s about price, you become an incredibly powerful, winning sales person. If you allow one excuse for losing into your subconscious it opens the door for a million excuses. Weak sales people raise skinny kids. Eliminate all excuses such as price and watch your sales take off.

If price is the issue, what can you do to influence the price or the decision? Practice apples to oranges selling. If everybody else is showing the customer apples, you show them better apples and show them oranges, as well. Always think HFG – Hope for Gain. What is the customer trying to accomplish and how can I apply to their sense of HFG.

How will the first stage of your engagement with the customer set you apart and influence the customer? Most customers decide to buy from you in 15 seconds to two minutes. The decision is made about you long before they ever make a decision about price. Try this greeting: “Hi folks, are you out beginning to look and shop around?” What are they going to say, “No we are just looking and shopping?” Be proactive. Take the objection away up front and make the customer feel at ease while you do it. Nobody else is greeting the customer this way.

Most sales people operate out of the same gene pool. If you do this you eventually become a homogenized, generic sales person. What follows are bad results, lots of price shoppers, low sales, low incomes and eventually a bad case of excuses. Never forget that everything you do makes a difference.

Before any customer leaves, are you and your manager “walking the wheel”? “Walking the wheel” is a phrase I use to remind us to explore all avenues. Bigger car, smaller car, car to SUV, new to used, used to new, demo, longer term, cash back, delay payment, pay off the remaining lease payments on their trade, trade another vehicle, trade two vehicles, etc. How hard do you fight for every sale? Persistent = consistent.

Winning at sales is simply a choice. You can choose to win or choose to lose. Once you choose, you become the sales person you have decided to be at the given moment.