“Talk that does not end in any kind of action is better suppressed.” - Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881)
How many times have you made friends with a customer and not sold the car? How many times have you talked yourself out of the sale?
I sat listening to a salesperson drone on about the features of a new Jaguar convertible to a potential customer. It was a one sided conversation that just did not stop. The customer just sat there waiting, minutes passed and all the surrounding salespeople were waiting for their fellow sales-talker to stop and ask for the order.
Well he did not stop talking, the customer rested his head on the desk and waited patiently hoping that the pain would be over and he could leave. Finally the customer lifted his head and loudly said “shut the F up and write the order”. I want the car. The showroom exploded in laughter, but it was not funny. Talk for a purpose - to explain and educate - but always ask for the order.
“If the rate of change on the outside exceeds the rate of change on the inside, the end is near.” -Jack Welch
In the last five years technology has brought many changes to the way we think and operate. At AutoRaptor adapting is one of our major themes. We recently added a mobile version of AutoRaptor to work on the following phones; Iphone, Android and Palm Pre as well as a version for the new Ipad. If you do not have a Smartphone you will still be notified via email of any new leads. We want our users to stay connected, so they can convert the lead to a sale quickly. That is what we are about!
Connection to your customers starts with a process that should be simple, affordable and powerful. The traditional rules using snail mail and cold calling need to be replaced with new marketing rules. Many dealers have a reluctance to enter the social media networks because they do not understand the way people connect digitally. It is not just about the daily things people do; it is about passing information and ideas to your customers on a large scale. It is about staying connected in 140 characters or less. To make social connections succeed you must make a commitment to invest your time and resources to understand what social media is and how it works. Connecting to the customer through social media has many additional benefits; customer service, service appointments, sales appointments, register issues and build a relationship with your existing clients.
Why are so many dealers DMS databases incomplete? It requires commitment and a process above the normal course of business. You as Owners need to see the benefit and how your database will make you consistent profits. Managing your database is like managing your check book. Out of date balances lead to overdrawn accounts and lost money. As dealers we invest in expensive systems to manage our companies and then do not do our diligence in making sure that the data is useful and accurate. How many incorrect phone numbers, bad addresses and missing information does it take to create some action? As a CRM application that polls dealer databases we see it all. Some dealers rely on the DMS system to refresh their databases monthly and that is a start but the dealer should start at the sale with all contact information from the customer. You as the dealer are required to meet the Red Flag rules since credit is a good part of the transaction. Maintaining a solid database for your records is good business and is a requirement in today’s world. Do not assume it is being done in your dealership, it is boring work but the payback is high. Check your processes today and periodically to assure that you have the database tool that will help sell more cars.
AutoRaptor can migrate your sales history and periodically updates as new business is created. With the ability to export any defined search, having an up to date database is the best marketing strategy you can have. Just follow time proven processes and manage your database today to get on the road to more sales.
This a familiar topic that I keep coming back to: Why is it so difficult for some sales people to adopt to new technologies? How many sales people do not have an email address? Approximately 30 percent do not have a personal address let alone one for business use. Getting one is so easy and it is one of the few things in this world that are free. Fear of technology and the lack of understanding of how to use this communication device to create sales stops them in their tracks. Some can talk but just can’t type or spell correctly. I once downloaded a typing program to help my staff get started. It helped some but not all. Sales people who stare out the window waiting for the next up just do not want to change. Proactive follow up is just not in their genes. So how do we make them see the potential to increase their sales by using one piece of technology? You the owner or manager have to champion the process; it always starts by command till the benefit is realized by your staff.
A side benefit is that you will also have an additional way to communicate with your staff, written communications that can tell you that the mail was read, is a sure way to keep everyone on the same page. It is an efficient and productive method to make sure your directives are read and followed.
Managers must hold sales persons accountable for their performance or lack of it. Owners must hold management to the same standards. Why can’t they commit the time and energy to maximize the sales effort of their staff?
One of the reasons is that in the last 20 years administrative tasks have tied the sales managers to their desks for the majority of their working time. Little time is left for the art of deal making. The manufacturers decided that they could have the dealer process claims, report sales plus assorted processes that they handled prior to computers and the web.
A second reason is that Managers expect a sales person to sell without any help from management. If I took a poll of owners and managers about what bothers them the most, I bet you it is the poor quality of their sales staff. Sales staffs reflect management’s standards; if they are low then guess what happens. When I hear a manager say he can’t get a sales person to change their bad habits I just shake my head. If you think by complaining about an issue, it will change the outcome it will not. Management must have structure, a sales process and technology. Structure means standards of accountability. Sales process means the steps of the sale to be followed by all sales persons. Technology is the means to process and manage accountability of your staff. As management you cannot sit in your office and wait for something to happen, you must create what happens. If you sit and wait for the next sales activity you are no different than the sales person who sits and stares out the window. Put the paper shuffling to a clerical and get involved in making deals.
Use technology to measure quickly how you are really performing with the purpose of improving the outcome. Train, teach and set the tone of what is expected, break the old culture and you will sell more cars.
What makes the difference between a consistent productive sales person and the rest of the pack?
First you must have leadership from the management team in support, training, sales tools and accountability. Sales persons must have drive, personality, and ability to listen, a process, and technology and follow up skills to the sale and after the sale. Above all a sale person must be able to translate what the customer wants in feature to benefits. Many sales persons sell features and not the benefit of that feature to the customer.
I asked one of my sales persons to role-play and do a walk around, which we filmed. Rosanne a new sales person played the customer, while Richard played the seasoned sales person. Her questions were about safety benefits, child seat anchors, mileage consumption and the price. Richard started on the safety benefit of five mile an hour bumpers and then proceeded to go over every feature like a robot. It was clear when we reviewed the video that he knew every feature but only mentioned one benefit. He did not listen or retain what she wanted to know. He was instructed to treat it like a real up but never got her last name or contact information. It was a lesson for all the staff about what not to do.
This happened in 1983, and it is when I decided that using technology had a place in the automobile business. At the same time I started using computers to follow up and calculated deals, it was the beginning of AutoRaptor. The letters CRM had no meaning for car people even though customer follow up via paper was a common practice. We were using NADA Sales Track, which was my introduction to the world of data management. The Management team created structure and a process using the current technology. Marginal sales person got better and good sales person became great sales persons. It was a team effort to bring out the best in each sales person. AutoRaptor is not just a CRM, it is a process.
I was working in Illinois in 1979 at a Lincoln Mercury dealership. The store was on the corner of a main intersection, fifteen minutes from downtown Chicago. There were bus stops on each corner with benches for the commuters to wait for their buses. Those commuters were called bus ups. With time to kill, they would wonder in to kick the tires and talk to the first sales person they could find. Needless to say the sales staff would run and find a way to avoid the bus ups who outnumbered the real buyers. The sales persons would grab a lot person and have him show any car to the bus ups. This would usually happen when management was not around or tied up with you know, whatever management does.
One day a sales person instructed a lot boy to take a bus up for a demo ride. It was an hour before anyone noticed that the car and the lot person had not returned. I received a call that we have a problem, missing car and an employee. It took me an hour to get to the dealership and in that time the police had been notified that we have a missing car and that a employee might be kidnapped. If you think anyone owned up to how the lot person got in this predicament, think again. The hours flew by as we went about the day waiting to hear good news.
Finally late that night the police recovered the car and the employee. The employee related what happened, it started out as demo ride as described; first stop was the home of the bus up, to pick up his girl friend. Since the lot person was getting paid by the hour he just went along for the ride thinking that it was good business to keep the up happy. From one bar to the next they drove, drank, enjoyed the day and then crashed the car. It was at the accident scene that the police made the arrest. You can’t make this up. I wish I could say the bus up bought a car, he did not or make restitution for the repairs.
If there is a message, sales persons should take all ups for demo rides and get the ups license before they leave the dealership. This story can make you laugh but there are stories that end in tragedy. Make a copy of the ups drivers license, leave it with the manager and use the same demo route all the time.
How does the average dealership train their staff in the selling process? Formal training is thought to be expensive and time consuming especially with a rotating sales force. The newbie is assigned a desk, told to read brochures and industry literature for a day and then take the next up. Do you tell your new sales persons to watch and learn from the seasoned staff on how to sell? Is there a structured sales process with measurement for production and accountability?
If this is the way you operate, stop and think, it could be the reason you are not succeeding. Establish a sales structure, set goals for each person that is assigned to sell cars. Conduct formal training off the showroom floor, role-play and film the process for review by all involved. If you are still using paper logs and up sheets look to technology to streamline your sales operation. Technology will give you the tools to measure your sales performance as well as increase you sales and profitability. If you do not have a trained sales staff or a positive training program in place then technology will only fail under the weight of poor management and acceptance of poor performance.
It sounds simple to train your staff to follow certain guidelines but it is not. Look at your current guidelines that have been established under many different managers with different approaches. Have you heard the comment on your floor, we can’t do that John said, “that is not our policy”. John died 20 years ago and we are still doing what John said. Rethink what you are doing and make changes that will have the biggest impact now, and be flexible and change if what you try fails or underperforms.