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Many dealers are still operating under an outdated business model that can’t be supported in any economy, especially the current economic conditions. To change the outdated model:

Ask more questions

Ask better questions

Measure everything

Measure as often as possible

Take action to improve every day

Every question you ask about your business causes you to reevaluate your business.

Most dealerships are good at working in the business. However, the great dealerships are great at working on the business. Most dealers are under the assumption that if everyone just does more, then the business will grow. The reality can be the opposite. You can be like a hamster on a wheel running harder and harder but getting the same or less results. In baseball there is a phrase used when coaching pitching mechanics called “slow to go.” In business the same analogy is true. You have to slow down to ask the right questions, evaluate the right things, think in different directions and take different actions to speed the success of your business.

The following are important questions that, when asked daily, can lead to success:

Why should someone buy from your dealership? Be very specific. Ask yourself “Who cares?” to each answer to see if it is defining and specific enough

What are the strengths of your business?

What are the weaknesses of your business?

What are the opportunities for your business and marketplace?

What are the threats to your business and marketplace and how can you not only deal with them but utilize them to your advantage?

What is the business within your current business that could be created?

What are the segments of your marketplace that are underserved?

Is there a way to add to or plus anything within your business?

Is there a way to subtract or minus anything within your business?

Is there a way to speed up or slow down the experience for your customers?

Is there an entertainment value to your business or experience?

How many walk-in opportunities are there?

How many phone opportunities do you have?

How many presentation/demonstrations?

How many opportunities closed?

How many opportunities delivered?

What are the totals and averages of all lead sources?

What percentage of your sales converts to ongoing service customers?

What percentage of your customers are inactive customers?

What percentage of your sales are repeats?

What percentage of your sales are repeat customers?

Do you have an ongoing and at least partially automated system for follow up of your customers?

Do you have a system to convert sales from service?

How many forms of lead generation and marketing can you list?

What are the production levels of each employee for every department? Everyone needs a metric to measure performance no matter the job.

What three improvements in your service sales process would increase dollars per repair order?

Do you have a quantified, complete and ongoing process to recruit employees?

What is your education and improvement program for your employees?

Have you quantified clear ongoing communications for the expectations of your employees?

 Do you have formal feedback channels for your employees?

Do you know the breakdown of performance for your used inventory by model, price range, conquest models, trade-in vs. acquisition, and return on investment for days in stock?

There once was a day where an auto dealer possessed a strong entrepreneurial spirit and skills necessary to start a successful auto dealership. Now, a dealer can no longer run his dealership by the seat of his pants. Today, he has to also have strong skills at running the business day-to-day. These skills will involves utilizing data derived from good operational metrics and questions.

There are a couple of old sayings in the car business. “The car business is a very forgiving business” and “Car dealers can make money in spite of themselves.” Both sayings are outdated and no longer true. If a dealer does not work harder on the business every day than he does in the business, he will quickly become a dinosaur.

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First of all, let me state that I think social and digital communication is fantastic! I think it should be a part of everyone’s day if you want to share, engage, market and tell your story. Social media and digital communications allow you to reach and connect with audiences you could never reach before and in ways you could never do before these mediums.

However, I also think for all the good that social and digital media do they make it easy to create unintended consequences, meaning it becomes too easy steer away from direct communications that are, and always will be, more personable and powerful.

Social media and digital communications for all their power and ease of use DO NOT replace in-person communications. They DO NOT replace a personal phone call. Social media should not replace personal hand written notes and cards. Social media should be used with, but not in place of, traditional mediums.

I see more and more people hiding behind a keyboard or a mobile phone scared to death to actually engage with people in an intimate personal way.  Yes, social/digital is easy and can even be preferred by many; but you are a human being and human interaction has dynamics that social and digital cannot replace.  Social media has made it easy for people to get lazy and avoid the work that has to be done. Social media does not replace selling or shaking someone’s hand, looking them in the eye and asking questions while utilizing empathy and compassion expressed through the human body.

I recommend you think like this: In-person first, phone second, and all other media last. Never forget the power of the human desire for connection.

Social media has connected more people than anything in history. At the same time it has disconnected more people than anything in history.

Do not get lazy and use social and digital media as an excuse to hide and be lazy.

Think of emotions that can be created with an in-person visit. Think of emotions that can be created with a personal phone call. Think of emotions felt from reading a hand written card or note. I promise you those emotions are higher than from an email or text. This crosses generations. Young or old, we are all people.

The whole new vs. traditional media argument is a farce. It’s a false argument. One DOES NOT replace the other but, when used wisely, augments and supports the other.

Use social media as a tool and not the solution.

You may use different tools to complete a job but your rarely use only one tool. If you don’t have all the tools you cannot complete the job. Use ALL your tools.

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BALONEY!

If you believe and allow this excuse from customers, you and your family will be eating Ramen Noodle soup your whole career. When customers tell you they want to think about it, they are really telling you they either have an unspoken objection or they are not convinced that you or your product and service is right for them.

The next time a couple tells you that they want to think about it, watch them as they get out of earshot of you. They will turn to each other and begin to talk about why they are not buying. Whether it’s an objection or a concern, it’s going to boil down to Money, Me or Machine. Money can be price, terms, payments etc. The Me can be you, the business or service reputation, or ability. The Machine is your product or service.

First, identify the customer’s possible thoughts and emotions. Customers have three forms of spoken and unspoken communication when they say, “I want to think it over.”

• What they are saying

• What they are trying to say

• What they really mean

To get past the smokescreen of “I want to think about it,” listen and understand what they are saying, what they are trying to say, and what they really mean.

When you hear the dreaded stall or objection phrase, don’t do what the majority of salespeople do. Do not ask the customer, “What is it that you want to think over?” With that phrase, you create a “Turtle Customer.” They are going to feel threatened or embarrassed and pull into their shell. It will make them feel scared, embarrassed or intimidated and they are going to run like rabbits.

When you hear the objection, the first step is to agree with them by saying, “Sure, I understand, it’s a big decision so you should take your time.” Next, move your customer to the future. The future does not carry the pressure that today does. “Mr. Customer, if it were a week or a month from now and you had given everything consideration and were ready to make a decision, do you think the No. 1 consideration or thing that had held you up from buying would have been the machine or the money?” Notice, I didn’t mention the “you” portion because the customer would usually be too embarrassed to say you were the problem. Most likely, if they are still with you, the problem is the product/service or the money.

If it’s the product or service, it’s easy to suggest alternatives that might fit what they are looking for. A salesperson without alternatives fails by a lack of alternatives. If money is the issue, then break the money portion down — Price, Payment, Down Payment, Monthly Payment, Term, Rates etc. Ask, “Mr. Customer what part of the money is the most important to you?” and then give the possibilities.

Next, move them to close. “Mr. Customer, in the future, when you are making your decision to purchase and feel good about the payments, would the payments be ____, ______ or ______?” Give stair stepped based options on whatever it is that is their main concern. Customers feel less threatened about options and feel like they are in control. The customer will feel less embarrassed in sharing with you what they can and are willing to do.

When you get the answer from the customer, use the “Up to” and “No more than” phrases to raise the customer’s thinking and commitment. Example — “$500 up to?” or “Now if you really had to, no more than?”

Notice that the art of closing this sale is not about closing, but about opening possibilities. You must open to be able to close. To get past the “I’ll think it over” objection, you must listen closely and try to really understand what the customer is communicating. Move the customer forward in a manner that lessens the customer’s anxieties, rather than increases them. All of these steps need to be performed with confidence and with an attitude of TLC – “Think Like a Customer.”

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Entertainment = Sales. Boring = Broke.

Your customers get their news from FOX News and USA Today, their food from drive thrus, their coffee from Starbucks, their money from ATMs, their exercise from 7- minute abs DVDs and their information from the Internet.

To be successful, you must provide the perception of ease in doing business, some semblance of speed, and high entertainment value. Your customers have been trained to pick up on “boring” at lightning speed and move towards “wow” in mass.

To provide high entertainment value you don’t have to be a comedian or a circus performer, but you must possess finely tuned people skills. All things being equal, customers will choose the lower price. Your job as a salesperson is to make you stand out so strong that it makes everything else pale in comparison. Your value raises the level of all other considerations. Never forget that you are the difference maker — period, end of story.

Weak salespeople play the price and blame game. Good salespeople concentrate on what they can influence. When you accept total responsibility for your success and failure, you move from blame to fame.

Let’s cover some ways to increase your entertainment value. The easiest way to stand out from the pack is to do the exact opposite of your so-called competitors. First of all, you must change your position of power and leverage by marketing for leads rather than begging for a sale from someone who randomly shows up.

Next, you must think about your first point of impact and how that adds or subtracts from your position. You must either change the location, wording or nature of the first meeting.

Evaluate your conversations with customers. Are you playing the same qualifying game that most salespeople do? When you openly try to qualify people financially and to see if they are ready to do business, you should realize in doing so that you are offending them and putting yourself in a position of beggar. Try giving a reason for people to qualify for you and your product. Stop qualifying them for financial data and make them qualify in a positive way that creates a mental take-a-way.

The take-a-way positioning creates scarcity, urgency, and provides you maximum leverage. Example: When you are profiling your customer in the beginning of the sales process, make sure to mention that you would like to ask a few questions up front to make sure you can assist them the way they desire and to make sure you and your product would be a good fit for them. It’s OK to tell someone up front that you and your product may not be the best fit for everyone and that you purposely don’t try to sell everything to everybody.

It’s a proven fact that customers who have to take certain steps or actions before purchasing create their own sense of emotional and psychological commitment to purchase. In simple language, you allow them to buy rather than trying to sell them. When people commit to something by their own choice, they will go to great lengths to do business, if nothing else but to save face. People don’t want to look bad.

You may be asking yourself, what does this have to do with being boring? Boring salespeople do what 99 percent of all salespeople do; they beg and pant like a dog for a sale and put their salesperson dunce cap on for customers to laugh at. STOP IT. You are more important and valuable than that. Salespeople with leverage and a different game-plan for everything — including their sales skills, people skills and marketing skills — never appear boring. Their actions attract and endear customers without having to be a comedian, huckster or circus clown.

Ask yourself again honestly if you are boring and if your sales positioning leaves your customer with a strong mental and emotional feeling about their experience with you. Do you stand out, or are you boring? Boring is usually fatal.

The post Are You Boring? appeared first on Mark Tewart.

What if we had decided not to take the trip? What if our fears had kept us from becoming certified divers years ago? I have never left a vacation saying I should take less vacations. I have forgone vacations before because of business or other concerns. I think that’s shortsighted thinking. Vacations allow you to have those great experiences and recharge your batteries. You seem to have a different perspective after a vacation.

Have you ever skipped taking time off because of a lack of money or time? Consider the mindset that creates a perception of a lack of time or money. To replace a mindset of scarcity and lack, you must first take the time to step back, evaluate your thoughts and actions that have caused the scarcity and begin to change those thoughts and actions. Often, I think we all get so caught up in day to day actions and challenges that we lose our best perspective.

Proper rest is one of the key ingredients to good health. Proper rest includes the mind as well as the body. A few years ago, I made the choice to get one more hour of sleep a night. The difference in my vitality of mind and body was remarkable. Waking up with a clear mind and body can change your appearance and first perception of you by a customer. When you recharge your batteries, you allow your mind to give and receive answers it cannot do when you are tired.

So often our culture promotes the theory of hard work. I believe you don’t have to associate work with being hard. The connection that links up in your mind about work being hard and a grind can be counterproductive. Every salesperson will say there are times when they are on a roll and in the flow and everything they touch turns to gold. I don’t believe those times are accidental. I believe those periods of seemingly easy success are attributable to previous thought and actions. Those successful thoughts and actions are easier to achieve when you are rested and clear of anything blocking your mind or body.

Our culture tends to lend a great amount of macho to the theory of hard work. The theory of resting, thinking and recharging your batteries is looked at as weakness by many. In the last several years I have found the quality of work is more important than the endurance. Bad thoughts and actions done over a longer period of time can never be as productive as good thoughts and actions over a short period of time.

Parkinson’s Law theorizes that work fills up to the time allotted. The more time you allow, the more you find to do. The question is what are you really doing?

I would invite you today to analyze your time in one hour time slots and observe your most dominant thoughts and actions. Secondly, I would advise you to be very careful to look out for time wasters. Time wasters can be people, processes and normal activities you may not be paying attention to.

How much time do you spend answering cell phones, checking e-mail and doing redundant tasks? You might be amazed at what you find. Create a plan to eliminate the things from your life that are not productive and add to your stress. Never forget to recharge your batteries. Maybe even go swimming with the dolphins.

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There are three things you should always listen to in this business:

1. What people say.
2. What people are trying to say.
3. What they really mean.

What People Say: What people are saying is they ‘hate’ to negotiate.

What People Are Trying to Say: What people are trying to say is they could do without the way auto dealers negotiate

What They Really Mean: What they really mean is they don’t want to make a mistake.

When people say they don’t like to negotiate, they are trying to say they don’t like the feelings of manipulation that occur when auto dealers overuse the ‘higher authority principle’ of negotiating. In other words, they dislike an improperly used desk system. You can still use a desk system, but you should decrease the back and forth, and keep the customer from feeling manipulated.

The first step is to have a written process that everyone understands. The second step is to make the process the same for each manager and each deal every time. The third step is to train your sales people how to negotiate, handle objections and assist the buyer to finalize a buying decision.

A written, detailed negotiating process that all sales people and managers understand is essential. Many dealerships seem to operate by the seat of their pants when dealing with the negotiating process. All proposals should be started in the same fashion. Although each deal can vary differently, as you begin to negotiate, they should all start the same way to eliminate emotional, bad decisions. Having a precise, written and clearly understood process can eliminate different managers from working proposals in completely different directions that confuse sales people. Sales people should know how to handle any and all objections, verbally and written, without having to think or blink.

Sales people often give a proposal and when a customer objects, their first reply is, “Mr. Customer, what figures were you thinking?” Unfortunately, that may be the worst thing that could be said to a customer. Asking a customer what they are thinking without verifying and validating why you asked for what you proposed, will bring an uneasy feeling to the buyer and usually result in one of two answers (both of which aren’t good). The buyer will usually respond with a low-ball offer or say, “You’re the sales person, you tell me.” In this example, a sales person has violated simple rules of negotiating by asking the customer to set the bottom parameter of the negotiations. This usually will create a shopper rather than a potential buyer, because they can no longer have confidence that they have reached their best and lowest possible deal. Confidence creates the feeling of ‘Hope For Gain’ and eliminates the emotional fear of making a mistake.

When a customer asks for a lower price, the sales person must validate the MSRP by explaining the value pricing policy. “Mr. Customer, the vehicles are value priced today, which means they have a much smaller and more reasonable markup than in the past, to eliminate the back and forth and bring a more realistic pricing value to the customer.” If the customer persists for discounts, you can offer the potential of an additional percentage discount on the optional equipment of the vehicle. This validates your MSRP proposal and allows the customer to have feelings of victory by gaining a concession while establishing the bottom parameter of negotiations.

All customers are looking to satisfy certain emotions. Knowing how to professionally negotiate can satisfy all the emotions a customer desires and eliminate the negative feelings of manipulation that are prevalent when many customers leave a dealership after a negotiating process.

The post People Still Love to Negotiate appeared first on Mark Tewart.

Tip 1: Recruit from want, not need. Make recruiting an everyday activity, don’t wait until you need it.

Tip 2: Have a strategy to recruit people all the time. To orchestrate a successful ongoing recruiting program you must first have a game-plan. Plan and develop a flow chart of your desired results. Write down the obvious. You must know why you are looking to create a recruiting strategy. “When the why gets strong, the how gets easy.”

Tip 3: Know who is in charge of recruiting and his/her qualifications. People must be educated on creating and orchestrating a strategy that works. Don’t leave the who and how to chance.

Tip 4: Newspaper ads – the Sunday paper is full of ads for sales people. If you plan on using help wanted ads as part of your recruiting, you must write the ad with the mindset of the good sales person you are looking to recruit. Use two age-old formulas: WIIFM – “What’s in it for me?” and AIDA – “Attention, interest, desire and action” when creating your ads.

Tip 5: Try using several avenues to recruit such as full color newspaper inserts, business journal classifieds, a banner ad on your web site, local colleges, Internet job postings, radio ads, military bases, job fairs and employee referral program. Never leave the vitality of your company to just one avenue of marketing. You must build a marketing web that has many marketing branches to attract good people.

Tip 6: Have an “ideal employee” profile. Know who you are looking for before you find them. When you’ve developed a precise guideline of what the perfect recruit looks like, you can begin your process with that in mind and then remove the emotions involved in interviewing.

Tip 7: Payment plans satisfy base-level needs of the potential recruit. Pay all recruits during training and guarantee them a living wage during their learning curve. Many potentially good sales people are not given the chance to ever enter the business. Lower the barriers of entry in order to find the best people.

Tip 8: Have at least 50 written interview questions. Don’t you show a sales person how to profile customers? Preparation is key to a good interview. Be ready with sub questions to the interviewee’s answers that allow him or her to elaborate and communicate in detail. A good interview will follow the 80/20-rule and allow the recruit to speak 80% of the time.

Tip 9: Test and profile a potential sales person. Anyone who has interviewed people has come across a great interview, horrible employee. A good recruiting strategy must utilize many tools to reduce the emotion and help to make a more logical and quantitative selection. There are many tools today that can be used to gauge the personality, sales aptitude, emotional IQ, intelligence and just about anything else you want to know about a possible future employee

Tip 10: Don’t hire people based only upon resumes. If you want to hire good sales people, recruit and hire based on talent and attitude and teach them the necessary skills.

Recruiting and hiring effectively is a continuous process that is both part science and being creative. Having a consistent plan will make your recruiting a success.

The post 10 Tips for Recruiting Salespeople Successfully appeared first on Mark Tewart.

In that meeting, I discussed the overall ineptness of dealerships in general in the above areas, and how that would provide a huge opening for manufacturers or industry outsiders to invade our industry. I outlined exactly how, by not updating their strategies and the urgency needed in these areas, it was costing dealerships millions of dollars in lost sales, future sales, stability and opportunities. I outlined exactly how, by staying in the dark ages and not progressing, this would bring about a moment of change that would forever change the landscape of automotive retailing.

I went further in that meeting, outlining exact specifics on what dealerships could do to put stronger emphasis on recruiting. I explored digital and SEO strategies that were light years ahead of their time that many dealers still do not practice to this day. I outlined various platforms to constantly recruit better people continuously, how to best perform ongoing training to maximize results, how to motivate salespeople and how to overall reduce the crazy turnover of salespeople that cripples our industry.

Needless to say, I was a little visionary and provocative in the presentation. I remember some of the dealers and managers thinking I was much too critical and harsh on the current state of the industry. I even remember certain attendees being angry with me for my presentation, stating that I was being unreasonable and talking about things that sounded like Star Wars. Several attendees told me that all you had to do was run an ad and salespeople would apply — and that would never change.

I am here to tell you: It has changed.

Our lack of focus, intensity and unwillingness to change in the areas of recruiting, hiring, training, motivating and retaining has created an environment where franchise laws are now endangered, manufacturers will be willing to once again step in and “show you how to run your dealerships” and industry outsiders have jumped in and will continue to do so. All of these things are occurring because the customers continue to change faster than we do and we are not willing to take responsibility for our mistakes quickly enough in this industry.

Let me ask you some hard questions:

• Do you recruit for people continuously, utilizing at least five different methods?
• Do you recruit utilizing multiple digital strategies?
• Do you reward employees for referrals of employees?
• Do you recruit from colleges?
• Do you utilize job fairs?
• Do you have a written “ideal employee profiles” of who you are looking for?
• Do you have 50 to 100 questions to ask a potential employee?
• Do you utilize more than one interview?
• Do you have more than one person interview each candidate?
• Do you utilize tools to bring logic to the process?
• Do you have a written training program for new hires and current staff?
• Does your training involve multiple methods?
• Do you recognize the motivations, or the “why,” of each team member to coach and motivate them differently?
• Do you perform daily coaching sessions?
• Do you perform monthly reviews?
• Do you promote and motivate goal setting?
• Do you practice the 3C’s? — Coach, Counsel, Cut?

If you are going to be an effective dealer, manager and leader, you must be measured in five ways:

1. Do you recruit and attract the right team members?
2. Do you educate your team?
3. Do you motivate your team?
4. Do you give very clear expectations?
5. Do you hold your team members accountable?

As it turns out, when I gave my speech years ago, I was spot on as to the serious nature of what was going on then and what could happen in the future. I am even more convinced now that the consequences for not taking action and having a massive sense of urgency in these matters will not only irreparably harm each offending dealer, but the industry as a whole. You are letting the wolves in.

Stop it.

For a free special report, “Stop the Wolves,” email me at info@tewart.com

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Nature loathes a vacuum. As soon as space is created it is quickly refilled. The same is true in your life. For you to grow and to gain you must first be willing to create space by giving something up. In the examples of yesteryear I gave above, I gave up those things through the force of the marketplace. Don’t wait for the force of the marketplace to make your changes. Most of the time if you are forced to make changes you will be too far behind the curve.

The Law of Familiarity states that you tend to follow what you are most familiar with. Change is not your natural choice even though change is a constant force. You will make excuses for the status quo. “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” is the most common phrase for excuse. In today’s marketplace, it may not be broke, but it probably is obsolete and ineffective.

The first step to change is to grow your change muscle. Start educating yourself daily to developing trends. Pay attention to the emotions and wants of the masses. The great hockey player, Wayne Gretzky said “I go to where the puck is going to be, not to where it is already.” Your job is to always be watching and asking the strategic question “What’s next?”

Don’t worry about being right or wrong or you will never change. The fact is that you will be wrong more than you will be right. Being wrong will create a path to getting it right. Staying put is no longer an option. Status quo is no longer safe and has now become a death sentence. The only thing you don’t know about status quo is your exact time of death. It could be swift or it could be long and painful. The world and the marketplace are changing at a faster rate than ever before. Change and information sharing is now instantaneous.

You spend most of your day executing the model and processes you have become accustomed to. I would invite you begin spending 20% of your day changing those things or at least investigating possible changes. No matter what you do, your toughest challenge will be just letting go. When you cling to your current status quo, it becomes a security blanket that provides you feelings of comfort and security. You must be willing to grow up every day and let go of your security blankets.

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