The 2 things we look at in sales are Ups & Deliveries, but 1 sneaky undercurrent that may be pulling your sales success down is your Write-ups to Sales percentages. Don’t be selective, write all of your customers up.
Tweak The Minors To Prevent The Majors
With the exception of your home security system, success is not predicated on a “set it and forget it” mentality.
Pilots don’t just set a Boeing 767 in the air and then go have a drink with the passengers until it’s time to land, nor do coaches design a game plan for tonight’s game and head off to watch it in the owner’s box. Waiting until you actually see the mountain before deciding to take action will be too late; deciding to stick with and run the same plays even though you are losing by 27 points-you might as well chalk it up as a loss; and if you decide to wait until the final week to declare you are having a disastrous month-the missiles are already in the silo. BOOM- your month is history! Whether you are flying, coaching, driving, or even selling, it is imperative that you tweak and make the minor adjustments to prevent a major catastrophe.
There is an interesting phenomenon in sales called momentum which is a lot like pushing a stalled car-it’s easier to keep it going than it is to initially get it going. The problem with momentum is once you take notice it’s too late and it takes weeks to get it back on track. Picture this: you start the month on fire- everyone you up seems to be buying from you. At this point, life is good; you are a lover of all of humanity- “Who could ask for a better job lead by the best managers in the industry today,” you graciously think. Two weeks into the month, your success begins to sputter, your efforts seem to backfire and a few days later you are standing outside in the Humbug Ring theorizing to the other unsuccessful salespeople how you started out leading the board and why you couldn’t even give a sale price loser away. You end the month covering your draw, yet not enough to cover your bills.
With the dawn of a fresh, new month you waste the next week holding court on the blacktop telling stories of last month’s trials of how all of the bogues (poor credit customers) seemed to attach themselves to poor little ole’ you-adding to your misery, you tell the story of the one laydown that would’ve pulled your month out. You tell the story about the little old lady with an 800 Beacon score, receiving $900 a month in social security retirement, she reluctantly agrees to buy a $40,000 truck for her prized grandson- the same grandson who couldn’t buy smoke off of a fire. Your “full pop” dream gets awakened to the harsh reality that you have no deal- thanks to your jerk F&I manager. “All they had to do was give her a raise,” you cry out!
Finally out of desperation, you decide to go back to work and you pull your month out- rolling into the next month, back on top, riding the wave of momentum once again. Up down; down, out; maybe, maybe not-the mindless momentum cycle goes on and on. Sound familiar?
Your luck didn’t end when you lost your lucky rabbit’s foot, as a matter fact, you were never lucky all. You simply got away from the 3 P’s: Processes, Percentages, and Production. One of the downsides to having success is a tendency to get away from the tiny tweaks, the fundamentals, which begin to build your cyclone of momentum. Because of your “experience” you subtly begin detour your Road To The Sale by skipping steps. As the days begin to blur from one day to the next, you no longer pay attention to your demo percentages, write-up percentages as well as your conversion ratios of sales to deliveries. As a consequence of skipping your processes and not tweaking and making the necessary corrections to your daily percentages, your results of production “suddenly” die.
Marketing guru Seth Godin calls the deterioration of success “a million tiny cuts.” One cut won’t hurt you, but a million cumulative tiny cuts will cause the life of your success to bleed out and die.
In sales everything counts. Always remember, tweaking the 3 P’s everyday, will keep the majors away. I’ll see you next time on the blacktop!
The Psychology Of A T.O.
One of the hardest things for a new salesperson to grasp is the significance of a T.O. The reason why new hires are resistant to the T.O. is because of its negative thinking behind the word “T.O.” The only thing good about the word “turnover” is when it has the word apple in front of it. Think about it, if sales were a sporting event, you would be deemed a loser if you “turned the ball over” consistently; but a salesperson is required to “turn over” his customers. When a salesperson is hired, they are taught to be independent and thick-skinned, but are fearful of looking weak when they have to “T.O.” a customer, thinking the meaning of a T.O. is “I’m too weak to do this deal on my own,” thereby becoming resistant to their manager. As a manager, if you want more consistent T.O.’s, you should change the psychology of a T.O.
· No vs. Know: I know this may be hard to believe, but occasionally a salesperson will be confronted with a resistive customer, a customer, despite all efforts, is unwilling to pull in the same direction as the salesperson. The customer is not always saying “No” to the salesperson’s efforts, he may be saying, “Know.” “I don’t know you.” “I don’t know what your motives are. “ “I don’t know if this is the right vehicle for me.” “I don’t know enough about your dealership,” may be some of your customer’s concerns. If you want to be compatible with your customers, think like your customers do and address their “knows.”
· Be double-minded: The thinking behind a T.O. is a different mentality for a salesperson versus a manager. To a salesperson, a T.O. should be thought of as “turning the objection.” The customer’s objections range from they don’t have time to not enough money for their trade, or a million other reasons why they need to “come back later.” The manager should think of a T.O. as a “teaching opportunity.” Turning objections over to a manager serves two purposes: The first purpose, the manager has a chance to turn a customer around and help put a deal together. The other purpose of a T.O. is an opportunity to teach “hands on.” The best form of teaching is by example. A manager also may be able to pick up on some quirky mistakes made along the way and coach the salesperson at a later time.
· All-time assist: To use the analogy of basketball, a T.O. is grabbing the rebound and keeping the ball in play granting another opportunity to score (make a sale). After spending time with a prospect, the salesperson is fearful of going too far and losing a potential sale, which means they don’t go far enough. Timid salesmen have skinny kids; you must exhaust all of your resources in an effort to make a sale. There should never be a time a customer leaves without buying and the salesperson says, “What if I would have…” Leave all of your efforts out on the blacktop. Keep in mind; you cannot lose what you never had. How can you “miss out” on a deal if you never had one in the first place? What does the commission pay for almost making a sale? When an objection is turned to a manager, who has no emotional attachment, he can assess the situation quickly and take action. Sometimes the customer is on the wrong vehicle, other times it is as little as reinforcing what the salesperson has already said; while other times the customer may not be emotionally compatible with the salesperson so a change of face is needed. A high percentage of missed sales are not due to price, but are lost due to an incompatibility with the salesperson (i.e. appearance, attitude, or lack of knowledge); price was merely a smokescreen. Often, a change of face or different personality can reveal the true objection and thus clear the pathway toward a sale.
· Strength in numbers: The Bible says there is strength in numbers; two are better than one. You cannot win a championship alone, it takes teammates; it’s called The Rolling Stones not The Rolling Stone; surgeons don’t perform open heart surgery alone nor do pilots fly 747’s to London solo; so why do you insist on selling alone? A T.O. is a joint collaboration of consultants and management in an effort to increase the chances of making a sale.
If you are a salesperson, before you place this article in a discreet white envelop and stick it under your manager’s day planner, remember it is your manager’s job is to equip you with the necessary skills in order to become successful, but it is your job to do the work and turn your dreams into reality. Put a different way, a coach’s job is to prepare you for the game, but it is your job to take the game winning shot. Players use all of their resources to win as a team, but are inducted into the hall of fame alone. Change the psychology of a T.O. and change your fortunes forever. See you on the Blacktop.
Like it or not, sowing and reaping is a real principle we all live by. Everybody on earth, every profession is under the law of sowing and reaping. The law of sowing a reaping can be either good or bad. For example, take the high school student who maintains a high GPA- staying up late at night in order to complete assignments and prepare for tests; that student will reap the benefit of being able to go to any school in the country on a full paid scholarship. Or take the athlete who, in the off-season, is working out-getting bigger, faster, and stronger while others rest on their past accomplishments; that athlete will reap the benefit of signing a huge contract. How about the top producers on the blacktop? Everyday they show up (on time), their attitude is optimistic and they sow a plan of action each day; they know the numbers and how many people they must get in front of each day in order to make a sale; they are disciplined and deliberate in their actions. That salesperson will reap the benefits of a great month.
On the downside, when you sow the seeds of missed workouts and begin to eat fried foods and candy, you will reap the benefits of having to buy bigger pants to encompass your growing waistline. If you spend every dime you make and max out all of your credit cards, you will eventually reap bankruptcy. What seeds are you sowing on the blacktop? If you are sowing a negative frame of mind, show up late for work, shortcutting your deals, and shortchanging your clients, you will reap a poor month.
Sowing and reaping is a test of faith; what if you sow good seeds and your month gets wiped out-even though you showed up on time and were disciplined to work your plan? Think of the farmers who do everything right-they prepare the soil; sow the seeds only to see a flood wipe out all of their hard work. Farmers get back on their equipment, work the land, and sow the seeds once again, because they understand they cannot reap a harvest if they don’t first sow the seeds.
When you have a bad month, don’t check out and begin to look for another career. Look at how far you’ve come. When you got into sales, you had bad credit, you owed everybody, and you drove up in a hooptie with a cracked radiator-not to mention you were past due on your rent. Today, you’ve restored your credit and bought your first home; you have a nice car that you can now valet park and have a little money in the bank. Everything you’ve accomplished is not by accident; you’ve reaped a harvest because you sowed the right seeds. Even though you couldn’t see immediate results, you had faith to sow the seeds in hopes of reaping a turnaround in your life.
The conditions are perfect for you to begin to sow the right seeds and when the weeds of negativity and doubt begin to creep in, yank them up by the roots. Sow the right seeds with the right intentions, and reap the crop you deserve. I’ll see you next time on the blacktop.
If you want to dominate in your sales career, diversify your investment. It’s been advised to never put all of your eggs in one basket, spread out the risk to minimize your loss. Diversify your customers and maximize your month.
Being Ben Comen
Ben Comen was always welcome to be a member of any sport-as long as he accepted the position of ball boy or water boy- that is until Coach Chuck Parker welcomed him with open arms to be a member of Hanna High School’s cross-country team. Ben wasn’t the most talented nor the fastest runner- as a matter of fact, he comes in dead last in nearly every race. What others run in 21 minutes, Ben takes twice as long. The irony is when many of the other runners have finished their grueling 3.1-mile run; they hump back to run along side of Ben until he finishes his race. Why in the world would any team keep the worst runner? Because Ben has what few do. Ben has heart. Ben Comen suffers from Cerebral Palsy- a disease that doesn’t interfere with his intelligence, but wreaks havoc on the muscles in his body. His left arm is permanently fixed as if he is leaning on a table; his unbending left leg awkwardly swings forward as he goes lumbering through the uneven terrain. Ben’s feet can only skim the terrain and because his muscles do not signal his brain fast enough, even a small twig can cause Ben to fall, smacking the earth with a thud-his head usually the first to land. Bloodied and battered Ben goes through the cumbersome process of hoisting himself up-his tattered body covered in grime, dirt, and grass mixed with perspiration. Despite his fatigue, fear, and injuries, Ben always gets up.
How does a young man run a race that he cannot win? The simple answer is Ben Comen is not trying to beat others; Ben Comen is trying to beat himself; the only thing he is trying to beat is his own time. What if we did the same thing? What if instead of measuring ourselves against the competition, we measure ourselves against ourselves? What if we tried to beat our own time; what if we tried to exceed our own goals; what if we realize the only person that is standing in the way of our future is ourselves. Are you tough enough to finish your own race?
Do you have the heart to hoist yourself out of your own ashes? There are plenty of reasons why we shouldn’t finish the race-Lord knows Ben has plenty of them.
Is it that you can’t or you won’t?
You only lose the race you never finish. Don’t ever give up…Finish Strong.
Click for a short video of Ben Comen http://youtu.be/FGeHXP24E0E
AutoSuccess Magazine Podcast
http://traffic.libsyn.com/sellingsuccess/AutoSuccess_228_-_Marsh_Buice.mp3
In this week’s podcast, we discuss how you can set yourself up for success on the sales floor. Sadly, selling has become a lost art-form. Many sales people approach their profession with a “just enough” attitude, giving very little to their profession. With just a few disciplines-along with a different mindset, you can learn to become superior in a talent pool of mediocrity. See you next time on the blacktop!
(or you can find it on www.autosuccesspodcast.com, or on iTunes by searching “autosuccess”)
How Much Skin You Got In?
If you were afforded the opportunity to work at a dealership under the guise that you must first invest 25, 50, or even $100,000 would you pony up? If you did elect to invest such a large sum of money, would you even be the least bit curious as to what kind of return you would earn on your investment? Once you’ve finished your latest Sportscenter analysis of last night’s game, trek into the bowels of your dealership and meet the ones who have literally put their money where their mouth is. Technicians don’t have the luxury of showing up Day 1 to a pile of broken vehicles and a war chest of tools in which to repair them. Aside from having to amass hundreds of hours to achieve certification, technicians comply with the creed that they first must invest before they earn a return. Not only must they possess the right skill sets in order to work on YOUR CUSTOMER’S vehicle, they must also invest in the right tools to fix them. Master technicians have little interest in holding water cooler conversations, often flinging an answer to your questions with a simple “Yes” or “No” before scurrying off to find the right attachment to their impact wrench. A tech’s time literally is money; if they are talking, they aren’t turning; if they aren’t turning, they aren’t earning. There’s little margin for error either. If they do it wrong? At the very least, they’ll have to fix it for free, but at most, a faulty repair could cost your customers their lives. It ain’t easy being greasy.
If a technician is willing to mortgage today’s comfort zone in hopes for a better future; if the dealer signs his name attesting to millions of dollars of inventory and liability, walking the razor thin line of poverty or wealth; if your family has pledged to support you and your new sales career by stretching a week’s wages into a month long struggle; if these people are willing to push all of their chips in and invest, why aren’t you? Sure you can pay the godfather of the dealership to take your yearly sales certification courses; sure you can snooze in the captain’s chair of your favorite SUV on the used car lot; sure you can swear to your manager you’ve been in the back helping a customer, when instead you’ve been on a 2 hour lunch; sure you can fib and pull one over on a customer in an effort to cover your draw. You can cheat, slight, and duck, but in reality the only thing you are cheating is your future. When you don’t invest in today, there can be no better tomorrows.
Athletes can’t just show up for the playoffs; lawyers don’t appear when the jury deliberates, nor do actors win the Academy Award by happenstance. At one point in time, each one was benched; side-bared, and debunked from the leading role, but in spite of all of the failures, setbacks, and defeats, they kept on investing knowing one day they would receive a return. Everything’s at stake, how much are willing to invest?
Ain’t No Forest Without The Trees
It takes one tree with a purpose to begin a forest; with purpose, one tiny seed, mixed with the right conditions, can spring forth a magnificent tree. As a tree stretches upwards, it also stretches outward with its mighty branches dropping seeds of opportunity onto the fertile ground below. It takes time, along with the correct mixture of seed, soil, and sunshine to produce a forest; equally it takes the same ingredients to make a successful organization. It takes the right soil of culture to enrich the seeds of each of its members to germinate into the oaks of success. Soil and seed are essential, but sunshine is critical; without sunshine, growth is impossible. Mentorship is the sunlight lacking in today’s dealerships. The automotive industry has many trees, but few forests; our problem is not a lack seeds; but a lack of mentorship, failing to provide optimal conditions for seeds to become forests.
Traditionally, the sales profession has a competitive sink or swim philosophy; a manager blows up a new salesperson’s raft with airs of hope and promises, then abruptly pushes the new hire out to bravely fight the rolling seas of dejection and regret alone-eventually succumbing to the mounting pressures and wearily falling into the rejection- infested waters of the black top. Dealerships are guilty of having The Popcorn Bag Theory; we want results with little effort. In theory, we want to take the wrapper off (hire), toss the bag into the microwave for 2 minutes (training), and then expect to yank out a hot steaming bag of fully popped kernels (results).
Mentors are the light needed in an industry that has survived utter darkness. The reputation of the automotive industry precedes itself; buying a car is thought of playing a game at a local carnival. As a customer, you know the odds of winning are slim, but maybe, just maybe, with a little skill and a lot of luck, you may win the 3 foot tall Scooby Doo. If we desire to see a change in our industry, we must begin the chain reaction of developing seeds into trees. A forest then begins when each tree reciprocates the action and gives of itself. Mentoring is no respecter of person and is not denoted by title; you don’t have to be an owner to mentor a manger nor do you have to be a manager to mentor a salesperson; instead mentoring is denoted by character and experience. Mentoring can be thought of as Men-tour, taking a prodigy on a tour of the trail you have blazed in the path to success. Keep in mind, you cannot mentor someone who has no desire for self-improvement; a mentor has the ability to show him or her which road to travel, but it is up to the mentee to drive the bus. Now that we have the seed, let’s discuss how to fertilize and bring its potential into reality.
- Visualize before seeing: In football, have you ever wondered why a quarterback throws a bonehead interception right into the defender’s hands? It’s because the QB was not throwing to a receiver per se, he was throwing to a spot; he anticipated the receiver being at that spot at that exact moment. Equally, a running back doesn’t wait to see the hole open up on the line of scrimmage; he must instead anticipate it, because he has only a fraction of a second in which to run to daylight. An effective mentor designs goals for a mentee to run to; he doesn’t wait to see the hole of opportunity open, instead he anticipates the opening and hits it in full stride. Opportunities favor the prepared mind; as a mentor prepare your prodigy to envision the end results of his goal and run to it. A goal is a destination; success is a journey.
- Passion: Mentors know in order to reach the upper realms of success, a mentee must have the passion, and the emotional bond to reach his aspirations-all the while becoming deaf to the nay Sayers and blind to inaction. Benjamin Franklin once said, “If passion drives you, let reason hold the reins.” Passion is the chemical reaction to reasonings and opposition as baking soda is to vinegar in a 3rd grader’s volcanic science experiment. Passion is the fuel to propel one’s vision into reality.
- Walk before running: A toddler doesn’t quit learning to walk after falling down once; he pulls himself back up and tries again. Through repetition, he learns how to balance himself and eventually begins to take small steps, which lead to larger ones until the child becomes tornadic-running at full speed. In the beginning, a mentee will be full of vision and passion, eager to take on the world. A mentor must train his mentee as if he were training for an iron-man contest not a sprint; success is a long, arduous race. It takes years to become an overnight success.
- Use a scope: Scopes work better on rifles than they do shotguns; instead of using the pray and spray technique blasting a variety of pellets hoping you hit your target, put a scope on your rifle and bullseye your goals by focusing on your strengths. A world-renowned heart surgeon doesn’t perform knee surgery; although he has generalized knowledge of other parts of the body, he specializes in one. On specialized knowledge, Henry Ford lamented, “Tell me why I should clutter up my mind with general knowledge, for the purpose of being able to answer questions, when I have people around me who can supply any knowledge I require?” As a mentor, help your mentee focus on their strengths and become specialized instead of wasting time and energy trying to shore up their weaknesses.
- Become a fisher of men: A fisherman catches for himself, while a fisher of men has the ability to teach what he knows on the condition that the mentee pays it forward. Mentorship is the pollination of life’s learned lessons -cutting through the underbrush of failure and creating a more efficient path to success.
Someone asks, “If a tree falls in the forest and no one is around, does it make a sound?” The answer is yes. Falling trees are sounding out everyday falling due to inadequate roots, rotting with doubt and are anemic to bearing fruit. Mentorship provides the nourishment of guidance required for a strong foundation; develops the antibodies of encouragement to ward off self-defeating thoughts; and fertilizes the fruit-bearing seeds of opportunity. A tree doesn’t struggle to be a tree nor does it worry about its position in the forest. A tree is known by the fruit it bears; when a tree gives of itself and bears fruit, it ceases to become a tree and instead grows into a forest. I’ll see you next time on the blacktop!
**Originally printed in AutoSuccess Magazine
Can They See You?
Fearful of the Boogie Man, my 4 year old daughter asked me to escort her into the garage so she could get a soda. As we approached the door leading into the garage, I opened the door and stopped. Sensing I was still with her, she opted not to turn on the garage light and waded into the darkness in search of the refrigerator. Once she realized I was not with her, she immediately stopped and called out, “Daddy?” “Baby I’m right here,” I called from behind the door. “But I can’t see you,” she demanded.
Even though my voice could be heard, she needed the assurances of seeing me in order to totally feel protected; those who you lead are no different. Employees need to feel protected; they’ve got to know [and you’ve got to show] you’ve “got their back.”
Managers are heard; leaders are seen.
