What are your goals for 2013

Set some goals:
Here is an idea of what my goals look like for 2013:

1. Family
-Be a positive role model for my wife.
-Continue to work on my communications skills.
-Be available for my 32 year old daughter.

2. Health
-Log and ride a bicycle for 1 hour a day (stationary when traveling). This will set me up for 7,500 miles by the end of the year.  Also complete either a century (100 miles) or a multi stage 150 mile ride.
-Have a goal of 175 pounds. Guess I am going to have to eat right.

Professionally
-Two years ago I logged a new Fact each day of the year. Last year my Blog was started. Over 8,500 pageviews in 2012.  My goal is 10,000 page views for 2013.
-Read a book each month.
-Carry with me a CD/Video of other professional trainers such as Zig Ziglar, Joe Verde.
-Video Tape myself once a month to monitor my improvements with a goal of being a better communicator.

Communications and Your Tone Equals 38%

Yesterday we discussed the words you say as 7% of communications. Today we will discuss the Tone in which you say the words.  It's always easy to say something, but if you want to be heard there is more to it.
Has anyone ever told you "I can't believe that you said that", not so much what you said "but how you said it".
That is the tone. Tone could be inflection, or tag lines. So next time your trying to be heard think about how your saying the words that are coming out of your mouth.  So between the 7% words, and 38% tone, now almost half of the people can really hear what your trying to say.
To make it over the top, check in tomorrow to find out what is most important!

Words Equal 7%

When we look at communications we see that there are three areas that we can document. The words we use, our tone, and our body language. Let's look at the words we use.
We can use the most descript words to perfectly describe a situation, and people still do not understand what your saying.
It all seemed so simple.
How frustrated do you become?
Remember that only 7% of communications are the words that you say.
Check in tomorrow and we can discuss the Tone and how much that affects what people hear....

Merry Christmas

With hopes for you and your family a wonderful holiday season.
Merry Christmas, and Happy Holidays for however you enjoy the season.

Hope, Peace, Joy and most importantly Love.
Funny how those are the same as an Advent Candle setting...

Empathy

When thinking of Sales the key word that comes to mind is Empathy.
Empathy-the ability to understand another person.
Not to be confused with Sympathy.
Sympathy-when you feel like that person.
Or Apathy-someone that does not care.
If I understand what your thinking and why,
can I not sell you something.

What did you learn today?

I find it so amazing that there is so much out there to learn. Think about it, you can learn a new fact, or you can learn something new about yourself. You can learn something about your past, or learn something about your future. You can read a new book, or learn something about your spouse or best friend.
Be excited to learn new things!

What did you learn today?

Reciprocity and Empathy

Reciprocity and Empathy combined in a sales process is the ingredients for success!

Og Mandino-Scroll One

Following up on yesterday!
Scroll one-Today I shed my old skin which hath, too long, suffered the bruises of failure and the wounds of mediocrity.
Today I am born anew and my birthplace is a vineyard where there is fruit for all.
Today I will pluck grapes of wisdom from the tallest and fullest vines in the vineyard, for these were planted by the wisest of my profession who have come before me, generation upon generation.
Today I will savor the taste of grapes from these vines and verily I will swallow the seed of success buried in each and new life will sprout within me.
The career I have chosen is laden with opportunity yet is fraught with heartbreak and despair and the bodies of those who have failed, were they piled one atop another, would cast a shadow down upon all the pyramids of the earth.
Yet I will not fail, as the others, for in my hands I now hold the charts which will guide me through perilous waters to shores which only yesterday seemed but a dream.
Failure no longer will be my payment for struggle. Just as nature made no provision form my body to tolerate pain neither has it make any provision for my life to suffer failure. Failure, like pain, is alien to my life. In the past I accepted it as I accepted pain. Now I reject it and am prepared for wisdom and principles which will guide me out of the shadows into the sunlight of wealth, position, and happiness far beyond my most extravagant dreams until even the golden apples in the Garden of Hesperides will seem no more than my just reward.
(continued tomorrow the 19th).

The Greatest Salesman in the World - Og Mandino

From a personal prospective, one of the greatest  books ever written. It is so full of truth, and nuggets of gold if you are seeking to better yourself, your life, your standings.
It was written over 50 years ago, and reveals hidden truths about people.
Just read the Scrolls Titles and tell me they do not catch your attention.
Scroll #1-Today I begin a new life.
Scroll #2-I will greet this day with love in my heart.
Scroll #3-I will persist until I succeed.
Scroll #4-I am nature's greatest miracle.
Scroll #5-I will live this day as if it were my last.
Scroll #6-Today I will master my emotions.
Scroll #7-I will laugh at the world.
Scroll #8-Today I will multiply my value a hundredfold.
Scroll #9-I will act now.

Time Organization-The Basics

     Wow, where did today come from? Where did the weekend go? It's not like I didn't know it was coming. None the less here I am sitting in the airport, writing a blog that should have been written yesterday.
     Where does our time go? What's worst is if you don't plan, time disappears, it's just gone and we can't get it back.
     Well keeping in mind that Christmas is one week away, and I am a few weeks into a new job I forgive myself this time....
     I lost track of making a good list with some big projects in my lap. It is a great time to reset some of your basics. I believe that the basics are what makes us good at what ever our chosen employment is.
Remember "The Best" do the basics better than anyone else.
Looks like it's back to the basics for me!
Have a great Holiday Season!

Who's Agenda is it?

Several years ago I was conducting lease training in Colorado. It was a store that I had spend several years working with in various areas of the dealership. I had been visiting with the dealer for several months about the values of leasing. Ford had a very strong lease program, and the dealer could make some big points with the manufacturer by increasing their leasing percentage.
I convinced the dealer that we needed to do an off site training. We would split it up over a couple days and cover all the Sales Team, (sales managers, finance managers and all sales staff).
There were 4 sessions 1/2 day each. I was excited, really felt that I was bringing the dealer what I thought they needed.
I got to the last session and felt great going in, about 3 hours in a 4 hour session one of the managers raised their hand and "sank my ship". He was not bought in, it affected his pay, and he wanted none of it.
How did I miss that guy, %^#%^^^ I was not happy... with myself (I am my own worst critic).
After a short time the dealer approached me and thanked me. I told him I had let him down. That I didn't hold up my end of the deal. That I did not get my agenda across....
The dealer quickly reminded me that the training "was not about me, or my agenda", oops! The dealer went on to say that his agenda had been satisfied.
Never forget that we all have agenda, we need to be empathetic and give, give, give to satisfy our customer.

And remember it's not about you.

Caring

People don't care how much you know

until they know how much you care!

 

What does that look like in your business?

Two Types of Questions

  Let's just venture down this road for a few minutes. Have you ever wondered how to ask effective questions? How do you get the information you really want from a friend, co-worker or customer?
  There are generally two types of questions that would be Open Ended and Closed Ended Questions.
Closed Ended Questions generally have a one word response such as Yes/No questions. They can be very direct, and most of the time are easy to answer.
  However Open Ended Questions are the lifeblood of a great salesperson. One question could hold the key to the sale answering many questions with one answer. Let's look at an example in the car business. A great Open Ended Question would be "Mr Customer, what is the payment on your current vehicle? What ever the answer it will give me a great deal of useful information. Let's say the customer says he is currently paying $350 per month. So what do I get from that:

• I know a bank loaned him money.
• I know what kind of payment he is comfortable with.
• I have and idea of the price range of the new vehicle.

  So some very important information as you can see.

How can you apply that to your job?

Just Looking

The greatest conditioned response that we all hear and use.
How many times a day to you hear this? This is by far the most common response we hear when we first approach and greet  customers. These two words frustrate, annoy, and aggravate us. We feel even worse when we actually greet them and they still breeze past us with "Just Looking". They take a few steps and pause as they glance around the store. Do you have ...? We shake our heads and imagine responding, "if you want ... Why did you say "just looking"?
Let's understand what is happening.
Just looking is a conditioned response that we all learned from the first time we went into a store with our parents. Every one say it, and we thought it was helpful to keep all those Salespeople away.
The other thing is the customer is "just looking" until they decide to buy. The customer must make a buying decision, then he will be doing more then looking, he will be buying.
Treat every customer like a buyer, because they are all buyers, they may just not buy from you.

First Impressions

  It's always ,to remember what happens when we meet someone for the first time. Weather it is business or pleasure we all have assumptions that are made without real thought.
  Think about this, people make up to 11 assumptions within 45 seconds of meeting someone for the first time. These assumptions include: intelligence, level of success, education, knowledge, and expertise to name a few. That means we have only one opportunity to make a great first impression. If we fail to make a positive impact immediately we will have to work harder to establish trust and credibility. Customers impressions are influenced by our clothes, thew way we speak, and how we look and behave.
  Its easy to be distracted and we forget the importance of the critical first moment. We may also be tired, frustrated, or not in the proper frame of mind for some reason. The result is lacklustre first impression. We all know the customer is important yet we forget to demonstrate it.

Maintain the attitude that the customer is really important.

Demonstration Ride

In my many years in the Auto Industry I always find it amazing that we continue to short cut the Sales Process.  I sold cars a few years ago I may have made the mistake of short cutting. I may have rushed a few things.  My goals were simple sell one car a day.  One sold car a day gave me 20 delivered each month. I can not recall delivering a vehicle without a demo.
I am always amazed when I hear a manager ask that question "has your costomer driven the vehicle", in the middle of negotiations, and the salesperson bows their head. And without saying a word I know it is going to be a hard road to the sale.
I was afraid to deliver a vehicle with out a demo ride, sometimes twice.
We have all heard the customers reasons for not driving:

• I drove one up the street..
• They are all the same, just need a price on this one...
• Just want the one in the paper...
• I have the same thing now, just getting a newer model..
• Its for my wife...

Is that what you hear?
What do you say?
How do you get them to drive a vehicle?
Here is what I used in the past.
(always check with your managers before you use a new close).
Remember timing is everything..(no reason to make it difficult, find a close that works for you)

Say:"I understand":

• "You drove one up the street let's verify that this vehicle has the equipment you requested".
• "They are all built the same let's verify that this vehicle has the equipment you requested".
• "You want the one in the paper let's verify that this vehicle has the equipment you requested".
• "You have the same thing now let's verify that this vehicle has the equipment you requested".
• "It's for your wife let's verify that this vehicle has the equipment you requested".

If this does not work for you, find the right close that fits your personality.

You need to get them in the car every time..

Manager TO

Don't you find it funny in the Automobile Industry that customers will tell us what they want, and we still can't close the deal....
"What, you mean that customer on my showroom is here to buy a vehicle"? "Boss they are here just looking for a washing machine"... (Really)... HUH!

• Maybe we have not asked the right questions?
• Maybe we never looked them in the eye?
• Maybe we forgot to leave our bruised attitude at the door?
• Maybe, Maybe, Maybe..

Customers if approached properly, with respect, and with professionalism will respond.

Some of the BEST start before they ever talk to the customer.
One of the ones I recall best is John Lukehart, from 20 feet John just had it in his step. His hand was out in front  from 10 feet away from the customer, a smile on his face, and a strong greeting.  It was greatness, I loved it (and I had been selling for over 10 years).
"Hi", "I'm John", "I just wanted to thank you for spending a few minutes with ....", "did you have the opportunity to drive the ....". "Was it the right equipment/color"? "What was it about the vehicle..."
Before you knew it the customers were laughing, and spilling every single detail of what they wanted.  "Well I wanted blue, and needed my payment around $$$, and I will put a little extra cash down to help get the payment where we need to be".
It was a show, it was entertaining and it was fun to watch!!!!
Is that what your TO looks like?
Do People want to stop and watch the show?
If not, brush up baby!
Attitude, and a strong hand shake is a good start.
Know what to say!
Customers want to end the stress of buying, they just need to find the right Person, Place, and Vehicle.

Importance of Training

Having spent close to 30 years, and hundreds of Automobile Dealerships visited there are several observations that can be made about our training efforts.
As history will have it most of us old timers started our careers like this:
"Welcome aboard", "now here is what I want you to do", "if you'll go back in the break room we have a video viewer and a stack of cassettes (or CD's/Videos)".  "I want you to listen to them". "When you get done come find me and we will get you taking some live ups". Maybe exaggerated a bit, but accurate in some of the stores that I visited.
Most often those videos are from the manufacturer, a breakdown of each vehicle. The engines, tech stuff.  Hours and hours of video. No test, some value. But is that enough?That will help them get started and may sell them some cars, but will not be good enough for long term success.
Another is"welcome aboard", "here's what I want you to do", "Bob has been here quite a while (6 months) and he is going to show you the ropes", "as a matter of a fact he will help you when you get a customer to close the deal".  Half a car Fred, he lives for green peas...
What would work best?
First, have a solid written hiring process. Hire the right people up front for better success.
Next, your dealership has a selling process, it may not be written, and it may not be the same for each manager (big concern). You need to find consistency, all the same.
Next help your new hires with some organized training. A workbook, role playing, interaction with a seasoned veteran. I have seen 2 day classes, not much you can do in two day, 5 days and up to 2 weeks before we cut them lose. 5 days is a good start.
"What we do after is what is most important"

• Do you continue to follow up with consistent training?
• Do you sign in?  
• Do you follow a workbook?
• Do you role-play?
• If you do a training class do not bring up any thing other than training...
• Who attends?
• Think about it, you can invest 30 minutes in the morning each day to iron out those wrinkles..
• Set your self up for success!
• Have a written Training Process!
• Follow up!

Happy Selling....

Biggest Expense

What is the single biggest expense in the Automotive Industry?
Turn-Over, there I said it. The practice of hiring and firing over and over....
I believe if you put a pencil to the numbers you will agree. Reguardless if it is number one, or two you will see that it is  very expensive expense on both our bottom line and more importantly our time and energy.

*Let's just walk through the typical hiring process:
It starts out in a meeting, hey we need 2 more sales people. Simple enough says the Sales Manager, we will get right on that. So lets just say we do jump right on it, we go to our saved files and pull up our previously used hiring add, we may call Career Builders or other sites, we may even call a Consultant to assist in our process.
We interview, and hire 10 people, two fail the drug test, two no show.
We start our 5 day with 6 potential employees.
About the day two we get a no show (do we need a no show, no call?)..
The 4th day we send them out to shop other dealers... (Someone does not come  back)..
So now we have 4 people that completed their inital training.
Depending on your hiring process we may or may not have sold a car yet.
We have paid expenses for drug screening, aptitude test, hiring and interview personal, HR time, benifits, payroll and so on...
But now we  have four greenpeas on the floor, what's your survival rate 50%?
There is your two people.
How much time and money did it cost you?
How can we do a better job of hiring the right people?
Always remember that when interviewing a canidate, that is that they are at their very best if they want the job. Most of the time if you have reservations that they may not be the Right fit for our industry.
We don't have to hire them just because they are breathing....

Communications and Body Language Equals 55%

Who ever thought that listening would involve watching someone speak?  I am hear to tell you that it is the most important aspect of being heard.
We talked about Words being 7%, and Tone 38% in the previous two posts. Now lets discuss the Body Language that you display when your talking.
55% of Communications is how you carry your self when talking. Have you ever talked to a depressed person?  Is it difficult to keep with the subject.
Listen to a passionate speaker and they will get their point accross.  Their hands will be moving, and they will be moving with a purpose.
Check it out... Watch a Zig Ziglar and see what I mean!

2013 Goals and Commitments

Have you documented your goals or commitments for 2013?
Here is where I am right now..

For my family:
1. Give my wife a Positive Affirmation each morning to start her day.

2. To display my love as a husband should each day never forgetting that she has given much to me, as I should her.

3. To be the best father to my 32 year old daughter that I can.  Be available to her when she needs.

For my health:
 1. Ride my bicycle 1 hour each day (on the road ride a stationary).  The bottom line for me is 7,500 miles by the end of the year.  Complete a Century (100 mile) ride or a multi stage 150.

2. I am commited to continuing to lose weight with a goal of 175 lbs.  My doctor will love me for this, and my wife will love me even more.  This can only be achieved by eating right.  This should also improve my overall health.

Professionally:
1. Each year I commit to doing something different.  Two years ago I logged a new fact each day.  Just random facts. 2012 my Blog was started.  My Blog has had over 8,500 pageviews around the world.  This year I will continue to blog with a goal of 10,000 pageviews by the end of the year.

2. Continue to read a book each month.

3. Carry, Listen and Watch other top performing professional trainers such as Joe Verde or Zig Ziglar. 

4. I will video tape, and review myself once a month with a goal to become a better commuicator.

Customer Perceptions

Auto industry customer complaints come from two things:

• Attitude
• Communication

There are many other things that could affect your effort. But how can a customers perception of our attitude possibly be thought of as bad. We all know the story of keeping a positive attitude, and how that is maybe the single most important aspect of selling.
 
How is your attitude on Monday morning after a short weekend? Or Thursday morning after a long Wednesday night out? Remember that your attitude is your choice.
 
What about communications? Having spent time in hundreds of car dealerships still find that communications is the single biggest organizational concern in virtually every dealership that I have visited. How hard is it to communicate?
 
Bottom line is this: we all have gaps in our processes but a positive attitude and good communications could go a long way in repairing customer perceptions.