Venturing into visionary change is the cornerstone for true leadership transformation because leaders cast out their sight way beyond the reaches of mediocre shortsighted managers who wait for immediate opportunities and/or problems to occur so they can pounce. These are the fixers and they usually bring people down along with the store. Too little too late. No, true visionaries reach out to the future and envision ideas for improving business, making their team stronger and envisioning a dealership synergy that bonds the team together like Bondo. This is when everyone looks in the same direction instead of each other with finger pointing.

You must visualize your dealership and your people growing to their fullest potential. Then, constantly begin seeing the multitude of improvement areas you can affect in delivering them to new heights every hour, every day, every week, every month and every year. Your reward for this ‘corporate approach’ to running your business will usher into your store a galaxy of opportunities in so many measurable ways. In doing so, you will be certain to experience business enhancement in every area of the store! I was having this very conversation last week with Barry Moore who is General Manager of Haley Automotive Group’s Buick/GMC in Richmond Virginia. Barry is a 35-year automobile veteran and a well-respected visionary leader in his dealership, his State Association and General Motors Corporation. I so respect Barry’s perspective that I asked him if he would consider putting his responses to our conversation in writing with permission to use in this month’s article.

The following is Barry’s take on our industry’s current status:

Circuit City, Blockbuster, Montgomery Ward, Borders and Paine Weber are just a few names we all know but are no longer in business. These once thriving and very successful businesses have been replaced by industry leaders who were more forward thinking; entrepreneurs who could “see” and anticipated changes taking place.The automobile franchise system as we know it will need to change or we too will be a part of the above list. It is this writer’s opinion we are stuck in a rut, we continue doing business the same way. A lot of dealer advertising is slap stick and unprofessional, we don’t encourage our employees to be more professional, pay plans remain unchanged and the hours worked are unforgiving. Finding young motivated employees who want our industry as a career has become near impossible.

We continue to advertise in a way that sometimes can be considered underhanded. We continue to do the same old things but our customers have gotten smarter, our customers are more educated, our customers want a system that is quicker, easier and not as convoluted. That is why our customers are turning to the Internet and could be why we feel threatened by companies like Tesla. Not only do we need to change the way we deal with our customers we need to attract and retain professional employees. We need to adjust to what potential employees of today are looking for; competitive perhaps salaried pay plans and hours attractive to today’s families and of course benefits.

We are all aware of the divorce rate, drug use, and sometimes even dishonesty within our workforce. It is vital to understand what is important to today’s workforce in order for our industry to stay competitive. These changes cannot and will not work on an individual dealership basis; they must be sweeping changes industry-wide, a cooperative effort. We cannot depend on the factories to help us; in fact they have their own self- interests; to stay afloat themselves. They may want to discontinue doing business with us the way it is presently done.

We need to protect ourselves; we need to be smart, forward thinkers. We need to revolutionize the way the car industry does business. It is imperative we take the needs of our customers seriously, that we change with the times. We all need to listen together to what the employee and customer is asking for. We must seek out new ideas, try different techniques and believe it is the customer who knows best. Take their lead; understand how they want to buy a new car. What do they want when they come in for service? Does anyone walk in asking for the best gimmick or what does the fine print say? We need to ask our employees how their lives can be improved and then try to figure out a way to incorporate reasonable ideas into our businesses.

Of course change is slow, at least change that is worth something, change that will last. By cooperating, trying new ideas, bantering back and forth, initializing new ideas through beta sites, exchange of information, trying and failing and then trying again, a new way, a better way, a progressive way of doing business will emerge. Let us not forget the many failures of people like Thomas Edison or Marie Curie whose persistence and pursuit of their ideas ended up changing the world. We must pursue change in our industry; we do not want to witness our demise but the rise of something new and better. The franchise dealer has to become better if we are to survive.

We are hearing that Americans are underemployed and that not everyone has to go to college? Politicians running on platforms saying that we have to get small business going again. The Dealer is doing that each day. What do we have in place to help people see the opportunities in the auto business? Does the community college teach classes in auto sales professionalism?  NO. How about how to be a parts counter person providing great business service? NO.  Do the professional head hunters say your background fits the car industry? No, because we are known as the car business. Everything matters so how we project our image and job role to everyone everyday is critical for this mind shift. The politicians that want the money for their campaign need to know the value of the franchise dealer and the entire team needs to help that person holding a local, state or federal seat understand the value we all play in the business world. I ran for State Senate in Virginia in 2015. During that time, I had my eyes opened as to how some thought of our industry and how little they knew. If you have time, consider getting involved in a campaign and or running for office. If you win never forget where you came from and what you are fighting for. Everything matters!

Barry goes on to say, the franchise system is confused with the consumer and they may see us as a middle step and would rather buy direct. If we spend every day leading, being faithful to our employees then the consumer may have a better feel for what we do for them and the manufacturer. The franchise system was set up for many reasons and one was to give great service to their client’s. We have looked at the old road to the sale and said why are we doing the same old process when consumers are shopping 18 websites? We have implemented an 18-minute sales process. We want the customer to get what they want right away if they come in to the service drive or the showroom.

Over 120 years, our industry has been loved, hated and thought of as court jesters. When we stop and say we are in the car business what does that mean? Have we isolated our industry into a reputation that we are over here away from all the professionals? Does everything matter in your business each day? Each day at our store we have a culture that everything does matter. Time is a commodity and we want to attract, satisfy and retain the best employees and customers. The entrepreneur can do this each day better than a fortune 100 company. Maybe that is what parents and college kids need to know about our business. Train your employees to be in the community and care what is happening to others. If they do, it will be respected and seen and people will come to get their auto needs satisfied with you at a higher rate than saying $1 down or having balloons all over the lot.

As I finish my thoughts I get very excited because I want everyone to win and be their best. I want my words to be so powerful that it changes anyone that is struggling in our business today. I want that consumer to stop thinking we are the enemy and to trust our relationship like we are partners. I want every manufacturer to look at the dealer and their team as true partners and ask questions and then listen to the answers. I know I am not that powerful in writing but in my passion I live it every day. I believe if you have the vision of what a great business would look like and how the employees need to treat each other and clients then everyone wins. The franchise dealer and the benefits are then clear. Make sure the culture is clear and built with a solid foundation. Don’t walk in and break the foundation every 12 months thinking someone else will get you there. Work with the people you have on your team. In their eyes, when we met them they wanted to join our team, don’t give up on them. Find Veteran’s or even some cleaned up felons that need a hand up not hand out. Make a difference as a professional because being faithful is the baseline of life. Coaches and all members on the team need to trust each other and build each other because as one unit of course the consumer will feel and experience the benefit of that franchise dealer.

Barry certainly brings up some intuitive angles for all of us to think about. A particularly common area which contributes to a downturn in dealerships and business failures is complacency. According to Julian Birkinshaw, a professor of strategic and international management at London Business School, “Occasionally, a genuinely ‘disruptive’ technology, such as digital imaging, comes along and wipes out an entire industry. But usually the sources of failure are more prosaic and avoidable — a failure to implement technologies that have already been developed, an arrogant disregard for changing customer demands, a complacent attitude toward new competitors.”

To the casual observer, the collapse of quintessential companies may seem to come out of nowhere, but usually there are glaring signs things are amiss. Plummeting revenue, complacency, leadership changes, panicked shifts in strategy, sudden layoffs/attrition and store closings can all land a company on the corporate deathwatch list.

Of course, predictions of corporate death don’t always come true, and some companies are able to step back from the ledge. Not long ago, electronics retailer RadioShack was in dire straits, having filed for bankruptcy, which resulted in the closure of thousands of its locations. But the chain revamped its remaining stores and is mounting a comeback, aiming to turn itself into the go-to store for “do it yourselfers” seeking parts for their electronics projects. Apple and IBM both made impressive corporate turnarounds despite being written off as irrelevant at one time.

Yet for every success story, there are also those companies that will never be able to get off life support. They might linger in zombie form for a while, but eventually, these doomed companies will fail because of their refusal or lack of appreciation for change. It is said, the only people who like change are wet babies. William James was right when he said, “That which holds our attention determines our actions”. When our attitude begins to change, when we become involved with something, our behavior begins to change. The reason that we have to make personal changes is that we cannot take our people on a trip that we have not made. Too many leaders try to be travel agents instead of tour guides–they try to send people where they have never been. We give them a brochure and a “Bon Voyage!” And off they go and we wave to them, and we ask them to tell us how it was when they come back. A tour guide says, “Let me take you where I’ve been. Let me tell you what I have gone through. Let me tell you what I know. Let me show you what I’ve experienced in my life.”

There will always be challenges for the need of better accountability towards daily business practices, and there will be a continued ongoing need for more flexibility and latitude in making those tough decisions. Some of the lingering old bad habits of retailing obviously (and sadly) are hanging around, but are quickly getting pushed aside by a new style of business and relationship development messages. Sweep away those old cob webs and musty areas and make room for advancements in these new professional protocols. We find ourselves smack dab in the middle of an industry-wide state of transition towards new ways in conducting and operating businesses. With this new improved transition comes awesome opportunity for some who seek it. For those who don’t embrace them, well, these are ones who will in the very near future, be saying; “how do we keep getting blown away by our competitors?” Warning before you continue; this requires constant ‘work in progress.’ The journey however, makes the destination a pretty cool place and is mostly filled with good memories. Become the change artist your operation needs.

To gain a competitive advantage and promote sustainable, profitable growth, organizations need to take a holistic approach to CRM and develop bold strategies to win, know and keep their customers. We all know technology is important but technology “only” results are paled by solid people skills. This will only occur with professional process training and implementation of a disciplined approach. All else fails or offers semi-success.

Notwithstanding notable success stories, we have been witnessing a paradox trend. While utilizing and relying upon CRM software, many organizations lose sight of their customers. Their attention centers on ratios and efficiency gains thus, becoming a prisoner of Analysis Paralysis. They focus on single channels, ignore back-end integration needs and get only a limited view of the customer, resulting in missed opportunities and a negative customer experience. Organizations often automate existing bad processes instead of redesigning their customer-facing operations based on the new and improved best practices. It is clearly the time to refocus on what CRM processing is really about, “the customer” in order to achieve the results CRM has promised to deliver.

No business can exist without customers. No matter how good a product is or how efficient an organization operates, without customers there is neither growth nor profitability. Customers make the purchase decision. They bid the price up or drive it down depending on the value they perceive in a product or service. The customer decides which way and when he wants to interact with a dealership and how he/she wants to explore and ultimately buy whether it be online, over the phone, in a store or through any other channel. It’s the customer’s perception of everything a company does and represents that creates an image of its people, brand and dealership and eventually determines its success or failure as a business.  Thus, it is ever so critical for every corner of your store to be radiating these new “relationship building” elements or your store looks just like everyone else and consequently your business will ultimately hinge upon ‘best price’ issues. We have to give customers real reasons to do business with us way beyond just the money factors.

This is why successful companies build their business totally around the customer. They know who their most valuable customers are and they understand their needs and buying habits. They target and tailor their offerings and personalize the interactions with their customers. Successful companies design and continuously improve business processes across their entire ecosystem “including suppliers and channel partners” to respond quickly to changing customer needs. They strive to become fully customer-driven, deliver superior customer value and consistently provide exceptional customer experience across all customer touch points. They make every effort to build long-term relationships with their customers, recognizing that keeping customers is more profitable in the long run than winning new customers over and over again. Essentially this is what CRM without compromise is about.

More than ever, Relationship Building training is so critical to organizational success. What we expose our team members to is exactly what they will become. What have you done lately to grow your team to new heights in learning new things? After more than a decade of harnessing cost-savings potential to remain competitive in an increasingly difficult economy, driving growth has replaced cutting costs as the most important goal for most dealerships. Hence it becomes no surprise that CRM is back on the agenda of many top executives.

To stimulate new growth, wise dealers are beginning to explore a more disciplined approach to exploit untapped opportunities and make the most of relationships with customers. They seek new ways to increase wallet share, deploy new channels, penetrate underserved segments, reach out to new customers and enter entirely new markets. To ensure sustainable, profitable growth CRM processes must take a leading role in the value chain, enabling organizations to excel not only across, but beyond customer touch points and rapidly adapt to changing business needs.

When price and efficiency were the driving forces of competition, many companies focused on increasing their competitiveness by improving their internal processes. Continuous, standardized processes were the key to new efficiency potential and for survival in the market. But the spotlight has since shifted to relationships with customers, employees and partners. Internal efficiency alone is not enough to guarantee market differentiation and competitive edge. Success is no longer determined only by price and product, but by well-designed sales channels and well understood relational sales and service processes.

At first, companies focused on CRM for a single department or function. They often turned to niche CRM software vendors to not only support but be their CRM effort. However, while sales productivity, call center efficiency or marketing effectiveness may have improved, progression to effectively managed customer relationships was often prevented by an internal focus, deployment of tactical departmental solutions and inadequate integration of front-office and back-office systems. Successful dealerships have realized that integration along the entire process chain is the only way to gain a lasting competitive advantage. But so far, few companies have used this profitably, redefining their own strategies and reshaping business processes for a truly customer-driven enterprise.

More and more organizations are beginning to realize that overall CRM success depends heavily upon how they treat their employees. Hiring good people, setting high goals and expectations, providing needed resources, training and developing new skills, and holding people accountable for results seem to be critically important ingredients in organizational success.  Employees who work in organizations with these qualities often exert more effort toward organizational goals, report higher levels of job satisfaction, and are more likely to stay with their company over the next three years than employees working for organizations that do not possess these qualities.  And, for the bonus round – their customers love them and keep coming back.

Although the ingredients for organizational success appear straightforward, few companies appear able to implement them on a consistent and comprehensive basis because many managers believe they do not have time to interview potential employees properly, much less set clear expectations and develop skills. Nor are they much better at holding their employees accountable for results, as many managers do not take the time to conduct weekly one-on-one performance much less annual reviews. If research vibrantly shows us that these leadership activities are related to an organization’s ability to attract and retain key talent and in turn provide us with superior results, and if managers are not doing them, then what other things are they spending their time on that could possibly be more important?

CRM Process Leadership is the required key in order to grow people, processes and customer base. Never a better time to re-invent yourself, your people and your store than today. Say goodbye to the status quo and hello to new processes and relationship principles that will encourage and sustain overall dealership growth.

Here are a few required Skill Sets for Team Member Development to ensure your growth plan will succeed and provide an enhanced Customer Experience:

CRM Team Member Development Training Requirements:

Superior phone skills

Phone guides for every occasion

Personality and behavior alignment understanding

Best practices in objection handling

Securing appointments with high show ratios

Empathy for customers

Discipline towards mission goals

Interviewing/questioning skills

Listening skills

Email/text grammatical and construction skills

Follow-up integrity

Value-added customer experience enhancement

Overall communications skills

Negotiating skills

Product knowledge

Customer-centric attitude

Teamwork

These are just a few of the essential elements required to operate a well-honed operational customer experience. Target these elements into your development program and you will receive an abundance of engaged employees, happy customers and your business will become stronger.

Personally, I like a BDC although I prefer to call it a CRE or Customer Relationship Experience. The theory here is it is easier to “thoroughly” train and develop a 3-to 8-person team than it is to train 15 to 20 people towards excellence. Sort of the Navy Seal vs. Battalion theory. It offers up tight controls, accountability and a discipline towards mission fulfillment. I know the term BDC has a negative connotation attached to it due to the multitude of dealership failures over the years but I conclude, as many others, that it will become the future of our business.

Most of the BDC failures in the past were due to:

Management not appreciating the value proposition

Lack of process training

Lack of leadership overseeing project

Lack of policy and procedures

Not knowing how to pay the team members,

Thinking the costs were prohibited

Etc., etc.

Too bad the failed dealerships did not take the time to investigate deeper the critical elements to drive a successful BDC venture. As the saying goes, you get what you inspect not what you expect.

If you are interested in receiving a few enriching ideas that you can employ now send me an email chuck@impactgroupcrm.com and I will get them out to you. Also, if you have any questions or success stories I would love to hear about them.

One of the most popular things I do in helping dealerships grow is through what I call the Total Dealership Inspection and Analysis. This one to two-day event (depending upon the size of the store) unveils a multitude of profit and cost containment areas for improvement. It inspects; current processes (including all customer touch points), BDC capabilities and/or development, website analysis, HR, employee aptitude and offers up improvement suggestions which otherwise are generally overlooked. Key strategies and problems are identified by interviewing most of the dealership’s team members. The theme here is “you don’t know what you don’t know” and to have an outside experienced eye examining the business provides new and refreshing business enhancements.

These interviews provide an immense amount of facts, processes and the identification of a strategic plan towards the improvement of; various profit enhancers, problem identification and resolution ideas, sales and service training needs, management and individual employee assessment, leadership assets and liabilities, enhanced processes and procedure suggestions as well as cost containment ideas. Additionally, a huge benefit through this process is I have the opportunity to encourage, mentor and provide leadership ideas to team members leaving them more engaged. This subsequently unveils a strategic process road map for the dealer to give consideration to regarding implementation.

“THIS IS THE NEW WAY WE ARE APPROACHING BUSINESS WHICH ALLOWS US FLEXIBILITY AND ADAPTABILITY FOR ANY MARKET CLIMATE.”

Main Benefits: Precise reporting and identification of areas for improvement and an implementation plan for increased profit, processes, team member development, cost analysis/containment, lower attrition through stronger team synergy and business growth.

Recently, I performed this engagement with two different stores in two different states and I want to point out the difference in the two to see if you can more clearly understand what it is you have to do to truly make a difference in growing your store and your team members.

Before I begin this process with a store, I hold a short managers’ meeting to unveil everything we are about to do. Main Point: To obtain buy-in and commitment for these managers to ensure the processes are fulfilled.

On the surface, both of these stores understood the importance in having good business processes in order to more effectively operate their dealerships. They both understood that because of the market, if they were to thrive not just survive, they simply had to adopt new ways of doing business that added differential in the way they did business vs. the way their competitor dealerships did business.  In fact, both stores told me that consumers could purchase the identical product they each sold at over 7 to 9 competitor dealerships within a 45-minute drive. Therefore, we all agreed that it would be wise to differentiate or make their stores stand out as to attract more customers and employees by giving them something different and better. Sure, but how do we do it? After discussions revolving around how this process worked and the benefits to be derived, both stores invited us in to perform the analysis.

After the analysis was complete in both stores and recommendations were made, I was invited back to put on a sales and management workshop. In the first store, we had 15 sales people and 5 managers split into two different classes, morning and afternoon so we had coverage on the floor.  Everyone was engaged and on point with the pre-agreed upon curriculum material. There were great questions, great roll playing, and great enthusiasm for the newfound business elements that just make perfect sense. Everyone was eager to learn more and to begin utilizing the techniques/processes because they could clearly see how these business practices were going to give everyone a raise in pay. The managers from the first store actually said they were very impressed with the sales team and the maturity in which they learned the material. Similarly, the sales team mentioned that they were really impressed with the questions, answers and synergy submitted by the managerial team. Wow, we have connection going here. You see, the managers and sales professionals were all on equal turf in the workshop and working as a team by embracing new techniques they know will make themselves, each other and the store better and that is a good feeling of hope because they are learning new material together as a team. And, everyone had some fun along the way.

Now, the first day of the second store’s workshop rolls around and we have 16 sales people and 5 managers signed up, again split in a morning and afternoon session. The enthusiasm is the same, the questions are similar, roll playing and eagerness are all the same except for one huge thing. The managers at the last minute decided not to attend either of the sessions. When I would look out to the tower it was the same old thing; look busy even though you’re not and perhaps a little “I know everything anyway why have someone teach me something that I know anyway?” The GM made a fatal mistake by not requiring that the managers attend. Hum, see something wrong here? You bet you do.

Here is the way the story unfolds. The first store implemented and accepted the responsibility of fulfilling everything to the tee and as a consequence began converting opportunities into sales, closing percentages went up because they knew how to communicate to customers in new ways not explored before, the team worked as a team enjoying the new processes, follow-up calls now meant receiving appointments for a re-visit, the internet department now had new ground upon which to stand on and the improvements took hold. Great first month, better second month and the improvements keep coming because this store built these new processes into their new store “culture.” Meaning; this is the new way we are approaching business which allows us flexibility and adaptability for any market climate. One team looking in the same direction. Word got out that there was an enhanced place to work too.  Candidates for positions began clamoring for jobs within six months.

The second store’s sales people were very excited for about three weeks and then reverted back to doing whatever they felt like. Why? Because there was not one manager who could mentor the team much less even speak on or answer questions regarding the process involving these new techniques. Four sales people left after three months and business is just about where it was. The managers are continuing to berate sales people into submission and killing their spirits.

There is a vast difference between manipulating and influencing others. Manipulation deliberately uses and abuses other people to act out your own intentions. Influence, on the other hand, requires buy-in on the part of the person being influenced and a willingness on their part to support your goals. You cannot influence another without that buy-in taking place. People respect other people who have the power to positively influence others and get things done. Manipulation is the dark side of management. When you manipulate others, you give away any chance of gaining respect from others. It doesn’t matter whether the manipulation is overt or covert; manipulation has no role in a true managerial skill set…influence does. A simple review of Dale Carnegie’s age old best-selling book, “How to Win Friends and Influence People” expands on this.

Process implementation of “anything” is only as good as the culture the managerial ‘discipline’ of the store makes it. So many managers believe they are “doing all the right things” by belonging to the right clubs, associating with the right leaders in the community, attending highly visible community functions, or belonging to the right professional associations. That’s just the persona. It’s not the person. Unfortunately, there are way too many managers with “manufactured” images rather than real ones. People can tell the difference. When you peel off the veneer, you often find a different person hiding behind the “professional” image. Sometimes the real person underneath isn’t a very nice person. Leaders who command the greatest respect are those who are “themselves” 24 hours a day, seven days a week. There are no Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde surprises with a real person. You will command a deeper level of respect when you let your human-ness show. It demonstrates to others that you are not afraid to let your true colors show and your vulnerability is open to all.

Respect is something you must earn. You cannot demand it from anyone. The only person you can demand respect from is yourself. Demand that you become a better manager to the individuals you are charged with developing. When you respect yourself and others, people will respect you in return. Examine how your actions can enhance your ability to influence others and earn their respect, not just demand it. A title does not automatically give you respect. Also, if you expect subordinates to be accountable you must exhibit accountability yourself and inject it into your dealership’s culture as well.

Speaking of accountability, one of the biggest challenges I see in our industry is obtaining accurate information regarding up traffic, effective and consistent follow-up and identifying owners in a timely fashion as they visit to name a few. Why?  Feel free to disagree with me but most stores tell me it is because the sales consultants do not take the time to enter the guest information.  Whether it is because they are lazy, don’t want to admit a guest left without purchasing (and experiencing the berating of a manager), lost the guest information or simply forgot. We live in a data-driven world and as a manager, data should be your number one priority for information in order to grow the store. Imagine this for a moment, I recently discovered a company who has developed a super cool device that acts as a receptionist, sales manager and “up-counter” all in one and can connect this data to your existing CRM. It will tell you who they are when onsite and identify where all guests and employees are at all times while on campus. Plus, they allow a dealership to “push” ads to visiting guests like “Thanks for visiting with us today Mr. Johnson, we want to let you know we are having a 10% discount in accessories and tires today” or text messages like, “Mr. Johnson, your car will be ready in service for pick up in 5 minutes.” To make it even sweeter, it allows a dealership to send texts and emails to guests not only during visits but also as a follow-up after they leave and even sell ads to surrounding business like Starbucks for a discount on a cup of coffee while the guests are waiting in your service lounge. Wow, technology is really coming along to enable managers to do their job even better.

As a leader, the choice is to either stretch yourself towards new horizons or stay put. Staying put is not the way of a real leader. If you would like to receive more information on developing a process culture or the latest technology component shoot me an email requesting either and I will promise to get it out to you. Start your day tomorrow with the thought that you can and will develop an enhanced dealership culture for yourself, your people and the dealership. You will be glad you did.

This response leads me to ask a few dealers & managers how they felt about this.  Everyone I spoke with agreed. One, in particular, a well respected North Carolina based General Sales Manager by the name of Jason Pies whom I have known for many years was excited about expanding on this very subject. His observations from first-hand experiences over his 27-year career lead me to share with you these observations from a perspective everyone reading this could align with.

Below, Jason provides some solid input observations from the “Manager’s” standpoint as well as the “Leader’s” standpoint on this article’s title “Enthusiasm on fire is 10 times more effective than knowledge on ice” as it relates and exposes problems as well as solutions to Don’s response – “people.”

All too often “Managers” hire perceived equals or subpar individuals for fear of being “outshined” or outdone by their new recruits. This creates a mediocre team when the “Manager” is just managing to recruit an average team and keep them in this status.

“THIS WILL PREVENT THE ETERNAL HAMSTER WHEEL OF HIRING AND MOVE TOWARDS GROWING A POWERFUL FORWARD THINKING TEAM.”

Jason held a totally different mindset when approaching the management vs. leadership role in his recruiting efforts. As a leader, I wanted the most talented individuals he could find. He did find it better to hire individuals without experience as a result of the subpar standards of most dealers in the industry creating bad habits and a “slacker” culture. Slacker meaning: smoking on premises, leaning on the receptionist tower or anywhere else in the store, walking in the showroom while on their phones or tablets, not addressing the “Guests”(not customers) properly and promptly, hawking the lot while hanging out in the “huddle of doom,” chewing gum while carrying their Taco Bell cup to the closing table and so on. You get the picture. Creating a culture of professionalism was and is priority number 1. This was easier with “green” recruits or extremely pliable and humble inexperienced individuals.

You must find that WINNING is a habit and talent which is apparent in the individual’s successes in their personal and prior professional lives. If, as a recruiter, you look to spot these individuals you can create a store full of energy and enthusiasm, not to mention a group of soldiers championing the leaders cause. This is the quickest way to increase volume, CSI, and gross. Recruit winners and lead with direction and culture that sustains itself subsequently launching the team to want to be bigger and better. If you are hiring winners they are naturally competitive and the rest takes care of itself. Keeping in mind the direction and culture MUST be in place prior to hiring these winners. And, you must have a well thought out and professional “onboarding process” to attract the best of the best else, you will continue to attract average people. Well above average onboarding facilitates well above average employees.

Most dealers have “Managers” who hire the enthusiastic individual and considers themselves beneath the manager. This is why the manager chose them in the first place. Right?  The Enthusiasm lasts around 90 days at most. The sales consultant came out on fire and produced sales and the managers helped them because the enthusiasm is contagious and the consultant usually leaves the manager no option but to smother them…yet. This “Enthusiasm on Fire” is very powerful and produces sales for most new hires entering the industry as has been the case since I can remember dating back to April of ’93. This Enthusiasm results in knowledge, experience and a “know all” mentality which ultimately turns to “ICE” or “Knowledge on Ice.” Now that the salesperson has greeted 40, 50 or 60 guests they feel they have seen it all and can pre-judge situations in advance of knowing facts. They can “horse trade” with the guest on their trade in and the price of the car they are selling. They can quote payments because they know the “20.00 per 1,000.00 financing rule. They can tell them all about how the manager is going to try to make money but they will get them a good deal. This “knowledge on ice” sickness is usually the end of the “90-day wonder.” The managers then get upset with the salespeople for not being as good as they are or once were. The salesperson is no longer enthusiastic as a result. This is the cycle. Then the General Sales Manager must go recruit more subpar individuals to beat down and do it all over again. We all know that if a salesperson has 2 or 3 bad months in a row there is a 90% chance they will find another way to make a living and move on.

Hire winners, teach and train culture, treat the salespeople as professionals because that is what you need to see them as. Pay them accordingly for performance, monitor that performance Daily, Weekly, Monthly and Yearly with reviews offering your assistance/guidance to make them better than before. Harness the enthusiasm and promote the energy it brings. This will prevent the eternal hamster wheel of hiring and move towards growing a powerful forward thinking team.

Jason has in his personal experience, been able to raise the bar at multiple franchises. The latest being a Lexus store which was producing between 75 to 85 new cars a month in 2012 and most recently produced 300+ new cars in December of 2016. This was a concerted effort in hiring and developing winning, dedicated and enthusiastic salespeople. Over four years we were able to build a team and train them to be part of the mission to continually win the day, the week, the month. Our belief in each other and the dedication to culture resulted in a very powerful enthusiastic group which supported each other in all conditions. We ended our meeting with “WE CAN, WE WILL” and always did. We did not miss a single objective in the last 16 months even though some of our objectives were set at 120% of the previous year’s same month.  Somehow the belief in themselves and the team always prevailed over rainy days, slow market conditions, state fair week, winter months with short days and other less than desirable conditions.  Our mission was to uphold culture and keep the days fresh. Be present 100% of the time. The “present” term meaning be aware and on point always. In lieu of the lack of experience some may have had, they showed up, set a daily goal and charged like Rhinos through the day to accomplish the necessary results required to make it happen. This is the enthusiasm on fire methodology. After all, sometimes your best is not good enough. You must do what it takes to succeed or, in other words, simply follow through.

Jason delivered some fairly potent observations and corrections in dealing with team member and dealership development as well as the realignment of managerial attitudes towards new and current hires. The biggest problem I see as preventing improvement will be determined by the self-esteem and forward thinking of the manager. I personally experience this at some dealerships.  I suggest a few good ideas, processes or training initiatives and the one manager who “thinks he knows it all” will be the one who is not of favor.  Not in favor of increasing 20% revenues, not in favor of increasing team member skill sets, not in favor of stronger everything?  Why? Well, the reason lies deep beneath the surface.  He/she does not want to be superseded in knowledge, experience, rational solid development and frankly one of the biggest…insecurity. These managers will very consistently keep you, the store and its people down. Time to switch horses if the aforementioned describes any of your managers. Don’t be a prisoner to a 1985 business model in a 2017 marketplace.

I think the following pretty well sums it up. The South Carolina Basketball Coach, Frank Martin was recently asked by a young reporter the following question; What’s more important to you when you coach and teach, your players’ technique or their attitude?  His reply was; Attitude comes first. We have to have guys who believe in our mission. They have to believe in what we want to do and when they believe we can show them the technique.

Always be improving with everything you do then sit back and watch the difference it makes. If you could use a couple additional ideas in developing your team, shoot me an email.

Sporting Clay Shooting is one of my favorite things to do. It is like golf but with an over and under shotgun. If you have ever done it you know the joy of getting outdoors with a few buddies, smoking a cigar, laughter, the smell of gunpowder and the exhilaration and high fives by “dusting” clay pigeons. This past weekend, having super nice weather here in Virginia as we were shooting we stopped at a couple of stands whereby the trapper sends out a pair of clays simultaneously. It is called Simo. They fly so fast you have to think very quickly as to the best position and timing of the shot to make. It first appears easy but it is actually quite difficult because your senses are so magnified in making sure you hit both birds going in different directions that you sometimes overeagerly shoot too quickly or too late at one and/or the other bird before formulating your plan. If you are patient, however, you can actually shoot both birds with one shot because there is a point in time where both birds actually intersect as they cross on their pathway in different directions. This requires calm, confident patience in carefully planning your shot to get both birds. I track the birds with both eyes open and when I see the intersection getting ready to occur I close my non-shooting eye, take aim and at that precise moment and take action by pulling the trigger. It is quite rewarding to see both clays reduced into “dust” with one shot. The formula; having vision (seeing it happen before it happens), planning, patience, timing, and action.

This reminded me of many dealerships out there where the formula gets mixed up so often it resembles a three-ring circus. Action, action, action without the vision, planning, timing, and patience required to afford their people the skill sets to accomplish their tasks and consequently their goal attainment.

When you don’t know what to do, try doing something.

Breakdown of the formula:
Vision:
A number of years ago, when she was still alive Helen Keller who was blind at birth was interviewed. The interviewer asked her “What could be a more de-habilitating handicap than not having your eyesight?” Helen Keller quickly responded, “Oh, that’s easy, it’s not having vision.” You see, sometimes you can see more with your eyes closed by envisioning what and how you want things to happen.

Vision is a cornerstone for true leaders because they cast out their vision beyond the reaches of mediocre shortsighted managers who typically wait for opportunities and/or problems to occur. True leaders reach out to the future and envision business getting better, their team getting stronger and envisioning a dealership synergy that bonds the team together like super glue. That is when everyone looks in the same direction instead of each other. Some of you know that my roots were well planted in Corporate America with Harris Corporation way before the car business. The thing that struck me about that work environment, first, as a salesperson and all the way up to an Executive was that we were trained every month and sometimes weekly to sharpen our leading-edge abilities, knowledge and self-confidence. We had to because our greatest foe was IBM. We owned the markets we wanted because we were provided with the ‘extra measures’ to become our best.

“IF YOU TAKE ACTIONABLE STEPS TO MAKE CERTAIN IMPROVED CHANGES TO YOUR STORE, YOU WILL REAP AWESOME BENEFITS FROM DOING SO.”

As an executive I was promoted quickly several times because of three things; I hired right, I trained my people right and showed care and concern for them all the time. That’s it, plain and simple. Like the tide coming in, when my people rose to new ranks so did I. Because of my background, I have been given a gift of seeing things in a dealership way beyond just being a ‘car guy.’ Certain aspects of dealership business are readily recognized and changes implemented to repair and/or improve. Why is it we in this industry don’t have the same vision? Ready, shoot, aim comes to mind. Due to the changing marketplace and economic conditions, statistics now indicate that in 1-2 years, half of what a salesperson knows about selling is obsolete for the current changing market. And, some of us are still using old material and the same tired word tracks. This will give you progressive deterioration if left unchecked along with high attrition, lost deals, team disintegration and lower profits because your team members are not growing. Put on a new pair of glasses and enhance your vision by taking your team to new heights of skill achievement. Do not confuse short-term motivational ‘raw raw’ locker room sessions, product or technical skills with sales training enhancement. None of these help your sales team or service advisors skillfully sell or build customer relationships or your managers become true leaders.

The pressure on business managers to deliver consistent, improving financial results is relentless – and often unrealistic. We must visualize our store and our people grow to their fullest potential. Then, constantly begin seeing the improvement areas to take them there every hour, every day, every week, every month. Your reward for this corporate approach to running your business will be rewarding in so many immeasurable ways. The galaxy of opportunities will surprise you.

Planning:
The challenges of modern business are so intense and ever-shifting, managers need all the help they can get. Most managers will spend more time planning to advertise than providing their all-important team members with ongoing ‘high quality’ personal skills training. I know a few GSMs who are much more concerned about what color balloons go up on the lot Saturday morning than about the care, well-being and personal growth of their team that produces (or not) his or her income every month. Go figure. I see dealers all the time spending $20,000-$80,000 a month on advertising and at the end of the month cannot, for the most part, give a clear analysis of the ad sourcing to determine the real ROI on their expenditure. Like buying swamp land in Florida in my book. What is the unrecovered ad expenditure? Guarantee it’s a ton of money that goes wasted and they don’t even know it. Am I just not getting it or would it make perfect sense to consider taking a small percent of the ad budget each month and place it into a ‘value building effort’ to increase the abilities and skill sets of your team members including management? Call it the “synergy fund” and let it build value then plan event training. You know, major league baseball players make millions of dollars but still get into the batting cage and take grounders or fly balls to improve their skills. Most, if not all of them, have personal trainers to fine tune those abilities even further. But many dealers are too busy counting deals and complaining about gross profits instead of utilizing their vision to see there are better ways to grow and develop their business.

Mr. Trump gets it and refuses to be pulled down by old-school paradigms which are perpetuating the continuing madness in our industry. Every dealership is saying the same things. Most websites look the same. And, most dealers do nothing to improve the skill sets of their management team to promote solid leadership. Nothing limits achievement more than small thinking! When you start your car, you should know the direction you are heading. Therefore, let your passion pull you forward and your planning give you direction for processes and training which endure the down times as well as the up times.

Patience
It takes time and effort to heal a sick or wounded work environment. In laying the groundwork one must first recognize that a commitment towards making improved changes is most important. Without this, nothing happens and everything defaults to business as usual very quickly and you lose credibility as complacency sets in. I do not agree with the notion that in order to create an improved effective change in the way you do business takes a long time. In fact, it can occur very quickly given a few cornerstones like empowering your people, sharing the plan with the team and giving them the economic results as they occur so everyone knows where they stand. Secrecy breeds fear and worry. It sends a signal to your people that you do not trust them or think they are incompetent in absorbing the information. Next, is investing in your people by investing in training and skill development which ultimately makes you more money. Investing in your people over an extended time frame says to them “you are important to me and a valued asset to this organization.” The moment you clearly recognize that you really do achieve a competitive advantage through your people, everything else falls in place nicely. Loyal customers are incubated through loyal workforces who are exhibiting new relationship building techniques which energize them towards customer-centric skills.

A dealership can, unlike the Titanic turn things around for the better much faster than most actually believe. How many times have you seen a sports team way behind in the game only to shock everyone by coming back strong when the chips were down to win the game? The patience element comes into play because you have to first give your team constant encouragement and pasture running room to build their skills and then continue allowing enough time to build them. If you corral (micromanage) them they will get unused organs atrophy and never run again because you crushed their spirit and creativity. I have found that almost every dealership employee I have ever spoken with would eagerly accept the opportunity to grow through effective personal development and enhanced training strategies. Sadly, most never receive it as they wait for their next job opportunity to appear.

Timing
No Dealer or GM starts out intending to build a lousy store culture, or even a just an average one. Most dealers would like their team’s productivity to be born out of a passion for the job and team synergy. Yet in this maddening marketplace, many dealers fail to see the value they can receive from well-trained people. About the timing, I guess the question you must ask yourself is when do you want to make a whole bunch more money? If later or next year is ok then that is your timing course of action. If you want to make more right now then now is it. Now is always better than hemming and hawing around “until next quarter” because the stores that choose to implement now will blow right past you.

Start a new agenda at the beginning of next month. Start your plan for doing so now. The job never started takes the longest to finish. Just don’t get fooled into thinking, like so many, that everything will work out without a plan. Be the entrepreneur you are intended to be and do it now. Breathe new life into the dealership and your people. Plant the seeds now for growing and reaping a harvest of opportunities down the road a bit. Sometimes the pursuit of the almighty dollar leads to selfish incorrigible activity ala VW’s willful skirting of emission requirement. Timing must coordinate with a well-thought-out plan.

Action
Sometimes we are more comfortable with activities that make us feel like we’re doing something opposed to actually achieving a goal. In order for the action step to succeed, the aforementioned steps need to be handled first. No more ready shoot aim. You are now taking all the planned steps to reap an abundant harvest of increase. Of course, to win the battle you must have good well-equipped soldiers. Winning is virtually impossible if your soldiers are weaponless, cold and starving. Three things must occur for any great action achievement; purpose, persistence, and patience. One tiny spark can ignite a raging forest fire and you can ignite enthusiasm for individual and team member growth the same way. If you take actionable steps to make certain improved changes to your store you will reap awesome benefits from doing so. If this is not a priority it will be like having a flat tire; then one day in the future you have to take care of it at a most inconvenient panic-stricken moment.

Three thoughts;

1. If you are the smartest person in the room, you haven’t hired right.
2. It is easy to get into a routine, complacent way of conducting business. If you don’t actively disrupt that and put new ideas in front of your people all the time, they and you will lose creative muscle.
3. Stay focused and don’t try to win a popularity contest.

Here are some action steps I would begin running my dealership by; Provide short and long-term company outlook to every employee, abide by the golden rule, create an atmosphere where the business was like family, constantly be developing employees and finally challenge yourself to be the best employer in your marketplace. The latter will attract the best future employees from your marketplace.

Faith that you can do something without action is useless. If you would like some help to starting a new direction shoot me an email requesting “action” and I will send you some ideas.

When driving at night, you must rely and trust upon your headlights and your ability to guide yourself to your destination. You can actually drive from Maine to Key West at night if you trust in the small steps to get you there by relying upon your headlights. In doing so, we usually spend more time looking through the windshield and not the rear view mirror. Looking forward step by step with positive and encouraging leadership day after day will create new ground from which your team can stand upon with confidence! Sure, in the past there are old, bad experiences which sometimes drive our thoughts and decisions regarding new opportunities. Again, keep your eyes off of the rear view mirror. Letting go of the past is very important because every new experience should not have to go through that same “past bad experience filter” or it will hamper your growth going forward. As a leader you must guide the direction of your team and create faith that the processes, team member development and new ideas you implement will indeed lead the team to the right destination.

“The way a team plays as a whole determines its success. You may have the greatest bunch of individual stars in the world, but if they don’t play together, the club won’t be worth a dime.” —Babe Ruth (1895-1948).

So many things clamor for our attention day to day but few deserve it more than the development and engagement of our team members. They deserve nothing less than our undivided attention, as it relates to helping them become the best professionals they can be. We all face challenges, we all have obstacles to overcome. But if we can keep the right perspective, it will help us stay positive so that we can move forward into better business and a better life. You may feel right now like the challenges that you face are too big, or too overwhelming. One thing I’ve learned over the years is that average people have average problems. Ordinary people have ordinary challenges. But remember, you can choose not be average. Choose not to be ordinary. Choose to be extraordinary. Keeping the faith and remaining positive with positive initiatives can and will create exceptional opportunities, and exceptional people do face exceptional difficulties. When you have an incredible problem, instead of being discouraged, you should be encouraged knowing that you’re an incredible person and you have an incredible future. Your path is shining brighter and brighter because when you are faced with exceptional problems it only means that you can handle it because you are an exceptional leader. So, turn those crises into opportunities.

Be encouraged today because your life and that of your team’s can be on an extraordinary path. Sure there will be potholes in the road but by keeping a positive outlook you will have shock absorbers to weaken the bumps as they present themselves. Choosing to be extraordinary simply means that you are choosing to add the word “extra” in front of ordinary. That is the secret, always be choosing to do something extra and watch the difference it makes. OK, so what are some of the extra things you can do right now? Begin by ensuring that the following areas are fulfilled by your leadership on a very regular basis:

1. As we all know, a lot of dealerships out there have experienced attrition of professionals on staff. Sometimes that is OK in my book because we no longer (if ever) need a battalion of sales people to cover the floor and associated sales efforts. But, what we certainly need more than ever right now is a Delta Force or Navy Seal team who are highly trained, skilled and disciplined in their “extra” efforts. Yes, this means you have to exhibit disciplined, well thought out, consistent training programs that are far removed from the old school principles by replacing them with the new communications, negotiations and process derivatives. You will also have to invest a little money to bring some of these new initiatives but you will most certainly derive an enhanced ROI on those investments. In addition, this investment in your greatest assets; your people, will build engaged teamwork, morale and a sense of purpose. It will also eliminate the wishing and hoping strategy I see some dealers defaulting to. One cannot administer with negative influences and expect a positive result so treat your team members with respect and professionalism while leaving any baggage at the door. Simple physics.

Remember Zig Zigglar’s quote; “The only thing worse than training people and having them leave your employment is not training them and having them stay.” How true.

2. Studies have shown that 30% of your customer base knows of someone who is going to purchase a new or pre-owned vehicle within the next three to six months. Formulate a disciplined, proactive approach in contacting your entire owner base by making sure that your salespeople contact a minimum of five owners every day. A little plus a little equals a lot. Carving it down to a daily to-do list of making five owner base contacts (leaving a message on an answering machine does not constitute contact) makes it manageable and feasible. As a leader you must track the results daily with your salespeople and even get involved in a few calls. What your team says to these owner based customers is more important than making the call itself. Make sure they are up to speed on the new owner base call techniques and phone guides or they will be wasting their time saying the same old things like “How’s your Odyssey doing”? You may have team members who tell you the owner has only had the vehicle 6 months. Yes, that may be correct but what about the “other” vehicles in his household? Son going to college in September needs a truck, wife’s car got totaled and needs a replacement? If your team is regularly staying in touch and further developing the Owner Base relationship who do you think that customer is going to call next time a vehicular need arises? Opportunities have to be mined. Again, invest in honing your Navy Seal’s training for reconnaissance and combat skills, and the rewards will pale the costs.

3. Who is taking care of your orphan owners whose salesperson has moved on to another dealership? Just like the owner base initiative, you must include this avenue of business. These often simply run off the radar because in most cases, no one is loving on them like a valued Owner. The problem I have seen is that dealers will just print out these orphans, pass them around to the salespeople and have them contact them. If you have developed a Delta squad and trained them with orphan techniques and phone guides to make this call you are alright. Most have not and the calls are mostly wasted. What we have implemented in the past and works extremely well is we print out all the orphans, place them in a three ring binder, label the spine “Orphan Owner Opportunities” and not just when things are slow but every day hand it to your best phone skill driven salespeople and have them contact the orphans. The real key here is to know what and how to deliver this conversation’s message and building value in the call by making tremendous deposits in their emotional bank account. This can and does deliver great results and your ROI will be dramatic.

4. Most dealerships spend all of their energy tracking showroom, phone up, follow-up, internet information and then they fail to USE the information properly. How can you best place the information to use immediately? Daily Work Plans, daily/weekly/monthly goal and objective setting. Then inspect the process often. Don’t become caught up in analysis paralysis. Real leadership takes the information, makes the navigational plans with the team to make sure you arrive where you need and want to be.

If you were navigating your boat off shore in South Florida heading to the Caribbean and your compass was off just one degree you could end up in the middle of the ocean somewhere never to be seen again. Your business is the same way. One degree off here and one degree off there could mean: “There lies dismal trouble ahead.” Your store could be one degree off of the proper development of your team members, maybe one degree off developing new processes or enhancing customer relationships. Whatever the heading, always make sure you know where you want to head, and the best possible solution for getting there. No short-cuts because this is usually the longest way to solution solving and there are no shortcuts to any place worth going, so do it right. If you are not certain of the what, where and how to do things – get some professional assistance to help you navigate the best possible course for you and your team’s success.

We could camp out on this subject for a couple of days but I am running out of space for this article. I think I will pick this up again and hopefully you can find a couple of elements that you perhaps have overlooked to make your store and your people stronger. If you cannot wait till then feel free to send me an email and we can discuss other things you can do right now to tighten up your ship’s direction. Also, if you have a couple a good ideas to move the compass needle I would love to hear from you.

Remember you have to consistently exhibit faith in your leadership and be clear about how you and your team are going to find safe harbor. Sure, there will be storms and turbulent seas but remember “Calm seas never made a skilled navigator.” Go ahead and do something extra. It is just a 5 letter word you put in front of ordinary that will impact with so much influence on your success you will wonder why you have not done it before.

I was impressed with how many of you were interested in receiving that document and are now pursuing new avenues towards true CRM in your stores. Good for you! If you happened to miss the offering for the checklist send me an e-mail (cbarker@digitaldealer-magazine.com) and I will forward you one. One of the critical elements of that article necessary for solid CRM is how to deal with objections. Again, success here hinges upon being in possession of rock solid 21st century communications and telephone skills. Without these it is like raking water; it just won’t work. The following is a paraphrased rendition of my in store curriculum The Fine Art of Negotiations where I train sales professionals and managers in taking a new look at handling objections.

Objections in our industry essentially come in four forms:

1)  Personality conflict (this should not be a problem if you have trained your team in identifying behavioral profiling)

2)  Money

3)  Timing

4)  Product

How we deal with these objections will determine if the deal continues to move forward or crumble in its tracks. I ask; are objections good or bad? An objection, frankly speaking, is a good thing. It is all about attitude. If your attitude is good then you will look upon objections as good things that are said, and because they are said it means you are moving the sale forward in the proper direction.

There is one objection however that you can and will never conquer. Do you know what it is? It is the one that you never “hear”. That’s it plan and simple, if you are not asking and probing you may never get a chance to respond to the objection or concern your customer is harboring in their mind because they will not ask it. And, if this occurs, the process will most certainly not move forward because any and all objections must be met head on with good communications skills. When you do meet them properly then the objection usually will be put aside and clears the way in moving toward your target, which is closing.

When objections stop, the deal is most likely winding down. So objections are a good thing and you must treat them with care and respect if you intend to move in the direction of closing the sale. Utilizing new communications techniques to meander your way through objections encourages you and your customer to continue to move toward continuing the sales process.

There was this fellow who was still a bit green in his selling career and had this dream. In his dream, he was attempting to sell a vehicle to a married couple, and they were such a pleasure to visit with. They thoroughly enjoyed his presentation and demo ride and they agreed to everything he mentioned. They didn’t ask any questions, and they didn’t have any concerns. They even helped him fill out the paperwork. The whole transaction was completed in record time. Two very happy people waved good-bye to him as they drove away leaving him with a check in hand and several qualified leads. What a wonderful dream!

Somehow, I am sure that this guy was not the only one to have this “dream”. Most new salespeople think this is what selling is like. Unfortunately, some salespeople who have been in the business for a while keep looking for that dream to come true.

Imagine a sale with no resistance. Does it happen? Once in a blue moon. Addressing concerns is a normal step in any sale. It is human nature to object, hesitate, stall, or procrastinate when making any decision that will separate you from your money.

Buyers need to feel absolutely confident that what they are replacing their money with will give them all the benefits they want. Buyers also have to be comfortable with the value they are receiving for their hard-earned dollars. I suspect this is true for most of us, so why would we expect any prospective clients to be any different?

Your success rate in sales will increase tremendously when you begin anticipating concerns instead of fearing them. You most likely are basically hearing the same three or four in nearly every selling situation. I spent a few hours thinking about each of those concerns. Why are your future clients going to be saying these things, and what could you do or say to help them get comfortably past these points?

Begin by putting yourself in their position (empathy) then you will begin to discover that most potential clients are expressing concerns because of one basic emotion that was being triggered: fear. Yes, studies show us that prospects are generally enthusiastic when they first begin discussing adding a new vehicle to the family but fear sets in when they arrive are the dealership. What do think the primary fear is? Car salespeople. It’s no wonder when we see what the industry peddles off as customer relationship building (CRB). It is non-existent in most dealerships because most simply don’t get it. It is a new world and Charlie Darwin said it best, “survival of the fittest!” You better be training in the new ways.

Here are the other fear items your prospects are harboring. If you take note of them, you will be better prepared to get them relaxed and begin trusting in you as a professional:

1)  They are afraid to make an irreversible decision.

2)  They are afraid to make a commitment with their money.

3)  They are afraid the product would not live up to their expectations.

4)  They are afraid we will take-the-money-and-run; that they’d never be able to reach us again when they had questions about or challenges with the product after they owned it.

The last of these can and will present a wonderful opportunity for you because if you know what it takes to excel at CRM, you know you need to thoroughly explain to the potential customer how you are different from the maddening crowd of dealerships when it comes to true CRM owner base follow-up. You will never forget them.

Realizing these points, you may wish to begin making some changes in the way you handle, question and council prospects. Step one is to eliminate words from your vocabulary that provoke fear, and replace them with verbal images that bring confidence to your soon-to-be customers. Make sure to discuss products and services in light of the “hot buttons” that were hopefully discovered during the interview and qualification steps, and this will help reduce the number of concerns you had previously been receiving.

Another strategy that works is to bring up concerns that you know the prospective clients are likely to have and address them before they can become stalls. For example, when you get people involved in any high-dollar product, it’s likely that you’ll hear, “It costs too much” as a concern. By learning not to get flustered, but to be prepared instead, you control the concern. You don’t let it control the sale.

By the way, the answer to that concern is to focus on the difference, not on the whole amount. You do this by asking, “Today, most things do cost a bit more. How much too much do you feel it is?” Once you have that amount, you know how much they really expected to invest and can build the value in the difference.

For those salespeople who still have a certain amount of fear when they hear a concern, let me explain what concerns really are. Besides being a normal part of the selling sequence, objections or concerns are defense mechanisms. They are ways for the buyer to tell you that you are moving too fast. There are ways the buyer tells you they need more information before they can feel confident about going ahead with the investment.

Always remember, the potential client is not personally objecting to you. They are objecting to some aspect of the product or service that they are not yet comfortable with.

In order to be proficient at closing you first have to be very proficient and well versed in objection handling. This means you have to be in possession of good listening skills and good questioning skills because these are the two most significant areas of talent that will propel your closing ratios.

How are your skills in these two areas? If you answered with a “Well, I think they are okay” or, “I could always polish up on those”, then go ahead and spend some quality time reacquainting yourself with these practices. How do you do it? There are a couple of ways; find a mentor who is good at it and speak with them on the matter, then role play the elements with that person or manager or a peer. Practice here before you practice on your customers. If you would like more detail on handling of objections send me an e-mail request and I will get one to you. Remember, you only get one chance to make a first impression!

Chuck Barker

Chuck Barker has been CEO of his two companies, Impact Marketing & Consulting Group, LLC and Impact Summit, LLC, for the last 24 years, both located in Virginia. His experience ranges from an executive with Harris Corporation (16,000 employees) one of Fortune Magazine’s largest companies to the automobile industry where he has performed all executive positions. His companies specialize in growing businesses, dealerships and people. He delivers unparalleled sales & service development programs, management leadership workshop programs and dealer/principal business & profit improvement ideas for automobile dealerships. He has recently published the first comprehensive ‘in-house’ sales training solution program for dealers entitled The Dealership Success Guide.

When we look at the complexion of the Internet shopper and what they go through in their process of locating the perfect vehicle for their family’s needs, it sort of looks like the following:

1) Recognize they need something. Not sure what, just need something.

2) Discuss what they can afford according to their budget.

3) Discuss what type of vehicle the family needs.

4) Research various makes and models usually on manufacturer’s web sites.

5) Narrow down the vehicle selection process to two or maybe three makes and models.

6) Revisit manufactures’ web sites, enter their zip code and receive five to eight or more dealerships they can purchase from in their area. This number goes up or down depending on population and distance selected from the zip code they provided.

7) Print out the provided list of web sites and or telephone numbers for the dealers provided by the manufacture. Note: this could now involve 15 to 24 dealerships that represent possibly three competing makes/models from three manufacturers.

Now here is where it gets tricky:

8) The prospect either goes to the dealer’s web site and makes initial inquiry via e-mail and/or,

9) Chooses (as most prospects are now doing) to telephone the dealerships and obtain the information they require to make a decision. Keep in mind that they most likely are shopping a lot of dealers.

10) Then they narrow down their dealership choices and either continue telephone inquiries, visit the dealership, or make an appointment to do so.

Ok, now I want to focus on steps 8, 9 and 10 and what the potential new customers are looking for and why these stages are so critically important to your store. They may be interested in discovering several things when they contact your dealership: what’s in inventory, list price, best price, colors, options, the value of their current vehicle and most importantly; they are eliminating those dealerships where not to shop.

Why eliminate where not to shop? Because someone at your store screwed up handling one of various things such as:

1) Poor timing response to their e-mail inquiry

2) Responding with a generic ‘like everyone else’ e-mail

3) But actually the number one reason; poor telephone skills when they call your store. Sales simply answered prospect’s questions: cobalt blue, automatic, leather/cloth, rebates, and sale information. And the incoming caller was in control the entire time. In other words, all the stupid things every other dealership tells them without one ounce of energy expended towards developing a relationship. And, more people are electing to telephone the dealership now than ever because we are in an “I want information now” generational mode because frankly, we are finding that e-mail is just too slow for some demographic profile groups.

We are living in a CRM world that demands that we exhibit relationship building in order to withstand the various types of callers (and e-mailers) and succeed in this marketplace because we simply cannot fool around any more with losing opportunities to do business. Go ahead and pick up the phone and call a couple of dealerships and see just how poorly they handle the incoming telephone inquiry. Then while you are at it, call your own store and do the same. You most likely will see a preponderance of, “Sure we got it, come on down, I will be here all day, ask for Mike”. Occasionally you may stumble upon a store that gets it and has implemented a solid process for this area, but not many. Think about it, these prospects are calling several stores to identify where to do business and the industry is still looking at the telephone inquiry as a nuisance and has no controls. We wonder why prospects are eliminating where not to shop. You don’t know what you don’t know! Wake up call: there are prospects in your market that are buying a vehicle from some dealership this month. Do you want that dealership to be yours or do you not particularly care where they purchase?

Our adult learning workshop studies have proven that several factors have to be in place in today’s dealer’s marketplace in order to take the prospect to the next subsequent levels of sales consummation. First, salespeople have to go through unique enhanced training techniques and have a total understanding of customer behavioral profile understanding. Then they have to become a master of 21st century communications techniques, and finally, perform flawlessly through new technology telephone skills including well-honed tailored phone guides, then follow pre-designed processes. It is that simple yet so many dealers still rely on old school tactics that simply do not connect to the varying customer demographic profiles now found in this market and wonder why they are slipping.

So first they have to understand scientifically who (or what profile) they are speaking with and because they have hopefully been properly taught, they can now sell the prospect the way that prospect wants to be sold according to his or her demographic behavioral profile. Next, follow designed processes including utilization of the new communications techniques including; conversational techniques, aligning with the customer, empathetic agreement selling, incoming inquiry techniques, follow-up techniques (because you will always have 85-90 percent unsold prospects versus sold prospects), the new objection handling techniques and, equally important, they must follow a disciplined well-proven phone guide for each type of call in order to truly build relationships. Without relationship building your store is just another dealership and you have essentially reduced your ability to sell vehicles down to having the best price. And that is not where you want to be.

Need some help in deciding how to master the aforementioned? Shoot me an e-mail to chuck@impactgroupcrm.com and I can give you a checklist for accomplishing a new direction for your business. It is time to restructure your processes and begin to be a part of the, “We are growing our business club”.

Chuck Barker

Chuck Barker has been CEO of his two companies, Impact Marketing & Consulting Group, LLC and Impact Summit, LLC, for the last 24 years, both located in Virginia. His experience ranges from an executive with Harris Corporation (16,000 employees) one of Fortune Magazine’s largest companies to the automobile industry where he has performed all executive positions. His companies specialize in growing businesses, dealerships and people. He delivers unparalleled sales & service development programs, management leadership workshop programs and dealer/principal business & profit improvement ideas for automobile dealerships. He has recently published the first comprehensive ‘in-house’ sales training solution program for dealers entitled The Dealership Success Guide.

Most likely you would not even get close to visiting that restaurant. Why? Because who chases average around?

Would you wish for average grades for your kids? Average food for your family? How about taking just average care of yourself? So why is it so many dealerships settle and many actually camp out with being average? Because being average and even below average is just what these stores are settling for; average sales people, average managers, average customer experiences, average training, average everything. Sure they might experience a flurry of business activity out of shear market swings or luck and think they are above average but then they fall right back into average again. You know, maybe it is because being average is just the easy way to do things. I call this blind in plain sight.

Remember what temperature water boils at? Sure you do – 212 degrees Fahrenheit. What is it at 211 degrees? Just real hot water. One simple ‘extra’ degree takes hot water to an energy level that is explosive in energy. Many stores out there are the same way; one degree off of truly developing winning players: sales people and leaders. One more “extra” degree provided to the team of the right stuff (education, processes, encouragement and leadership) can elevate the entire dealership to unsurpassed greatness but you have to want it for it to occur.

Let’s look at an example of what making a commitment to do a little ‘extra’ can actually mean. You may remember the great baseball hall of famer, Tony Gwynn. Tony was not known for his home run abilities but instead his super consistent base hitting abilities. One year, Tony was hitting a .340 average and making around $3.5 million. On the same team was another player who was hitting .240 and making $350,000.

For way too long people have put vast differences between being ordinary and extraordinary but the truth is just a little ‘extra’ is all it takes. You see, Tony Gwynn had such a commitment to being a great hitter that he came out to batting practice before everyone else so he could get in ‘extra’ swings. The payoff? The difference between making 3.5 million and $350K was in Tony’s ability to get just one more hit in ten attempts at the plate. One more hit earned him 10 times more money and a ticket to the Hall of Fame. The other guy – just average.

A little extra placed before ordinary can take you and your store to extraordinary places of achievement.

I spoke with a GSM of a store recently whereby he described how his month ended up; “We ended up with a great month. We sold 220 vehicles.” I asked how the gross profits per copy looked and he told me a number that was way below average. In fact it was pretty lousy. I asked him how many sales people he had working the floor that month and he proudly announced that they had 22 salespeople but wanted another 10 so they could sell more units.

Ok, the math giant in me quickly computed that his sales team was averaging just 10 units each. Now we all have crystal clear clarity why they had below average gross profits — because he flooded the floor with below average sales people. Further conversation uncovered that the store also had high a high attrition rate, no leading edge training, poor leadership direction and low team synergy. So, an average sales person means average managers and an average dealer who does not get the big picture or blind in plain sight.

This is not brain surgery, can’t they see that this vicious cycle cannot be broken without changing everything about the way they are currently doing business?

This store is acting like a lot of dealerships out there right now operating as pretenders; get those units, units, units at all costs. These stores are overlooking the simple fact that attrition really costs you big time money. Soft costs also mount up in the store’s reputation killing due to the lack of selling skills or the hard costs associated with blowing off sales opportunities due to the ineptness of the sales team and finally the morale busting people constantly looking to jump ship.

I would jump at the chance to leave this store too if one of their competitors gave me the opportunity to join a sales team that had the following in place:

• Superior professional learning principles
• A granite solid plan toward a process for every income producing area
• An environment that supports and engenders team synergy
• Leadership that embraced the logic of growing their people
• Potential to achieve ‘extra’ unit sales and better gross profits

It has become such a cliché for management to claim that ‘people are our greatest asset’. Yet, much to the dismay of everyone, the effort they put in to developing this ‘human capital’ continues to be seen as an expense and not as an investment. It’s time to turn this around. If you start to analyze your training programs as if they were capital investments — using techniques like ROI — senior management may start to change their attitude to the new leading edge training techniques.

We are at a time when there are so many exciting new developments and tactics you can adopt right now for your business development, you are blind in plain sight if you don’t muster the good sense to do something about it.

Many managers I am seeing are losing their way through inactionable direction, an illogical expectation of blind obedience, a delusion that says “Do what I say, even if it’s not possible or makes sense.” Other managers are blinded by the worship of high speed as a defense against depth, disrespecting deep-water leadership by diving head first at warp speed right into the kiddie pool. Still others are too busy driving to stop and get gas, disguising their blinded state in camouflaged commotion.

Regardless of the origins of this blindness, many managers often feel they are so deep within this dense fog that they are blinded from seeing how to grow themselves. Feeling this, they too often choose “motion-worship”, degenerating into the shallowness of a doing to be doing. ‘Busy-ness’ instead of ‘business’.

Stop this crazy meaningless motion. Don’t just do something, stand there. Good advice for leaders these days. Managers too often ignore the wisdom of listening more than preaching. Overlooking team development, some managers choose purposeless direction. Make bad choices. Over reaction reflexes to the simplest of problems. To deflect their ignorance further, they employ ‘right now’ urgency. Urgency captures attention through anxiety and creates propped-up popularity, but is often light on substance. Urgency without purpose is a defense against identity.

Too often managers appear as empty bobbling heads at the sales tower urgently whining about execution which gets really old.

Managers unaware of who they are usually default to the philosophy of “I’m so busy spinning around the store so I must be great.” They create flurries of activity in hopes of obtaining unknown success. These hopes are sorely misplaced. After years of trudging, spinning, running, over reacting, and wasting effort at hard to catch productivity, these hopefuls find emptiness and amnesia. They forgot why they started all this in the first place. They are devoid of individual and team identity. Managers worshipping meaningless motion, the walking dead, are blind in plain sight.

Leaders who are not blinded have seen themselves and their identity is clear. Their decisions and actions are guided by how can I grow my people not what will I get. Clear sighted leaders wrestle with the question, what would I do if I got nothing in return? Clear sighted leaders forgo emptiness in their sales team’s knowledge and training for favor of individual and team based growing experiences which create synergy passion. The contagious and toxic age of the deal has created the age of the empty suit, missing identities and managers wallowing in the darkness of blindness to growing their people.

As always, I really appreciate you taking time to read this material as it shows a diligence towards you and your team’s improvement. If you can implement even one ‘extra’ thing to help improve your team’s growth you will see positive results. Charging in the direction for constant improvements in your store and your people will take everyone higher than before.

If you would like some pretty cool ideas I just had published to begin growing your team, please write me and I will be happy to send you the plain sight to the top.

Keep adding to your dealership’s growth and we will see you at the Summit.

Chuck Barker

Chuck Barker has been CEO of his two companies, Impact Marketing & Consulting Group, LLC and Impact Summit, LLC, for the last 24 years, both located in Virginia. His experience ranges from an executive with Harris Corporation (16,000 employees) one of Fortune Magazine’s largest companies to the automobile industry where he has performed all executive positions. His companies specialize in growing businesses, dealerships and people. He delivers unparalleled sales & service development programs, management leadership workshop programs and dealer/principal business & profit improvement ideas for automobile dealerships. He has recently published the first comprehensive ‘in-house’ sales training solution program for dealers entitled The Dealership Success Guide.

IF YOUR STORE DOESN’T HAVE IT, BETTER GET IT

Coaching an individual by influencing his view of CRM processes into a positive growth potential is one of the most valuable investments leaders can give their team. “Cosmetic managers” (old school) quickly need to get a grip on what is going to be required to develop sustaining human capital if they are not to go the way of the dinosaurs. They have to bust through those old paradigms of “business as I have always done it” and begin leading people into greatness through solid sales processes and solid people development. Most of these managers would much rather manage paper than people because paper does not challenge them, talk back to them, rat on them, ignore them or in most cases, demand immediate attention.

I visited a large dealership recently where the owner wanted me to talk with a key manager regarding the store’s existing processes. This fellow immediately claimed to have everything in order and knew everything there was to know about processes. After seven minutes of discussion with him I accurately surmised that this guy could not even spell processes much less enact effective solutions toward developing them. All too often we find that arrogance or defensiveness is a camouflage covering up ineptness and as a consequence they tear down the place because they never open up and learn new things. I call this fuel exhaustion and they either need to be replenished by a paradigm shift or replaced because business is being lost and you don’t even know it.

Don’t settle for good enough; expect and demand the best. Vulnerability as a leader is a respected asset. Why not admit, “I am always willing to gain new solid ways to develop the best skill sets I can.” The primary problem in this industry for too long has been expecting monumental people/process developmental leadership skills from our managers who either have never been taught how or are too underachieving, lazy or clueless to even try. Enter the new leadershift era.

In order for a dealership to grow, it must have its managers growing in personal leadership skills before they can ever be expected to grow their own people. We have to create a leadershift approach toward taking people to places where they have never been, whereby they actually want to follow you because you know where you are going and they want to be a part of it. And, this applies not only to sales but service, parts and administration. You see, an effective overall leadershift needs to be an all-inclusive dealership campaign that enlists the hearts and minds of all employees to become their very best and in doing so everyone becomes better.

Leadership is the single most important element of implementing processes that has to be in your store’s gene pool for it to be successful. Conversely, without effective people/process leadership, it becomes a car traveling at 55 miles an hour without a steering wheel. To ensure successful design, implementation and effective production from these processes, changing the way you and your employees do business has to be in your foundational platform. The difficulty in any new process development is the lack of amalgamation of processes, the breakdown of clear management communication, little discipline applied toward those processes and the deafening vacuum of accountability. So, be clear who is responsible for taking us there.

The habit of “process persistence” is the habit of victory. Persistence is what you have to have to ensure total process implementation success. You will be leading your team where no one has gone before in the dealership and you will most likely encounter sizable resistance. Do not compromise your position, be persistent and charge forward with fearless intelligent leadershift. Leaders know the way, go the way and show the way. It is your job to take the vision and make it reality for your people and your dealership.

Solve the mystery of this big CRM processing challenge for them by reinforcing and understanding that it is the summation of all the small elements of CRM, which when unified as one unit will take the store and its people to the next level of growth and success. Forget the software. Important as it is, it is there only to facilitate rock solid trained people and processes, not to improve the circumstances. Work on the actual processes (and there are many). And, get someone from the outside that is not blinded by the internal paradigms of conducting business as usual.

A new fresh pair of eyes fixed upon your operation will uncover things you never dreamt were out of whack and will yield a galaxy of intriguing possibilities for building high performing growth opportunities. This approach is straightforward and head-on, resulting in very concrete and linear reasoning.

Leadershift does require skills in motivation, decision making, process adherence, stress management, integrity, compassion, vision, performance counseling, mentoring, goal setting, delegation, communication, synergy molding, conflict resolution and team development. It also requires advanced skills in conceptual thinking, organizational design, organizational dynamics, analytical decision-making, financial decision-making, project management and process improvement.

Matching the leader with the right skills to the right dealership position and providing adequate resources and followers is critical for building high performing organizations that can compete in this market economy. These new shifters clearly recognize that they cannot make the journey alone so they are intelligent enough to enlist followers, then train them, support them and mentor them. They also clearly understand that when you enlist the opinions of these followers they are adding superglue to the mission because people are more committed to ideas they have been able to contribute to. A contributive vision is much more likely to be richer in content, more inclusive and possess a significantly higher success achievement.

Research on leadership, organizational effectiveness, information processing, CRM processing, developing people and chaos control provides sets of concepts which not only help to explain why many of today’s businesses are not doing well, but also how to make them better. The effectiveness of an organization is a multi-lateral function of the leader, resources, organizational structure, the followers and how well they all intersect. Synergy provides smooth sailing in turbulent waters.

To be an effective leader one must have adequate resources to accomplish the job, an appropriate organizational structure, clearly set forth processes, a set of followers to perform the tasks, along with certain leadership skills and abilities. Leadership is a function of the leader’s motivation, skills, style and level of conceptual ability. High performance leadershift is founded upon matching the right leader to the appropriate position and letting them soar along with everyone else. Take wings and achieve new altitudes for you and your people. You will be glad you did.

If you are interested in receiving a few leadershift processes, send me an e-mail to chuck@impactgroupcrm.com and I will get them out to you. Also, if you have any questions or success stories I would love to hear about them.

Chuck Barker

Chuck Barker has been CEO of his two companies, Impact Marketing & Consulting Group, LLC and Impact Summit, LLC, for the last 24 years, both located in Virginia. His experience ranges from an executive with Harris Corporation (16,000 employees) one of Fortune Magazine’s largest companies to the automobile industry where he has performed all executive positions. His companies specialize in growing businesses, dealerships and people. He delivers unparalleled sales & service development programs, management leadership workshop programs and dealer/principal business & profit improvement ideas for automobile dealerships. He has recently published the first comprehensive ‘in-house’ sales training solution program for dealers entitled The Dealership Success Guide.