In this episode of Witt's Wise Words, Bill Wittenmyer shares the most crucial campaigns dealers should be focusing on in the 4th quarter.

We've all heard the forecasts: new vehicle sales are slowing, and the latest predictions for 2018 are that sales may drop to 16.7 million vs. an estimated SAAR of 17.1 million this year. 

I suppose weakening demand could be interpreted as bad news, but a 2.3 percent drop in sales is hardly going to cause any dealers to tighten their belts. Still, if your business isn't growing, it's shrinking, and who wants shrinkage? If you're not growing and defending market share, someone else is. 

The good news is you don't have to rely on new vehicle sales demand to grow your business. Do me a favor and walk over to your service department. Stand there and listen for a moment. That knocking sound you hear is opportunity. 

In fact, right now there's a 'perfect storm' of opportunities converging right above your service lane. Dealerships ready to take advantage of these opportunities will continue growing both their service and sales profits even if overall demand stays soft. Let's examine these opportunities. 

Opportunity #1: Average age of vehicles is increasing 

Although consumers have been buying new cars at a record pace for the last couple years, the average age of vehicles on the road is 11.5 years. This may seem counter-intuitive, but people are either hanging onto their old cars or selling them to someone else who continues to drive that car. 

The problem with new cars is they don't need to be serviced nearly as often as they used to. I take my car in for an oil change once a year. The real opportunity lies in servicing the older cars. Right now, independent repair shops pretty much own this market. For dealers, that means there's a lot of room to grow market share. 

As new car sales slow, I hope to see dealers shift marketing dollars and emphasis away from new inventory and towards service and promoting a better customer experience.  

Opportunity #2: Increased profitability 

Many dealerships are able to leverage technology solutions to streamline processes, increase customer satisfaction and maximize profit margins for every job. Implementing a time-saving process like mobile check-in allows you to be a little more price competitive with independent repair shops. Technology also helps your employees be more consistent with processes such as multi-point inspections (MPIs), ensuring that you don't miss any upsell opportunities.  

Perhaps most important, technology allows you to communicate to your customers all the benefits of getting their cars serviced at your dealership. Price isn't always the deciding factor. Some people are willing to pay a little more for expertise and an awesome experience. It's up to your dealership to provide those things.  

From my personal observations, many dealerships have a lot of room for growth when it comes to leveraging technology to maximize shop efficiency and profits.  

Opportunity #3: Customer volume 

On any given day a dealership sees way more customers in its service lane than it does in its showroom. Some dealerships are doing a great job in nurturing these service relationships. They use exchange or trade-up programs, along with equity mining tools to identify and convert service customers into sales customers. 

Auto manufacturers certainly recognize this opportunity. They are starting to spend a lot more money on digital marketing programs designed to push customers back to franchise dealers for their service needs.  

However, most dealerships have a lot of room for improvement in this area. Is your dealership doing everything it can to proactively seek out more service business, provide a better experience to your customers and convert your service customers into sales customers?  

All of these opportunities are real and happening right now. Is your service department ready to take advantage? They say that once-in-a-lifetime opportunities don't come along every day. As a dealer, don't waste this 'perfect storm' of opportunities by doing things the same old way, and expect to get better results. 

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In this week's Witt's Wise Words, Bill Wittenmyer discusses whether brand loyalty still exists.

In my lifetime I have visited hundreds of dealerships. I have seen sales teams that are crushing it and sales teams that are performing dismally. Over time, I have noticed common denominators in both groups. I won't bother sharing what those are for the latter group because a dismal performance is not something you want to emulate. 

However, for the first group--the ones crushing it--the common denominator boils down to empowerment. The most successful dealerships empower their salespeople with these three tactics: 

• Coaching, not managing 
• Simplifying processes 
• Providing salespeople with technology for communicating effectively and transacting deals in a customer-centric manner 

First, let's address coaching vs. managing. A traditional management style in many dealerships I see is 'managing down.' When a new salesperson is hired, the manager tells them how many phone calls to make every day, how many people to talk to every day, how many appointments to make every week, and presumably a dozen other "cans" and "can'ts."  

Then, before the sales meeting, the manager runs a report and looks at the numbers. If something's off, they call out the salesperson during the meeting. 

Remedies to problems are typically given with advice like "You shouldn't have said that. You should say it this way," or "You did that wrong. You need to go back and do it this way."  

There are a couple of problems with this approach. First, these remedies manage the deal, not the person. Managing a person requires coaching, and telling someone what to do and how to do it is not coaching. Managing down makes the salesperson feel like they have no say in how they do their job, which can lead to frustration.  

I realize some of you out there may be saying, "But we've managed this way for 30 years! What's wrong with that?" 

Your dealership has had to adapt to many changes in the last decade. The Internet and technology have changed the way you sell cars. Now, a generational change is requiring a new style of managing, which I really believe is more like coaching.   

Thirty years ago a young salesperson was willing to sacrifice much to be successful. They were willing to work long hours, weekends, holidays and miss family events for years to become successful. Today, not as many people are motivated by money, and they are not willing to sacrifice as much to get it. 

Instead, they are motivated by feeling that they're a part of something and what they do matters. They value their time, and they want to feel valued by their employer. They want to be heard and understood. 

Enter the coach. Coaching and counseling are really a lost art, but it's a very successful management technique. Instead of managing down, coaching relies on managing up. That is, let the salesperson set their own goals, report their own KPIs and come up with solutions to their own problems. Getting the entire team involved gives the individual a sense of purpose and motivates them to be accountable, not to the manager, but to their team members.  

Before a meeting, the manager still prints a report, but it's just to verify the numbers given by the salesperson. If there's a problem, don't tell the salesperson how to say or do something. Instead, offer feedback that prompts the salesperson to come up with a solution. An example might be: "So you didn't get the outcome you wanted. What do you think you should do differently?"  

This approach forces the salesperson to become involved and acknowledge the consequences of failing to do something, like making those phone calls. 

A coach offers ideas and a knowledge base of what works based on real-world experience. Ultimately, it's up to the salesperson whether they decide to listen or take your advice. But here's the thing: when you empower your salespeople to make their own decisions, they have to own the results of those decisions.  

Another common denominator I have noticed in many dealerships is that successful salespeople are empowered with the use of technology. Specifically, mobile technology and multi-channel communication tools that allow them to transact deals in a customer-centric manner.  

This means that your salesperson should be able to transact deals anywhere. With mobile tablets, they can look up information, make offers and transact deals wherever the customer is most comfortable --whether that's in the showroom, on the lot or even at the customer's house. 

Additionally, salespeople need to be empowered with appropriate communications tools. You already know half your customers prefer to communicate with text. Do you have an integrated texting system yet? Many car shoppers prefer watching videos over reading text. Do you have inventory videos and virtual test-drive videos to send to these customers? 

If your salespeople can't communicate with customers in the way those customers want or expect, your salespeople are not empowered. The ability to build rapport with customers is an important part of the sales process. The more emails, texts, phone calls and videos you send, the more likely the customer will connect, engage and buy.  

The most successful sales teams I have seen are empowered. They are empowered with new styles of management and with technology. They streamline their processes to remove as many unnecessary steps and people as possible. The end result is a better experience for your customers, which translates to a better bottom line for your dealership. 

In this Freebie Friday quick tip for Car Dealers, ELEAD1ONE Partner Bill Wittenmyer highlights a critical aspect of successful automotive dealership leadership – the difference between activities-based management and result-based management.