I’ve never been known as a “closer”.  What is a closer anyway?  From what I’ve read and heard from others, it’s someone who doesn’t take no for an answer and pushes through a series of high-pressure questions at the end of the sale until they get the yes they are looking for. 

When I was a Sales Consultant, I often focused hard on becoming a better closer but I struggled because I wasn’t comfortable putting added pressure onto a client.  There had to be a better way other than the “5 No’s before they go!” rule that we were taught.  But I didn’t know what that better way was.  All I knew is that I felt more comfortable “closing” in the first minute of the sales process rather than putting the added pressure on myself and the client during the last minute of the sale. 

Now that I’ve read multiple best-selling sales books, followed the best salespeople in the world, and seen them work live in action, I’ve concluded that closing is really a series of questions that start at the beginning of the sales process, not at the end.  They dive deep into investigative questions to unlock their clients most desired needs and from there, they begin affirming the clients’ needs, then being to explain the benefits their product and/or services offer.  By focusing the majority of their attention on investigative questioning, they allow the client to make the decision for them.  They know whether the client is going to buy before they ask for the sale and in some cases, the client even tells them they are buying without the Sales Consultant asking. 

If you don't consider yourself a “closer”, don’t worry, I wouldn’t want to be known as one anyway.  Work on investigative questions as it will allow you to provide more value to your client and answer the real reasons as to why they are there to see you in the first place.  Your goal shouldn’t be to close a sale, but rather, open a relationship.  Think of it this way and I promise you’ll find more success.

If you've read any of my writings, you know that I view commissioned Sales Consultants as Small Business Owners.  During my meetings with clients from ReThink Selling, I'm finding that they are unaware of what they can claim for expenses throughout the year.  I wanted to share some suggestions for those who are paid on commission (running their own business) so that you can leverage tax savings.

Start collecting receipts for the following items;

Vehicle Payment/Maintenance

Fuel

Food (don’t abuse your individual meals)

Alcohol (in the form of gift cards)

All forms of clothing

Laptop and/or iPad

Cell Phone

Cell phone bills

Books

Gift cards 

Gym Membership

Here’s a Canadian link that you can review to claim as many expenses as possible.

https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/tax/individuals/topics/about-your-tax-return/tax-return/completing-a-tax-return/deductions-credits-expenses/line-229-other-employment-expenses/commission-employees.html

I wanted to share with you an email I sent to a client of mine through ReThink Selling.  The concept comes from Memory Expert and all-round good guy, Jim Kwik;

Hey bud!

One of the most, if not, the most, important skill of networking and building relationships is to remember someone’s name.

Here are a couple techniques to help you remember a client’s name;

Think M.O.M.

Motivation - It’s funny how simply finding the right motivation to remember something is so crucial to actually remembering it. When I started to pay attention and provide a motivation for remembering something I remembered it!  Knowing that a client was providing food and clothing for my family was all the motivation I needed.

If you need additional motivation, think of it this way, you’re at an event and you meet 10 people then you’ll likely not remember all 10 names. But if before the event I was to tell you that if you remembered all 10 people’s names then they would each pay you $10,000 Cash – you’ll likely remember all 10 of them. You have a motivation. Motivation helps memory.

Observation - Ever misplace your car keys? The chances are you didn’t misplace them, you simply didn’t notice where you put them in the first place.

When I started paying attention to the things around me and I became more present in my daily life I started to forget less. I had less moments where I didn’t know where something was, or why I was in a room, or what I was looking for. Simply by observing life around you, you will start to remember more.  Plus, being observant pays dividends when you’re noticing what not to do and what to do from those around you.

Observation is all about noticing this things you want to remember.

Mechanics - This is all about finding hacks and tips to help you remember better. These are often quite personal as what works for you, may not work for someone else. But there is little point in having the mechanics nailed if you aren’t motivated to remember and you don’t observe that which happens around you.

In order to effectively remember someone’s name, try visualizing something to attach their name to immediately.  For example, if someone’s name is Mike, picture them singing Karaoke holding a mic.  If someone’s name is Mary, picture her with a lamb under her arm “Mary had a little lamb”.  If someone’s name is Bob, picture them in a Bob the Builder outfit, etc.

CRUSH IT!

Brandin Wilkinson

Development Coach

Rethink Selling

www.rethinkselling.co

"Generating Everlasting Momentum!"

When was the last time you asked anyone on your Sales Team why they are in Sales?

Have you ever heard or been guilty of saying "well this is how we've always done it, and it's worked so we're sticking with it!" Or something along that line.  

It's hard for dealers to see value in the intangibles for particularly their young Sales team such as personal development, leadership training, gratitude, finding purpose, personal branding, etc.  And it's much easier for them to see value in the tangibles that traditional sales training courses teach such as sales, closing percentages, lead generation, appointment conversion rates, etc.  

But wouldn't you agree that the intangibles are a crucial driving force behind reaching the full potential of the tangibles?  Especially when we tend to promote from within and have our top Sales Consultants eventually be Sales Managers who later become General Managers and eventually Dealers?  Why do we continuously consciously make the choice to learn the hard and long way about the importance of leadership, purpose, personal development and personal branding?

When was the last time you sent your Sales Consultant or Sales Manager to a Personal Development Seminar or a Leadership Course?  

Tony Robbins who actively owns and advises a dozen multi-million dollar companies, has a net worth of $500 Million+ and is known for working on Leadership and Personal Development training with past Presidents, Princess Diana, CEO's of Fortune 500 Companies, etc. says that in his experience, he's noticed that success is 80% Psychological and 20% Mechanical.  Yet the majority of dealerships buy into the exact opposite model, with 80% Mechanical training and only 20% Psychological, because that's how it was shown to them.  In fact, I'd argue that it's less than 20% in the majority of cases where we actual invest smart money into the intangible assets that set our dealerships up for long-term success.  

Sales Development.... we have it backwards.

As we near the always hectic month-end, I thought it would be valuable to discuss the importance of slowing down to speed up.  This is where the power of focus comes into play.  Having the ability to stay focused on a daily goal, or task, requires asking yourself the following 3 questions;

#1. Why are you motivated to get this goal completed?

#2. What action steps must you take in order to complete this goal?

#3. How are you going to eliminate the distractions that come your way today?

Now dial in and get it done!

There’s a massive difference between a Business Owner and a Business Operator. Business Operators are depended upon individually for the vast majority of the success of the company.  Business Operators typically lack systems and structure where Business Owners intentionally create systems and structure, plus bring on the right people to operate the business, so that the success of the Business isn’t directly tied to them physically being there.

Going from sitting in front of a Sales Manager completely unprepared for an interview, saying that there’s no reason I couldn’t sell what their top Salesperson was doing even though I had zero experience to Partnering into a multi-million dollar Dealership only 6 years later, and now being the Majority Business Owner 10 years after stepping foot in the automotive industry was not easy.

Here are the 5 hardest lessons I learned along the way;

#1. Time Management – Something I wasn’t good at until a few years ago. I was flat out 6 days a week and on the 7th day I would go golfing with a group of friends or spend it with the family, they came second. It’s important to have a strong work ethic but I’ve learned to prioritize my day and control it versus the other way around. I use to be at the mercy of the client, which I thought was the right thing to do, and it is, however, learning to say no and be home for supper with the family with energy rather than showing up at 8 and wanting to hit the pillow actually created more respect from my clients and for my time. I started saying no, I started prioritizing my “Get To Do List” in order of importance, I tracked my time throughout the day so I could determine where I was wasting most of it, and I held my clients accountable to their appointment times much the same as a dentist or doctor would. I held them accountable for creating appointments at 1:45 pm instead of 1:00 or 2:00, and I wouldn’t book any appointments after 3:45 pm.

#2. Relationships – I see social circles at various dealerships and although I agree with healthy relationships amongst other Sales Consultants, there needs to be a limit on how much time you spend with them. I found myself caught in the social traps early on in my career because I was striving for people to like and respect me, and I knew that I may need a favor from them at some point so I thought this was the proper approach to take. What I should have been doing, is allocating that time amongst the other departments rather than just the Sales team because it put up this invincible wall between me and the other departments. Because I hadn’t invested any time in a healthy relationship with them, and once I started selling more, I became more demanding with getting my clients vehicles out the door but they weren’t as willing to help because they saw me as another young cocky Sales Consultant. Once I realized my approach was wrong, I started allocating more time to get to know Service, Parts, Techs, and the Business Office, and once we build a relationship up, my stress level went down, and so did theirs. We both got what we wanted.

#3. Managing instead of Leading – Looking back, this was the area I screwed up the most in. But I’m proud to say now that it’s the area I’ve developed the most in. I’m now a Leader, not a Manager. Because I was driven and had a strong work ethic, I expected everyone else to have the same level of hunger. When you’re on commission and you’re essentially a business owner, how could you not be driven to build an empire? How is that not fun? Yet there are people out there who are content with where they are, selling 8-10 vehicles a month and making a decent living. Instead of recognizing that, I got pissed off when the Sales Team wouldn’t work as hard as me, stay as late as I would, or have shitty months. I would criticize, complain, get stressed out, and blame them for their shortcomings. It wasn’t until I started to recognize how the owner starting treating me, which was exactly the same as I was treating the Sales Team, that I started to make changes because I knew how it felt to be one of them. I had little to no support, direction, or leadership training, yet I was responsible for doing those very things for a team of 6, plus myself. I started investing time into Leadership books, videos, seminars, and courses. This gave me a clear understanding of how important leadership was. It started with me and taking ownership of the type of Leader I wanted to have and be.

#4. Patience – This isn’t my strong suit. In particular, when I first Partnered into Woodworth Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram Ltd., my Business Partner had essentially started the company from scratch 30 years prior. He had your prototypical response in regards to any kind of change “this is how we’ve always done it and it’s worked, don’t fix something if it isn’t broken!” It took a little over 2 years to start incorporating change and it was in baby steps. I was to the point of frustration where I was ready to walk away from the opportunity I had to pursue something else. But once my Partner saw the positive effect of the change, he started opening up more and giving me more freedom to implement new ideas, structure, and systems. Had I lost my patience entirely, I’m certain I would not have been in the situation I am today. Instead, I should have appreciated his position more and the opportunity he was providing for me and my family. It would have made those 2 years more enjoyable and less frustrating. We can’t have it all now, no matter how bad we want it or how much we think we’ve earned it. I’ve learned to appreciate more what comes my way each day and have accepted everything happens for a reason which has allowed me to be more patient.

#5. Taking care of myself – By far the best investment I’ve ever made. The personal development field is flooded with advice, much of which is bogus and repetitive to the point where you know someone is out to make a buck. What I can tell you about my experience is that I’ve been to the bottom and worked my ass off to what I feel is the top of my game. I’ve lived off soup crackers and tap water from poor life decisions, I’ve said and done the wrong things at work and in my personal life countless times to the point where I lost the respect of my peers, I’ve been called an arrogant asshole more times than I care to remember, and so on. But when I came to understand the value in respecting myself so I could, in turn, get the respect from others, it was a game changer. I started to care what people thought because it was crucial to my personal and business success as they are constantly linked together. It matters what people think of you in this business because people buy you, your character and your reputation. I never cared about that and I was as close to self-destructing as it gets. You know that saying “you don’t know what you have until it’s gone”? That’s where I was, except I was fortunate enough not to lose my opportunity. I’m forever grateful for those moments of second and third chances. Now that I put myself first, I’m better able to lead myself, my family, my Partners and my Clients.

I’d encourage you to make time to pause and reflect on these lessons that I learned the hard way so that you don’t have to. It’s never too late to learn something new or develop both personally and professionally.

Paying silent attention to detail is an undervalued tool in business and in life.  Over the years, it’s what I’ve learned what not to do that has had the most impact on my career versus learning what to do.  When I first started in the industry, I had good mentors and bad mentors.  It took me a while to separate the two and how to learn effectively from each of them.  Once I started paying closer attention to their habits, I started to see success build up quicker and gain momentum because I incorporated the good habits and avoided the bad ones.  They were my greatest teachers without even knowing about it.

I’ve been known as the young successful Sales Consultant, young Sales Manager, young General Manager and as of 4 years ago, young Owner.  What’s overlooked however, is the tedious attention to detail that I was picking up on from over 135 years of experience from the Sales Managers, General Managers and Owners that I worked with side by side for 10 years.  My learning curve was amplified because I wasn’t only learning from my success and failures, but I would pick the brains of others and see what worked for them that could also work for me.  And I would pay close attention to how certain situations were handled and if they weren’t handled in a manner that I would personally like, I would take mental notes and store them so I would avoid making the same mistakes.

“It will be difficult to have success with Rethink Selling because you’re too young and not many managers will want to bring on a young Sales Trainer to train their team.  They’ll want someone with experience.” – This was said to me a few months ago by a Sales Consultant from another dealership in the area.

“I understand how it looks on the surface but how many Sales Trainers are current (still selling cars), were Sales Consultants, Sales Managers, General Managers, Owners, learned from over 135 years of combined experience, incorporate Life/Business Coaching into their Training and make it the majority of what we teach, and how many Sales Trainers have a Business Development Coach hired to help them as we speak and have attended the top Personal Development Seminars in the world, all by the age of 32?” – My answer to him.  The conversation ended quickly after that.

There is no credit or awareness for observation mostly because it’s an intangible asset which are the most difficult assets to build value in it seems. But in my opinion, arguably the most valuable piece to my personal success has been having the ability to be observant.

• Watching the body language of clients around other Sales Consultants

• The tone of voice and physiology of my Manager when I brought a shit deal to him

• How my Manager would handle an irate client in the showroom

• Listening to the top performers in all departments in our dealership to hear how they spoke to clients.  One of my favorite things to do when I first started was go out in the showroom when our top Sales Consultant was speaking with clients and take mental notes of his humor, types of questions, tone of voice, inflection, body language, everything he would do I would note and test on my own until I figured out exactly what worked for my own style

• Who showed up early and who showed up late

• When you start modeling those you admire and respect, and avoid modeling the ones you don’t admire or respect, you start having the same or more success than the one you began modeling

Experience is overrated as many of you know.  It’s the quality of the experience that’s important.  What are your top 3 personal goals right now?  What is your life’s mission?  Why are you in the auto industry? What are your daily habits that lead you to progression, both personally and professionally?  If your soon to be or current Manager can’t answer these types of questions, then they have no right leading commissioned Sales Consultants or any team for that matter, in my opinion because if they don’t have control and direction for themselves, then how are they supposed to Manage and/or Lead others to reaching their full potential?

It’s often said that you’re the average of the 5 people you spend the most time with.  Surround yourself with people who will make you better but don’t forget to pay attention on what not to do for it has the power to be more impactful at a quicker rate than learning what to do from others.

Don't lower your price, raise your value!

“People don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it” – Simon Sinek, New York Times Best Selling Author.

There’s no marketing skill required to advertise a product for a shade over cost in an attempt to generate a high short-term sales volume for the business. In fact, at times, this can be an effective strategy. The underlying problem however, is that it’s not sustainable. As a company, you’re creating no long-term value to your customer because you’re not coming from a place of value to begin with, you’re coming from a place of price. The customer knows that when you promote high volume sales tactics through advertising that they are just a number to you rather than a person. Plus, you’re putting added pressure onto not only your customer but your Financial Services Manager’s because clearly, you’ll need to make the profit up somewhere which will be in the Business Office selling extended service contracts, protection products, insurances, etc. Don’t get me wrong, there is immense value in all of these items, but to rely on selling these and crushing your VPA targets by taking extremely low profits on the front end to generate high volume isn’t a sustainable business model.

When you portray to the public on a regular basis that you’re willing to give your product away for virtually nothing, that’s the culture you create for your company long-term. By creating a consistent message that you’re fully prepared to give everything away right out of the gate, customers come to expect that day in and day out. Unbeknownst to you, you’re allowing price to become the customers focus point rather than the value of the service you can provide which is where the sustainability truly lies.

Here’s what to do when your competition constantly undercuts your price and publicly advertises “your” product for a shade over cost.

#1. Thank Them

You might be scratching your head at this one. Why on earth would you thank your direct competitor for advertising the exact same product you sell for a shade over cost? After all, as an Entrepreneur and Business Owner, you know the level of difficulty in establishing a company and creating sustainable, long-term growth and financial security. Well, here’s my point of view on it, what they do is completely out of your control so there is really no point in wasting your valued time stressing about the situation or contacting your OEM Headquarters to complain about their style of advertising. I believe they are blindly doing a favor for you by spending an absurd amount of money on advertising on your product. You’re bound to receive some fall off from their marketing strategy (which has proven to be the case in the past), so let them ride the wave, continue to sell your way and reap the benefits of the fall off you’ll receive from their marketing tactics.

#2. Challenge It

In a lot of cases, these style of aggressive ads are often put in place to manipulate the customer in an attempt to get them into the dealership. Let’s face reality, it’s marketing, and it works the majority of the time. It’s important now more than ever to ask your clientele high quality questions so there’s transparency on the offer that’s been made to them from that dealership. In the auto industry, I like to ask the customer to put together a check list so they can fairly compare our numbers to the competition. By doing this, and assuring the customer that it’s in their best interest, which it is because they want to be certain that they are getting as good of deal as what’s portrayed to them, you look like the good guy or girl because you aren’t trying to hide anything.

Here’s the check list;

1) What’s the retail (window sticker) price of the vehicle you’re looking at?
2) What’s the pre-tax difference you’re paying to trade your vehicle off?
3) What’s the total amount on the bill of sale, after taxes/fees?
4) What are your payments over 60 months, all in, with no surprises?
5) If the dealership is reluctant on providing this information, they are obviously hiding something

At this point, we aren’t expecting the customer to provide the answers for us, that’s not the goal. The goal is to provide them with the answers to those 4 questions yourself and allow them to fairly compare it to the other dealerships numbers. If they come back and say that the competition is beating your deal, then you need to go to the drawing board and figure out if it makes sense to make the same offer or not. If they come back to you and say that you’re competitive or even beating the competition’s price, they’ll quickly realize that you’ve been honest with them from the beginning and aren’t playing mind games with them to persuade them into buying. I know you’ve heard the term “Buyers are liars”, but give them the benefit of the doubt and you’ll be surprised at how many will be honest with you. I’ve found the more honest you are with them, the more honest they are with you.

#3. Ignore the Ad

Don’t let the ads get to you. That’s exactly what they want. The last thing you want to do is get in an advertising war with your competition. Stay the course. I have yet to lose a deal because of a fancy prize or giveaway that the other guys are doing. It’s crazy expensive to “earn” new customers business and if you’re constantly chasing them, you’ll get sub-par financial results. It’s a simple formula, stick to your roots, find the customer’s needs, provide value and ask for the sale. People willingly pay for value, it’s up to you to provide it. This goes back to the message that Simon Sinek discusses in his book “Start with Why”.

Find your “Why” as a dealership, what’s the message you want to portray to the public and to your employees? Remember that happy employees create happy customers. We’ve shifted our focus to higher employee and customer engagement and have noticed drastic results within the company. The way we advertise now is directed at our message as a company, why we exist, and the leads have picked up immensely. Not only have the leads started flowing in, we’ve found the quality of these leads is a lot higher too because we have a much higher closing percentage.

Creating a culture where you raise your value rather than lowering your price is a recipe for success!

It’s easy to get fixated on numbers.  When we set targets for the month, it’s based around a number.  We want to sell a certain number of vehicles, we want to make a certain amount of money, we want to help sell a certain number of contracts for the Financial Services Office so we can collect a spiff, etc.  The downside to having a fixation on numbers creates one major problem…. Intention.

We approach our potential clients, as well as our day, week, month, with the wrong intention.  We set out to make a certain number of phone calls, emails, text messages, etc., and play the odds that a certain number of people will respond positively to you which in turn will give you another number that a certain amount of those people will come into the dealership and a certain number of those people you’ll be able to write up and a certain number of those people you’ll eventually sell a vehicle to.  We have been taught that quantity is the game you want to play in order to succeed, when it should be quality.

In my experience, quantity follows quality.  By quality I mean, taking the time to make quality, well intentioned phone calls, emails, text messages, etc.  Not just calling as many as you can in a certain number of hours with hopes that you might catch someone at the right time.  When you make high quantity calls, you’re typically following a script, and over time, that loses energy and focus, especially if you aren’t getting results because you’re getting frustrated.  Not to mention, that most of the time, you may think you have good intentions, but really you’re just chasing numbers, thus demolishing any authenticity. 

People will gladly purchase authenticity and pay more for it, plus they are more than happy to refer you which snowballs creating the quantity you desire.  And guess what? Your life gets easier faster.  Much easier in fact, in a rapid amount of time versus chasing quantity.  Your confidence goes up because people are buying you more than they are the product.  We know that Repeat/Referral Clients are King and Queen in the Automotive Industry, so start the relationship off on the right foot by dialing in on quality conversations with the right intention. 

Start by contacting people that may already know, like and trust you, or know someone that does. Your intention will come across as genuine, and if anything, they will feel a sense of obligation to entertain you at the very least. Contact friends, friends of friends, family members, old coaches and teachers, previous co-workers, etc.  And focus on personal branding through social media, reputation and character.  Sometimes it’s nice to have a quick sale, but the quick sale rarely leads to a long-term relationship which is far more valuable.

"Our intention creates our reality" - Dr. Wayne Dyer

Here’s an intriguing question that you likely haven’t answered before; Have you ever invested time into analyzing what has contributed to your success? If so, what are the major contributing factors that have lead to your success? It’s difficult to measure but I’ve recently discovered a formula that I believe has contributed to your success without you even realizing it. The best part is once recognized and applied properly, it’s nearly impossible to stop.

A few weeks ago I posted a picture on Instagram and Twitter relating to what I called the 3P Rule; Preparation, Proactive, and Persistence. Although these 3 Habits have played a huge role to anyone’s success, I quickly came to realize shortly after this post was a crucial final piece to the formula. No matter what your current situation in life is, you can improve on it by following the 3PM Rule.

Preparation + Proactive + Persistence = Momentum

One of the most overlooked contributors to success is momentum. If we allow ourselves to become stagnant, we fall behind, not to our competition but to our potential. Preparing every morning before starting your day will naturally lead to being Proactive, follow that up with Persistence and you’ll have perpetual Momentum that is essentially unbreakable.

The lightbulb moment for me came when I was thinking about when I got fired from my previous dealership because they found out I was on the hunt for a better career opportunity. Rather than getting the most out of me financially for the time that I would have remained there, they took 6 years of clientele out of my hands by removing my computer from my office without notice and asking me to leave. I’m left with virtually no clientele information that I’ve built up over the course of 6 years, moving on to a dealership that is another 30 miles from the majority of the clientele I had and I switched product, moving from General Motors to Chrysler. Instead of this slowing me down as it was completely unexpected, it did the exact opposite because I had built up so much momentum at this point that I was able to power through and elevate my career to a level that I quite honestly didn’t think I’d reach in my lifetime let alone within 3 years of leaving the other dealership.

One of the greatest attributes of the 3PM Rule is that it’s the underlying connection between everything you do in life, it’s completely universal. Think of it in terms of Entrepreneurs and see what Lewis Howes, Tim Ferriss, Sara Blakely, Tom Bilyeu, Tai Lopez and Gary Vaynerchuk are doing right now and look at where they were only 5 short years ago. How about sports? Practice is essentially the 3PM Rule. You show up to practice to prepare for games, you are proactive by taking part in drills and persistent by taking the same shot over and over until you nearly perfect it. And what does this lead to? Momentum! Michael Jordan, Wayne Gretzky, Jack Nicklaus, Derek Jeter and Hayley Wickenheiser all had momentum. Look at Sydney Crosby right now, he’s in his 12th season in the NHL and off to the best start he’s ever had. Hustle may have lead these people to reach their goals but momentum is what carried them through to the top and kept them there. Remember, once momentum is in place, it’s nearly impossible to break.

What is everlasting is this; Preparation breeds confidence, being Proactive leads to progression (progression is living), Persistence is resilience, thus Momentum is activated and becomes constant.