Salespeople in the auto industry are a very misinterpreted group...

Ask anybody in the auto industry why they are selling cars. It's not something you study in school, and unless you grow up with it, it typically isn’t something that every little boy or girl dream of doing. However, there is a rising group of elite sales PROS that are starting to dominate their market because of personal branding, and in the digital age we live in, it’s easier than ever to make your brand work hard for you 24-7.

Personal Branding is not a short-term play

While there are many things a salesman can do to start right away like making a personal brochure or tweeting about the sale this weekend, branding yourself in your local area and becoming known as the go to person if somebody is looking for a vehicle takes time and repetition. It’s not for those looking for a job while they search for “what they really want to do.” It comes down to committing yourself not only to the auto industry as a sales professional but to the dealership you work for and the vehicle brand you sell which means you need to find a place to land that will invest into you as you invest into bringing more customers in that want to work with you and only you.

Why should managers encourage personal branding?

I hear a lot about how dealers are branding themselves in their local area. They have the biggest inventory, hassle-free pricing, amazing facility and they all claim to have the friendliest staff. But rarely do you see the actual sales person in a sponsored Facebook or YouTube video. Any idea how far that would go with your top people? Far. Encouraging and investing into your sales staff to personally brand themselves will not only bring back loyal customers and people who have heard about working with a specific individual but will give them a purpose and sense that they matter more than servicing your customers.

Here are 4 Steps salespeople can take to personally brand themselves:

1. Leverage Facebook:

Facebook is a great and easy place to start. Although you’re not using your own platform, you can create a Facebook page specifically for you and your customers that gives you a home base to interact with your audience daily. You have a built in chat feature, a place to showcase vehicles, you can “go live” and talk about a big sale that’s happening or current industry trends. Branding on Facebook gives you the ability to stay in front of your customers at all times.

2. Start a YouTube Channel:

Much like Facebook, YouTube is a great place to create video content that will show itself in search results when potential customers are searching for information of any kind. There’s a ton you can do such as walk-around video’s, tutorials on how to set up blue-tooth, customer testimonials etc.

3. Create a Personal website:

While this is a little bit more complex than starting a Facebook page, setting up a personal website can be the difference between an average salesperson and one that dominates their market. Actively writing blogs with content, posting videos with customer testimonials on their experience with you will go a long way. Avoid things like trying to get an inventory feed. It’s about selling them on you, not your inventory. People love connecting with somebody that has some personality so use what you have. For me, I’m a husband and dad with 2 young boys, a songwriter and Minnesota sports fanatic. Even being another one of those vendors, did you notice a wall going down? People love relating on a personal level so showcase who you are outside of what you do for a living.

This site will gives you a few examples of some great car salesman personal websites

http://robertwiesman.com/five-awesome-car-salesperson-personal-website-examples/

4. Create Content:

Creating an active blog that you can post on your website will help potential prospects in your market find you as you feed them valuable industry insight. There are only a thousand topics you can write about and it doesn’t have to be every day. Think of the trust you can build from somebody you’ve never met when you write an article about the top 3 things you can do to get more for your trade? You are no longer car another salesman but a trusted customer advocate and expert within the industry.

An average salesperson that commits to branding will outsell the baddest natural sales guy every single day of the week! I wonder what would happen if your top sales people took this approach. Is there anything your salespeople do to brand themselves? Do you encourage and invest into personal branding? Let me know what you think!

OF ALL THE CALLS WE SCORED IN THE PAST 30 DAYS, 31% OF NEW PHONE LEADS WERE NOT ENTERED INTO THE CRM

When I was in sales, I remember the sound…it might as well have been a cash register. The phone would ring and like a gun draw straight out of a Clint Eastwood movie, the salesman with the quickest hands would get the up. In my opinion, the phone-up was without a doubt the #1 most sought after lead in the dealership but also the most difficult to master. The customer knows exactly what they are looking for and all you have to do is NOT mess it up and you’re going to have a well-qualified appointment. But after you answer is where we find countless opportunities being wasted. First, let's understand both the Manager and Salesman perspectives. 

What’s the problem?

First, let's understand both the Manager and Salesman perspectives...

The Management perspective:

Managers know how to close deals once a customer is in the store. They have control of the opportunity and they care about the prospective customer because they are directly in front of them. The issue is that a bad phone up (if not tracked) is a real opportunity that was lost before it began and could be costing your store multiple deals a month to a competitor who knows how to professionally handle an inbound call.

It’s not their fault they don’t care, it’s yours…

The Salesman perspective:

Coming from the mind of a former car salesman, if I blew a phone-up, it doesn’t cost me a dime outside of a few minutes, especially if I’m not being held to any sort of a standard (which I was). Sales people who aren’t held accountable will keep making the following deadly sins because honestly, for them…it doesn’t matter. And the sad truth is, the customer is fully expecting a bad experience. Sales people brag when they sell a car but the truth is in many cases, the customer buys a car despite the salesman not because of them and didn’t create any loyalty for future purchases.

First Deadly Sin: Improper (or no) introduction.

I called several stores in the past few months and I could tell right away who I wanted to work with. The best was a standard greeting. “Thank you for calling X dealership, this is X how may I help you today?” The worst was this... “Hello?” This was at a high end franchise. Every piece of research I’ve seen says that the first 7 seconds is how long we have to make a strong first impression. How’s your team’s first impression?

Second Deadly Sin: Not fact finding.

When we get an up on a specific car, our first instinct is to immediately check inventory and pray to God it’s still in stock. How many times have you heard this conversation…”no, that car just got sold, sorry…yep, no problem… bye.” That’s what happens when we don’t fact find. Do we know what had them interested about that specific car? Yes, you have to give them the information they requested but why not make them want to do business with you and your dealership specifically? Instead of “let me check if that car is available” why not ask “while I’m checking on that, what has you interested in that vehicle?” It’s amazing how the conversation opens up.

Third Deadly Sin: Not completing customer information.

The problem isn’t the lack of information a customer is willing to give us but the lack of times we ask for it. Just like a McDonald's cashier asking if you’d like fries with that, we should be asking for the email, second number, and last name…every time. People like to be contacted in different ways so what good is a work number if they communicate 95% of the time through text?

Fourth Deadly Sin: Not giving a call to action

It’s easy to let the customer control the call. They’ll say things like “I’ll try to make it in this week... I’ll definitely ask for you.” They are basically saying they don’t care about you or your time. I think in most cases, there’s a lack of effort to ask for an appointment. The mindset is, as long as they are in the CRM you’re protected, however if they never come because it’s Monday and they said they would come in “sometime this week” (and bought the other car they were looking at in the meantime), being CRM protected doesn’t do much good.

Fifth Deadly Sin: Not putting a new phone-up in the CRM

There are a few reasons why a salesperson wouldn’t put somebody in the CRM. They are taking a quick up in the middle of another task, or they’re on a lead rotation and they don’t want to “waste” their turn. Of all the criteria we score on, in the last 30 days, only 69% of the time is the customer being added to the CRM. This leaves a huge number of people that we can’t market to or follow up with.

What’s the solution?

• Have a process: It doesn’t have to be elaborate but a process will help get more predictable results

• Understand what’s broken: Consistently monitor and understand what part of the phone-up process needs improvement

• Coach: Targeted Training based on what needs improvement

By tracking and improving these 5 deadly sins, you can maximize each opportunity and turn customers from buying a car despite the experience to buying a car because of the experience. If you’d like to discuss this further, I’d love to hear from you!

I assume we can all agree, it’s overwhelming and time consuming to keep your finger on the pulse and manage your store or department consistently. After having conversations with some of the most successful managers in the automotive industry, I’ve noticed several common themes developing. Here are 4 things that every good manager should be tracking…consistently.

People: Your employees are the face of your entire operation and determine the success or failure of each customer’s experience.  Every employee’s performance is vitally important and deserves your attention whether the result is praise or criticism. They deserve ongoing coaching/mentoring and strategies to improve and develop.

What to track:

• Culture: The overall morale of your salesforce can either ignite or deflate a store. Do people love working there? How’s your pay plan? Are you developing and retaining employees, or is turnover high?

• Process: Process produces predictable results. Even a bad process is better than no process. Whether it’s phone training, inbound leads or what the plan is when somebody comes to the showroom, your process is the one thing you can control and improve.

• Gross: In a world of transparent pricing, understanding your profit trends and who needs additional training is vital. Tracking the average difference between internet and sold price for used inventory is a great place to start

• Appointment Results: Anybody can “set” an appointment apt in the CRM but once you get somebody in the showroom, understanding closing percentage and why somebody would show up and leave without a car is important.

Inventory:   Having a detailed understanding of your vehicle inventory is a crucial process. Having an optimized supply chain can result in lower costs, reduction in excess inventory, higher margins and faster sales.

What to track:

• VDP’s and vehicle stats: Having an understanding of which vehicles to drop the price on and which ones are more likely to sell by tracking VDP’s on your website, Cars/Autotrader will help you make better pricing decisions.

• New car mix: Understanding the market and paying attention to which models and options are in demand will help you sell from the lot as opposed to always relying on dealer trades that decrease margins.

• Price to the market: Understanding your price compared to the market will not only get people in the door but give you a reason to hold gross when desking deals

• Aged Inventory: A sales spiff or adjusting your used car managers pay plan to one that incentivizes the reduction of aged units is important.

Results: The automotive industry is results-based. Managers set goals with the intent to motivate each department. But how are these goals established? Is there a data-based analysis or are these goals based on arbitrary, made up numbers? By setting realistic goals, you’re able to motivate teams to work together toward your desired results.

What to track:

• Sales numbers: Sales people deserve to know what’s expected whether it’s total sales, number of appointments set, or outgoing calls in a day. Setting realistic goals will make managing results more effective.  

• Service numbers: Service advisors are an essential extension of your sales team. Setting benchmarks and tracking results in service is a crucial part of a dealer's profitability.

Opportunities: Having a good understanding of where your best opportunities are on a daily basis is an extremely important piece of success at the day to day level. It’s easy when the showroom is crowded on a Saturday afternoon. But what about when things are quiet? Do you understand where your best opportunities are?

What to track:

• Incoming leads: In a culture where people want information right now, making sure that there is timely follow-up could be the difference between getting a new customer and losing one

• Be-Backs: Tracking which customers were in the store yesterday and making sure they are being followed up with, is important. They didn’t buy a car on the spot but they are still well within the buying cycle

• Other opportunities: Anybody can sell an aged unit that has the lowest price on the market or an incoming lead for a specific vehicle. Knowing things such as knowing which customers are close to being up with their lease, warranty expirations, service customers... These other (outgoing) opportunities are the ones that truly move the needle.

If everything is important, nothing is important. Tracking every single detail is virtually impossible but if you can focus on these 4 key areas, not just monthly but consistently, you’ll have a better idea on what needs improvement and be able to act quickly. I'd love to hear what else you feel is important to track. Thanks for reading! 

- Caleb