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!