Life inside the dealership is an experience only those who have been there can appreciate. Whether you are in sales or service, each department carries its own unique challenges. Let’s face it, the job is monotonous. And, after every successful month, you get the pleasure of starting from zero once again. So, what can you do to be successful?

Most would agree that the answer lies in your people skills, technique and ability to adopt a mindset that stops you from falling into a “move ’em in, move ’em out” mentality. In our heart of hearts, we know the greatest rewards come as a result of staying fresh, nimble and creative. But there is one item I’d like to add to that list: presentation.

Whether you’re online, on the phone or interacting with a customer face-to-face, presentation is the key to convincing them to take that next step. Let’s look at some ways you can improve your presentation in those three areas:

1. Online: The name of the game here is getting the customer to take action. We in the business tend to refer to that as “conversion.” The goal, of course, is to get them to submit a lead, call the store or walk into the showroom. To increase your chances of a conversion, make sure you have multiple touch points on your Website that promote engagement.

Four low-cost, high-return features you can add to your Website are a chat feature, interactive credit applications, video and appraisal tools. You must also consider optimizing your site for Web-enabled mobile devices as their popularity continues to increase.

2. On the Phone: According to a survey conducted by Richmond, Va.-based Communication Briefings, 82 percent of respondents said their opinion about a company is influenced “a lot” by how a representative answers the phone.

This should serve notice not only to the receptionist at your dealership, but also to those sales and service professionals who take customer calls. Just remember the four “Cs” to a strong over-the-phone presentation: confidence, competence, credibility and congruence.

3. In the Showroom: The ultimate opportunity to get a deal done is when the customer is in your house (i.e., the showroom). Obviously, I don’t need to rewrite the road to the sale; however, I would like to share two things I would love to see return on a massive scale to the car business:

■ The Vehicle Walk-Around: When was the last time you gave a customer a thorough walk-around? In my last search to replace my personal vehicle, I visited five dealerships franchised by five different OEMs. Only one gave me a walk-around. No coincidence, the individual who gave me the walk-around turned out to be the No. 1 salesperson at that dealership. In fact, he outsold the next best salesperson by five cars every month.

■ Listening to Gain a Tactical Advantage: Have you ever heard about the “psychology of sales”? It refers to our ability to influence the outcome we desire by winning the sale. As Ben Affleck’s character in the movie “Boiler Room” said, “A sale is made on every call you make. Either you sell the client some stock or he sells you a reason he can’t.”

My point here is simple: There is useful information to be gained that will assist you in your efforts to get the customer to take action. You won’t find it on the guest sheet or through the so-called “qualifying interview.” Process is important, but don’t sacrifice or suppress your natural abilities of observation in the name of procedure.

Regardless of what dealership you work for, most every manufacturer makes a pretty good product. Which one is best can be based on facts or simple perception. My question to you is, how sad is it to never have the opportunity to present a great product because we can’t get a customer to take the next step online, in the showroom or on the phone?

Let me leave you with this: Lots of people like steak, right? But let’s say I offer you a steak, season and grill it to perfection. However, instead of serving it to you on a plate, I take the lid off my garbage can, flip it over and plop your steak on it? Doesn’t sound so appetizing anymore, does it? Presentation counts, so make sure you aren’t serving up your great products on a trash-can lid.

Life inside the dealership is an experience only those who have been there can appreciate. Whether you are in sales or service, each department carries its own unique challenges. Let’s face it, the job is monotonous. And, after every successful month, you get the pleasure of starting from zero once again. So, what can you do to be successful?

Most would agree that the answer lies in your people skills, technique and ability to adopt a mindset that stops you from falling into a “move ’em in, move ’em out” mentality. In our heart of hearts, we know the greatest rewards come as a result of staying fresh, nimble and creative. But there is one item I’d like to add to that list: presentation.

Whether you’re online, on the phone or interacting with a customer face-to-face, presentation is the key to convincing them to take that next step. Let’s look at some ways you can improve your presentation in those three areas:

1. Online: The name of the game here is getting the customer to take action. We in the business tend to refer to that as “conversion.” The goal, of course, is to get them to submit a lead, call the store or walk into the showroom. To increase your chances of a conversion, make sure you have multiple touch points on your Website that promote engagement.

Four low-cost, high-return features you can add to your Website are a chat feature, interactive credit applications, video and appraisal tools. You must also consider optimizing your site for Web-enabled mobile devices as their popularity continues to increase.

2. On the Phone: According to a survey conducted by Richmond, Va.-based Communication Briefings, 82 percent of respondents said their opinion about a company is influenced “a lot” by how a representative answers the phone.

This should serve notice not only to the receptionist at your dealership, but also to those sales and service professionals who take customer calls. Just remember the four “Cs” to a strong over-the-phone presentation: confidence, competence, credibility and congruence.

3. In the Showroom: The ultimate opportunity to get a deal done is when the customer is in your house (i.e., the showroom). Obviously, I don’t need to rewrite the road to the sale; however, I would like to share two things I would love to see return on a massive scale to the car business:

■ The Vehicle Walk-Around: When was the last time you gave a customer a thorough walk-around? In my last search to replace my personal vehicle, I visited five dealerships franchised by five different OEMs. Only one gave me a walk-around. No coincidence, the individual who gave me the walk-around turned out to be the No. 1 salesperson at that dealership. In fact, he outsold the next best salesperson by five cars every month.

■ Listening to Gain a Tactical Advantage: Have you ever heard about the “psychology of sales”? It refers to our ability to influence the outcome we desire by winning the sale. As Ben Affleck’s character in the movie “Boiler Room” said, “A sale is made on every call you make. Either you sell the client some stock or he sells you a reason he can’t.”

My point here is simple: There is useful information to be gained that will assist you in your efforts to get the customer to take action. You won’t find it on the guest sheet or through the so-called “qualifying interview.” Process is important, but don’t sacrifice or suppress your natural abilities of observation in the name of procedure.

Regardless of what dealership you work for, most every manufacturer makes a pretty good product. Which one is best can be based on facts or simple perception. My question to you is, how sad is it to never have the opportunity to present a great product because we can’t get a customer to take the next step online, in the showroom or on the phone?

Let me leave you with this: Lots of people like steak, right? But let’s say I offer you a steak, season and grill it to perfection. However, instead of serving it to you on a plate, I take the lid off my garbage can, flip it over and plop your steak on it? Doesn’t sound so appetizing anymore, does it? Presentation counts, so make sure you aren’t serving up your great products on a trash-can lid.

Now, we’re all familiar with the line, “There’s no business like show business.” Well, I wouldn’t personally know if that’s true or not, but I can say from firsthand experience that there is no business like the car business — not just for the controversy and characters, but for the triumphs as well.

In the car business, you have a group of people that range from the dealer principal to the lot attendant, who earns a living and gets some satisfaction from a job well done. On the sales side, you have an environment where guys and gals from all backgrounds spend a lot of time trying to sell one more car, make a few more dollars, hit the next bonus level and, in some cases, produce enough for a particular month to have the opportunity to do it all over again.

I recently read an article about pay plans for sales professionals. It detailed changes some dealers are making to their plans to help retain talent and, ultimately, make it worthwhile for someone to put in the work. My question to you is: What are you doing to improve your own bottom line without depending on new bonus plans or blockbuster advertising?

If you have been in the car business for any amount of time, I bet I can summarize your career thus far: When you started, you were probably like me — ready to take on the world. You were determined to be the best, standing tall on the point and waiting for that next “up.” Or, you were positioned next to the phone, ready to grab that next “phone up.” Unfortunately, things changed. Time, life and the daily lunch decisions sucked some of the fire out of you. Now here you are with however many years on the job, still trying to make it happen. But are you still trying hard enough?

One of the things that I believe makes me a great dealership strategist is my ability to approach a project with a short-term view. This means I have to figure out the problem and the fix quickly.  I only have a certain number of weeks or months to come up with a solution. This gift can also be a curse, because my transient nature spills over into my personal life.

As a car customer, I prefer short-term leases of 24 months and will take a maximum of 30 months. What does this mean to you? Well, every year, for at least the last five years, I have played the role of customer in search of a vehicle and, more importantly, a great sales experience. The problem is, I’m still searching for that experience.

Now, for the record, I know plenty of fantastic salespeople all over the country. However, because I don’t purchase vehicles from clients, there is no bias in my approach.

In the last six months, I visited Subaru, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Land Rover, Infiniti and Lexus dealerships. I received only one professional vehicle presentation, and almost zero follow-up from these dealerships. This is despite each store having some fancy customer relationship management program. How can this be? A wise man I know said that anyone who doesn’t work to get better in today’s market will be punished by that market and the increasing options, demands and changing attitudes of its buyers.  

Take control of your own outcome. Don’t wait for anyone and don’t blame anyone. Here a seven keys to breaking away from the pack:

1. Learn what others won’t take the time to learn.

2. Study others who are more successful than you are.

3. Seek out more opportunities. (You can’t imagine the number of people who run from Internet customers, retention customers or orphan owners.)

4. Work on delivering more service and value than you are getting paid for.

5. Don’t walk, but run from the daily coffee klatch.

6. Stay in your lane and focus on your book of business.

7. Dig deep into your pocket and pay for your education. It will come back to you tenfold.

As the headline says, there is no traffic on the extra mile, only profit and opportunity. You are, of course, greatly encouraged to give it your all and try to prove me wrong!

Now, we’re all familiar with the line, “There’s no business like show business.” Well, I wouldn’t personally know if that’s true or not, but I can say from firsthand experience that there is no business like the car business — not just for the controversy and characters, but for the triumphs as well.

In the car business, you have a group of people that range from the dealer principal to the lot attendant, who earns a living and gets some satisfaction from a job well done. On the sales side, you have an environment where guys and gals from all backgrounds spend a lot of time trying to sell one more car, make a few more dollars, hit the next bonus level and, in some cases, produce enough for a particular month to have the opportunity to do it all over again.

I recently read an article about pay plans for sales professionals. It detailed changes some dealers are making to their plans to help retain talent and, ultimately, make it worthwhile for someone to put in the work. My question to you is: What are you doing to improve your own bottom line without depending on new bonus plans or blockbuster advertising?

If you have been in the car business for any amount of time, I bet I can summarize your career thus far: When you started, you were probably like me — ready to take on the world. You were determined to be the best, standing tall on the point and waiting for that next “up.” Or, you were positioned next to the phone, ready to grab that next “phone up.” Unfortunately, things changed. Time, life and the daily lunch decisions sucked some of the fire out of you. Now here you are with however many years on the job, still trying to make it happen. But are you still trying hard enough?

One of the things that I believe makes me a great dealership strategist is my ability to approach a project with a short-term view. This means I have to figure out the problem and the fix quickly.  I only have a certain number of weeks or months to come up with a solution. This gift can also be a curse, because my transient nature spills over into my personal life.

As a car customer, I prefer short-term leases of 24 months and will take a maximum of 30 months. What does this mean to you? Well, every year, for at least the last five years, I have played the role of customer in search of a vehicle and, more importantly, a great sales experience. The problem is, I’m still searching for that experience.

Now, for the record, I know plenty of fantastic salespeople all over the country. However, because I don’t purchase vehicles from clients, there is no bias in my approach.

In the last six months, I visited Subaru, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Land Rover, Infiniti and Lexus dealerships. I received only one professional vehicle presentation, and almost zero follow-up from these dealerships. This is despite each store having some fancy customer relationship management program. How can this be? A wise man I know said that anyone who doesn’t work to get better in today’s market will be punished by that market and the increasing options, demands and changing attitudes of its buyers.  

Take control of your own outcome. Don’t wait for anyone and don’t blame anyone. Here a seven keys to breaking away from the pack:

1. Learn what others won’t take the time to learn.

2. Study others who are more successful than you are.

3. Seek out more opportunities. (You can’t imagine the number of people who run from Internet customers, retention customers or orphan owners.)

4. Work on delivering more service and value than you are getting paid for.

5. Don’t walk, but run from the daily coffee klatch.

6. Stay in your lane and focus on your book of business.

7. Dig deep into your pocket and pay for your education. It will come back to you tenfold.

As the headline says, there is no traffic on the extra mile, only profit and opportunity. You are, of course, greatly encouraged to give it your all and try to prove me wrong!

I want to take a look at a myth that has been a mainstream statement for years – the idea that knowledge is power. I find as I visit stores and conduct workshops across the country, I meet a lot of “know it all” salespeople or worse yet, negative salespeople who want the customer to take all of the responsibility for not buying a car. I also want to reach out to the people that sit in training nodding their head in agreement or taking a ton of notes, only to leave behind the concepts they learned as soon as they leave the session. Here’s the real deal. Unless you can convert knowledge into results, you’ve got nothing! Let’s take a look at three reasons why people don’t convert knowledge into action: 

1. Information overload: This is a common trap people fall into because it's easy to acquire knowledge, but not as much fun or easy to apply that information. 

2. Negative filtering: Thoughts that hold people back so whenever they do learn something positive, they tend to discount it. 

3. Lack of follow-up: An absence of structure and accountability that explains why smokers continue to smoke when they know it’s bad for them. While many smokers have a positive attitude about quitting, they keep smoking because changing habits or behaviors requires a concentrated effort. 

Converting knowledge into action requires repetition. Repetition creates lasting change because people need to hear information over and over for it to have an impact. If you didn’t know this by now a major part of my business is selling training. One of the biggest hurdles I face on a daily basis with a dealer is breaking the belief that there is no reason to train employees because they won’t stay or they won’t change. Do you think that there is a connection between a salesperson that has the tools to be successful and stays versus a salesperson coming to work every day trained only to say, “What brings you into the dealership today?” or “Any reason other than price you wouldn’t buy and drive this car today?” or the crown jewel, “great news!” I had a dealer tell me a few months ago that I am the first person to do training at his dealership in 12 years. Question: is it just a coincidence that the dealership is last in the zone in sales and has high sales turnover? If you are a dealer, wake up! As the dealership’s decision maker you must realize that you can’t mandate productivity; it is your responsibility to give your salespeople what they need to succeed (FYI: when I talk about tools to succeed I am not talking about a working telephone and lot full of inventory). 

If you are a salesperson, the following are some matters for your consideration. People grow best with an open, positive mind. Seeds planted on good soil produce many times what is sown. An open, positive filtering system can ignite creativity, ingenuity, and resourcefulness. Positive thinkers do the impossible with great regularity. The next time you are presented with something you think you already know, I challenge you to not simply say, “I already know that,” but ask yourself, “How good am I at that?” International thought leader Ken Blanchard coined a phrase known as “green light thinking.” This is when you focus on positive aspects and overcome negative filtering. In order to maximize the follow-through on the knowledge you acquire, you will need structure, support, and accountability. An effective follow up system to implement a new training concept involves: Tell me, show me, let me, and correct me.

Finally I want to leave you with two things: 
1. Remember that the human brain and the computer have a lot in common: Both the computer and human brain don’t know the difference between the truth and what people tell them. 

2. The golden thread that runs through the life of every high achiever is focus, backed by persistence. In the end, knowledge is potential power when made actionable and sometimes the best tools that will help you sell more cars and make more money are indeed the same tools to improve the quality and success of your life, period.

I want to take a look at a myth that has been a mainstream statement for years – the idea that knowledge is power. I find as I visit stores and conduct workshops across the country, I meet a lot of “know it all” salespeople or worse yet, negative salespeople who want the customer to take all of the responsibility for not buying a car. I also want to reach out to the people that sit in training nodding their head in agreement or taking a ton of notes, only to leave behind the concepts they learned as soon as they leave the session. Here’s the real deal. Unless you can convert knowledge into results, you’ve got nothing! Let’s take a look at three reasons why people don’t convert knowledge into action: 

1. Information overload: This is a common trap people fall into because it's easy to acquire knowledge, but not as much fun or easy to apply that information. 

2. Negative filtering: Thoughts that hold people back so whenever they do learn something positive, they tend to discount it. 

3. Lack of follow-up: An absence of structure and accountability that explains why smokers continue to smoke when they know it’s bad for them. While many smokers have a positive attitude about quitting, they keep smoking because changing habits or behaviors requires a concentrated effort. 

Converting knowledge into action requires repetition. Repetition creates lasting change because people need to hear information over and over for it to have an impact. If you didn’t know this by now a major part of my business is selling training. One of the biggest hurdles I face on a daily basis with a dealer is breaking the belief that there is no reason to train employees because they won’t stay or they won’t change. Do you think that there is a connection between a salesperson that has the tools to be successful and stays versus a salesperson coming to work every day trained only to say, “What brings you into the dealership today?” or “Any reason other than price you wouldn’t buy and drive this car today?” or the crown jewel, “great news!” I had a dealer tell me a few months ago that I am the first person to do training at his dealership in 12 years. Question: is it just a coincidence that the dealership is last in the zone in sales and has high sales turnover? If you are a dealer, wake up! As the dealership’s decision maker you must realize that you can’t mandate productivity; it is your responsibility to give your salespeople what they need to succeed (FYI: when I talk about tools to succeed I am not talking about a working telephone and lot full of inventory). 

If you are a salesperson, the following are some matters for your consideration. People grow best with an open, positive mind. Seeds planted on good soil produce many times what is sown. An open, positive filtering system can ignite creativity, ingenuity, and resourcefulness. Positive thinkers do the impossible with great regularity. The next time you are presented with something you think you already know, I challenge you to not simply say, “I already know that,” but ask yourself, “How good am I at that?” International thought leader Ken Blanchard coined a phrase known as “green light thinking.” This is when you focus on positive aspects and overcome negative filtering. In order to maximize the follow-through on the knowledge you acquire, you will need structure, support, and accountability. An effective follow up system to implement a new training concept involves: Tell me, show me, let me, and correct me.

Finally I want to leave you with two things: 
1. Remember that the human brain and the computer have a lot in common: Both the computer and human brain don’t know the difference between the truth and what people tell them. 

2. The golden thread that runs through the life of every high achiever is focus, backed by persistence. In the end, knowledge is potential power when made actionable and sometimes the best tools that will help you sell more cars and make more money are indeed the same tools to improve the quality and success of your life, period.