As I prepare for my trip to Tampa for Digital Dealer, Auto Retail Future is taking fold.  And, as important as automotive social media is slated to become in 2014, I wondered who from Facebook might be on hand for the event.

Anyone who reads this post and provides information regarding professionals from the social media behemoth that might be on hand at the conference will be granting a gesture well appreciated!

A problem is on the blackboard.  A class full of professionals are attesting to the principles necessary to garner the solution.  Auto Retail Future is at stake.

A series devoted to highlighting the mathematical aspects of our careers and industry, 'Mathematics is a True Science' delves into the value of formulating winning equations for automotive sales in this segment.

Almost every consumer enters a dealership armed with tons of information and options.  They are committed to an automotive purchase, but have no definitive integers in place to determine what they will buy from whom, where, and when.  They come with aplenty, but all of it is in need of order.  Organized thoughts are the result they hope to gain via the assistance of a professional automotive retail consultant.

It is you who must isolate each of these variables and assign them value.  As a part of our professional duty, we must identify through communicating and listening to the true desires and the impulses which triggered the purchase, exactly which automobile will fit the consumer's needs perfectly.  In my experience, this is an integer of 7.  Yes, it seems a phenomenally large amount of cars for the client to be considering, but it is my number not without reason.

Ask a consumer about one car the entire time you are communicating with them, and you simply are not consulting.  A model line up offers leverage to the experienced automotive retail professional.  It affords the best deal closers an opportunity to get plenty of the "no's" consumers are sure to come armed with out of the way.  Featuring vehicles plays to the strength of the consultant and to the weakness or impulse of the consumer.  Converting the first integer in equations for sales success for automotive retail professionals into 1 from 7 is the most worthwhile training investment a dealership can make for its team.

Without belaboring the point, I ask that you imagine the possibility of selling only one single year, make, model of the same nameplate automobile across all dealer points.  What if there were no options?  What if every automotive consumer bought one Yugo or another, but had no choice in the matter of which symbol embellished their rides?

Clearly, this would simplify the first variable in our equation for success, but later you will understand why it would complicate the matter of sales success greatly.  Most consumers have decided upon a nameplate before they meet an auto retail consultant.

So, thus far, our equation for automotive retail sales success is as such: (7-6)-x-y-z=Success!

Automotive retail is one of the few industries without fully dedicated online transactions.  When buying books, electronics, clothing, and any manner of other staples today, consumers have the option of never contemplating from whom they are purchasing.  Because cars do not drive out of computer screens into bedrooms, living rooms, or garages when consumers swipe to check out of their online shopping carts, the engagement with a consultant is a must.  For the sake of those who contest, even the transportation guy can be assigned the consultant designation if he bequeaths the responsibility of delivering the automobile and it's books, keys and paper work to the consumer.

How do you harness the power to have a customer decide they will buy from you?  How do you become the who in the equation for automotive retail sales success?

Dharmesh Shah, in his recent article "How to Harness the Power of Numbers" reveals when making angel investments "I either like the founders, or I don't..."  This is a man who invests a great deal more in businesses than consumers do in automobiles.  And, he offers simply that he buys from whom he likes.  So, the old adage stands true.  Customers buy from who they like.  Internet tools may help potential car buyers like you, but few professionals have the capacity to leverage their online identities into sales production.  The key to the second integer for the equation for automotive retail sales success is to not be 'disliked'.  It is an easy proposition for a focused professional to constrain comments, ideas, and opinions which may redirect the purchase intent from the product to the person.  And, as long as this is accomplished, our equation now reads as thus:

(7-6)-1-y-z=Success!

Another important fact of identity is, you are the company you keep.  That's right!  Your professional capacity is often a measure of the company you represent.  For the sake of some brevity, making your dealership the solution for where a consumer will buy can be made easy.

Automotively speaking, there are many opportunities to brand your business inside the dealership.  Relationship building strategists such as Dr. Stephen R. Covey suggest having a customer know you through simple staging of your office space using family photos, games, and honors.  I concur in almost all instances - except if you do not have the capacity to multi-task or focus on moving quickly through the car deal if these items are present.  Then, you should simply work from as bare an office space as possible.  Like staging promotes relationship building with customers, a bare office implies your intent to stick strictly to the business of deal making.

If a consumer is at your desk, then where they will buy is the same as who they will buy from.  Do nothing to switch the emphasis of the consumer from what they came to buy to where they are buying, and your equation for automotive retail sales success looks like this:

(7-6)-1-1-z=Success!

All the variables are almost decided.  The ideal solution is 0.  As a sales professional, you want absolutely zero "no's" left at the close of the deal.  A favorite saying of mine is "they are only saying 'no' because you don't know enough to help them say 'yes'."

True consulting professionals in every realm - except maybe automotive retail - are compensated greatly for their time.  As pivotal a part of the equation as any for automotive retail success is the ability to harness the when of the transaction.

Time is divine.  Remember, after the presentation of the model line up, most of the auto retailing process is boring and unsensational for both consultant and consumer.  Leverage this to your advantage by asking the customer "when was the last time you knew this much about 7 different cars you might buy?"

Refresh their memories about the most valuable aspect of their experience with you.  Time seems to go at a faster than usual pace when fun is being had.  Triggering the consumer's memory is a great way evoke the senses of sight, touch, smell, and sound again.  Remember, these are the impulses which compel them to buy.  So, showing 7 differnet cars has it's payoff in the end - just as I promised.

"To be considerate of your time Mr. and Mrs. Customer, if you don't oppose, I would like to get your paper work expedited while you fuel your new car."  How many of you are considering the value of a second test drive to confirm the sale.  Assuming the sale is the chutzpah champion professionals wield at the close in automotive retail.  This is the "no need to waste time, let's get this over with" (not to be said to the customer, of course) portion of the deal.  Consumers almost always are appreciative of folks who are respectful of their time.  Speaking of time, if you have appropriately placed all the other integers into the equation for automotive retail sales success, then you are done.

(7-6)-1-1-1=Success!

There is no reason not to make the sale when using this consultative approach to solve the equation for automotive retail sales success.

A star gaze may very well reveal to the observer an astonishment meant to be spread throughout the entire life dynamic.  Brightly lit skies are phenomenal in effect, and are a sensory magic.

Applying the focus it takes to reveal the total splendor of the constellations to an aspect as predominant in life as one's professional presence undoubtedly produces as atounding results.

A promise I made to the DrivngSales.com community and to myself is that I would inject my all into the matter at hand.  It just so happens the subject matter is that which I explored earliest.  As a pioneer of automotive internet marketing, I remember the cloudy nights which revealed absolutley no stars at all.  A time when dealers and vendors alike accepted at most that the Internet was an also ran for automotive retail industries.  An era of disposition, a day when stars shone few and in between in discussions about automotive retail migrating to online spaces, it was.  Dealerships didn't have websites, let alone a plan to address such prevalant contemporary online strategies as email marketing and social media.

But, as any star gazer knows, the longer you focus on the sky, the more stars it will reveal.

In this series, 'Mathematics is a True Science' I am openly exploring the value of knowing how math plays a pivtotal role in the evolution of our industry.  In particular in this segment, I am highlighting the principle of multiplication.

Email is a tool more valuable than meets the eye.  Imagine the opportunity to have the address of every potential customer in your market area.  Physically, this is accomplished through the purchase of lists provided through only the USPS.  The cost of contacting these potential customers through traditional "snail mail" would be prohibitive in almost every instance.

Introduce the email.  The email is the virtual address for all these potential customers available at minimal cost compared to traditional mail.

At a recent post by Exact Target Product Marketing Manager, Julie Brown points out her opinion that all email correspondence should be comprehensive in approach. She says the ability to shine a bright light on which aspects of your email marketing are generating the most response is key to creating an ROI which will be beneficial to your entire dealership team or family.

With these points, I concur.  As in seeing the sky at the beginning of a star gaze, the beginning of peering into your email campaigns can offer little splendor.  But, you can rest assured the longer you look and the more focused your gaze, the few stars will become multiple.

This is the key to successful implementation of online marketing strategies which leverage the most prevalent of all online communication tools - email.  By identifying what customers click into at their emails enroute to the virtual front door to your dealership an invaluable takeaway is created from tracking sources such as Google Analytics.

'Sales Like Counting Stars' expresses the compounding interest of focus and patience when it comes to successful email marketing campaigns.

The Internet may or may not be quite as expansive as the sky, but it is immense.  So, gazing into the sky at a point East of the Mississippi may very well engage a totally different group of constellations than standing before the Pacific Sea and staring above might.  Online, your dealership is your part of the galaxy.  You must identify the constellations which lay within.

This is a scientific process.  Email is always only a hypothesis.  It is a scientific problem that can be tested further.  It is you walking into outerspace with your star wand drawing random scribbles and coming back to Earth with the challenging task of finding them all.

Customers will help.  They will add context to your scribbles as they open their inboxes and migrate to the most appealing and recognizable forms you have created.  Cars always are alluring.  Fast cars, even more...

Make cars your constellations in the online galaxy of emailing.  Appeal to the sense of cognitive illustration when emailing.  Vibrant, bright, far away things which capture the attention like stars really do work.  And, as the verdicts arrive, do more and more of what is working.  Even, as Julie Brown states clearly, follow up the gazers of 'Big Dipper' with an additional email dedciated to the subject.  Ask your team to identify what your customer base is responding to within the context of your email blasts.  Ask them about the products, services, specials that may be missing.  Allow them to help you make your galaxy as full of stars as the Milky Way.

After all is said and done, the pursuit of automotive retail is the sale.  Sales will sky-rocket when effective email marketing is in place at your dealership(s).  The simple principle of multiplication will allow your team to grow their business (and yours, too) when you present them with a wide open sky to paint their constellations upon.  After all, the more stars there are shining, the brighter the sky.

A recent article by HubSpot Founder, Dharmesh Shah, brings home many value points about understanding ratios, valuing quality and quantity in there rightful measures, and recognizing the power of one.  Read it here.

As a promise to myself, I do things only one way - to the best of my ability.  Otherwise, I simply do not engage at all.  Automotive retail has been a rewarding career for me because of this, and because I understand ratios.  Also, much due to the same, automotive retail has been a challenging career choice for me.  There have been some instances when the quantity of time I spent at a dealership or for a dealer client did not measure up to the quality a moment with my loved ones might have equaled.  One truth, though, is I am doing what I believe.  When a moment presents itself, such as this one, I pounce on it and put into it all that I have to offer.  I call this "All In Equals All Out".

Accomplishment is typically a ratio of Tries-to-Failures-to-Successes.  So, if I only try once, and that trial is a failure, then my ratio is 1-1-0.  As I continue to accumulate Tries, the Failures are sure to grow in number, too.  Aside from the definition of Failures or Successes, though, the key to the ratio is simply the number ONE.  A ratio that looks like 1-x-y.

Assigning the number ONE the power it deserves, we recognize there is nothing more important than the 1st sale, or the 1st objection, or the 1st phone call answered, or the 1st email sent back as 'mailer daemon'.  Assigning the number ONE the power it deserves, means we acknowledge the outcome matters not in the absence of the Try.  The 1st Try is the key ingredient to all the ratios in this world where Mathematics is a True Science.

As it relates to selling more automobiles, it looms well that we understand the power of ONE.  Almost every seasoned sales professional knows to become successful, he/she must identify the one vehicle, the one objection, the one buying price necessary to close the deal.  All of these are moments in a sales process made up of a ratio that include Tries, Failures, and Successes.  This looks like z-x-1 (once we sell the vehicle).

As such, it has been one of my practices at the dealership level when acquiring a new team of sales professionals, to assign each professional only one vehicle out of the new model line up to focus on selling.  This afforded me an opportunity to eliminate many unnecessary variables when it came to identifying their true abilities to meet and greet, qualify, conduct a T/O, present the right vehicle, and do a trial close at the end of the test drive.

Almost every time, the closing ratio of the professionals I managed went up within their 1st week.  A key to the growth amongst these individuals was identifying ONE thing they did right along the way.  Each Try represented an opportunity to multiply the amount of things they did right.  A lot of managers lead from an "I've done this my whole life, I know it all" perspective.  Accomplishment was mine because I simply helped others solidify their own identities and leverage the strengths they inherently possessed into a great capacity to sell cars.

Now, this is just the beginning - or, the 1st of these snippets I would like to share here on DrivingSales.com for the community to appreciate.  Growing in value is about adding a multiplier to the ONE.  That looks like z(number of cumulative members on DrivingSales.com). If any amongst you have a thought dynamic to share regarding how mathematics, numbers, or ratios are helping you grow your businesses, then please be encouraged to share.

Alright, the question is surfacing often now about how Social Media is to be correctly implemented into the online experience for auto retailing.

A recent WIRED magazine article titled, "Email is Crushing Twitter, Facebook for Selling Stuff Online" knocks this question dead into the dirt.  But, for the sake of the automotive internet marketing community here at Driving Sales, I decided to elaborate on the matter in this post.