It’s no secret, in many markets the final two months of the year can be a tough time to get the results you were able to get in the summer selling months earlier this year. The truth though, is a lot of your top-tier salespeople have some of their best months in November and December.

Let’s explore why, and what you can do to be a top contributor for the next two months.

CRM is king

Obviously, this is true year-round. Day in and day out a professional (you are a professional, right?) salesperson makes the most of the tools they have.  The CRM is the most crucial tool to your success, and becomes even more vital in the slower months.

If you are in a market where the weather gets bad, and potential customers are more hesitant to leave the comfort of their homes, you will need to master your CRM activity to make the most of your opportunities.

Hopefully, your CRM provider and CRM Admin at your dealership have worked together to set up a proper follow-up process conducive to your success. Now, you must follow it! This is not optional. So many times, I see salespeople with overdue CRM activities and they fall way behind.

I get it. You were busy yesterday. You sold 2 cars. You had that one guy come up from service and take up 30 minutes of your time. The internet went down in the store for an hour, so on, and so on.

We all have things interrupt our daily plan and activities, but if you want to be successful, you have to make the time and find ways to keep up with your schedule.

Those who become masters at working within their CRM will not only have better success than their peers who don’t, but developing these habits now, during the slower months will also carry forward into the new year.

Make it personal

It’s very easy to get caught up in our day to day work that we often make our follow up about the car and the car only. When we do follow-up (probably not often enough) with our previous and current customer base, we send them some run of the mill email asking them “when can you come in” or a phone call saying, “how’s the car treating you”.

Guess what? Every car salesperson in the history of car sales is doing the same thing. Albeit, probably not even doing that as often and consistently as they should. You have to find ways to set yourself apart.

Call them and ask how they are doing.

Send them a card (you do have the holidays coming up).

Send them a video email to say hi.

It will take a little bit more work and creativity that most of your competition won’t do. This alone will set you apart and make you more memorable.

This may not sell you a car today or even this month, but once again, you are developing habits that will carry into next year and make you that much better.

Don’t believe that guy

You know who I’m talking about. The guy that’s been at the dealership 8 years. He spends half the year near the top of the board, and the other half in the middle because he spends most of his day staring out the window waiting for that good up.

He’s going to tell you how bad the winter is in car sales. He’s going to tell you that there is no traffic. He’s going to tell you that you won’t make any money.

If you listen to him, he’ll be right.

You can 100% control the success you have to close out this year. Trust me, there are plenty of top performers out there that do not care what month it is. As a matter of fact, they are probably looking forward to the next two months because they know most of the others will be focused on the wrong thoughts, waiting for the “busy” months.

Approach every day with a plan, stick to it, and you will find that November and December can be two of the best months of the year.

Go close this year with a bang!

It is the day after Thanksgiving.  "Black Friday" for those of you who take advantage of the sales that the retail stores are offering, or to most of us who are working and having a sale of our own. This means we have two days left in November to finish strong and then the month of December to close out the year.  In some cases, December is vital to hit the projections you set for yourself this year.  Make no mistake, this post has nothing to do with ignoring December and concentrating on 2014.  It is actually just the opposite of that.

Do you normally make a New Years Resolution?

Resolution or not, usually the New Year offers a time to set new goals, make changes, and for some reason it seems to bring extra motivation than we have during the previous 11 plus months.  Some of our goals are personal challenges such as taking better care of our bodies, spending more time with our families, and some are business related such as income, higher sales numbers, a promotion, etc.  

My plea to you today is don't wait.  Don't wait until January 1st to start making the changes you would like to see.  In order to change a result, you must first change a habit.  Habits don't change overnight.  You can't stop smoking for one day and consider yourself a non-smoker, you can't make more phone calls today alone and hope to sell more cars next month.  It takes a consistent effort day after day to develop the right habit to improve the desired result.  Most people say it takes 20-30 days to change a habit.  If you start TODAY you will have a new habit by the first of the year.  If you start in January, your new habit will be a month later.  Don't wait too long.  Start your 2014 goals today, develop the right habits, and you will succeed next year.  

Plus, don't forget some of the challenges that December can bring.  Certain areas have to deal with bad weather, and we all compete with Santa Claus.  Start working towards your new habit and there will be no need for any excuses on why this month was bad.  You will raise your level of effort and focus and roll into the New Year on fire! 

Have a great month! 

It is the day after Thanksgiving.  "Black Friday" for those of you who take advantage of the sales that the retail stores are offering, or to most of us who are working and having a sale of our own. This means we have two days left in November to finish strong and then the month of December to close out the year.  In some cases, December is vital to hit the projections you set for yourself this year.  Make no mistake, this post has nothing to do with ignoring December and concentrating on 2014.  It is actually just the opposite of that.

Do you normally make a New Years Resolution?

Resolution or not, usually the New Year offers a time to set new goals, make changes, and for some reason it seems to bring extra motivation than we have during the previous 11 plus months.  Some of our goals are personal challenges such as taking better care of our bodies, spending more time with our families, and some are business related such as income, higher sales numbers, a promotion, etc.  

My plea to you today is don't wait.  Don't wait until January 1st to start making the changes you would like to see.  In order to change a result, you must first change a habit.  Habits don't change overnight.  You can't stop smoking for one day and consider yourself a non-smoker, you can't make more phone calls today alone and hope to sell more cars next month.  It takes a consistent effort day after day to develop the right habit to improve the desired result.  Most people say it takes 20-30 days to change a habit.  If you start TODAY you will have a new habit by the first of the year.  If you start in January, your new habit will be a month later.  Don't wait too long.  Start your 2014 goals today, develop the right habits, and you will succeed next year.  

Plus, don't forget some of the challenges that December can bring.  Certain areas have to deal with bad weather, and we all compete with Santa Claus.  Start working towards your new habit and there will be no need for any excuses on why this month was bad.  You will raise your level of effort and focus and roll into the New Year on fire! 

Have a great month! 

Listen!

Not to me, but your customers.  All of them!  Yes, even the one's you feel won't buy anything, even if you are busy when they call, even if you haven't sold a car for a few days and are in a terrible mood.  

Are you listening? 

Most clients like to talk about themselves.  Actually, not most, but all customers like to talk about what they like and their interest.  Do you know how to get them talking?  It's no big secret, and as a matter of fact sales trainers have been talking about it for years.  Just listen, your customers will tell you how to get them talking more.  Then, they will tell you why they want to buy, or not buy the product or service you are trying to sell them.

If a customers brings up price, is that an objection or a buying signal?  Could be both!  You have to listen to what a customer is actually saying.  They may not want a lower price, they may just need more information regarding the financial decision they are making.  They may just be telling you that you haven't built up enough value in the product, service, or yourself yet.  We constantly hear that price is not the main decision factor when people make a purchase.  

If a customer says "I want to think about it".  What does that mean?  It could mean multiple different things.  Do they really need to think about it? Probably not.  Research says customers spend close to 20 hours online shopping and researching cars before they even come see you, so they have already done all the thinking they need to do.  Asking more questions is vital, but more importantly "listen", I mean really listen to what their answers are and that will help you find the real objection.

Do you listen on the phone?

I hear it all the time when a salesperson takes a phone call and they are so concerned with trying to get the appointment set that I think they miss some of what the customer is saying.  If a customer ask a specific question, and you sidestep it with "when would you be able to come in", you probably aren't going to get a strait answer back from the customer.  They may schedule an appointment as a reflex objection just to get off the phone and never have any attention of coming in because you didn't meet their needs.  People are looking for a professional to help them, and they are nervous based on stereotypes and the amount of money they are spending.  

They are asking us for help everyday, we just generally don't hear them.

Image courtesy of Microsoft

Listen!

Not to me, but your customers.  All of them!  Yes, even the one's you feel won't buy anything, even if you are busy when they call, even if you haven't sold a car for a few days and are in a terrible mood.  

Are you listening? 

Most clients like to talk about themselves.  Actually, not most, but all customers like to talk about what they like and their interest.  Do you know how to get them talking?  It's no big secret, and as a matter of fact sales trainers have been talking about it for years.  Just listen, your customers will tell you how to get them talking more.  Then, they will tell you why they want to buy, or not buy the product or service you are trying to sell them.

If a customers brings up price, is that an objection or a buying signal?  Could be both!  You have to listen to what a customer is actually saying.  They may not want a lower price, they may just need more information regarding the financial decision they are making.  They may just be telling you that you haven't built up enough value in the product, service, or yourself yet.  We constantly hear that price is not the main decision factor when people make a purchase.  

If a customer says "I want to think about it".  What does that mean?  It could mean multiple different things.  Do they really need to think about it? Probably not.  Research says customers spend close to 20 hours online shopping and researching cars before they even come see you, so they have already done all the thinking they need to do.  Asking more questions is vital, but more importantly "listen", I mean really listen to what their answers are and that will help you find the real objection.

Do you listen on the phone?

I hear it all the time when a salesperson takes a phone call and they are so concerned with trying to get the appointment set that I think they miss some of what the customer is saying.  If a customer ask a specific question, and you sidestep it with "when would you be able to come in", you probably aren't going to get a strait answer back from the customer.  They may schedule an appointment as a reflex objection just to get off the phone and never have any attention of coming in because you didn't meet their needs.  People are looking for a professional to help them, and they are nervous based on stereotypes and the amount of money they are spending.  

They are asking us for help everyday, we just generally don't hear them.

Image courtesy of Microsoft

Are you good enough?  The answer, of course is NO!  No one is actually as good as they could be.  I believe that every one, in every profession, has room for improvement.  Think of the best of the best in any profession you choose, and I can assure you they have room or improvement.  It may seem like they have some god given talent and are as good as it gets, and they may be the best, but they still could be better.

Let’s use sports as an example.  Name the best player in your favorite sport (always a start to a great argument) and I assure you they have room for improvement.  Better yet, how did they become the “best”?  In any sport you can almost certainly contribute their success to work ethic.  They outworked their competition to get to where they are, and more importantly continue to outwork their competition to stay the best.  They still practice nearly every day of their lives to remain the best and continue to grow!  

Are you the best?

Actually, that is not as important as the following question.

Are you getting better?

If your not working EVERY DAY to improve your craft you are losing ground to someone that is out-working you.  Even if you improve yourself in something not related to your industry you will stay sharp and it will help you continue to grow, regardless of what you do.  If the best of the best still practice every day to improve their craft, why in the world wouldn’t you.  

There are countless methods to growing and learning.  The internet is a very powerful medium to educate.  Here are some examples of things you could be doing to continue to grow.

1. Subscribe to a YouTube channel of industry/business leaders.
2. Follow a blog of your industry or business leaders.
3. Join a forum that is related to your field.
4. Subscribe to a email newsletter related to what you do.
5. Follow your mentors on Social Media. (Don’t be afraid to ask them questions, they may just answer them).
6. Read a book! (any book, I promise you will learn something).

In our industry, I have seen multiple situations of very talented salespeople who have some very good months, but always seem to fall into mediocrity due to the inconsistency from month to month due to a lack of practice.  If you don’t continue to work at what you do it is almost a guarantee that you will struggle from time to time.  I have fallen into his trap myself, and it did not turn out good.  It never does.  

In a world that changes at a warp speed pace, if you don’t work to keep up and stay ahead of the game, you will certainly be left behind.

Are you good enough?  The answer, of course is NO!  No one is actually as good as they could be.  I believe that every one, in every profession, has room for improvement.  Think of the best of the best in any profession you choose, and I can assure you they have room or improvement.  It may seem like they have some god given talent and are as good as it gets, and they may be the best, but they still could be better.

Let’s use sports as an example.  Name the best player in your favorite sport (always a start to a great argument) and I assure you they have room for improvement.  Better yet, how did they become the “best”?  In any sport you can almost certainly contribute their success to work ethic.  They outworked their competition to get to where they are, and more importantly continue to outwork their competition to stay the best.  They still practice nearly every day of their lives to remain the best and continue to grow!  

Are you the best?

Actually, that is not as important as the following question.

Are you getting better?

If your not working EVERY DAY to improve your craft you are losing ground to someone that is out-working you.  Even if you improve yourself in something not related to your industry you will stay sharp and it will help you continue to grow, regardless of what you do.  If the best of the best still practice every day to improve their craft, why in the world wouldn’t you.  

There are countless methods to growing and learning.  The internet is a very powerful medium to educate.  Here are some examples of things you could be doing to continue to grow.

1. Subscribe to a YouTube channel of industry/business leaders.
2. Follow a blog of your industry or business leaders.
3. Join a forum that is related to your field.
4. Subscribe to a email newsletter related to what you do.
5. Follow your mentors on Social Media. (Don’t be afraid to ask them questions, they may just answer them).
6. Read a book! (any book, I promise you will learn something).

In our industry, I have seen multiple situations of very talented salespeople who have some very good months, but always seem to fall into mediocrity due to the inconsistency from month to month due to a lack of practice.  If you don’t continue to work at what you do it is almost a guarantee that you will struggle from time to time.  I have fallen into his trap myself, and it did not turn out good.  It never does.  

In a world that changes at a warp speed pace, if you don’t work to keep up and stay ahead of the game, you will certainly be left behind.