We all have an inspiration to be the best that we can be.  I hope that you all read for that inspiration.  We all have a different inspiration and drive to make us the best in the industry.  One thing that I have noticed over the years are how coaches are.  They for some reason give the best inspirational speeches ever.  As managers within the marketplace, we have to be like those coaches.  Take a look in the mirror and think about your sales meetings with your teams.  Here are a few tips that I like to take into account when having meetings with our team.  

• We have to give your team that inspiration to do better.  
• Have a plan when you go into your sales meetings.
• Remember, the goal for sales meetings is to pump your team up, not brow beat them because of what may have or may not have happened the day prior.
• Give praise to those who deserve it.  When given praise in public, that may just give that extra kick in their step while they are with that next customer.

I think we all have been in those meeting where we have just been worn down to where you just don't want to work that day.  Think about that when you have your meetings with your team.  We all know that happy employees make happy customers.  Do you want them up and walking with a kick in their step or down walking with their head down when they walk out of your office or meeting room?

We all have an inspiration to be the best that we can be.  I hope that you all read for that inspiration.  We all have a different inspiration and drive to make us the best in the industry.  One thing that I have noticed over the years are how coaches are.  They for some reason give the best inspirational speeches ever.  As managers within the marketplace, we have to be like those coaches.  Take a look in the mirror and think about your sales meetings with your teams.  Here are a few tips that I like to take into account when having meetings with our team.  

• We have to give your team that inspiration to do better.  
• Have a plan when you go into your sales meetings.
• Remember, the goal for sales meetings is to pump your team up, not brow beat them because of what may have or may not have happened the day prior.
• Give praise to those who deserve it.  When given praise in public, that may just give that extra kick in their step while they are with that next customer.

I think we all have been in those meeting where we have just been worn down to where you just don't want to work that day.  Think about that when you have your meetings with your team.  We all know that happy employees make happy customers.  Do you want them up and walking with a kick in their step or down walking with their head down when they walk out of your office or meeting room?

DealerSocket hits the market with 3 new products within their CRM to take them to the next level at NADA in Las Vegas this week.  I was able to get a sneak peek of the 3 new features that they are rolling out last week that should bring their CRM up towards the top of the market.

The first part of the CRM enhancement is SocketTalk.  SocketTalk is a fully integratable texting feature within the CRM that will store everything in the history of the customer file.  When you click on the button to text a customer from within the CRM, it will open up a window and look like a text string like an iPhone.  You can also have instant messaging between employees that will pop up on the desktop.  The other nice feature is that it will integrate with your DMS so that when a customer’s vehicle is done in service, it will also alert them when the RO is closed.  Everything is opt in to cover any state and local laws to make sure that they dealership is compliant in texting laws.

The second enhancement that DealerSocket is releasing is Revenue Radar.  Revenue Radar is an equity alert program that will alert the sales rep when there is equity in a vehicle and can trade the customer out of their vehicle early.  This is a great program where you can do searches within the database for customers with specific vehicles in their ownership that you can trade for and source for your used car department.  The filtering within the program was very user friendly and all in drop down menus.  DealerSocket is tied in with the manufacturer programs so you will have the most relevant information to get to the customer when you call and try to schedule that appointment.  DealerSocket also has call centers that you can take advantage of and have them make the calls for you.

The last element of the enhancements is the Mobile CRM.  It is accessible on iPhone and Android platforms.  It was a very clean app as they were going through all of the paces of the product.  It is tied in with the main CRM so the Sales Managers can know what is going on out on the lot.  They can do a quick entry with basic customer info and they can fill out the rest as needed when they get to the computer.  The other nice feature is currently on the Android platform and coming soon to iPhone is the scanner for the customer’s trade in within the customer information screen.  One concern we all have as managers is sales people ‘faking’ their calls.  When they are clicking within the app and making the calls from their cell phones, it is a verified call and we as managers know that the call was actually made. 

If you are looking at adding a CRM or changing CRM companies, swing by the DealerSocket booth at NADA and they would love to show you the enhancements in person.  They are at booth 3180 and will be happy to go over all of their platform enhancements with you.   

DealerSocket hits the market with 3 new products within their CRM to take them to the next level at NADA in Las Vegas this week.  I was able to get a sneak peek of the 3 new features that they are rolling out last week that should bring their CRM up towards the top of the market.

The first part of the CRM enhancement is SocketTalk.  SocketTalk is a fully integratable texting feature within the CRM that will store everything in the history of the customer file.  When you click on the button to text a customer from within the CRM, it will open up a window and look like a text string like an iPhone.  You can also have instant messaging between employees that will pop up on the desktop.  The other nice feature is that it will integrate with your DMS so that when a customer’s vehicle is done in service, it will also alert them when the RO is closed.  Everything is opt in to cover any state and local laws to make sure that they dealership is compliant in texting laws.

The second enhancement that DealerSocket is releasing is Revenue Radar.  Revenue Radar is an equity alert program that will alert the sales rep when there is equity in a vehicle and can trade the customer out of their vehicle early.  This is a great program where you can do searches within the database for customers with specific vehicles in their ownership that you can trade for and source for your used car department.  The filtering within the program was very user friendly and all in drop down menus.  DealerSocket is tied in with the manufacturer programs so you will have the most relevant information to get to the customer when you call and try to schedule that appointment.  DealerSocket also has call centers that you can take advantage of and have them make the calls for you.

The last element of the enhancements is the Mobile CRM.  It is accessible on iPhone and Android platforms.  It was a very clean app as they were going through all of the paces of the product.  It is tied in with the main CRM so the Sales Managers can know what is going on out on the lot.  They can do a quick entry with basic customer info and they can fill out the rest as needed when they get to the computer.  The other nice feature is currently on the Android platform and coming soon to iPhone is the scanner for the customer’s trade in within the customer information screen.  One concern we all have as managers is sales people ‘faking’ their calls.  When they are clicking within the app and making the calls from their cell phones, it is a verified call and we as managers know that the call was actually made. 

If you are looking at adding a CRM or changing CRM companies, swing by the DealerSocket booth at NADA and they would love to show you the enhancements in person.  They are at booth 3180 and will be happy to go over all of their platform enhancements with you.   

com·pla·cen·cy

kəm-ˈplā-s^ən(t)-sē

It can happen to the best of us as managers, salesmen, service writers, all the way down to the service porter.  We can get complacent.  How does this happen to the best of the best?  It can happen easily and I was reminded of it recently.  The inner businesses (departments) within the dealership starts doing well, and we forgot how we got there.

Some love him and some hate him, but I just got done reading The 10x Rule by Grant Cardone.  Reading the book and then watching his weekly online G+ hangouts, I realized that I was getting a little complacent myself.  As a dealership, we are excelling and have some incredible growth in the last year and a half, but I have found myself guilty of complacency.   People will ask me, "How's business?"  I would respond we are "rocking and rolling and growing."  We can find ourselves happy with our performance, but there is ALWAYS room for improvement.  Even if it is moving 1 or 2 percentage points in closing rates, getting the up sell from the L.O.F. on the service drive, or improving a response time by hours or minutes.  We all have something that we can shoot for and improve regardless of how well you are doing in your department or field.

So how do you get out of that rut of complacency?  Here are a few things that I have found that is working for myself.

1. Surround yourself with positive people.  They will bring you back to the top of your game.  They may give you a new perspective on something that you didn’t see.  Eliminate the negative in your life.
2. Re-evaluate your goals.  Get them in front of you and shoot for them.  Don’t set them too low.  Shoot for the stars.  Grant talks about writing them everyday.  I’m ordering a whiteboard for my office so I will see them right on the wall in front of me everyday.
3. Find someone to keep yourself accountable to those goals.  One idea is make a copy of them and give them to other managers you work with.
4. Talk with veterans in the business.  You can always learn something new or get a new perspective on something after speaking with someone else.  My philosophy in life is ‘you learn something new everyday.’
5. Keep on reading.  The average person will read 1 book per year that relates to their profession.  Stay ahead of the curveball and read more.  Set a goal of how many books you can read in a year industry-related and go for it.  You can even take a book that is not a part of your industry and apply it to your industry.  It happens all the time.
6. Examine your processes and see what you can do better?  Are you mystery shopping other dealers to see what they are doing with their follow-up system?  Can you mirror that in someway to make your store more successful?  When I look at our processes, I see a variation of several stores and advise from a very highly regarded person in the automotive industry.
7. Stay educated in the industry.  There are a few conferences coming up as you all know well.  Get to one and learn something.  If you take something away from the conference, you will get your money's worth.

These are just a few things that I am practicing and trying to stay ahead of the 8-ball.  What are you doing to stay away from complacency?

com·pla·cen·cy

kəm-ˈplā-s^ən(t)-sē

It can happen to the best of us as managers, salesmen, service writers, all the way down to the service porter.  We can get complacent.  How does this happen to the best of the best?  It can happen easily and I was reminded of it recently.  The inner businesses (departments) within the dealership starts doing well, and we forgot how we got there.

Some love him and some hate him, but I just got done reading The 10x Rule by Grant Cardone.  Reading the book and then watching his weekly online G+ hangouts, I realized that I was getting a little complacent myself.  As a dealership, we are excelling and have some incredible growth in the last year and a half, but I have found myself guilty of complacency.   People will ask me, "How's business?"  I would respond we are "rocking and rolling and growing."  We can find ourselves happy with our performance, but there is ALWAYS room for improvement.  Even if it is moving 1 or 2 percentage points in closing rates, getting the up sell from the L.O.F. on the service drive, or improving a response time by hours or minutes.  We all have something that we can shoot for and improve regardless of how well you are doing in your department or field.

So how do you get out of that rut of complacency?  Here are a few things that I have found that is working for myself.

1. Surround yourself with positive people.  They will bring you back to the top of your game.  They may give you a new perspective on something that you didn’t see.  Eliminate the negative in your life.
2. Re-evaluate your goals.  Get them in front of you and shoot for them.  Don’t set them too low.  Shoot for the stars.  Grant talks about writing them everyday.  I’m ordering a whiteboard for my office so I will see them right on the wall in front of me everyday.
3. Find someone to keep yourself accountable to those goals.  One idea is make a copy of them and give them to other managers you work with.
4. Talk with veterans in the business.  You can always learn something new or get a new perspective on something after speaking with someone else.  My philosophy in life is ‘you learn something new everyday.’
5. Keep on reading.  The average person will read 1 book per year that relates to their profession.  Stay ahead of the curveball and read more.  Set a goal of how many books you can read in a year industry-related and go for it.  You can even take a book that is not a part of your industry and apply it to your industry.  It happens all the time.
6. Examine your processes and see what you can do better?  Are you mystery shopping other dealers to see what they are doing with their follow-up system?  Can you mirror that in someway to make your store more successful?  When I look at our processes, I see a variation of several stores and advise from a very highly regarded person in the automotive industry.
7. Stay educated in the industry.  There are a few conferences coming up as you all know well.  Get to one and learn something.  If you take something away from the conference, you will get your money's worth.

These are just a few things that I am practicing and trying to stay ahead of the 8-ball.  What are you doing to stay away from complacency?

I am just finishing up a great family vacation over the last week to Myrtle Beach.  As I think back, I think of the different experiences I had throughout the week and how it can relate to the car business.

One number stands out from the week. $55.67. That is how much we actually spent on 5 lbs. of fudge. That is not a typo.  It was 5 lbs. of fudge.  Crazy, right? I think back on it, and it was a total experience. It wasn't your typical fudge shop where you walk in and just pick out the fudge from behind the glass. It was a whole production. Picture four fudge makers working around the marble tables singing songs that they made up to tunes from the 50s and 60s. They sing, dance, hoot, and holler as they are making the fudge you are about to take home because they know they will have you sold. It was a whole production. They give you samples as they are making the fudge. Then they go for the close and tell you all about the special. Heck! I got $72 of fudge for $56! What a great deal I got! O.K, maybe not, but I was caught up in the moment just like my wife and kids;  but most of all, I was sold.

Now, let's look at this from the car dealer experience.

1.  Are we doing the things and building the value in our fudge (make and model we are selling)?

2.  Are we doing the full walk-around (the whole production)?  Have fun with the customer after building some rapport. That will help you sell the fudge.

3.  Be confident. If you are not confident when you ask for the sale, you are showing a weakness with the customer and they will go for your jugular. Be strong in your presentation and justification in your pricing.

4.  Are we asking for the sale? I have to say that most of the sales that we lose are the ones that we don't even ask for it and give yourself a chance.

5.  Are we closing the deal with the customer? Yes, we have to ask for the sale, but we have to overcome the objections that the customer is bringing up (see Nicki's latest blog postings on overcoming objections).

If we take the sale of a vehicle like these guys that were making and selling fudge, you will be successful in getting to the end of the road on the road to the sale.
 

I am just finishing up a great family vacation over the last week to Myrtle Beach.  As I think back, I think of the different experiences I had throughout the week and how it can relate to the car business.

One number stands out from the week. $55.67. That is how much we actually spent on 5 lbs. of fudge. That is not a typo.  It was 5 lbs. of fudge.  Crazy, right? I think back on it, and it was a total experience. It wasn't your typical fudge shop where you walk in and just pick out the fudge from behind the glass. It was a whole production. Picture four fudge makers working around the marble tables singing songs that they made up to tunes from the 50s and 60s. They sing, dance, hoot, and holler as they are making the fudge you are about to take home because they know they will have you sold. It was a whole production. They give you samples as they are making the fudge. Then they go for the close and tell you all about the special. Heck! I got $72 of fudge for $56! What a great deal I got! O.K, maybe not, but I was caught up in the moment just like my wife and kids;  but most of all, I was sold.

Now, let's look at this from the car dealer experience.

1.  Are we doing the things and building the value in our fudge (make and model we are selling)?

2.  Are we doing the full walk-around (the whole production)?  Have fun with the customer after building some rapport. That will help you sell the fudge.

3.  Be confident. If you are not confident when you ask for the sale, you are showing a weakness with the customer and they will go for your jugular. Be strong in your presentation and justification in your pricing.

4.  Are we asking for the sale? I have to say that most of the sales that we lose are the ones that we don't even ask for it and give yourself a chance.

5.  Are we closing the deal with the customer? Yes, we have to ask for the sale, but we have to overcome the objections that the customer is bringing up (see Nicki's latest blog postings on overcoming objections).

If we take the sale of a vehicle like these guys that were making and selling fudge, you will be successful in getting to the end of the road on the road to the sale.
 

I am currently reading the book Onward by Howard Schultz. It is about the trials that Starbucks has faced over the years and how they handled those trials and grew through them. There are a lot of great leadership values in this book that can be applied in the automotive business and wanted to share a few with the Driving Sales community.

Part of the book talks about the experience that a customer has when they come into a Starbucks. "We succeed by creating an experience that comes to life, in large part, because of how we treat our people, how we treat our farmers, our customers, and how we give back to our communities." When a customer comes into your showroom, are you giving them the experience that you want them to have? The car buying experience needs to be a good one or the customer will tell all of their friends about it, good or bad. We all have heard that a dissatisfied customer is 9 times more likely to express their experience to a friend than a satisfied customer. We must be passionate about our jobs and what we do. When we are passionate, we will be successful in giving that customer an experience like none other.

There was another quote that he made in the book that he went into one of the stores and the barista didn't know who he was. He thought to himself that barista "this wasn't his job, it's his passion" by the way that he was treated.  When we have a passion for our job, we will make the customer happy by listening to them and helping them find the right vehicle for them. "It's a combination of intent, process, and heart, a trio that must constantly be fine-tuned."  Several years ago, Starbucks closed all of their stores for one day for training.  I know that isn't really feasible in the car business, but the whole point was to train all of their 130,000 baristas from treating customers to making a cup of coffee.  They caught a lot of flack for doing this and lost a lot of money just in that one day, but in the long run, it helped them grow just on the customer service end of things. 

Another part of the book talks about leadership. "It is the responsibility of the leadership team to keep our culture alive, growing, and thriving." This is so true when it comes to our management teams within the dealership. Sales managers are responsible for growing sales, service manager do the same through growing service and retaining that customer with the experience they have in the service drive and parts managers do the same thing and retaining that customer for life.  When the customer has a great experience in service, we hope that they will keep coming back not only for their service work, bu also to buy their next vehicle from us. 

The last part that I wanted to touch on is being an icon in the business. "Icon make sense of the tension of the times, offering hope and even mending a culture in turmoil." This is where management comes in. In the tough times, they will make the cream rise to the top. We are on the way out of a recession, and some analysts say that we may be double dip recession and on our way down again. There a lot of dealers that didn't make it in the last few years, and if you did, congratulations. Some grew, some stayed flat and some did not and just stayed in business. It all comes back to how your teams came through and built their sales force up and got them through.

"Icons assert a 'cultural authority,' helping to frame the way people view the times they live in." When we were in the recession, where your salespeople down and out and asking 'how am I going to make any money?' I know that there were some people out there asking that. I know I was unsure of my future when we lost our GM franchise in the mist of the recession. I was scared to death, but I made it through and still have a job thanks to my employer. Some jobs were created within the dealership and I came out as others did also.

"Icons don't confuse history with heritage, and always protect and project their values.". I work of a dealership that has been here for over 40 years. A lot of it comes back to our values and how we have treated our customers. We have come through the recession growing year over year through our great values and you can also.  Keep treating your customers the best you can and you will continue to rise to the top. 

I am currently reading the book Onward by Howard Schultz. It is about the trials that Starbucks has faced over the years and how they handled those trials and grew through them. There are a lot of great leadership values in this book that can be applied in the automotive business and wanted to share a few with the Driving Sales community.

Part of the book talks about the experience that a customer has when they come into a Starbucks. "We succeed by creating an experience that comes to life, in large part, because of how we treat our people, how we treat our farmers, our customers, and how we give back to our communities." When a customer comes into your showroom, are you giving them the experience that you want them to have? The car buying experience needs to be a good one or the customer will tell all of their friends about it, good or bad. We all have heard that a dissatisfied customer is 9 times more likely to express their experience to a friend than a satisfied customer. We must be passionate about our jobs and what we do. When we are passionate, we will be successful in giving that customer an experience like none other.

There was another quote that he made in the book that he went into one of the stores and the barista didn't know who he was. He thought to himself that barista "this wasn't his job, it's his passion" by the way that he was treated.  When we have a passion for our job, we will make the customer happy by listening to them and helping them find the right vehicle for them. "It's a combination of intent, process, and heart, a trio that must constantly be fine-tuned."  Several years ago, Starbucks closed all of their stores for one day for training.  I know that isn't really feasible in the car business, but the whole point was to train all of their 130,000 baristas from treating customers to making a cup of coffee.  They caught a lot of flack for doing this and lost a lot of money just in that one day, but in the long run, it helped them grow just on the customer service end of things. 

Another part of the book talks about leadership. "It is the responsibility of the leadership team to keep our culture alive, growing, and thriving." This is so true when it comes to our management teams within the dealership. Sales managers are responsible for growing sales, service manager do the same through growing service and retaining that customer with the experience they have in the service drive and parts managers do the same thing and retaining that customer for life.  When the customer has a great experience in service, we hope that they will keep coming back not only for their service work, bu also to buy their next vehicle from us. 

The last part that I wanted to touch on is being an icon in the business. "Icon make sense of the tension of the times, offering hope and even mending a culture in turmoil." This is where management comes in. In the tough times, they will make the cream rise to the top. We are on the way out of a recession, and some analysts say that we may be double dip recession and on our way down again. There a lot of dealers that didn't make it in the last few years, and if you did, congratulations. Some grew, some stayed flat and some did not and just stayed in business. It all comes back to how your teams came through and built their sales force up and got them through.

"Icons assert a 'cultural authority,' helping to frame the way people view the times they live in." When we were in the recession, where your salespeople down and out and asking 'how am I going to make any money?' I know that there were some people out there asking that. I know I was unsure of my future when we lost our GM franchise in the mist of the recession. I was scared to death, but I made it through and still have a job thanks to my employer. Some jobs were created within the dealership and I came out as others did also.

"Icons don't confuse history with heritage, and always protect and project their values.". I work of a dealership that has been here for over 40 years. A lot of it comes back to our values and how we have treated our customers. We have come through the recession growing year over year through our great values and you can also.  Keep treating your customers the best you can and you will continue to rise to the top.