Over the last few weeks, I have been thinking about the last 15 years or so that I have been in the Automotive Business. I think back to my first days on the sales floor and how stoked I was to be there and have a job even though I had NO idea what I was doing. You want me to talk to people about cars and get paid for it? Sure, sign me up. Then, we start to learn things and habits, and the production seems to go down a little.  We go from kindergarten to 7th grade in a matter of months and we know everything.

So why is it that a 'green-pea' in the business can do so well and how can we keep that fire going? We all have them and highly recommend hiring someone green so you can mold them how you want them.  In our store, we have two salesmen that are green in the business. They never really were in sales and in the last two months, the two of them have sold 54 cars with a combined closing rate of 39% (they do log everyone as they do things to the T). So I posed the question to them, "What do you attribute your success to in such a short time in the auto business?". Here is their short list that they came up with.

1.  "Stupidity." I asked him what he meant by this. He said that "I have no idea what goes on in that office with numbers and how to get to certain payments. I just go and have fun with customers and sell them what they need."
2. "I come to work to work. I'm not here to socialize and hang out with the guys." I will attest to this. He is there to work and rarely if ever do I see him just hanging out and talking in the circle that we have in all of our stores.
3. "Management."  The management team at the dealership has been great.  They don't just throw you out in the lions den and work with you every day to improve skills.
4. "A great Sales Team to work with."  Everyone has been 'willing to show the ropes of the car business and offer plenty of encouragement.'
5. "Talk to everyone, even service customers."  How many times do you say to a salesperson, "There's a person out there on the lot" and the ir response is "yeah, they're just in for service."  The new guys will always go out and talk to those people.  You have to talk to people.  The more people you talk to, the more successful you will be.
6. Product Knowledge.  "I spend a great deal of time learning the product.  If I don't know the answer, I tell them I don't know and will find out for them."  Honesty is the key.  Knowing your product and the competitors is the key.  Also, know what the others in your local market are doing and handling their customers. 
7. Knowledge of the staff.  The knowledge that the managers and work associates share is monumental.  Learning from the best in the business huge. 
8. Coffee.  It's the caffeine that keeps me going. 
9. Hard Work.  Work ethic is key in this business.  You can get sucked into all of the circles and just shooting the breeze with the guys.  When you are here, you need to work for the success that others have had in this business.

If you keep your eye on the ball, it will come to you and hit it out of the park and be successful.  To keep that green-pea attitude does take work and we all know that and sometimes we all have to be reminded of it.

What do you hear from your "green-peas?"

Over the last few weeks, I have been thinking about the last 15 years or so that I have been in the Automotive Business. I think back to my first days on the sales floor and how stoked I was to be there and have a job even though I had NO idea what I was doing. You want me to talk to people about cars and get paid for it? Sure, sign me up. Then, we start to learn things and habits, and the production seems to go down a little.  We go from kindergarten to 7th grade in a matter of months and we know everything.

So why is it that a 'green-pea' in the business can do so well and how can we keep that fire going? We all have them and highly recommend hiring someone green so you can mold them how you want them.  In our store, we have two salesmen that are green in the business. They never really were in sales and in the last two months, the two of them have sold 54 cars with a combined closing rate of 39% (they do log everyone as they do things to the T). So I posed the question to them, "What do you attribute your success to in such a short time in the auto business?". Here is their short list that they came up with.

1.  "Stupidity." I asked him what he meant by this. He said that "I have no idea what goes on in that office with numbers and how to get to certain payments. I just go and have fun with customers and sell them what they need."
2. "I come to work to work. I'm not here to socialize and hang out with the guys." I will attest to this. He is there to work and rarely if ever do I see him just hanging out and talking in the circle that we have in all of our stores.
3. "Management."  The management team at the dealership has been great.  They don't just throw you out in the lions den and work with you every day to improve skills.
4. "A great Sales Team to work with."  Everyone has been 'willing to show the ropes of the car business and offer plenty of encouragement.'
5. "Talk to everyone, even service customers."  How many times do you say to a salesperson, "There's a person out there on the lot" and the ir response is "yeah, they're just in for service."  The new guys will always go out and talk to those people.  You have to talk to people.  The more people you talk to, the more successful you will be.
6. Product Knowledge.  "I spend a great deal of time learning the product.  If I don't know the answer, I tell them I don't know and will find out for them."  Honesty is the key.  Knowing your product and the competitors is the key.  Also, know what the others in your local market are doing and handling their customers. 
7. Knowledge of the staff.  The knowledge that the managers and work associates share is monumental.  Learning from the best in the business huge. 
8. Coffee.  It's the caffeine that keeps me going. 
9. Hard Work.  Work ethic is key in this business.  You can get sucked into all of the circles and just shooting the breeze with the guys.  When you are here, you need to work for the success that others have had in this business.

If you keep your eye on the ball, it will come to you and hit it out of the park and be successful.  To keep that green-pea attitude does take work and we all know that and sometimes we all have to be reminded of it.

What do you hear from your "green-peas?"

Here we are at the beginning of a new month.  We are all employed for another 30 days.  Whew!There is a myth in the autobusiness that the best car deals are at the end of the month.  I know from personal experience as a sales manager for several years, this can be so true and the general public knows it.  I got to thinking this past week in how are the deals from the first part of the month different from the last part of the month.  Why do we as sales managers pass on a deal that we will take a the end of the month?  One word comes to mind and that is goals.  Should they be different?  No.  They should be worked the same 100% of the time.  No matter how big or how small the profit is, move the metal and gain the customer no matter what part of the month it is.

In 2009 as a dealership, we missed getting the prestigeous Honda President's Award by a mere 18 units for the year.  If we would not have passed on the few deals that we did early on in the month, we probably would have gotten our award.  We as managers think to ourselves that we have a gem (whether new or used) on our lot and think, we can make more money than the customer is offering, so I will pass on this one and make it up on the next one.  We have to change that mindset and even if it is a little shorter deal than we would like, take it now, make a customer, and hope that they keep coming back for service, repeat sales, and referrals from that customer.  We can replace metal, but not a customer

My 2 cents is no matter how big or small the profit is, no matter what part of the month it is, move the unit and invest that money in something else and gain a customer now, earn their business in service and parts, and ask them for the referral.  If you don't have a referral program in place, get one and give the customer some money for sending in prospects.  The best form of advertising is word of mouth and if a customer in the beginning of the month doesn't get 'the deal' in the beginning of the month, they may tell all of their friends verbally and via social networking.

Here we are at the beginning of a new month.  We are all employed for another 30 days.  Whew!There is a myth in the autobusiness that the best car deals are at the end of the month.  I know from personal experience as a sales manager for several years, this can be so true and the general public knows it.  I got to thinking this past week in how are the deals from the first part of the month different from the last part of the month.  Why do we as sales managers pass on a deal that we will take a the end of the month?  One word comes to mind and that is goals.  Should they be different?  No.  They should be worked the same 100% of the time.  No matter how big or how small the profit is, move the metal and gain the customer no matter what part of the month it is.

In 2009 as a dealership, we missed getting the prestigeous Honda President's Award by a mere 18 units for the year.  If we would not have passed on the few deals that we did early on in the month, we probably would have gotten our award.  We as managers think to ourselves that we have a gem (whether new or used) on our lot and think, we can make more money than the customer is offering, so I will pass on this one and make it up on the next one.  We have to change that mindset and even if it is a little shorter deal than we would like, take it now, make a customer, and hope that they keep coming back for service, repeat sales, and referrals from that customer.  We can replace metal, but not a customer

My 2 cents is no matter how big or small the profit is, no matter what part of the month it is, move the unit and invest that money in something else and gain a customer now, earn their business in service and parts, and ask them for the referral.  If you don't have a referral program in place, get one and give the customer some money for sending in prospects.  The best form of advertising is word of mouth and if a customer in the beginning of the month doesn't get 'the deal' in the beginning of the month, they may tell all of their friends verbally and via social networking.

Thinking about last week and digesting everything that was presented at Digital Dealer is exhausting. I looked at a ton of products, and was a great week overall making connections on a vendor and dealership level.  There were a lot of really good products there and caught not only my eye, but a lot of dealer's eyes in the sea of vendors in the exposition hall, but any solution is only how great you use that product. 

Thinking on all of the sessions that I attended, they all had a similar underlying theme. The bottom line theme comes down to processes. There's a process for social media, a process for online marketing, a process for first responses and follow up, and a process for reputation management.  Everything has a process.  If your processes aren't there and not being executed, you won't see the success that you were promised by the vendor and you will fail.  But it doesn't end there. Have them in writing so you can watch the flow of things over time and make sure that all of the tasks are being completed according to plan.  No matter how great the product is, even if it is the best thing since sliced bread, it may be horrible with your dealership because of your process that is in place or lack there of.

Every dealer has different processes, but you have to find the sweet spot and find the processes that works for you. It will take some trial and error time, but in the long run, it will all be worth it. You have to come up with a good Internet process, good follow up process for unsold showroom traffic, unsold I-leads, unreachable customers that have submitted for info over the Internet. Not one process will work for every dealership. It may have the same concept or be similar, but they will be different in every store.

The process has to be unique to the customer to make you stand out from others. It will make the experience for the consumer great if you have the right processes in place.  I heard in the last week that it's not the best price that matters, it is the best experience that will get you the business. It all comes down to how you handle the Internet lead or incoming phone call.  It's all your process.  People will travel over 30 miles when the process is flawless and be executed correctly. 

If you don't have a process in a certain area, get one.  Collaborate with managers within the dealership that are involved in that area of focus and talk about it. Let that process work for 30-60 days and reevaluate it and make sure things are happening correctly and is being executed correctly. If the process that was decided on isn't working as planned, steer the ship back onto course and make changes on the fly as needed.  Once you have all of the processes in place, you will have the success you are looking for. 

What products did you see that can take your dealership to the next level and have a clean process with it?

Thinking about last week and digesting everything that was presented at Digital Dealer is exhausting. I looked at a ton of products, and was a great week overall making connections on a vendor and dealership level.  There were a lot of really good products there and caught not only my eye, but a lot of dealer's eyes in the sea of vendors in the exposition hall, but any solution is only how great you use that product. 

Thinking on all of the sessions that I attended, they all had a similar underlying theme. The bottom line theme comes down to processes. There's a process for social media, a process for online marketing, a process for first responses and follow up, and a process for reputation management.  Everything has a process.  If your processes aren't there and not being executed, you won't see the success that you were promised by the vendor and you will fail.  But it doesn't end there. Have them in writing so you can watch the flow of things over time and make sure that all of the tasks are being completed according to plan.  No matter how great the product is, even if it is the best thing since sliced bread, it may be horrible with your dealership because of your process that is in place or lack there of.

Every dealer has different processes, but you have to find the sweet spot and find the processes that works for you. It will take some trial and error time, but in the long run, it will all be worth it. You have to come up with a good Internet process, good follow up process for unsold showroom traffic, unsold I-leads, unreachable customers that have submitted for info over the Internet. Not one process will work for every dealership. It may have the same concept or be similar, but they will be different in every store.

The process has to be unique to the customer to make you stand out from others. It will make the experience for the consumer great if you have the right processes in place.  I heard in the last week that it's not the best price that matters, it is the best experience that will get you the business. It all comes down to how you handle the Internet lead or incoming phone call.  It's all your process.  People will travel over 30 miles when the process is flawless and be executed correctly. 

If you don't have a process in a certain area, get one.  Collaborate with managers within the dealership that are involved in that area of focus and talk about it. Let that process work for 30-60 days and reevaluate it and make sure things are happening correctly and is being executed correctly. If the process that was decided on isn't working as planned, steer the ship back onto course and make changes on the fly as needed.  Once you have all of the processes in place, you will have the success you are looking for. 

What products did you see that can take your dealership to the next level and have a clean process with it?