Quality Vs. QuantityThe ever going debate of what is most important in sales and auto sales more specifically.  Do you prefer a lot of new customers with no preference or loyalty to your business or your brand?  Or would you prefer a more manageable amount of customers whom you have a relationship, done business with, and that have loyalty to your business, product, and staff?

The Power of Quantity
The more customers the merrier, right?  Yes a lot of customers is great as long as you can manage, and accommodate all that you have in front of you.  If these customers are new to your business, they are not going to have much patience or trust in you until you earn it.  This makes it tough to properly build a relationship and trust when you have a large amount at once that all have the same perception of you, they do not know you.

Advertising and bringing in new customers is a good thing but your close ratios on completely new customers does not compare to the close ratios on cultivated previous customers.

The Real Results of Quality
The quality of your customers will bring the best results.  When you are going after customers prospecting, over generic advertising will bring in a higher quality of customer.  You are going after a previous customer who knows, likes, and trust’s your business, product, and probably has a relationship with your staff.  These customers are approached, prospected by a more formal approach rather than broad generic advertisement.

Your profit margins and close ratios will be much higher with a prospected previos customer other than a fresh customer brought in with traditional, generic advertising.

What Method Do You Choose
Prospecting the customer base you have the greatest connection already with is the best quality of a customer.  These are the customers who you will have higher profit margins, sell more products to and have smoother negotiations with.  The customers you bring in with generic ads will be chasing a payment and price you advertised with little or no profit to the dealership.  When these customers can’t get the price or payment they came in for, because they don’t qualify for one thing or another will be upset and feel tricked.

You cannot give up on traditional advertising all together.  What you can do to supplement and cut the cost of your advertising budget is prospect. Prospecting can be done on an individual basis when things are slow.  Each sales professional can go off a broad set of prospecting tools, and make those prospecting tools unique to their style and customer base.  This keeps each sales person on their game, keeping busy prospecting their customers.  Doing this in a fun, and clever way to keep your name and face in front of your previous customers, their family, and friends.

Do you want to learn the skills and tools of prospecting to keep you productive through the down times?   Then come see the legendary “King of Prospecting” Fran Taylor from Taylor Techniques in the Southeastern Michigan/Detroit area Friday November 18th at Weber’s Inn in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Another motivational blog post written by Noel Walsh creator of “Conquer What You Chase” Sales Training in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

In car sales you need to make sure you give your all on every customer, by going through the proper steps, asking the right closing questions, and then of course asking for the SALE!

1. Make a professional first impression with your greeting.

I have stated and stressed this must have quality over and over. We have all heard the saying the first impression is the most important and lasting. When you go to greet the customer, walk up to them with a confident posture. Look them directly in the eyes, confidently not aggressively and state your full name. If they don’t initally give you their name ask for it, then shake their hand, as well as all the other members of their group.

2. Truly find out what the customer is looking for.

When you have a buyer in front of you, you want to ask the proper questions to find out their real reason for being on the lot. Find a way to slow them down and expose to you their real needs. Realize you are going to excel your chances to sell them a car (most likely today) if you try and sell them what they really want. Ask a different series of questions to find what they really want, and what they are really trying to accomplish.

3. Get them to know you and build a trusting relationship.

Now you have an idea of what they want, and what they are trying to accomplish, start letting them know who you are. Keep moving forward in the car buying process, but let them start to find out who you really are (family, hobbies, ect.) and start asking them questions about themselves, and their family, hobbies, ect. This is how you build a relationship and get them to like and trust
you. A trusting relationship is the strongest part of the process, because people are more likely to buy a car from someone they trust. A trusting relationship rates over price almost every time in someone’s decision who they are going to buy from.

4. Land them on the vehicle that best fits their wants and needs.

Now that you have an idea of what they really want, you have shown an interest in who they are, and built a trusting relationship take them out to a vehicle in stock that best fits their needs. It may not be the exact color they want, may have more or less options than they want, and there is going to be a great chance the price isn’t going to be what they initially wanted to pay. As a sales professional it is your job to overcome these objections and build value in you and your product. SWAT Sell What’s Available Today! You will cut your opportunity to sell the customer in front of you in half if you try to do a dealer trade.

5. ASK FOR THE SALE!

This is a question many sales people, even at times sales professionals forget to ask. When you go through the steps properly, and you do this with enthusiasm, a confident demeanor/posture, you have built value in yourself and your product, and landed them on a vehicle that fits their needs, asking for the sale is the last step of the progression. Customers do not always know how to tell you that you did everything right and they are ready to buy from you. As the sales professional you are, go over everything they told you they wanted that you are giving to them, reiterate everything you are giving them and state their names saying “can I earn your family’s business here with me today on this vehicle.”

It really is this easy. Follow these steps with enthusiasm, confidence and a real passion to serve and sell the people in front of you, and you will close the sale every time.

Another motivational blogpost written by, Author, Lead Trainer, Motivator, and Dealership Consultant Noel Walsh the owner of NW&A and creator of “Conquer What You Chase” Sales Training from Ann Arbor in south eastern, Michigan.

   I grew up as a shy kid whose parents showered me with confidence and love.  Actually a lot of my friends and teachers had a large amount of confidence in me too.  I was fortunate to have this positive support, but I didn’t know how to channel it properly.  When you have a special talent, and you do not know how to use it positively, many times it can do more bad than good. I found this out first hand.  Everyone always had a high regard for me and my talents, but I was not aware of the multitude of talents that were there so I was intimidated by the responsibility.  I would self destruct, because of the positive energy directed towards me and not knowing what to do with it.

   I made many mistakes in my younger years as so many talented people do, but I was fortunate enough to take those opportunity’s to learn and grow from them to become the man I am today.  I was showered with positive energy from some, and poured on with negative energy from many others.  When you grow up you realize the world is not a perfect or even fair place, but this does not mean you do not have to be.  To become great you will have to go through many great obstacles, pains, and adversity.

   I would have bad days, or as my dad calls them, bad minutes.  I would want to lash these negative energy’s out towards others.  Then I would have a previous customer come to me who was unhappy about their service bill.  Now this customer bought vehicles from me, has a faith and trust in me, and I was loyal enough I would not let them continue to be unhappy.  Even though service was not my department to handle, I would go to the service department directly and ask for a minor discount to keep the customer happy (sometimes this is all it takes to diffuse a concern with a fair customer).  From here the customer felt appreciated and had a new found value in their bill.  This customer would put me on a pedestal and build my confidence through the roof with positive compliments.  This was all it took to take an angry customer to an ecstatic customer who raised my confidence through the roof.

   You are going to deal with positive and negative people.  Some people who are going to try and suck the life out of you and bring you down everywhere and everyday.  You need to learn how to handle these people, and learn to take their compliments to build your confidence, and learn to take their negative energy and turn it into positive energy.  These are all progressive ways to unleash the sales beast inside of you to conquer success.  Step number seven from the “Conquer What You Chase” sales training is, focus on what you can control, your attitude and performance, from there success will follow.  Remember this, and follow this, it is true.

   To Unleash the Sales Beast Inside of You to Conquer Success, you must never give up.  You must first find out what success means to you.  Whenever people try and bring you down you must step up even more, maybe even start killing them with kindness, to confuse them.  Whenever you think you don’t have anymore time or energy, you must give all you have, and find more capacity inside to create more time and energy.  Whenever you see an opportunity in front of you but you have nothing left, you must pull from within and maximize the opportunity to your advantage.  Find what it takes to accomplish the task at hand.  When you see what you have been fighting for at arms reach but you have nothing left, you must dig inside and Conquer the opportunity in front of you, by doing this you will  “Conquer What You Chase.”
 

  Sales is the highest paid profession in the world, and a great way to make a living and support a family.  Sales takes a special dedicated breed who will follow positive training and progressive steps.  Sales is a never ending learning curve, where you must constantly learn and educate yourself, especially now with the social media and an overly educated consumer.  I recommend don’t complain about, but realign with the public you are servicing.  They are the one’s who ultimately pay your commissions and let you earn the salary you earn.  This is a new day, a new client, and a new time, and if you want to accommodate them you must get on the band wagon.

   Being in sales you have the whole world in front of you, and nothing but yourself to stop you.  You need to have goals ( I recommend goals you can never accomplish) so you always push and strive for them, this will keep you driven.  Focus on what you want with inner enthusiasm, and a drive no one can compete with powered with internal and external faith.  How could you not be successful ?  How could you not “Conquer What You Chase”.

   Another motivational blog written by Author Noel Walsh, Lead Trainer, Motivational Speaker, Dealer Consultant, Father, Husband and everything he can be to everyone around him.  Creator of “Conquer What You Chase” Sales Training, Motivating, and Dealership/Small Business Consulting. Found at www.nwnasalestraining.com

   This is one of the most crucial ways to stay successful in the car business, and in any business.  When you are an employee, especially a dynamic, passionate employee you are going to occasionally butt heads with co-workers and or management.  This is going to be inevitable, like I stated especially when you are dynamic, and passionate.  Passion comes from emotion, which is made up of  love, happiness, hate, fear, jealousy, anger, joy and many other emotions.  You are going to have a will and idea of how things should work, a proper process of getting them done, and you must constantly stay in control of your emotions.  You must remember there is always going to be an 80/20 system everywhere (20% do 80% of the work).  Ask anyone you know who is successful about the 80/20 in the work place, and in life in general, and they will get a smirk showing they know exactly what you are talking about.

   First off when you are full of confidence and a top producer at your dealership or company everyone is going to be gunning for you.  This means most people will want to see you fail, so they feel better about their daily activities and accomplishments.  Take this as a compliment, and don’t let it bother you.  You have to realize this is going to be the same everywhere you work.  You can’t let this eat at you, but let it fuel you to work harder and produce more.  I realized in selling when you are close to closing a customer, and they start really getting to be high maintenance and asking for ridiculous demands, I start to kill them with kindness.  I tell them things like great point, that’s a good way of looking at things, I never thought of it that way, and many other positive comments to change their psyche.  When it comes to co-workers who are negative, first off stay away from them the best you can, and when they do start into you with their negativity, say something like that’s a great point, I’ll have to remember that next time.  By doing this you will completely throw them off what they were trying to do to your psyche.  Try it, I guarantee it will work.  You don’t always want to fight fire with fire.

   I have stated this in all my training classes, seminars, and sales blogs.  Come to work to work.  Leave your baggage at the door, and do not take on any baggage at work.  There are a lot of problems, negativity, and B.S. floating around every dealership and business and this is not going to help forward your career.  Control what you can, your attitude and production.  Let your co-workers and competition take on this useless anxiety, and stay focused on what you came in to do.  I don’t know about you, but I work hard to give my family the best I can, and enjoy the finer things in life, and let me tell you the finer things in life are easy to get used to.

   When you walk in the door, try and be a little early, and ahead of everyone else.  Do this so you are setting your attitude and not following an existing attitude.  Go right to work, get focused, and start producing.  By the time the negative stories, gossip, and B.S. start floating to your office, you will have so much going on and be so focused you will not have time to participate in the morale destruction. 

   The key is, use their negative energy to build your positive energy.  This is all part of synchronicity.  Keep to yourself, stay focused and only communicate and hang around with other focused, like minded positive people.  People who you can bounce productive, informative, and positive ideas back and forth. Do this and keep each other away from bad morale, and destructive habits.  The moral of this blog is, when your a top producer people will try and bring you down, don’t let them.  Stay focused, work hard, and let the negative energy around you become positive energy coming out of you.  This is how you stay focused and away from dealership and office politics.

Another positive Blog from Owner, Author, Lead Trainer, Motivator, and Dealership Consultant Noel Walsh from Ann Arbor, Michigan.  Creator of “Conquer What You Chase” Sales Training. ”I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again I am just getting started, you don’t know what this is going to be and that’s a beautiful thing.” www.nwnasalestraining.com

Wow ! What a tough decade this has been for Michigan. Everyone around the country is complaining about their economy and we have been dealing with this for ten years. I will be the first to tell you this is good news for us and we are most poised to come up first. We just need to buckle down, work harder than those next to us and reap the rewards. The opportunity is sitting on our lap and we need to accept the challenge and take advantage of the situation. We are in an economy ready to pop back and I want to show you the skills and tools needed anyone of you can do to prosper in this resurgence. Refer to my website professional sales training containing tons of inspirational blogs, motivating videos and real world sales training tips that will take you to the top of your field. If you like what you see from there we can set up some productive training, motivating and consulting meetings  based on what YOU want to accomplish. I told you this is full of energy, exciting and something to be a part of. Are you ready to “Conquer What You Chase”.