Dealership Development, LLC Blog

The world of sales is never easy, though it becomes a lot easier when a sales team knows what it's doing.

Have you observed your sales team's techniques lately? They could be missing some very important details in their sales approach and you don't even know it. As the owner or manager of an automotive dealership it is your job to make sure your sales team stays up to date, to be performing up to expectations. So are they?

It has often been said that any company's best asset is its employees. Successful companies have recognized and implemented that truth into their business models. Every staff and organization has individuals who can be utilized in particular roles with great success. There are also among those members, some special talent. A considerable portion of a company's growth and success can be attributed to finding that talent early. Grooming those people to lead and step into financial services and management roles benefits everyone.

Managing a team of automobile sales professionals is a complex pursuit with a simple objective: to meet or exceed the dealership's sales goals. Our 10 point checklist for the successful sales manager will help you stay on top of the most pressing issues you face.

In the ever-changing world of automotive sales, keeping your F&I department truly profitable is a constant struggle. Recently, F&I Magazine published a great article by Rick McCormick that points out some of the common errors your sales team might make. They follow it up with some great suggestions on how to become a problem solver rather than a product pusher. Let’s take a look at the relevant points of the article.

The ability to use creativity to identify the customer’s problems and solve them, is the key. You need to be asking the pertinent questions and listening closely, before taking any action. You need to be able to see the problem from the customer’s point of view. This will create the opportunity to communicate the problem to the customer in such an urgent manner, that they will pay you to solve it.

In the game of life, enthusiasm can make the difference between winning and losing. Enthusiasm is contagious; it is an emotion that can be communicated more easily than words. It is a force that springs from person to person like an electrical spark. It is almost impossible to be exposed to enthusiasm for any length of time without acquiring some of it.

Almost all aspects of life require some skill in persuading or motivating people, and there is no characteristic that will help you, more than enthusiasm.

There's the story of a salesman named Harry, who broke every rule in selling that was ever written. But before the sales meetings, his sales manager would tell him, "Now, Harry, I am going to teach the other salesman how to sell. I want you to sit at the back of the room and ignore everything I'm saying. You keep on making the same mistakes that you have been making.“