It is natural for people to insure their own survival. Our instincts keep us safe. The traditional sales environment encourages professionals to prioritize oneself. The dominant messages that the sales or service professional at the dealership hear are, “Be the top guy/girl on a team,” “Make more money,” or “Get customers to buy from you.” Additionally, the commission pay structure is design to select and keep professionals who can make the most amount of money on each customer. This further promotes a self-centered mentality among associates at all levels of the dealership.
The dealership will recognize an associate with the highest gross sale before an associate with the highest customer satisfaction, even though both go hand-and-hand. At the dealership, the associates’ identity is the number of cars or ROIs they make in a month. All have a fresh start at the beginning of the month, no matter if an associate is going “from hero to zero,” or it is their last chance to show that they are worthy to work at the dealership. It is all comes down to numbers. Numbers represent an associate’s identity.
There are many benefits to function in the numbers driven environment. If it did not, the dealership would not maintain this organizational structure for decades. The income that can be made at the dealership is great. It is the true American Dream. Your income does not depend on your financial inheritance, social status, gender, race, sexual orientation, or education. If you work hard you can make it, and make it very well.
I came into this country from Russia on my own when I was 20 years old. I had no connections. My English was poor. I had to put my own bread on the table. When I was 22, I heard about a sales job at the automotive dealership. In my third month, I made almost $10,000. For the young girl, an immigrant with no support, from a family who would have to work for a year to make that kind of money, I could not believe the opportunities that opened for me. Working for the dealership is great; there is almost no other professional environment like this.
On the other side, putting pressure on oneself to reach sales goals could be exhausting. When it is the middle of the month and you have only a handful of car/ROIs out, it is very difficult to come back and make a great month. The reason for it is that it’s messing with your head. An associate is looking at colleagues who made more sales and comparing themselves to them. This comparison makes then think of their self as not good enough. If you are self-confident, comparing oneself to the associates who are constantly doing better can lead to a desire to learn from them. However, if numbers are messing with your head, you may begin to assume that other associates are being given preferences and deals under the table. This is because thinking that others are getting a break is easier than thinking that they are more capable; hence, you are not.
What I would like to highlight, however, is how customers view associates who let numbers mess with their head. Customers do not have to know what your quota is to sense your desperation. If you are desperate to make a sale, it is like being desperate for someone to love you; the more desperate you are, the more you will push the person away.
The way to overcome desperation is not by looking into flaws in oneself and bringing on a fake smile. Rather, it is about changing the narrative. Change the narrative of “Numbers are the most important,” to “Wanting to help customers is the most important.” Please note that “helping customers” is not the same as “wanting to help customers.” Helping customers still prioritizes your needs over theirs, wanting to help customers prioritizes their needs over yours.
Caring about customers does not mean giving your products away and not making money on your products and services. Caring about customers means having a desire to serve them, wanting to help, being excited for them getting their perfect car rather than just matching their needs, or helping them with their repairs during the difficult times of unexpected expenses and time consumption. When you, as an associate, talk to a customer with the desire to help and serve, your body language and your presence with them is completely different than if you come with a mindset of “I need this sale.”
When you are driven by sales, you are observant of yourself and the quota. The need to reach numbers blinds you to your own needs and desires. Customers know when you are desperate. They also know when you treat yourself as the most important instead of them. This pushes them away and as a result, you can lose the sale.
When you are driven by a desire to help, you are more attentive to customers. They feel heard, welcomed, and understood. This leads them to want to work with you, refer their friends and family to you, which in turn makes you money, not only the day of the sale but establishes committed and devoted customers.
Change the mindset from “If I don’t reach my sales goal then I am not good enough,” which is stressful and anxiety provoking, to “I am here to help the next customer in the best way I could.” This shift is a huge change that may not be easy to adjust to.
This change is hard to maintain because the dealership structure will constantly remind you that you are as good as your numbers. The dealership wants to see immediate results that are connected to numbers. During challenging days, or even months, to stop thinking about why the month is not going your way, while your colleagues are closing sales, try not to focus on yourself. It is not about you. Think about customers in front of you. Block your worries by thinking about their worries. Become devoted to their needs. This will help to clear your head a little bit, and can lead to creating a devoted customer.
Wanting to care about customers and prioritize their needs over your own, puts you in second place, which goes against natural survival instincts. Yet, as a group wants to follow a leader rather than a boss, your customers want to follow a leader who cares about them, rather than a boss who would tell them what to do without caring about what they need. Being a leader for your customers means wanting to care for them.