Every sales person is looking for that extra edge to hit their sales goal and land that big bonus. But what sets the car sales Rock Star apart from the average dealership sales Joe? The answer is productivity – the Rock Stars are selling four cars on a Saturday when you’re hustling to sell just one. Earn a spot on the sales stage with them by following these five simple tips and rock your dealership revenue targets.
CRM – One of the biggest productivity boosters in the industry is a good Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tool. Sadly though, most sales professionals don’t use their CRM, or don’t know how to use it effectively. CRM can save hours out of your week and help you manage and follow up with your leads. CRM can shorten the sales process and enhance the customer buying experience, when adopted and used with a social savvy selling process. Customers appreciate the high touch and organized sales process that a streamlined CRM tool delivers. Many dealerships have some type of CRM in place but if they don’t, you can buy a personal CRM tool for yourself on the iTunes or Google Play app store. Just make sure you go with a mobile CRM tool instead of a clunky enterprise focused CRM tool, because going back to your desk to enter information in the CRM while your connected customer is waiting impatiently on the lot and surfing competitor sites is not how the Rock Star car sales person operates. Pull up the information you need while you have your hot prospect on the lot ready to buy with a mobile CRM tool.
Social Media – Let’s face it. It’s the 21st century and everyone uses Facebook, Twitter or some other hot social platform. Your potential customers are waiting for you to find them on these social networks so what are you doing to get in touch with them? Twitter is great for finding customers because you can do an advanced search by geolocation for tweets like “Looking to sell my Camry.” Twitter is an always on, live interest feed that can help you find people in your area talking about cars they want to buy or sell. Facebook is another great resource where you can be active on various groups in your area and connect with car buying communities. For the more tech savvy sales rep, both of these sites have robust ad platforms where you can promote yourself or your dealership. Facebook even has a feature where you can target similar people to a list of old customer emails you may have. Another great social media network to take advantage of is LinkedIn. Do your homework and spend some time researching your prospects on LinkedIn immediately and you will get great information about who they are and where their interests lie. For example, you look John Smith up on LinkedIn and see he went to University of Georgia, is a lawyer, and his firm is just five minutes away from your office. Now you have snippets of information to create conversation, size up your customer, and focus your sales pitch to align with his buying persona. Automotive sales Rock Stars are social selling experts and have adopted their selling styles to align with the digital hangout habits of their connected customer base before they show up on the car lot.
Be Visible at the Dealership – This may seem like a no brainer but I have known many salespeople who take hour long lunches off site, and then get upset when the rookie at the dealership ups a lunchtime customer and closes a 6-pound front end deal! Everybody wants their free time and family time, but lunch hours, weekends, evenings, and end of months provide high traffic showroom selling opportunities. Rock Stars know the prime hunting hours and adjust their schedules to be in position when customers hit the showroom floor.
Get more Referrals – Everyone knows referrals can be amazing for business but most sales reps are leaving money on the table by not taking advantage of these potential sales. I recommend following up with existing customers regularly to ask if they have referrals, and also have the back of your business card advertise that you are willing to pay a bird dog fee or service discount for them. Launching an email campaign to past clients is another great way to get referrals, as is using social media to reach your clients’ extended networks. This is another area where a mobile CRM tool can set you apart. Rock Stars are in it for the long haul and create a customer buying experience and follow up strategy where referrals keep new prospects rolling in.
Use your time effectively – Most sales reps divide their day between emails, sales calls, waiting on the lot for ups, and other administrative tasks sales management throws at them. Effectively planning how you spend your time, versus just reacting to what is happening in the dealership on any given day, is a much better way to use your time. Think about what time of the day you make your calls to cold leads, and ask yourself questions like “Are they at work?”, “Are they where we can connect real time and talk or is email or social media a better way to reach them?”, and “How can I reach out and provide them relevant information that will move them closer to purchasing?” Certain times of the day are better for cold calling than others. Pay attention to showroom traffic trends, ask prospects their preferred time and method to reach them, use analytics and common sense to set the best times to do cold calling. The same goes with emails too. Customers get emails all day long. Your email has to stand out and arrive when they are free to read them. Rock Stars use their time and their customers’ time wisely and tailor their outbound contacts to provide the information each customer needs, when they need it, and at the optimal time to capture their attention.
Take your place on stage with the car sales Rock Stars by taking pieces of my advice that are most relevant to you, and see how much it improves your productivity. Every salesman needs that extra edge in a competitive business like car sales and small productivity tricks can go a long way!
