On today’s episode of Straight Talk, David Lewis of David Lewis & Associates talks about how having clear goals and being prepared are your best weapons against under-performing.
VIDEO TRANSCRIPT:
Hello and welcome to another edition of Straight Talk. I’m your host David Lewis and I look forward to spending the next few minutes with you as we cover a topic of great importance to anyone who wants to build a great lucrative career in retail automotive sales.
True success rarely comes to someone without clear goals. And someone who takes what they do seriously and prepares to win. Being prepared is your best weapon against poor performance and that certainly is true for those who want to make a good living in the car business.
You have probably heard the saying: “Plan your work and work your plan”. That is good advice for anyone seeking to find success in their career. But it is a lot more than just writing ideas and plans on a paper that makes someone successful. It is the acting out on a daily basis the right attitudes and actions that will make those plans come to fruition.
For those who are making a living selling cars, having the right attitude is a critical part of how successful you will be and how much your customers will be inspired by your process and your personality and want to buy a car from you.
Having an attitude for success does not start as you are walking out to greet a customer in the showroom or on the lot. It starts when you rise from your bed in the morning and start planning the day ahead as though it was going to be the first day of the rest of your life.
That might mean listening to a motivational recording while you are getting ready to start your day, and pre-thinking ahead of time about the list of people you’re going to call to get them in your dealership and sell them a car.
So, ask yourself this question:
What do you want to accomplish today? Do you already have that in mind as you are driving to work? How are you going to make that happen? Is your plan based on hoping traffic will be good on the lot today or do you have people who came in earlier in the week but didn’t buy who you know you need to call and motivate them to come back in for another look.
Do you plan to spend the day looking out the window for ups to drive on to your lot or are you thinking of the trades that came in during the last few days and who is on your list to call that might be interested in buying a nice used car?
You can let the day happen or you can make the day happen. It is really up to you.
Start your day with a list of personal short-term goals that you must accomplish that day which do not depend on anyone else to make them happen. Goals like the following:
. . . . Check to see everything that has been taken in on trade that may be something one of my used car customers is looking for. . .
. . . . Call ten people who came in this month but did not buy anything and see if they are still in the market for a car. . .
. . . . Do a value assessment on at least two vehicles currently in service and see if I can motivate those service customers to consider looking at working a lease on a new car. . .
. . . . Follow up on 5 customers I have sold in the past 3 months and see if I can generate some referrals . . .
. . . . Check to see what email traffic is coming in through the website and create a video walk around for anyone requesting information on a specific model or vehicle they are looking at.
The bottom line is this:
If you don’t have a plan to generate new business when you get to work, you will be letting the day happen on its own rather than making it happen by specific actions you are taking to generate new sales.
One of the often-overlooked ingredients that helps you get ready to sell is the attitude you carry with you to the job. Everything you think, believe and do plays a part in whether or not you will consistently win in your sales career.
The renowned physicist Albert Einstein had a unique view on winning. He said:
“Show class, have pride and display character. If you do, winning takes care of itself.”
That is a great tip for someone looking for success and it is a tremendous concept for how we ought to view our responsibility to our customers as salespeople.
Things like the way we dress, our personal hygiene, the kind of verbiage we use and the mental and emotional preparations we make for winning on the job all play a big part in our readiness for success.
Now it may seem old-fashioned to members of Generation Y and Millennials to “dress for success” but it cannot be overstated how important such things are for developing a winners mindset and the respect of your customers in this business.
Asking someone to buy a product you sell that will cost them tens of thousands of dollars and up, while wearing wrinkled clothes or having an unkempt appearance is risky business from my perspective. That doesn’t mean I think everyone should wear a suit and tie to sell cars, but I can tell you this for sure: It won’t hurt!
Like it or not, style is a reflection of your attitude and personality. It is how you generally express the way you feel about things and what you want to say to the people around you.
In business this is very important. And this is especially true for salespeople.
You are the front-line representative for the dealership where you work. Customers will often form their opinion and perception of the entire dealership based on how they perceive the salesperson they are working with. If that person is you, you have a big responsibility and a big opportunity to influence the people who come to your dealership looking for a vehicle.
Being ready to sell means you are ready to take that responsibility seriously and invest in your own dealerships success by how you carry yourself and how you present yourself to customers.
Have you done your homework to learn how to sell your product? Have you studied and invested in your personal growth and education to make sure you are able to be the best you can be with every customer you speak to about buying a car? Have you personalized a professional sales process so that it becomes natural to you and represents how you would like to be treated if you were a customer in search of a new vehicle?
All of these things are a part of being ready to sell when you come to work at your dealership every day. If you take these things seriously and grow your abilities and skills through training, practice and perfecting your craft, the chances of your success are great and you can expect to have a great and lucrative career in the retail automotive business.
Thanks for joining me today for this episode of Straight Talk. If you take the things I have been saying seriously and you want to raise the level of your success to its highest potential, then we have sales training that can help you reach your goals and become the best you can be in this business.
So if you are interested in any of our ongoing classes just check out our website at www.davidlewis.com and If you would like a free copy of my books just send me an email at dlewis@davidlewis.com and we will be glad to get them out to you right away.
Good luck everyone.
