Dealer Solutions Magazine January 2016

Volume 9 Issue 1

The Perfect

FIVE-STEP

Sales Process – Grant Cardone

LEADERSHIP – Four Steps to Create a Culture of Candor – Dave Anderson

The Elimination of F & I – Candice Crane

Alan Ram Gets Social

4 TIPS to Create a SOCIAL PRESENCE That Converts

Database Equity Leads Equity Letters & Email Blasts Service Drive Equity Leads In-House B.D.C. Conquest Marketing Dealership & Departmental Analytics New & Used Inventory Control Live Financial Statement Daily

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Inside this issue: ■ Ways to Build a “Digital” Sales Team That Creates Results......................5 ■ The Elimination of F & I........................................................................................7 ■ Leadership – Four Steps to Create a Culture of Candor................... 8 & 9 ■ 4 Tips to Create A Social Presence That Converts........................... 12 & 13 ■ Prepare For What You Wish For: Hiring Educated Millennials.............. 15 ■ The Perfect Five-Step Sales Process..............................................................19 ■ Automotive Disruption From The Bay Area To Atlanta................. 20 & 21 ■ Developing Emotional Stability............................................................22 & 23 ■ So You Want to Buy an Automobile Dealership........................................24 ■ How to Invest in Customer Experience in 2016.........................................25 ■ Should Cradle to Grave be your Fave?................................................26 & 27 ■ How to Learn What Your Customer Wants.......................................28 & 29 ■ It’s Not Match.com..............................................................................................31 ■ Assembling a Mosaic......................................................................................... 30 Publisher Michael Oquendo Editor-In-Chief David Villa Creative Director Kim Burrell Advertising Director Chris Fritcher Editor Josh Fontaine

For Advertising Information Call: 813.463.4009 or 844.415.1052 For E-mail Inquiries: editor@dealersolutions.info Published by:

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6 Ways to Build a “Digital” Sales Team That Creates Results produces results has to come from the top, and it has to be consistently made a priority with consequences for those who refuse to adapt.

Consistency With Your Process

By Bobbie Herron he focus of Dealers for years now has been on recruiting and retaining top producing “Digital” sales teams.

Regardless of whether you call this team a BDC, some fancy new buzzword, or if your sales department handles everyone start to finish, the reality is that the days of the “digital” customer and the “traditional” one are long gone. They are one and the same, which has made it a requirement for the entirety of your sales staff and leaders to embrace a new methodology in selling vehicles. Have you assembled the best digital team in your market and still find yourself looking over the financial statements without seeing the increase you projected? Let’s examine why.

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Clarity With New Hires

Did you look for top level talent with a current internet related title from a competitor? Titles and the responsibilities that come along with them rarely mean the same thing across dealerships. Don’t assume they know what your expectations are or that they are already trained to handle them. Too often a dealer will promote someone because they know how to work a computer by slapping an internet manager title on them.

The ability to operate technology does not qualify someone to understand how to communicate effectively with a consumer.

Inspect what you expect, titles do not equal talent.

Be On The Same Team

Are your managers and staff working with each other or against? Too often management is either not present or not committed to staying present in “new age” training sessions.

They are leaving to work deals, answer calls etc…Create coverage so that they are able to learn with their teams without distractions. Lack of enforcement on this creates burn out and frustration when dealing with the desk due to the lack of understanding and buy-in. True progress happens as a team once they commit to a new mindset together.

Accountability With Consequences

Then what? Begin by implementing new processes and enforcing accountability that is geared toward the consumer experience in 2016, rather than the control tactics we have used for the last twenty years. The culture change that

Have you recently justified a particular person following a different process because they sell “so many cars” or they “don’t work internet leads”? Don’t allow different expectations for different performance levels. If they sell 20 now and don’t follow the process, then they are missing 10. You have to transform your entire team. It is unacceptable to teach someone to follow one process for “traditional” customers and an entirely different one for “digital.” Instead, segment the processes based on what previous research they have done. Have they agreed to a demo drive? Has a proper T.O been performed? This allows you to identify where there are weaknesses within a department and isolate them to make improvements.

Have Quality Leadership

Does your management team roll “Old School”? If the sales staff hits a negativity wall every time they go to the desk with an “out of the box” idea, then they will eventually throw their hands in the air, quit following up and become complacent because they begin to believe they cannot win. Stop training people to respond quickly and accurately only to ask them to wait for thirty minutes to get numbers, or worse, respond to them with things like “Just Get Them In.” That’s lazy.

Think about how often we tell sales people to prospect the household and focus on the trade, but then the Used Car Manager looks at them like they are crazy when they want a sight unseen appraisal. We are teaching them to communicate differently in order to do it right, but then can’t figure out why they don’t follow the traditional steps to the sale when they are working a deal. Maybe it’s time to create a new set of steps.

Re-evaluation

Do you believe you are already doing everything as a best practice? I challenge you to step back and re-evaluate the managers on your teams without the bias of the relationship you have or what you “know” is happening. Decide who is willing and able to embrace a “new age” process. Too often as dealers we step over dollars to pick up dimes by not investing in and enforcing our management teams to stay current.

Commit today to having an expectations meeting with your entire team to create goals and strategies that support success for the dealership moving forward. Support those who are embracing change by encouraging the “crazy” ideas they come to you with. It’s time to get on board by being willing to change the culture if you’re truly going to succeed.

The everyday model in many dealerships is broken. The floor is typically split between the notion that what they are currently doing shouldn’t change and those who know that the consumer experience requires a new direction. Fear of the 5 unknown and the capacity to embrace it will limit the results.

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By Candice Crane ustomer experience, the latest hot topic on every dealer’s mind. The concept is bigger than customer service alone and is currently being exploited by e-commerce. With transaction times diminishing in every other aspect of retail, consumers are no longer willing to spend an entire day at a dealership buying a car. New technologies are being introduced monthly to speed up the process and startups are supplying customers with innovative ways to buy and sell a vehicle that do not include a brick and mortar building.

out lanes open. Automotive retail calls for all hands on deck during peak times yet the number of “check out� lanes remains static. Eliminating the F&I silo will give the customer what they want- a faster transaction time. Done correctly it can also give the dealer what they want- protected revenue and a happy customer.

Will all this change circling, there is no question that an evolution is brewing. Early adopters are examining ways to create a new and efficient buying process. One concept gaining momentum is to eliminate the traditional F&I process.

The role of a Finance Manager in its purest sense is to get the deal bought and protect revenue. They are the most profitable employees in the dealership and the most expensive. On high volume days they are your greatest asset and worst enemy. The complexity of their process often causes transactional delays that at best negatively impact your customer experience and at worst cost you the car deal. Sure there are ways to cut off 10 minutes here and there but ultimately a funnel has to allow for everything to pass through. With a 4:1 average ratio of sales people to Finance Managers, even the most efficient process will cause delays for the customer.

What some public and private groups are realizing is you can protect the integrity of the F&I process without having the traditional F&I silo. Desking deals today is much different than it was even ten years ago. Technology has allowed for greater access of information replacing the need for experts in banking and finance. Menus can be automated and positioned in a way that gives the customer control of the decision making process. Warranty selection can be integrated into the sales process earlier to allow for a more seamless transition to ancillary product demonstration. The sales rep, who built the relationship with the customer, can be the one stop shop for all their needs.

The groups that have been successful implementing this new strategy understand two very important concepts: 1. Centralization. Someone needs to maintain the relationship with the banks and work on the deals that are more difficult to get bought. By focusing on just relationship management, one person can work multiple deals at a time and arguably be more effective in getting the deals purchased.

2. Training. A significant investment must be made to train the sales people on how to present the menu and warranty products. By having one person do the deal from front to back, ancillary products can be discussed earlier and more often.

Retailers respond to volume with volume. More customers shopping equals more staff on the floor and more check

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Leadership – Four Steps to Create a Culture of Candor O

n a consulting mission years ago a dealer told me, “Our team is very healthy; we never fight.” I replied, “If your team doesn’t fight it’s not healthy, it’s dysfunctional.” Teams with strong personalities, passions, and opinions will clash from time to time about issues, strategies, and over how to best advance the organization. And this is a very good thing. Following are four reasons why conflict is not only necessary, but should be insisted upon:

By Dave Anderson

When we’re debating an issue, being loyal to me means giving me your opinion whether you think I’ll like it or not. Disagreement, at this stage, stimulates me. But once the decision has been made the debate ends. From that point on being loyal means getting behind the decision and executing it as if it were your own.

It’s important, however, for all involved to understand that once the final decision has been made, that the conflict ends. Healthy teams fight about issues they care about, but then unite behind the decision once it’s made. When Colin Powell was Chief of Staff he outlined this 8 dynamic very well:

A. You may know something good to do, but the team may collectively come up with something better.

Remember: any idea should be considered as a good idea until you find the best idea.

B. Your job as a leader

1. Conflict brings about clarity.

I’m not referring to open conflict and raging battles of egos on your show room floor or service drive, but conflict behind closed doors, as important decisions are being debated and made.

Differing opinions ensure every side of an idea, opportunity, or solution is being looked at. It eliminates blind spots that may have developed, and reduces the danger of groupthink, which can cause you to do what is popular, convenient, or cheap, but not necessarily what is best or right.

Conflict is especially necessary when the stakes are high, and should never merely be “tolerated,” but insisted upon.

They ask, “Why would I ask for trouble and invite dissent when I know what we need to do?” Here are three thoughts concerning this:

2. Conflict is engaging. It takes both a secure and mature leader to say the following to engage his or her team, and encourage conflict: “Team, here’s what I think the best course is concerning this issue. Now shoot some holes in it. What have I overlooked?

What would make this better?”

Frankly, this kind of scenario scares poorly developed leaders half to death.

is not to have all the answers, but to surround yourself with people who do. It’s not desirable or feasible to believe you can or should be able to think of everything. You have people on your team right now who know things you don’t know, and who see things you don’t see.

By engaging them in this manner you cause them to become more emotionally invested in the company and its goals; they’re no longer “driven stakes,” but stakeholders. Smart leaders understand that people will support what they help create—that they want a chance to weigh in before they buy in.

C. Engaging your team in this manner and giving them a voice doesn’t diminish your authority. You still get to make the decision, but now it will be a better decision since you have collaborated with other smart and capable people in the process.

In the LearnToLead offices we have a formal conference area, and we also have “The Living Room.” True to its name, The Living Room is comprised of a couple

of comfortable couches, chairs, tables, and the wall behind it reads: “None of us is smarter than all of us.” The Living Room is where we brainstorm ideas, and over the years we’ve come up with some great ideas debating in this format. But the ideas weren’t mine. In fact, I haven’t personally had a great idea in quite some time, but I’ve had good ideas that my team has turned into great ideas when I’ve invited them to challenge and add value to them. The lesson is this: good ideas become great ideas when the collective energies, wisdom, and passions of your team are united and harnessed in an open forum.

3. Too much harmony invites complacency and is cancerous to decision-making.

The worst decisions I’ve ever made—and I’ve made my share—were made void of conflict. Instead, everyone was nodding his or her heads in affirmation, as we hurriedly and harmoniously moved the meeting along to its “Kumbaya” conclusion. No one spoke up, raised a hand, offered an alternative, or challenged a point, primarily because I didn’t invite them to. And I sure didn’t insist on it. Instead, we all left the meeting feeling good about how we were on the same page, with little regard that the same page is often the wrong page, and that if everyone is thinking alike it’s a pretty good indication someone isn’t thinking at all.

pressure off you, as you no longer must believe you’ve got to think of, and solve, everything that goes on in your dealership. Nope, your value as a leader is not in creating the complete content

for every strategy or idea, but to create the context for others to contribute to that content. Feels better already, doesn’t it?

The lesson is this: good ideas become great ideas when the collective energies, wisdom, and passions of your team are united and harnessed in an open forum.

4. Conflict creates a culture of candor.

A culture of candor puts a high value on robust dialogue, honest debate, and an appreciation for the varied strengths and talents different team members bring to the table. A culture of candor creates the conditions for the truth to be heard, and for people to disagree, contribute, and challenge one another without fear of negative consequences. Thus, a culture of candor creates a growth environment where people are not only stretched and acclaimed, but where those who have the courage to speak up are championed, and not seen as saboteurs or troublemakers.

Insisting on conflict within the guidelines I’m suggesting will take some of the

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Today’s automotive professional wants to consume what they want when they want it. Where do the people in our great industry get their information from today? And what kind of information is it? ATN exists to provide the platform that you the automotive community not only want but need! If you can’t make it to the national conferences let ATN bring the conference to you! At your convenience at the click of the mouse you have access to weekly new programming, as well as hundreds of archived shows all created for the purpose of helping equip today’s automotive professional.

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4 Tips to Create A Social Presence That Converts

By Laura Madison of Alan Ram’s Proactive Training Solutions

I never imagined that social media would make me my dealership’s top salesperson.

I remember my first day on the car lot vividly. My sales manager shuffled me out the front door to stand outside in the cold and wait for customers.

I had applied to sell at this dealership many times over a period of months, walking into the showroom past a crowd of waiting salesmen, and in all of those visits had never seen the swarm of customers my sales manager seemed to expect would be pulling into the parking lot any moment. I figured, he must’ve known something I didn’t.

At first, I stood alongside the other salesmen positioned at the front door. After a while I grew anxious by this unoccupied time. In the following days and weeks standing around listening to the other guys talk about their fantasy football teams and hoping a customer would show up, I had the same thought again and again: this can’t be the most effective use of my time, I was growing impatient, and not selling any cars.

I began to think about what I could do to motivate people to walk through the showroom doors asking to work with me.

I considered my options. I had just recently moved across country so I had no real contacts in the area, I didn’t have the funds for a billboard or newspaper ad, and I definitely did not want to resign and return to my previous career. With no budget, I didn’t have many options. It then occurred to me that I could utilize some free tools I had access to, like Facebook, YouTube, and LinkedIn. In an industry where a new study is published seemingly every week illustrating that customers are researching and shopping online more and more, it made sense that to be visible to them I needed to be online. The Internet is where I could capture their attention and entice customers to come see me directly.

So I started to take action utilizing social media. I wasn’t sure initially what would result in visibility online, I didn’t have any previous marketing experience, but I was clear on my goal of getting the attention of potential customers. I understood that in order for people buy a car from me, those people had to know I existed. I focused my activity on becoming visible to 12

shoppers as they did online research for a new vehicle with the hope that this would allow for an introduction I otherwise may never have had.

And then, an incredible thing happened, it worked.

After a few months of building a presence on Facebook and posting videos to YouTube, a woman came in and asked for me, telling me she had seen a video of mine after performing a Google search.

She bought a replacement for her totaled Jimmy that evening.

Then, a professor came to me clutching a print-out of an SUV comparison I had written and shared on Facebook, telling me “I’m most definitely a 4Runner buyer according to your post and I’d like to purchase one today.” Shortly after that, I received a call from a gentleman from Seattle saying he was inclined to trade in his Land Cruiser for a new one after having stumbled across a video of mine. He made a 12 hour drive to my dealership, brought me some gifts and a crème puff of a tradein, and drove away back home in his shiny new Land Cruiser.

These encounters became more and more frequent and ultimately catapulted me to becoming the dealership’s top salesperson. I had successfully figured out how to use social media to sell cars.

My visibility grew exponentially, garnering local and national attention, and reaching far beyond prospective car buyers, allowing me to make connections within the greater automotive community. It was this incredible visibility that provided me with an introduction to Alan Ram of Alan Ram’s Proactive Training Solutions, someone who has one of the best reputations in the automotive training space. Alan is an expert in conversion training; how to convert customers from the phone and the internet to the showroom. I began using Alan’s training. His tangible, actionable training immediately resonated with my proactive mindset—providing me the tools to more effectively mine customers within the huge base I had created and handle all of my opportunities better. Shortly after

that, Alan made an offered to join his team, I accepted. It made sense to come work with the best, and just as Alan had helped scores of salespeople become successful with his phone and internet conversion training, I wanted to help my colleagues become successful through converting off social media.

I knew with my training social media conversion could work for salespeople and dealerships all across the country. Armed with the right strategy and training, anyone could do what I did. Here are four tips to begin creating a fierce social presence that converts:

1) Recognize that Video is Powerful When it comes to social selling, video is a dealership’s,

or salesperson’s, most powerful weapon. It’s a medium that allows you to transfer enthusiasm, show excitement for your product, and ultimately persuade a prospective client to come see you. A recent study indicates that consumers are increasingly influenced by video; 69% of people who used YouTube while shopping for a vehicle were influenced by YouTube more than TV, newspapers, or magazines. So when it comes to social video, seeing really is believing.

3) Focus on Connection.

Bob Burg said it best:

“All things being equal, people will do business with and refer business to,those people they know, like and trust.”

Social media is perhaps the best tool to allow automotive dealerships and salespeople to build connections with prospective and past buyers. Showing behind-the-scenes happenings at the dealership or photos that showcase the personalities of salespeople can be a powerful way for shoppers to begin to trust and build relationships with the dealership and its salespeople. The key to an effective social media presence is creating human connection.

4) Take Action Now.

The automotive industry is not at the cusp of this revolution, it is in the midst of it. Beginning to take action right away on these social strategies is what will make you visible to all of your customers who are already online and on social media.

Alan Ram and I created our Social Selling course to help dealerships and salespeople convert more customers. I can’t wait for you to take our Social Selling training and begin to dramatically increase your sales!

Learn more at: www.SocialSellingVT.com

2) Adopt a Proactive Mindset The days of making a living standing on point waiting for customers are behind us. Success in today’s car business can be measured by your ability to convert customers off the telephone and the internet into the showroom. Consumers are aiming for efficiency as they shop for a vehicle; completing much of their research online and then simply calling dealerships to see if they have the right vehicle in inventory. In fact, online search interest in dealer phone numbers is up over 78% in the past year meaning both phone and internet conversion skills are paramount. The salespeople and dealerships who are proactive, who deliberately learn how to master these skills, are the ones who will succeed.

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By Deborah Dorman

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he automotive industry has jobs, good pay, and opportunity for advancement. You need workers who are dedicated, hard-working, able to put a sentence together, understand a complex business, and relate to customers while doing the math. This sounds like a perfect match for dealerships hiring college grads with any number of backgrounds – business, marketing, accounting, automotive technology, even English, Psychology or Philosophy majors looking to get into the business world. So, why are they so elusive, and why do you end up with so much turnover? The most recent NADA Workforce study shows a 72% turnover rate for sales people (39% for other positions). Millennials will happily answer an e-mail from a customer at 1 a.m., as they sleep with their phones attached to their pillows, but ask them to work in the dealership ten or more hours a day, six days a week, and they are outta there. Let’s face it, they are in their twenties and want a life. You’ll hate me for it, but I’m going to suggest that if more than eight or nine hours a day, five days a week is needed to do the job, with some other work here or there from home or elsewhere, you need to rethink what is getting done and by whom. Can you utilize different shifts, focus on busier times and provide more flexible time off policies? Capping vacation at one or even two weeks is not the norm in most other industries.

Millennials don’t think about work at a desk, and don’t divide work and home the way other generations did. Technology frees them to work from anywhere, anytime. They also want (and perhaps deserve) some security in exchange for hard work, which means a base salary that can pay the rent, and bonuses or commissions (depending on job function, of course) on top of that to motivate them. Minimum wage will not pay the rent or support a new family, and the uncertainty of the rest coming from commissions will turn many away. Look at hours, pay plans, the work culture and environment, and make the adjustments needed to hire and keep good people. It takes a long view, which is hard in a month to month business, but every study there is says that workers value recognition, support, and work/life balance more than just dollars.

According to an article in Forbes Magazine, 88% of Millennials prefer a collaborative work-culture rather than a competitive one, 74% want flexible work schedules, and 88% want “worklife integration,” which isn’t the same as work-life balance, since work and life now blend together inextricably.

If you stay “old school,” you will continue a cycle of hiring, firing, quitting and training. It may produce short term dollars, but is very costly over time. Think of how much productivity is lost every time a new worker joins the team. The Center for American Progress estimates the cost of replacing a worker at 20% of annual salary. Even though a certain pay plan was effective ten years ago, it may not be the right thing for today’s worker. There is also no reason to have pay plans that a PhD in HR is required to understand. More often than not, these end up as fuel for labor complaints.

What is the culture of your workplace? Do people feel valued and supported? Do they want to do well for the “team” or just for themselves (those are the ones who quit to work elsewhere for a buck)? Are their hours in the store productive (are your ups flooding the floor every hour of every day)? Do they make enough money to feel secure (but not enough to be ecstatic without commission)? Do they see a future with you, or just endless hours of scratching out a living? Are your sales people trained to be real product specialists, or do you just focus on outdated sales techniques (effective or otherwise)? Are you teaching and supporting ethical behavior, which would be especially important to Millennials? Are you making “green” efforts, recycling, utilizing less energy, and so on (which will impress Millennials)? Do your charitable efforts involve employees (another big plus)?

Dealerships will need to take a long, hard look at how they manage people and pay if they want to attract the best and the brightest, and then keep them. The opportunities are there for college grads, but they will turn to other industries if this one 15 doesn’t reconsider the old ways and find new paths to success.

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The Perfect Five-Step Sales Process

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or fifty years, there has been very little change in how people sell things. Most of the information is dated, with encouragement to control the customer and spend long periods of time with them, believing the longer you spend with them the more indebted they become. The reality is that people have changed over the last fifty years, so the sales process must change with them.

The first thing you must understand is that the perfect sales process will satisfy all parties involved and increase the effectiveness of the user. People have less time, there is access to more information, both husband and wife are more likely to be employed, and some studies suggest entire generations of buyers have become accustomed to not even engaging with a human being to make a purchase.

The perfect sales process when would have to be fast and easy for the buyer, easy and effective for the salesperson, provide quick and credible information to the buyer, treat the buyer as informed, and ultimately satisfy the customer and the company by consummating a sale.

The first thing I would look at in any sales process is how to shorten and simplify it because of the level of sensitivity buyers demonstrate to time. I have worked with sales organizations and individuals around the world, and the five steps below are what I believe to be a very powerful and succinct selling process. While it must be customized to your market, product or service, the basic format of it will prove effective for all salespeople. This is the shortest number of steps in order to simplify the process and still focus on the most important things you want to accomplish. Many organizations have ten to twelve steps, most of which are skipped, and many of them are resisted.

Here are the most crucial five steps that you must encounter in every sales situation whether it be in person, on the phone, or over the Internet:

1. Greet The goal of greeting is to introduce yourself, make a good impression, and put the buyer at ease. My goal here is to set the stage for the remaining steps. Simply say “welcome” if they are coming to you and “thanks for seeing me” if you are going to them. In both cases, you must maintain your interest in time. If you don’t yet have a relationship with the client, you don’t want to waste their time or you’re trying to make a great impression of who you are and what you are and what you represent. If you do know them, you don’t want to get caught up in small talk and never get around to business. It is

impossible to get rid of this step. What we want to do is use it to open the door to the reason we are there: to move the prospect into a buyer.

For example, “Welcome. Thank you for coming here. What can I get you information on?” (Then transition into the remaining steps.)

2. Determine Wants & Needs You can either do this by moving into factfinding or into a consultation stage. The fastest way to do this is to fact find on previous purchases. The purpose of this is twofold: 1) to know what product to show your client and 2) to know how to present the product in a manner that will build value in the presentation and cause them to want to act.

Remember, all purchases or investments are trying to solve a problem of some sort—all of them. You don’t buy a drill because you want a drill you buy a drill because you want to make a hole.

3. Select Product and Present/Build Value Select for your client rather than allowing them to wander through your inventory and select for themselves. Whether your product is tangible or not does not matter, you have an inventory. Based on what you found out in the first two steps, you would now be able to select and present a solution and how it will benefit the client.

4. Make a Proposal I always make a proposal—always. Even when people are not ready, I make an offer. Many people suggest not presenting all buyers with figures, but I believe that if you don’t present them, you can never come to an agreement. I am not suggesting that you make an offer before the presentation of the product, but I am suggesting that you aggressively do what you can to get to figures with every buyer in every situation.

5. Close or Exit This is where you find out how much game you have. If you aren’t on your game you must train to be a master at the close.

You must first be prepared to CLOSE. Closing the transaction is a completely different art from selling. We were all born to sell, but you have to learn how to close. By survey, this is the one area in which professional salespeople demand help.

A great closer needs hundreds of closes, not just a few. The pro needs a complete commitment to fresh and innovative ways to 19 handle any closing situation that arises.

– Grant Cardone

Automotive Disruption From The Bay Area To Atlanta

By Zach Klempf

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ever has the traditional automotive business model been under constant siege as it is today from multiple fronts. Technology has not only changed the car-buying experience but it is also relentlessly reshaping the entire ecosystem from dealership goto-market strategies to the automobile product offering itself, all while it creates new, non-traditional competitors based on online, mobile centric utility models.

Such disruption breeds opportunity and given the fragmentation across U.S. auto retailers, Buffet has an opportunity to drive consolidation among mom-and-pop dealerships and independents to lead them profitably into their digital futures.

That digital automotive future is flush with capital at the moment.

According to AutoVentures, there have been 33 major equity transactions and investments worth $35 billion in automotive retail over the last 18 months. The first half of 2015 saw over $105 million of venture capital investment in Bay Area firms alone that have the automotive industry specifically in their cross hairs with an approximate 60/40 split between early stage/late stage funding rounds.

In addition to strong momentum from the venture capital community, major industry players like Cox Automotive are internally incubating companies like subscription-based, on-demand car service Flexdrive. They also recently acquired dealership technology company Dealertrack for $4 billion dollars this past summer. Both moves 20 extend their relevance into the “hot”

markets of Mobility On-Demand (MoD) and data centric automotive offerings.

From altering the dealership ownership structure, to creating the on-demand car marketplace, to revamping back office systems, the influx of outside capital is a big game changer for an industry that has been more akin to moving at a slow pace but must start gearing up for the inevitable havoc that mobile, social, and big data technologies inevitably bring to established business models.

What’s Driving The Disruption And Capital Investment?

The on-demand, utility economy has had a significant influence on business models in the automotive industry and have introduced services like Beepi and Vroom. Both startups aim to simplify the $36.5 billion used car industry by enabling consumers to surf, finance, and arrange delivery of a used car via their smartphones or other online device.

On the manufacturer side, new players like Tesla have challenged the traditional retail dealership model with direct sales and no franchise stores.

From a product perspective, sophisticated electronics and software now account for as much as 35 percent of the total cost of the

automobiles themselves,and the ever increasing software content has accelerated the pace of product innovation from years to months.

As the car becomes more digitally enabled, complexity has increased to the point where some luxury cars have more custom code than today’s fighter jets.

Automotive OEM competition has now expanded to include technology leaders like Google and Apple in addition to software-centric niche startups.

Millennials have spearheaded disruption in the automotive industry with a major focus on pricing transparency, a preference for the ease of digital transactions, and the foundational expectation that their car should simply be an extension of their “always on” mobile lifestyles.

In a recent Car Buyer of the Future study done by Autotrader with a sample size of over 4,000 customers, less than half a percent currently enjoy the car-buying experience. In a study conducted by Accenture, 75 percent of respondents would consider purchasing a car via home delivery, completely online.

Today’s consumers want a faster, streamlined but personalized, no pressure, car-buying experience that allows them to purchase, finance, and insure their vehicle with the touch of

a screen. They have been trained by Google, Facebook, and other digital data super powers to expect and enjoy a personalized customer experience based on their stated or inferred preferences from observed online behaviors and millions of digital data points. Why should car ownership or access to automotive mobility be any different?

Dealership Impact And Business Model Shifts

Much has been written about the changing automotive industry dynamics and the ramifications to the automotive OEMs. But what about the dealerships caught in the middle of the upheaval?

What steps must dealers take to avoid being digitally displaced in the automotive distribution model of the future?

stay relevant dealerships will need to understand how to succeed in the digital marketplace for both new and used car transactions, services, and expand their offerings into becoming MoDSPs. (mobility on-demand service providers).

The dealership of the future likely needs to have ties into several arenas to maintain relevance and profitability.

Non-urban area dealerships need to think about how to capture their share of the MoD economy and explore providing their own MoD services to their communities before a technology competitor does.

service business, trade-in, resale, financing and MoD digital offerings.

Advance sensor data may warrant a proactive service event to prevent a major problem or to prioritize safety recall efforts. Usage data may assist in the customer’s next vehicle purchase as the dealer will know more about their driving habits and “inside the car” experience preferences.

Automotive OEMs may not want to share this data but dealerships need to be aggressive about securing this information as it is critical to tailoring their digital services offerings to their customers going forward.

Dealerships also need to insert themselves into the digital data stream from the connected car in order to strengthen their ability to capture a “customer for life.” Dealers will not only need to have access to that customer data but they will have to monetize it throughout their service business, trade-in, resale, financing and MoD digital offerings.

Today’s business model consists of Tier 1 component suppliers working in concert with automotive OEMs who design, assemble, and distribute new vehicles to authorized dealers, who then sell them to consumers. It is a closed, highly regulated retail distribution model that is product centric.

Foundational cracks in this model are already starting to show as the customer experience is not digitally optimized nor personalized to any real extent. It is the outdated “build it and they will come” approach.

The future automotive business model shifts toward more open, connected platforms with customer centric digital services at its core. The retailing aspect of tomorrow’s new and used car sales starts to become intermingled with MoD services where car ownership is just another option on an equal footing with the ondemand and car sharing economy.

A recent PwC whitepaper has a graphic that really drives home the major structural changes that are in play and highlights the dealership dilemma.

The stark reality is that by 2025 the dealership model as it exists today does not exist. It has instead morphed into positions within the Digital Marketplace and/or Mobility Service Providers roles.

That future vision must seem like open season to traditional dealerships that have not yet recognized this shift. To

Urban area dealerships should consider partnering with the Vrooms and Beepis of the world that are already in their backyards and utilize idle shop capacity to “certify and inspect” used cars and provide last mile delivery as service providers for these new entrants.

Having a physical sales presence in the local market is another “for hire” service that dealerships may be able to provide new market entrants who lack the face-to-face local contact.

Some dealers are already taking notes from Drive Shift, Beepi and Vroom and beating them with plays from their own playbook. Those dealers are now offering off site test drives to customers at their house or workplace as well as a return policy on pre-owned inventory.

Dealerships also need to insert themselves into the digital data stream from the connected car in order to strengthen their ability to capture a “customer for life.” Dealers will not only need to have access to that customer data but they will have to monetize it throughout their

To position themselves for future success, dealerships need to understand how technology disruptions are impacting their business environment, embrace the digital revolution in their customer relationship and back office data management processes, and hone their digital marketing chops to remain relevant. They also need to think hard about the type of skill sets the dealership will need going forward that can provide, nurture, and retain the connected consumer for life across all of their automotive mobility needs.

The Future Of Automotive?

The next five years are positioned to be some of the most disruptive times in this space. The connected car is the next big product step forward and will feed the big data beast in ways yet unforeseen as the automobile manufacturers, government safety regulators, insurance companies and online search companies to name just a few start collecting vehicle usage and driver behavior data.

The on-demand, sharing economy and direct to consumer model will continue to impact traditional franchise dealership models as consumers increasingly have other options to fulfill their need to get from one place to another cost effectively.

Silicon Valley will continue to fund new automotive tech startups in the hope of creating future “unicorns.” It is fair to say the automotive industry is due for monumental changes and it’s an exciting time to watch Silicon 21 Valley become the new Detroit.

Developing Emotional Stability

by Tom Hopkins

T

his article is longer than most I send your way, but I feel the timing is right to send it out. It’s the time of year. We’re actively wrapping up 2015 and developing our goals and plans for 2016.

Let’s commit to having 2016 be a year of balance. Keep training in order to excel in business. Keep developing communication skills for personal relationships. Decide what’s really important to you. Then invest time and energy into that.

Early in my career, I learned the importance of balance.

Unfortunately, like most people, I learned it the hard way—by being out of balance.

There are many ways to be out of balance in life. You can be out of balance physically, which happens to way too many people in our society. It’s so sad to see those who focus their lives on achieving financial success, yet let their physical bodies deteriorate along the way. They end up spending all their hard earned income on medical remedies.

You can be out of balance financially, which leads to a whole series of other imbalances in life. You can be out of balance spiritually. Being out of balance with your personal relationships can have a negative impact on everything else in your life. Each of these areas can take their toll on you if you let yourself stay out of balance for too long.

The area of balance I’m most concerned with today is emotional stability. If you are not emotionally stable, if you are not increasing your self-esteem and self-image, you will get yourself in trouble. Having emotional stability, or emotional riches, means that you are able to cope with life’s crises and keep a balance between business and family priorities which will allow you to be happy most of the time.

Most of the time? By nature, the game of life involves having ups and downs, good times and bad times. Og Mandino has said, “If you are a human being and alive, you are either going into, in, or coming out of crisis most of the time.” The challenge of maintaining balance is not with the crisis. It’s with your attitude toward the crisis and the choices you make regarding how you’ll handle it.

A career in business brings its own set of challenges and crises.

There are situations we find ourselves in with bosses, peers, subordinates and clients that can make us crazy as we try to keep 22 the business running smoothly. Putting ourselves out there for people to get to know us, our talents and skills sets

us up for a certain amount of judging, some rejection and, unfortunately, too little praise. We have to handle a lot of rejection in order to get close to the rewards in our careers. For that reason alone we have to be emotionally strong. We have to learn to expect those challenges that cause us stress and prepare ourselves to handle them in stride. It can be done. All it takes is a bit of preparation and mental training.

The first step is to recognize the challenges that we’ll encounter repeatedly in our careers, then seek the simplest solutions for them and master those solutions. The fun part about all this is that we’re not in this crisis situation alone. There are millions of Americans who are experiencing very similar situations to those we face. We can learn from each other or we can learn together. Either way, none of us is re-inventing the wheel. One of the keys to being an achiever is to surround yourself with people who are achievers themselves.

Using an analogy, I would like to compare business people to automobiles. Like automobiles, we need fuel in order to run.

We run on two types of gasoline. The first one is energy, the second, emotion. In order for us to become successful, we must have a lot of energy and present a lot of emotion. People don’t say yes to our requests or to our products logically. They say yes for emotional reasons, which are their reactions to the benefits they’ll receive from being involved with or taking ownership of whatever we are presenting. Therefore, we must transmit lots of positive emotion.

When we begin each day, we usually have our tanks filled with energy and emotion. The goal is to learn how to keep them filled all day long so that when we go home at night we are not only feeling good, but we are emotionally ready to prepare for the next day.

When I was a construction worker, the first month on the job I would come home physically and emotionally exhausted. After I became more physically fit for the job, I was not so drained at the end of my work day. The same thing applies to our business careers. We must become mentally fit. We must learn how to fill up with energy and emotion and not let people, circumstances and things drain our energy and emotions from us.

I want to introduce to you some common stressors that drain our energy and emotions.

Fear: Fear involves doing things that make you emotionally uncomfortable. For the average person, that may mean talking to

strangers, saying hello to someone who may reject you, or approaching someone you are not comfortable around. The thought of that creates a tremendous amount of fear in some people.

Here’s the first thing we have to realize about fear: The word FEAR stands for False Evidence About Reality. There are people with so much fear about talking to strangers that they won’t even try it. And, there are people who won’t even attempt sales because they already have such an overwhelming fear of it. Others won’t push themselves into positions of management for fear of not being able to get others to follow their lead. Realizing that fear is “False Evidence About Reality” can help them overcome this.

Live by the words, “Do what you fear most, then you control the fear.”

In my life, I have found the things I was afraid of most became my greatest strengths. My first manager in real estate told me that the key to success in real estate was in listing properties. He proceeded to tell me the way to get listings was to knock on doors. Knock on doors! I couldn’t do that! Then I realized that in order to overcome my fear of knocking of doors, I had to do exactly that.

Rejection:

Rejection is part of business.

Rejection is part of being an entrepreneur.

Remember this: No one has ever rejected you personally. They have rejected your proposal, the opportunity you are presenting, or maybe the skills you have to offer, but they are not rejecting you as a human being. Have you ever been rejected? We all have. Rejection is part of life. It shouldn’t be taken personally. It’s part of building character and building a business.

Disappointment:

When you are in business for yourself, or in sales and marketing, you are in the disappointment business. Why? Because people don’t always do what they say they are going to do. People will let you down. The key is to realize that you have chosen a field where disappointment happens. Rather than sit home at night being disappointed, learn how to let it go.

Guilt:

Many people are immobilized by guilt. If you decide to become an achiever and join the 5% of our population who are achievers–you’ll have to put in more time and effort, you’ll have to spend more time away from your family, perhaps work later and skip more meals and personal activities. That’s all part of being an achiever. If you are truly committed to being an achiever, don’t be guilty about it. Giving in to guilt is what creates non-achievers.

Non-achievers will discourage achievers and make them feel guilty about the time they are spending in order to accomplish their goals. One of the keys to being an achiever is to surround yourself with people who are achievers themselves. There is no reason to feel guilty about wanting to be successful. There is more reason to feel guilty for not wanting to succeed–to your full potential.

Procrastination: Procrastination is living yesterday, avoiding today and thus ruining tomorrow. If you have procrastination

in your life, here are some ideas to avoid it: It takes 21 days to effect a change. If you want to stop a bad habit or develop a new discipline, you must commit 21 consecutive days to changing it. By committing 21 days, you’ll gain strength and confidence and be able to eliminate procrastination from your life.

Live by these three words: Do it now. If there are things you procrastinate, but you need to do them in order to achieve

your goals, you need to make those three words your motto. Some people hate paperwork, some people hate details. Whatever your weakness is, tackle it first thing in the morning. Do it now. If you hate returning phone calls, make a game of it. Don’t let yourself go to lunch until you’ve returned at least three calls. Eventually, your hunger for food will overcome your fear of making the calls and you’ll just do it.

Understanding and preparing for these common stressors that impact your emotional stability will put you on the road to success. When you feel in control and able to handle the smaller, daily stressors, you’ll increase your self-image. When you feel better about yourself, you’ll strive to achieve balance in all areas of your life.

Wishing you greatness in all areas of life,

23

So You Want To Buy An Automobile Dealership

By Kenneth R. Rosenfield, CPA, Rosenfield & Company PLLC Orlando, Manhattan, Florham Park New Jersey

For some dealers, acquiring a new dealership is routine. For others, it can be an exciting, yet traumatic event. Having been through hundreds of acquisitions with clients all over the country, there is one thing in common, be prepared! The great coach John Wooden was quoted as saying “Failure to prepare, is preparing for failure”…. In any acquisition, being fully prepared and being able to adapt to a changing transaction, is key for a successful acquisition.

The first item to cover is why….does the acquisition fit the requirements of your current or future business model? Is the reason to diversify your portfolio of franchises, hedge dependence on one or just a few franchises or to develop future generations of owners and managers? Growth for growth’s sake, may not be a good reason. Make sure that the acquisition is for sound business purposes.

With any acquisition, due diligence of the target is essential.

One of the first items is to determine the attitude of the manufacturer in that market….were they pleased or not pleased with the performance of the incumbent dealer? If they were not pleased, and you are a strong and aggressive, well capitalized dealer, chances are the manufacturer will welcome your application to be a member of their retail organization. If they were having strong discussions about the underperformance of the dealer, they may already have their “champion” thought of and an exercise of a first right of refusal may be in the future. One of the first elements of due diligence is to make this determination and to review the Sales and Service Agreement currently in place. Rights of First refusal by the manufacturers are getting to be much more frequent than in the past. In some states where they hold less weight, we have even seen Termination Letters be filed at the first hint of an acquisition. That can really stall the process.

Another vital step is to secure the financing well in advance of the transaction. Knowing what your financial institution is willing to do can really help in structuring the deal…if this is your first acquisition and the bank is hesitant to finance as much as you desire, it may be necessary to structure a deal where the seller holds some financing for a period of time.

Have seen many of these, the selling point to this is where a highly liquid seller can get a great return on their investments!

After a deal is struck, the next step is the due diligence process.

This 24 should be a very thorough investigation. Merely looking at past dealer financial statements does not tell you that

much. Obviously, the key asset acquired is the Franchise. If the location is suitable, and you are acquiring the real estate, many more issues arise. But a key element is the assembled workforce…the quality of the employees and staff. Each department needs to be evaluated as to the quality of the employees.

The accounting department staff should be all well trained in their positions and even better, cross trained in all of the functions in the accounting department. This ensures a strong staff with deep bench strength. The finance department should have a solid reputation with the finance companies that they deal with. Chargebacks and contracts in transit should be at a minimum due to bad paperwork. Perhaps your own bank has some knowledge and insight as to the quality of the paperwork coming from the dealership.

The service department should have a high CSI score and very little comebacks. Obtain the following reports as part of the due diligence process: Technician productivity and efficiency analysis; comeback report, open RO’s, voided RO’s and service writer productivity and realization reports. Another good source would be the various peer group reports issued by the manufacturers. An analysis of all of these reports will give a good indication of the quality of the back end staff. And a good walk through of the service and parts department for how orderly they function never hurts either.

The approval process with the manufacturer can also be a hectic process. If this is your first time, perhaps enlist the experience of your Auto Law firm or CPA firm that has prepared these in the past. This is putting your best foot forward with the manufacturer and the quality of the presentation of the application goes a long way in the approval process. If you are an old pro at this, it also does not hurt to step up your technological skills in your presentation.

A good business plan presented in video and graphic form can add some “pop” and excitement.

If you do not already have a due diligence checklist in place, feel free to contact the author to obtain a free comprehensive checklist. Best of success in your endeavor to find the right new dealership for you!

Ken Rosenfield is the managing partner of Rosenfield and Company PLLC, a full service CPA firm with one of the largest Automotive Retail Practices in the country. Mr. Rosenfield is a frequent speaker at national conferences on many subjects in your industry. His firm has offices along the Eastern Seaboard of the US and represents clients across the Continental US and abroad.

How to Invest in Customer Experience in 2016

by Clint Burns

You’re Either Ahead or Behind In 2016 the difference between companies who have a great customer experience and those that don’t will be vastly different. One group of companies is a step ahead of its customers, while the other is miles behind. This means that there are a substantial amount of dealerships that barely meet the needs of their customers, and some who fail to meet the needs of their customer altogether.

On the other end of the spectrum, the top performers are so proactive that they aim to meet needs that the customer does not yet know exists. Anticipation is key. For instance, these top performing business leaders are implementing tools which ensure that nothing has fallen through the cracks by measuring manager involvement. If you ask a customer what they would like to improve in the car buying process, they might not state “more manager involvement”. Why? Because they think manager involvement means sending in their top closer.

Ironically, the purpose of having a manager involved in the sales process is quality control. You want to make sure your most experienced and talented people are always involved so that everything is handled correctly.

How To Get Ahead But how can you know what your customers haven’t even realized yet? This is where technology comes in handy, specifically your CRM. It’s much more useful than you think when used correctly. In 2016, using a CRM correctly will mean using it on mobile devices to allow more consistently accurate information logging with fluidity in the sales process. It also means that you will need to have a process for your showroom. No more open floor. Having an open floor in 2016 is as ridiculous as refusing to have a website. People want to shop online, so you put yourselves online. People DON’T want to feel hunted by your entire sales team when they pull into your dealership. Closing your showroom will allow for more manager involvement and improve the guest experience.

Learn To Use Big Data Without searchable data on every aspect of your customer experience, there is no way to know what’s actually happening with your customer. If you don’t know what’s happening with your customer, then you don’t know how to make the process better. If you don’t have a process, then you aren’t customer centric. If you aren’t customer centric, then people won’t want to buy from you.

Using big data also allows you to identify service issues early on, which will mitigate potential issues with customer satisfaction. Equally important, this data provides insight for your marketing, sales, and development teams that will grow your business. Luckily, this data can be accessed in an easily digestible format. Part of integrating a closed floor system in your dealership means that you have access to real time information on every step in your sales process. It’s not just about controlling your showroom, it’s about taking control of your dealership to generate success rather than hoping success finds you.

Make Necessary Changes Ultimately, every dealership touts the extreme care put into creating their customer experience. But are you using your CRM data effectively?

Are you really listening to what your customers want by closing your sales floor? Are your managers making sure every interaction is up to your dealership’s standard? A customer experience is not a one-off experiment. It’s not something you can build and forget. It requires constant restructuring, which should be done using real information. The only way to be a true competitor in 2016 is to actively use your data for everyday business decisions. Data should dictate your process. That will mean that your process might need to change more often than it used to, but speed of adaptation is what will make or break businesses in 2016.

25

Should Cradle to Grave Be Your Fave?

B

DC vs. Cradle to Grave – always sure to start a passionate debate amongst automotive professionals, and most likely to end with two parties that still do not agree. Why is that?

I believe part of the answer lies in why the BDC (business development center) became a solution for working Internet leads for many dealers across the country. As the Internet has completely changed the landscape of traditional auto sales, dealers have struggled to find the best way to turn online shoppers into showroom visitors to their dealership.

While historical sales tactics involved putting together an aggressive marketing plan using traditional media, and then sitting back and waiting for the shoppers to start showing up at the dealership lot, the digital era has changed that completely. The days of salesmen waiting for a multitude of “ups” to arrive has transitioned to a time where we find that showroom traffic has dwindled to a small fraction of what it used to be. Why? These shoppers were completing most of their decision making process online, to include deciding which dealership they would like to visit.

Aggressive dealers soon learned that having an active presence online, combined with a strong follow-up process for website leads using emails and phone calls worked well to turn online shoppers into showroom visits. Unfortunately, most dealers also found that there was a lot of resistance from both salesmen and sales managers to changing their approach on how to sell to the modern customer. The reality in the new digital market is that more work was involved for both the salesmen and sales managers, and a robust CRM tool that managed the necessary daily phone calls and emails was key to their success. Human behavior will most often choose the path of least resistance – and the least work, so these tasks were often left uncompleted.

Enter the BDC solution. If a dealer could not get their current workforce to complete the necessary work to turn a website lead into a showroom visit, why not hire a separate workforce dedicated to doing just that, and letting the showroom workforce focus on what it has always done? When most sales 26 managers and salesmen were presented with this option, they

were happy to learn that they could let someone else complete the additional work that they did not want to do, and let the BDC set the appointment. They could sit back and have the customers delivered to them. Whew! That sounds great, no need for change, business is back to normal.

Herein lie several problems. When you create a BDC with a separate workforce, there is a large additional expense for the dealership in question. And in an ever more competitive marketplace where the Internet is driving down gross profit margins with readily available pricing information, how does the dealership maintain strong profitability? If you ask many in the salesforce, their answer would be “not my problem”…

A dealership is not a charity. It is a business that provides a valuable service and product in a highly competitive market. If a BDC is setup, salesmen pay plans are typically adjusted and lowered to offset this cost. “Why that can’t be…” states the sales professional. However, if one wants to let someone do the difficult work of setting the appointment so that they can set back and be the order-taker, should one expect to be paid like a salesperson? Or be paid like an order-taker. These are certainly controversial words, but the inherent truth stands. The BDC creates an additional expense for the dealership that must be offset somewhere.

The BDC might solve the problem of completing the tasks to turn website leads into showroom visits that was not being completed by the sales force. However, one problem is often traded for another. Employee turnover with BDC’s is traditionally high, which is not unique to the automotive industry. Call

centers are often challenged to identify and hire great people, and more so by retaining them. That means constant recruiting, training, and more expense involved with that.

What about the customer experience using the BDC? The modern day shopper is often contacting the dealership in their research phase when they have reached a point that they have detailed questions that are not being addressed online. When they communicate with the BDC, their experience is often driven by someone that has little product knowledge and is unable to answer many of their questions, outside of trying to set up that appointment.

Assuming that the BDC is successful at setting up the appointment, the hand-off then becomes another critical point in the selling process. The ABC’s of sales across all industries remain fundamentally the same. If I can get you to like me and trust me, you will buy from me. The BDC works to start this process, selling the appointment to the online shopper and building that initial level of trust. However, when the customer arrives at the dealership, they are handed off to a sales professional that they have not met, and the selling process must start off again from scratch. While dealers with BDC centers have worked to make this transition more smooth, it still puts another bump in the selling process.

best approach as it best serves the customer AND dealership.

At the end of the day, our success is centralized around the customer, and giving them the best experience gives the dealership the best chance of success. – Kevin Frye

The modern day shopper is often contacting the dealership in their research phase when they have reached a point that they have detailed questions that are not being addressed online.

I believe that the cradle to grave process is the best approach because it best serves the online customer’s needs. They deal with one sales professional from initial contact to completing the deal. This allows the consumer to deal with someone with the highest level of product knowledge while giving the sales rep the opportunity to build the relationship, build trust, build value into the product, and complete the sale that is satisfactory to the customer and the dealership.

Is it that easy? Of course not. It takes a lot of work and commitment by the dealership to set this up successfully. With well over 90% of car shoppers starting their car-buying process online, it is imperative that ALL sales managers and salesmen in a dealership are trained on how to work Internet leads. To allow new hires to decline to learn about how to work Internet opportunities is the greatest disservice a dealership can give to new talent. And to allow current sales managers and sales reps to continue to refuse to learn how to best work Internet leads is poor management by a dealership looking to compete in today’s market.

It starts with dealer principal support that mandates training for all personnel on how to best work Internet leads. This is followed by sales managers who hold their people accountable for completing the necessary tasks to turn website leads into showroom visits. And it means continued training throughout the year to make this work. Strong change requires strong leadership.

The reality in our industry is that you must pick and choose your battles. And for many, it is easier to address this issue with a BDC approach rather than take the more difficult, but better approach of cradle to grave. I find “cradle to grave” to be the

27

How to Learn What Your Customer Wants

By Diana Edison There is no question about the stigma that is associated with salespeople and the fact that it seems irreversible. What if I told you it can be reversed? What if I told you it’s all about your attitude and your mindset?

It’s that time of month again! You have been waiting weeks for this day and it has finally arrived! You jump out of bed with extraordinary pep in your step. You brush your teeth with an odd sense of excitement. You groom yourself fantastically and even spray a little cologne to give that extra touch. You are happily preparing for the “end of month.” Makes you wonder what happened with the previous weeks doesn’t it. Is this your typical routine? Are you that sales person?

You have to admit we have all been there before. What better time to rake in the big bucks than the end of the month? Your customers confidently stroll through those dealership doors looking for the best deal, ready to buy. They surely know you are trying to reach your “quota” and they definitely got a leg up on you when it comes to that, so, let the games begin! Hey this is how it’s always been and why change it now, right? The answer is, false. Let me tell you WHY.

Month end is a joke, if your dealership is focused only on monthly goals. No doubt customers have been involved in this cycle for decades and they truly believe prices change at the end of every month. Almost like any other retail industry, they believe you just SLASH your prices to move inventory every month, every season and even every day! Makes you wonder where they got that idea.

Although, the motivation and excitement you bring at this time of month is great, you’re actually setting yourself up for long-term headaches and spiraling down a slippery slope of disappointment. Think about it; How many customers have you lost due to misinformation that could have been prevented? Example: A walk-in at the beginning of the month simply comes in for as much information as possible, (after all the research they did online of course) they test drive and even let you pull their credit only to purchase from the dealer down the street a couple weeks later. Why? Was it the lack of the tacky flashing ad you left off your website that week?

Perhaps the misconception of a “great deal” was left out of the sales pitch? Ok, we can’t deny that sometimes we look back and think “what did I do wrong, and what could I have done differently”? We know as human beings we all make mistakes and even forget the simple things at times. Maybe we even

get a little arrogant and somehow convince ourselves that we are just that GREAT. So, maybe we skip a step or two in our sales process. There is also the chance that this particular customer deliberately walked in solely for the PRICES needed to purchase from the next dealership. Do we really need to leave that to chance?

Your modern day car buyer depends more on media, online content and their own research rather than your expertise as a product specialist. Sadly, it’s true and that’s all they FOCUS on. The days where people trusted salesmen and relied on their knowledge and assistance to buy, is long gone. We are now battling with the new technology of today and even the highly advanced millennial who is more than qualified and oh so capable of educating even you ON that shiny new car they plan on purchasing in the next few weeks. We assume consumers don’t know what they are talking about and are not familiar with our industry or process for some reason. There is no denying that now days anyone can obtain information they need off the internet. The one thing they cannot obtain off the internet, is…… THE EXPERIENCE. Think about that for a moment.

Today’s consumer is educated enough to make a well informed decision to buy any product without anyone’s assistance. So, what do you bring to the table? And why do you only bring it at the “end of month”? Bring it every day throughout the month and you will create pre-sold referrals purely based on experience! The great thing is you don’t have to be an expert to execute this behavior, you just have to be a good human being. Learning about your customer’s wants, needs and desires is the easiest and most effective way of creating a world class experience. Now that’s something to be excited about every day and pretty darn simple too, isn’t it? I hope this article helped you see all the endless possibilities associated with a great experience. It’s time for a change and it starts with you!

Your modern day car buyer depends more on media, online content and their own research rather than your expertise as a product specialist. Sadly, it’s true and that’s all they FOCUS on. The days where people trusted salesmen and relied on their knowledge and assistance to buy, is long gone. We are now battling with the new technology of today and even the highly advanced millennial who is more than qualified and oh so capable of educating even you ON that shiny new car they plan on purchasing in the next few weeks

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Assembling A Mosaic:

Just A Bunch Of Diverse Pieces…

Until It Is Put Together ■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■

By David Villa

@ipdmail

Mosaic – a surface decoration made by inlaying small pieces of diverse elements to form pictures or patterns; also the process of making it.

Let’s look at hiring, building, and managing a sales team in today’s business world, and compare it to assembling a mosaic. First of all, as a sales person, manager and trainer for close to 20 years I know we have a tendency to look at this as a “one size fits all” profession, however I have found over time that this could be no further from the truth. So if we are in a sense assembling a mosaic and in our minds eye see the finished product as this great team that is putting forth the effort, making the cold calls, delivering on the presentation, closing deals, gaining market share and retaining customers…then what pieces are we missing?

I would encourage us to be open minded when making this decision as not to overlook the diverse sales talents that are available in the market today. I have learned (through mistakes unfortunately) that there are talented and successful sales professionals out there that aren’t like me, and if I give them the opportunity, a reputable product to sell and an earning potential that is motivating, they in many ways can accomplish far more than expected. So it’s through diversity…TEAM DIVERSITY that this mosaic comes together.

A point of difference…a variety of talents along with a leader who understands [that to accomplish what is dreamed is only possible through team]. It is said “there are no I’s in team”…not true…there are many! A winning team (a finished mosaic) is a group of I’s each with their own set of complementary gifts and skills when brought together make things happen. So as leaders who are trying to put this thing together we must look for the pieces that will become more than just a collection of people, but will bring strong sense of mutual commitment creating the synergy needed to generate something greater than the sum of the performance of each individual member.

If applied, the finished product will have shifted the typical sales team balance from that of cacophony where each voice wants to be heard, often to the detriment of others, to that of a symphonic orchestra where each instrument plays its part under the director’s leadership.

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“Now Let’s Build This Thing”

It’s Not Match.com

by Mat Koenig

The year is 2001 and in pulls an awesome H2. I’m the used car manager and I had always wanted an H2 so I was hoping this was someone coming to trade one in. Once it stops, I see a very attractive young woman, about 5’2” hop out of it, adjust her clothing, reach in the back door and grab a stack of magazines and her folio and head toward the new car department.

About 5 minutes later I see the new car manager leave with her. Once he gets back I pop over to his office and say “hey bro, is that your girl?” to which he replies, “No, that’s my (Magazine I won’t embarrass) rep. She comes in and buys me lunch once a month. Man, she’s hot.”

I laughed and said back, “Dude, that magazine is shit! Do we even sell any cars out of it?” He looked at me like I had a third eye and said “Bro, I don’t care if we ever sell a car out of it, did you see how hot that chick is?”

What is wrong with you people? What you’re saying is, we aren’t talented enough to attract you into our booth based on the merit of our product but...do you like boobs or brawn? What’s worse is that this tactic actually works! Those booths are loaded with men and women from dealerships, maybe even yours, all ogling the attractive ‘booth babes’ that got paid a few hundred bucks to pretend they care what you think. You may be smiling Mr. or Mrs. Manager, but let’s not kid ourselves, if you’re paying for friendship you’re pretty pathetic.

Here is the biggest problem of all for your dealership with these situations though: You’re missing out on genuine opportunity.

Since you’re thinking based on the “hotness factor”, you can’t make an intelligent decision. Okay, your vendor rep or person in the booth is gorgeous , but how does that help your dealership make money? It’s not Right now you’re either reading this and you’re laughing, or you’re their looks that should determine whether or not you buy. Your decision completely pissed off by the lack of professionalism on his part, and on the should be based on the product and the vendor’s ability to show you how part of the ad rep. Both responses are appropriate and I can say without that product will meet your wants, needs and desires. reservation that there are Dealers today wasting a few thousand dollars every month because their manager is trying to flirt with the vendor rep The ultimate question should be: Will this product help my team earn a because he or she is “hot”, and I’m here to tell you that you need to take a better living? look at your budget and put a stop to this nonsense.

You go to the dealership each day to increase sales and help your team Listen, if you have an ad rep and a manager that want to date, it’s their make a living to provide prerogative because they’re consenting adults. The problem is larger than that though and your dealership may get a bad reputation based on the for their family. You’re not there to spend money just so you can see a actions of a few idiots you’ve chosen to give a manager badge. pretty face every month.

One of the biggest issues is when a manager is buying a product because they have they find the vendor rep attractive. Obviously, it’s unacceptable.

If they want a date they should use their own wallet instead of yours. Plus, it results in another problem.

When managers act in a sexist way they are basically telling all of the vendor reps that they need to flirt if they want to earn your business. Time and time again I see vendors hiring short skirt ‘hotties’ at their booths or having girls topless with body paint because they know it will attract male dealership staff into their booth. Even female members of management are not immune to falling into the trappings of flirting with and/or hiring good looking young men (or women).

There are places you can go for that, and the dealership isn’t one of them.

Dealer Principals, is this happening at your store? I would encourage every Dealer Principal and General Manager to take a long hard look at your ad budget over the last 12 months. What are you spending money on that isn’t getting any ROI? Who is the vendor rep and which manager is signing the bills?

Maybe a 30 minute review of the expenses can save you a few thousand in ads and maybe save you six-figures by getting rid of a toxic member of your management team.

Bio: Mat Koenig is an Automotive Industry Veteran, prolific speaker and the author of multiple books on sales and personal growth. He is the CEO of KonigCo & Buscador de Auto helping connect Dealers with Buyers in English and Spanish. For more information on Mat Koenig and his companies visit www.matkoenig.com.

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