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December 2003

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How to Increase Customer Satisfaction and Generate F&I Income George Jackson Media Strategy and Planning: Frequency vs. Recency Jeff Fishel Avoid Losing Customers When You Lose or Promote a Sales Person, Part 2 Joe Verde Presentation Demonstration: Building Value and Profi ts Terry L. Isaac Individual Sales Coaching Steve Hiatt 2004 eDealers of the Year Patrick Luck Nine Steps to Building Productive Sales People Patricia Gardner Reduce Your Customers’ Anxiety Frank Martin Increase Sales By 25 Percent Mark Tewart Ask Not What Your Sales People Can Do For You Ask What You Can Do For Your Sales People Sean Wolfi ngton CRM Solutions: Full Integration Is the Key Mark Przybylski The WOW Factor David Thomas The Right Words Make for Strong Presentation Bob Schultz

AutoSuccess Magazine is published monthly at 756 South First Street, Suite 202, Louisville, Kentucky, 40202; 502.588.3155, fax 502.588.3170. Direct all subscription and customer service inquiries to 877.818.6620 orinfo@autosuccess.biz. Subscription rate is $75 per year. AutoSuccess welcomes unsolicited editorials and graphics (not responsible for their return). All submitted editorials and graphics are subject to editing for grammar, content, and page length. AutoSuccess provides its contributing writers latitude in expressing advice and solutions; views expressed are not necessarily those of AutoSuccess and by no means reflect any guarantees. Always confer with legal counsel before implementing changes in procedures.© All contents copyrighted by AutoSuccess Magazine, a Division of Systems Marketing, Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or part is prohibited without express written consent from AutoSuccess. AutoSuccess may occasionally make readers’ names available to other companies whose products and/or services may be of interest; readers may request that names be removed by calling 877.818.6620. Printed in the USA.Postmaster: Send address changes to AutoSuccess Magazine, 756 South First Street, Suite 202, Louisville, Kentucky 40202.

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How to Increase Customer Satisfaction and Generate F&I Income

George JacksonBy George Jacksonf&i solution

If you truly want to maximize your F&I income, you must improve your step-sell skills. In order

to be successful at step-selling you must do these four things well.

Invest in yourself.Conduct a thorough interview before the menu presentation. Skipping this step puts you in a poor position to step-sell. It may take a few minutes longer to do a thorough and complete interview, but the time you invested will come back to you in the form of higher product penetrations and more income.

Accept the customer�s decision.Once the customer chooses one of the options on your menu, the very fi rst thing

you should do is accept the decision and acknowledge the choice. You know you are going to attempt to sell more products, so at this point, just accept the customer’s choice. If you attempt to step-sell too quickly, you may be perceived as combative, and the customer may not be open to your approach, no matter how good it is.

“Good choice Mr. Customer. Let me get your paperwork ready.”

Establish the objection.You have to establish the objection before you can overcome it. Usually it is payment, but don’t make any assumptions. Let the customer tell you. You may think you know, and you could easily be wrong, or the customer could come up with another objection just to avoid buying.

“Mr. Customer, the plan you chose is a good choice. Based on what you told me earlier, (in the interview) I thought you might have picked this plan. Is it because of the payment or did you simply have a question about the coverage?”

If the customer says ‘payment’ address the payment concern by soliciting additional cash, adjusting your service contract plan, term, or deductible, or by offering single life insurance rather than joint life. There are many ways to offer payment relief, just be sure to work with the customer’s interest in mind and not your own. If the customer simply has a question, answer it as honestly and succinctly as possible and then ask, “Do you have any other questions about the coverage?”

Ask for the sale.Many good presentations don’t result in a sale only because the business manager never did ask for the sale. Closing questions such as “So what do you think,” or “Should I get the paperwork ready,’ are poor attempts to bring the customer to a decision. These direct closes can lead to a ‘no’ as easily as a ‘yes’. If you just addressed the customer’s objection or question in an intelligent, articulate and honest manner you have every right to ask them to buy your product in a more positive manner.

“Mr. Customer, with your additional downpayment of $500, your new payment including the coverage would be $450 for 60 months. This is based on 30 days to fi rst payment or would you prefer 45 days?”

For higher penetration levels you have to step-sell, and in order to be successful at it, you have to have a game plan. Although it is great when a customer picks the plan with every product you offer, you have to expect them not to and be prepared to address objections. Invite the objections, because without them you probably won’t get the sale.

George Jackson is the Director of F&I Training for American Financial & Automotive Services, Inc. He can be contacted at 866.280.0301, or by email at gjackson@autosuccess.biz.

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7december 2003

Jeff FishelBy Jeff Fishel

Media Strategy and Planning:Frequency vs. Recency

marketing solution

In last month’s article, we considered the need for urgency within your dealership’s

culture and advertising. The ‘now’ market was defi ned as the consumers within your reach at any given time who could be persuaded to purchase a vehicle right now. Also, a direct marketing approach was explained to better target the now market with your specifi c advertising messages.

If the success of your ad promotions depend upon pulling larger percentages of now buyers to your dealership, then your ad messages must be delivered to the now market on a daily basis. This involves media strategy and planning. Currently there are two opposing theories in advertising regarding media placement strategy: frequency versus recency.

The frequency theory focuses more on targeting specifi c demographics, like ages 18 to 54, or male versus female, and then hammering these consumers with a minimum of three impressions of your ad’s message. The premise behind the frequency theory is that the fi rst time a consumer hears or sees your ad there is very little, if any, retention. The second time your message is heard or seen the consumer will take more notice. And fi nally, after three or more impressions, the targeted demographics in your market are motivated to act.

The recency theory, on the other hand, disregards the concept of mandatory multiple impressions in advertising and focuses instead upon your total market exposure. Advocates for recency argue only one impression of your ad’s message is required, provided it is seen or heard by a customer who is ready to buy now.

Based upon this principle, recency theorists assert it is better to throw a large grid to reach maximum now buyers in your market, than it is to repeat your ad messages into specifi c, smaller demographics via the frequency method. From a statistical point of view, recency advocates claim the frequency model will reach smaller percentages of the now market. Therefore, they maintain it’s better to use mass media in reaching the majority of now buyers just before they buy.

Consult with your dealership’s advertising agents regarding your own market, advertising goals and budget.

You need solid media planning to deliver your ad messages to the now market effectively and effi ciently. First begin by deciding who will place your media.

Radio, TV and print sources sell their products in the form of time-slots or ad-space that are available each day. Media fi rms conversely, do the science fi rst, then negotiate with all outlets so as to present you with total audience for your ad messages.

Secondly, determine your ad budget. Depending on your market and overhead, somewhere between 10 - 15 percent of your combined new and used gross profi t is a good average. Consider providing your media agents with an annual budget and negotiate with them using the whole year’s total. Planning up to one year ahead allows you to select your best promotional days, weeks and months of the year and can, potentially, save you up to 40 percent in your annual media expenditures.

Lastly, select your most effective media and dominate. Don’t spread your advertising messages too thin. Instead, dominate the mediums that will best reach the now buyers in your market. If its direct mail or newspaper inserts, go with maximum quantities. If it’s traditional newspaper, go with a minimum one-half page above the fold, in full color. And if its radio and TV, strive for the most media points in multiple day parts as your budget allows.

Structure your media strategy and planning so as to make the delivery of your ad messages BIG and BOLD. Whatever media strategy you choose, be it frequency, recency or another method, your media planning should always focus exclusively upon reaching the now buyers within your market at all times.

Jeff Fishel is the National Sales Director for FishMarketingOnline.net, FishMarketingOnline.com andIndependentAutomotiveMarketing.com. He can be contacted at jeff@Þ shmarketingonline.net.

8 www.autosuccess.bizcheck out

Joe VerdeBy Joe Verde

Avoid Losing Customers When You Lose or Promote a Sales Person, Part 2

leadership solution

We all lose a sales person at some time or another. The most important thing you want to do when that

happens is to maintain your customer for the dealership. This month, let’s talk about some ways to maintain you customers when a sales person leaves and include some tips on how to build your business even more.

1. Set a goal.Common sense says the fi rst thing you want to do is save those customers.

2. Make a plan.Initially you should consider the things that probably won’t work.

The hope plan.First of all, you can’t just hope that John’s customers will still come back in to the dealership for their next vehicle. If you haven’t noticed, that doesn’t actually happen.Fact: With little or no follow up, 63 percent of your customers have no intention of buying from the same sales person or dealership the next time they’re ready. And since your dealership itself probably doesn’t have an on-going follow-up program for each customer, they won’t be coming back if John isn’t there to maintain his contact with them.

Giving them to the new guy. Why in the world would you give your best prospects (and/or orphan owners) to the newest sales person you have who, statistically, won’t be there even six months from now?Fact: 82 percent of the new people you hire will be back out of the car business within their fi rst six months. (92 percent in one year.) Why? No training and poor management.

Giving them to the other sales people. You can’t give John’s customers to the other sales people. Why would you? If they don’t do any follow up now with their own customers, they won’t follow up with someone else’s. Fact: 90 percent of your sold customers are never contacted again by their sales person about buying another vehicle.

Management following-up. You could have management start following up on customers, but it won’t work. Management doesn’t have the time to even train, track and manage their sales force, much less take on the responsibility to

follow up John’s customers when he leaves. Question: Did they follow up on their own customers when they got promoted?Fact: When you promoted your best sales people to management, you probably lost all of their customers, too, at the same cost as losing John’s customers now, because you didn’t have a plan in place. Or, your managers’ previous customer base trickled down, month after month, once they were promoted. Now they’re down to almost nothing. You handed all of their customers out as house deals to sales people who didn’t follow up. In real life, you just gave away free money to lose customers.

What will work when you know you’re losing a sales person.

1. Turn all of John�s accounts. Who do you turn them over to? Only to another sales person who has the same selling style as John who does follow up.

• How do you turn them over? Not with just that postcard or letter that says, “John isn’t here anymore and Bill has this account.” Instead, introduce their new sales person, Bill, to every one of John’s customers, at least two or three months before John is leaving or getting promoted. Have John introduce every single person he talks to on the lot (up front or in service) to Bill. “Bob and Betty, I want you guys to meet Bill. You know I’m retiring soon (getting promoted / leaving soon) and Bill is taking over all of my accounts, and you’ll both love working with him.”

• Have Bill send a thank you note. Bill needs to visit with them, build rapport and as soon as they leave, Bill needs to send a preprinted note that says, “I enjoyed meeting you today, and I look forward to working with you.” Add a short, personal ps like,. “hope the kids won the ball game yesterday.”

• Immediately put them in the computer for future follow-up. Depending on what they did (bought a car, had their car serviced, etc.) set an appropriate follow-up call for no later than 30 days out and put them on Bill’s regular 45-day mail out for his newsletter.

• Call them. They enjoyed meeting Bill initially, and now it’s time for Bill to reestablish and extend the rapport he started building in their fi rst conversation by phone.

• Ask for referrals. This fi rst follow up call is also the perfect time for Bill to update their records, “Bob, let me just make sure our

records are correct, are you still at 312 Oak Street, etc. ... and how many drivers are in your family these days? How many vehicles do you have now ... and of the drivers in your family, who’s next in line for a new or used vehicle?

• Send a postcard or letter to everyone Bill hasn’t personally met at this point and then follow up each one by phone. 45 / 90. Now Bill needs to maintain contact by mail / e-mail every 45 days (his newsletter / birthday cards / notes) and by telephone every 90 days.

2. Hire a sales assistant for John(and for all of your high achievers).Why? Because good sales people run into a time management problem at some point when they start selling more. That means they get so bogged down in the ‘stuff’ that goes with selling lots of units, they can’t sell any more than they’re selling now.

• I personally hit the wall at about 18 to 20 units. Then my wife helped me get organized, set up my computer follow-up and made some calls to help set and verify appointments. This will help you break into the 30s. Tip: If you have high achievers and if you want them to increase their production by at least 50 percent, get them some help so they can become more productive.

• What would a sales assistant do? A sales assistant would do tons for any good sales person (current, 90 day average of at least 15+ units). Use the things listed, just remember the primary goal in this article is for them to either take over or maintain a sales person like John’s existing accounts.

� The steps to success. Have John introduce his assistant. Have John introduce everyone to his administrative (sales) assistant, Ann, “Bob and Betty, I want you to meet Ann. You guys know I’m retiring soon (moving / being promoted) and Ann will be taking over all of my accounts. You’re going to love working with her. In fact, you guys spend a few minutes getting to know each other while I pull that car around for you to look at.”

Have the new assistant help John do everything. Some examples to help John:

During the sale.“Ann, do me a favor, I have another customer that I need to fi nish up with real quick. Would you take Bob and Betty on a demonstration drive, they want to drive the blue GS.” (Of

9december 2003

continued

course John has to teach his assistant what to say and what to do on the demonstration.)

During the write up.“Bob, I’ll be right back. Ann, while I fi nish up with that other customer, go ahead and start the paperwork for me.” (Teach her how, fi rst.)

After delivery.“Hi Betty, it’s Ann, John wanted me to give you guys a call to make sure you fi gured out how to use that CD player and to see if you had any other questions about your new car.” (Of course, you have to teach her about follow up, too.)

Regular follow up down the road.“Hi Bob, it’s Ann. John asked me to give you guys a call to remind you that it’s about time for that fi rst oil change. Did you want me to schedule it?”

Mail outs.“Bob and Betty, John and I just wanted to wish you both a happy holiday, Ann”

Incoming calls for John.“John’s offi ce, this is Ann. (response) Oh, hi, Bob. (response) John is with a customer, what can I help you with?”

Are you starting to see how you could...save the customer and develop a new sales person. Because she knows all of John’s customers, your new sales person, (Ann) starts off at 15 or 20 units per month with 100 percent repeat business if and when John ever leaves your dealership.

Think about it, she has never talked to a walk-in customer, she knows how build rapport, present, demonstrate, sell, follow up, and she defi nitely knows how to and sees

the value of building a solid customer base of her own.

3. Save the dealership $480,000+.There is one catch, though, that kinks the plan for most dealerships. The dealership has to pay for the assistant and you can’t charge John.

Reasons.� The dealership benefi ts most. You’ll pick up a 50 –100 percent increase in units, and the dealership will receive about 80 percent of the benefi t of those additional units. Plus, you’d want all of your good 15-20 car guys to get to 30+ units per month.

� The sales assistant works for you. If Bob paid for his own assistant, he or she would work for him, not the dealership. I’d also think it would be in your best interest to control this situation. Administrative people for your sales people work for the company. You loan them to your sales people to help them. That way, management controls who does what.

Here’s another thought. Why wouldn’t you also hire a sales assistant to do management’s stuff and to take over all of their customers, orphan owners and all of those management house deals you’re giving away every day now? Right now you give sales people free deals for doing nothing, and they don’t follow-up the customer. (Save the ‘they deserve it’. Subtract house deals from their sales totals and you’ve got a bunch of six to eight car guys.)

This administrative person would help your managers do the things they do that keep them from training and managing your sales people, which costs you even more sales every day from them, too.

Extra benefi t: By helping management with their previous customer challenge, these management assistants would also develop a 100 percent repeat business, again with lower expenses and higher profi ts. In fact, as soon as they’ve worked with enough customers to build their own customer base, you’ve just developed another sales person with 100 percent repeat business. And you could eliminate the “I want a promotion,” from your best sales people if you took better care of them. You could stop your promotion losses and build that great selling team faster. But to do that, you have to help your top people do better and reward them for it. And that means you can’t help them get good and cut their pay because they did.

It is some trouble to make these changes. But, when you stop turnover, train and help your managers become more effective, and build your customer base, your dealership becomes ‘management driven’ instead of ‘market driven’ (weather, economy, 0 percent fi nancing, etc.).

Dealers and managers are shocked to fi nd that there are so many ways to increase sales, and especially the types of sales that send almost all of the extra gross profi t straight to the bottom line to double or triple your net profi t almost overnight. Save 1/2 million dollars this month. Train your managers to lead and your sales people to sell, and build your business so you can switch from 70 percent ‘market driven’ to 100 percent ‘management driven’ today.

Joe Verde is the President of The Joe Verde Group. He can be contacted at 866.429.6689, or by email at jverde@autosuccess.biz, or visit www.joeverde.com.

10 www.autosuccess.bizvisit us at

Terry L. IsaacBy Terry L. Isaac

Presentation Demonstration:Building Value and Profi ts

sales and training solution

Your presentation d e m o n s t r a t i o n , whether short or long, is the step in which all your preparation

is put on stage. Here you show the features and benefi ts of the vehicle to build value and justify cost. You turn the prospect from looking, to wanting the vehicle. Most sales people want to talk price instead of selling the vehicle and themselves; this process cost you profi ts. Continuing training in this area is the key to developing a sales professional that will produce results from every prospect. The major ingredients of a successful presentation demonstration are as follows: 1. Be conÞ dent.A sales person must believe in them self and the vehicles they sell. They must feel that they have the best product in the market to a point of exuberating excitement that will spill over to the customer. To be ‘just confi dent’ is not enough, you must sound and move with confi dence. 2. Motivate the customer.The presentation must be a motivating experience for the customer to decide to buy now. The speed of the sales person equals the speed of the customer. 3. New or used.Building value in a new vehicle is easier than used because of the factory product material and programs. The used car manager must take on the responsibility of teaching the features and benefi ts of the used inventory.

4. Product knowledge.Studying the vehicles features and benefi ts should be weekly training using the information provided by the manufacturer. Many factories are now providing online training.

One of the most effective ways to keep your sales team sharp is a weekly walk around competition. The walk around competition starts with seven categories. In each of the categories, write down the features and benefi ts to be shown by the sales person. Write down a minimum of eight questions for each category. Have the vehicle you are going to use put in the showroom the day before, in case of bad weather. Make it fun, get some poker chips to give to the sales person who shows a feature with the benefi t, the sales person with the most chips wins. Have a prize or some type of a reward.

Category examples are safety, performance, utility, comfort, styling, competition, what’s new for 2004. 5. Selling the sizzle.Zoom, zoom of Mazda is a good example of the sizzle. The sales person needs to speak with a high pitch voice of excitement to fi re up the customer. 6. Controlling the presentation.Controlling the customer is a challenge for every sales person. The presentation demonstration must have a process to follow in order to gain control of the customer. The time a sales person spends with the prospect gives the prospect and the sales person time to establish common ground between them.

7. Demonstrations.Vehicles are made to be driven. To complete an effective presentation demonstration you must end with a driving demo. This means the sales person drives the vehicle fi rst, not the customer. The reason for this is that the sales person has only demonstrated the outside features and benefi ts and still needs to complete the selling of the product. 8. Justifying value. Justifying value by showing the features and the benefi ts of the vehicle will justify the price of the vehicle. Building value builds profi ts. The customer will be more inclined to pay a profi t. The job description of the sales person is to demonstrate your product to every prospect that enters your dealership, without exception. The goal of every dealership is to demo 100 percent of the opportunities provided by you and your advertising dollars.

The ROI will never be produced without the demo percentage. A sale is a reward of the job that the sales person implements with every customer.

Terry L. Isaac is the Corporate Sales Trainer for the Neil Huffman Auto Group. He can be contacted at 866.265.4680, or by email at tisaac@autosuccess.biz.

11december 2003

Individual Sales Coaching

Steve HiattBy Steve Hiattsales and training solution

Coaching a sales person is the fastest way to get a return on your investment. The best way to

do that is through one-on-one meetings between your managers and sales people. These meetings fl ush out extra car deals, motivate and encourage your staff, spotlight opportunities to improve skills, create better work habits, and lessen employee turnover.

Managers need to be coached on how to hold a positive and productive one-on-one. For some managers the only one-on-ones they received may have been less than motivational.

Realize that coaching people to success means you may have to do things that are foreign to you. Managing against the mega-dealerships and low price advertising requires creative thinking.

Let’s examine a few ways to coach your team to success, sales and income.

The number one goal ofa one-on-one is to Þ nd a car deal. Find a happy sales person and you fi nd one that is selling cars, fi nd an unhappy sales person and you will fi nd one that isn’t. Most sales people think that they are only having a one-on-one for two reasons: they are going to get admonished, or the manager is holding it to keep their boss from chastising them. The way to get around this is to help the sales person fi nd money. They will start to look forward to this type of coaching.

When starting a one-on-one, let the sales person know your goal is to help them make money and that to do that you need to see what prospects they have. The leads need to be organized in a prospect list, a monthly planning guide or fl oor log. Look into each prospect and ask questions: What happened? What were their hot buttons? Did they drive? When was the last time you called them? What did you say?

Next, work on their skills. The information you just gained opens so many areas to work with your team. In order to get the customer back in, the fi rst skill is usually the phone, especially outgoing calls. Focus with them on how to get the customer back

in. Write a script out or buy some from a sales trainer and role play the call. Sales people are often afraid to call because they don’t know what to say or how to say it.

The goal of the call is to get the customer back in, and it needs to be practiced. Then listen in on the call the sales person makes and be prepared to give them positive feedback. Tell them specifi cally what they did right, and then give them a tip on how to improve a part of the call.

Be prepared to make the call to the customer yourself, in front of the sales person. As a manager, you automatically add clout to the situation, and the customers will speak much more freely. (If you don’t have a call script for this, call me and I will get you one.)

As you continue your coaching opportunity, zero in on your sales persons attitude. No one has one single attitude; people have thousands of attitudes toward thousands of things. Someone may have a great attitude about the game of football but a lousy attitude about cottage cheese. Find out about their attitudes that effect work. How do they feel about sales? How are they coping with rejection or even success? Where is their confi dence level at for taking walk-ins, prospecting or calling sold customers? You may fi nd you need to suggest scripts to practice to improve a skill. It might help to suggest tapes or cds to listen to in the car on the way to work that are motivational to combat rejection. It may be that you are just there to listen, offer encouragement or provide that one little suggestion that makes the difference with that next customer.

One time during a one-on-one, I found that my sales person had a great closing ratio on people demoed, but he hardly had any demos. We immediately role played the situation and found the ‘fatal fl aw’ that was preventing demos. Once we role played a new way, he sold seven cars in the next 10 days. That is what individual coaching is about.

The next step is to spotlight their work habits. How can you help them make their day more productive? For starters, do they have a daily planner? Is it set at the beginning of their shift with a ‘to do’ list for the day? Most importantly, if

no one fresh walks in, who will they sell today? Give tips that can increase their productivity, so the day isn’t spent waiting for something to happen.

Remember to keep all sales people accountable for whom they talked to, what happened, and having adequate contact information so they can follow up with anyone they haven’t sold.

Make time to hold individual coaching sessions, have a plan for each one, make adjustments for different personalities, focus on improving their skills and habits, and, above all, fi nd a deal. Those extra deals build credibility with your team and make the next one-on-one a meeting that your sales people will look forward to.

Steve Hiatt is the General Sales Manager of Hiatt Pontiac GMC, Hiatt Outlet and Hiatt of Auburn. He can be contacted at 866.265.5616, or by email at shiatt@autosuccess.biz.

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feature solution

Patrick Luck

2004 eDealers of the Year

By Patrick Luck

We are dedicating our December issue to honor the top six eDealers of the year. Unlike other awards, the criterion for the ‘eDealers of the Year’ award was based solely on results. Results were measured not only by Internet sales but also by how well the dealers utilized the Internet and digital marketing to promote all of their profi t centers: new, used, F&I, service, parts, etc. The goal was to fi nd the dealers who have utilized this marketing medium to generate the most profi t for their dealership. Performed research showed a lot about what makes some dealers succeed in their attempt to use the Web to increase their sales and service profi ts. In this article, the top six eDealers of the Year will be recognized, while identifying what they have done to get the positive results that have made them the best in this fi eld.

Before announcing the awards, let’s start by looking at the landscape of the industry to reveal why the Internet has proven to have such a huge effect on how dealers do business. Dealers are selling an additional 50-800 units every single month from their Internet marketing strategy. Why is the Internet such an infl uential marketing force in the car business? Over 70 percent of customers who purchase a vehicle use the Web to research information before they buy. More people are infl uenced by the Internet before they buy than they are infl uenced by other traditional marketing mediums. Successful dealers are changing parts of their marketing strategy to apply more of their budget to digital marketing and the Internet where most prospects begin their buying experience.

“The math is compelling because 7 out of 10 customers use the Web before they buy yet less than 3 out of every 10 use the paper or TV and radio, so we put our marketing money where the majority of our customers shop,” said Robert Revere, Courtesy Chevrolet, Phoenix AZ. “It has worked great, because our digital marketing has dramatically increased our foot, phone and Internet traffi c, and it is a lot less expensive than our traditional marketing mediums and the best part is that we can measure

everything we spend. To give you an example, our average cost per sale is $300 with our traditional media, yet our cost per sale on the Internet is only $135 per sale.”

Before announcing the 2004 eDealer of the Year Awards, here are the criteria that was used to determine the winners:

• Profi t generated as a result of their Internet marketing to all profi t centers.• New and used vehicle sales generated as a result of their Internet marketing.• F&I and sub prime profi ts generated. • Service and parts business online.

There are six awards for the six different categories of dealers based on how many roof tops, size, market, brands and the percent of their sales that are generated by their Internet marketing effort. Here are the winners of the 2004 eDealer of the Year Award:

We have outlined exactly what these dealers and other fi nalists are doing to use the Internet and digital marketing to increase their sales and service profi tability. Their best practices have been broken down into the following areas:

Their vision and strategy. Their technology: What technology generates revenue and what is unnecessary?Their marketing: How do they use the Web to attract customers to their dealership?Their process: How do they transform their opportunities into profi table sales?Their people: What type of people do they recruit, hire, train and keep?

Their pricing: How do they handle pricing to ensure they get a fair gross profi t?Their reporting: What do they measure to ensure they are always improving?

Where do you start?One thing became very clear about most of the best eDealers, they were committed from the very top, starting with the dealer and the general manager and throughout their organization. This is critical because some dealers rely on one or two people that run their Internet Department to defi ne their entire strategy, and, in most cases, these people have a lot less automotive marketing experience than the dealer and their managers. A mistake some dealers make is that they think that their Internet marketing strategy is all about technology, so they leave it up to their IT or Internet Department. This is a marketing strategy that happens to use technology, but it is all about selling and servicing more vehicles

profi tably, and most dealers know a lot more about that than the technology people in their dealership. The best dealers begin by involving their management team in developing a clear strategy to reach their goals, and they plan what they are going to do to market their website, get the right technology, people and process to ensure they get the right results.

The best automotivedealer websites in the industry.If you have a great marketing strategy that attracts a lot of prospects to a bad website, it could hurt a dealer’s business more than it helps. So the question is, “What makes a great website?”

Herb Chambers Boston, MA www.HerbChambers.comSheehy Virginia/DC www.Sheehy.comRed McCombs San Antonio, CA www.RedMcCombs.comCourtesy Chevrolet Phoenix, AZ www.HouseofCourtesy.comTasca Providence, RI www.Tasca.comDave Smith Motors Kellogg, ID www.DaveSmithMotors.com

Dealership Location Website

2004 eDealers of the YearCongratulations, eDealer of the Year Award Winners!

13december 2003

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ebsi

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Continued on page 14

10 Keys to asuccessful automotive website: Key #1 : Simple.Key #2 : Easy to use.Key #3 : Provides customers with the information they want.Key #4 : Promotes all of the dealership profi t centers: new, used, F&I, service and parts.Key #5 : Never tells the customer you do not have what they want.Key #6 : Highly engaging and interactive multi-media (that works over low speed connection)Key #7 : Fast loading (if site has animation it needs to be compressed for slow connections).Key #8 : Site should build value in your dealership, people and your products.Key #9 : Site generates a lot of high quality leads for sales, F&I, sub prime, service and parts Key #10: Site is always updated, especially the specials (automatically updating site is best).

The most important characteristic a successful website has is that it generates measurable results. The best way to learn about what makes a website great is to learn from the dealers who are already getting great results from their website. To view the award winning websites, refer to the third column examples.

Build it, and they will come. Not.The saying ‘build it and they will come’ is not true with a dealer website. A dealer can have the best website, products and prices but if people do not know about it, it will not generate results. The best dealers market their own website. This starts by marketing their website address in their traditional marketing. The award-winning dealers are very good at online marketing. They began by buying the right website addresses and optimizing their website to appear at the top of the search engines just like many of the third-party lead providers are currently doing in most markets. These dealers are creating alliances with regional/local sites that direct customers to their website via banners and links.

“When you go to our local newspapers website, to their car section, www.projo.com, you will fi nd a banner ad whenever you research a make of vehicle we sell, and this attracts a lot of traffi c for us,” said Bob Tasca III, Tasca Automotive.

Another online marketing strategy is direct email marketing. Dealers can send thousands of emails in one click, without the cost of a stamp. The only challenge of email marketing is gathering emails, but Tasca has done a great job with this by using a new service that automatically crawls the Web to gather your customers email addresses and then they email the customer to ask them if they want to ‘opt in’ to receive information about new product and pricing information.

One strategy that has proven to be very successful for Tasca has been the use of a new type of email marketing where they send multi-media ‘buzzmails’ that include animation and sound that looks like a television commercial in an email.

“These buzzmails blow customers away because they are like watching a commercial on our dealership, people and products, and the best part is that they are compressed, so they work over a low speed dial up connection,” Tasca said.

One of the buzzmails that Tasca uses is a ‘virtual test drive’. These test drives are multi-media walk around presentations on the unique features of the vehicles they sell. Tasca uses these virtual test drives to capture email addresses by offering showroom and phone prospects a free virtual test drive, and they automatically send all of their customers virtual test drives when they inquire on a vehicle via their website. In addition to the virtual test drives, Tasca uses hundreds of different buzzmails to promote their dealership every month. These buzzmails include campaigns for every month, season and typical campaigns like ‘Year End Clearance’, ‘Fourth of July Sale’, ‘New Years Sale’, ‘Fresh Start Program’ and others.

“I don’t really have to do anything more than pick who I want to email, pick the campaign and then click ‘send’, so it is not only a less expensive way to market but it is very easy and takes very little of my time,” Tasca said.

The most important trend that was observed with the award winning eDealers is that they had a clearly defi ned strategy to attract customers to their website.

A lot of leads + no process = no sales.The 2004 eDealers of the year generate most of their leads from their own dealer website, and they spend a lot less to get higher

www.HerbChambers.com

www.HouseofCourtesy.com

www.Sheehy.com

www.RedMcCombs.com

www.Tasca.com

www.DaveSmithMotors.com

14 www.autosuccess.bizcontact us at

continued

quality leads that close at 16 – 24 percent closing ratios. They have great processes for turning these leads into profi table sales. These processes were discovered when a company mystery shopped these sites during the award evaluation process. In these mystery shops, many best practices, that make a real difference in website results, were found.

Here are the best practices we learned from the award winning eDealers:

Top 10 process best practices.1. Quick quality responses = Higher appointment percentage = Higher closing ratios.2. Effective email templates for every scenario (price, trade, payments, availability, etc).3. Personal emails that compel the customer to want to call the dealership.4. Great phone skills are the most important.5. Selling the appointment rather than selling the car on the phone.6. Confi rming appointments will double the show ratio of the appointments set.7. Customer friendly sales process

that builds value in the dealership, people and product.8. Answer “Why should I buy from you?”9. Positive and persistent follow up of prospects who don’t respond.10. Effective follow up process for prospects who don’t set appointments, don’t show and don’t buy.

All of the award winners utilize a prospect management or CRM tool to help them manage all of their prospects.

“The best part of our CRM tool is that it automates 90 percent of the email contact process, so we can handle twice as many leads per person than we were able to handle before. This also gives our Internet team more time to sell cars rather than emailing customers back and forth.” Robert Revere, Courtesy Chevrolet, said.

The right people = the right results.At the center of the Internet sales process are the Internet managers and sales people. If you have the right people, you are more likely going to get the right results. So what makes a good Internet manager or Internet sales person? The answer depends on their

job description. For example, if you want to hire an Internet manager to manage a large department, they will need to have great leadership skills, people management skills, organizational skills, and they should be able to execute the Internet sales process. Also, if you are recruiting an Internet sales person you want to fi nd someone with great sales and phone skills.

The total package.If there is one thing you can learn from evaluating the best dealers in the country, it is that one thing alone does not guarantee a dealer will get the best results. The best dealers do a combination of things right which includes starting with the right vision, strategy, people, process and technology. And in the end, the bottom line is execution, because all of the knowledge and technology in the world means nothing if a dealer does not take action. Now you have some practices that you can put into action to improve your business.

Patrick Luck is the Editor and Publisher of AutoSuccess Magazine. He can be contacted at 866.802.5603, or by email at pat@autosuccess.biz.

www.jandlmarketing.com

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The Chartbuster Direct Mail Promotion That Sells New Customers in Droves, and Doubles and Redoubles Your Profi ts!

ADVERTISEMENT Scott JosephBy Scott Joseph

Great promotions are made, not born.

It requires discipline, a precise mailing list, and a highly strategic plan to really develop a promotion that maximizes your proÞ t potential (both short and long term). If you want to grow your business like a weed, gain a decisive competitive advantage, attract new customers in droves, and double and redouble your proÞ ts � then you need to open your mind to one overriding �big� idea:

It�s a fact: This direct mail promotion can work true performance miracles for your business. But you will never reap its rich rewards, unless you develop a systematic process to strategically implement it into your monthly advertising budget. But most people don�t know how to implement a highly focused promotion and do it the right way.

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There�s more complacency. There are more �dispirited� dealers, GMs, sales managers and sales people, which means it�s a great �reactive� playing Þ eld out there for you to dominate. The difference between the way most dealers work and the way a strategic dealer works is like

the difference between solving your problems before they happen, in a proactive manner, or scrambling to band-aid them each time they break down in a reactive temporary manner.

You better hope your competitors don�t use the �pre-emptive wizardry� we are offering here. They�d steal away all your clients in no time. But if YOU use these methods, instead, you will radically outperform your competitors, take their clients away at will and get whatever market share IS available (and it�s probably a lot more than you might imagine). And I�m going to give you a great deal of this insight, right here, right now, as soon as you reply to this article. So please read on.

In short, we have developed and Þ ne-tuned a highly targeted list of buyers (using a combination of two powerful mailing lists) who are motivated to buy your product right now.

And, we have paired these lists with an incredible, high-impact verbiage that will be irresistible to anyone who is in the market. It is easy and painless for the customer, and delivers scores of quality trafÞ c for you the dealer.

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But, imagine the proÞ t for your dealership if you sold twenty to thirty of these buyers every month? If you don�t take action this proÞ t could go to you or the dealership down the street. The choice is yours. You have to give buyers a reason to come to your store and not your competitors.

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16 www.autosuccess.biz

Nine Steps to Building Productive Sales People

Patricia GardnerBy Patricia Gardnerleadership solution

Sales training programs are the backbones of the sales force. Without a thorough program,

your sales team will be unprepared, confused and unsuccessful. In order to maintain enthusiasm and motivation, companies should have a formal arrangement for every new hire. Here are some tips for setting up a sales training program at your company:

1. Expedite the paperwork.Don’t waste your new sales person’s entire fi rst day of work, send all of the paperwork to your new employee in advance before they start, and let them complete it at home. Many times, a spouse will need to help fi ll them out; they have to make important decisions about medical, dental, 401K and other benefi ts that they are better prepared for at home. This information is not confi dential so sending it out early only helps you both save time and energy. On their fi rst day, they can turn in the paperwork and then get right to work.

2. Make sales peopleprove value from their very Þ rst day.Remember that every person brings all of their background to work. Start a contest for new hires that utilizes who they know for your company’s benefi t. If they provide a name and successfully close a deal with that contact, the new sales person should be rewarded. Encourage them to step outside of their job description and seize every opportunity possible to benefi t increased revenues for the company.

3. Take the load off.The sales manager should not have to do all the day-to-day sales training, and it shouldn’t all be done in a classroom. That will take the enthusiasm out of your new hire. Training should be a company effort where every department shares in the load. Let your sales team teach about your product. Let the service department explain the strengths and weaknesses of the product. Clarify the roles that are imperative to the success of a sales person and make them available during training the fi rst week they are onboard.

4. Sales person to sales person training.Let the other, more experienced sales people share in the training. They can help the new hire train on taking calls. It is also important to have them sit in on sales calls with several different sales people to get the sales pitch down during the fi rst week.

5. Mentoring your way to success.Personalities are unique and different, so it is critical to let your new hires choose their mentor. To ensure success for your sales people, pre-approve some experienced, qualifi ed sales people and make sure they are up to the task. Make it clear that mentors are chosen on the basis of their skills and success. Or, give them monetary rewards. Mentoring should be a positive experience for both teacher and student.

6. Create a competitiveatmosphere for new hires to grow in. Many sales people worry about helping new hires because they make them look bad if they are very successful. To

eliminate this competitive attitude, put the mentoring in the context of team competition. “My trainee will beat your trainee,” is a great way to transfer knowledge from mentor to mentee. This both motivates and teaches because sales people tend to begin sharing secrets they would not normally have divulged. And the company is the big winner because they are growing their sales people quickly. 7. Build tactical teams.Sales people shouldn’t be left alone to prosper; they should have support teams. These teams are comprised of people who help them get their job done, who work well together, are always helpful and get things done quickly. Let your sales people pick their teams to make sure that the team works well together. Now your reps are ready to start making serious sales presentations.

8. Create a 90-day action plan.Have your new hires put together a plan for the fi rst 90 days after they are hired. Help them fi ne tune their ideas so that they meet the company’s needs, are properly prioritized, and set realistic goals.

9. Keeping track.All new sales hires should learn what documents are needed to track their activities sales calls, demonstrations, proposals, commissions and forecasts. The fi rst week they should start to utilize this practice. Someone should review their fi rst proposal prior to presentation to the customer. Weekly sales conferences or one-on-one meetings with their manager, are essential for the new hire to get off the ground very quickly.

These nine steps should help every new hire get off to a great start. And, your company will immediately have productive members of the sales team. Keep their excitement and enthusiasm high, and your sales team will really succeed.

Patricia Gardner is the President of Maximum Sales. She can be contacted at 888.886.9402, or by email at pgardner@autosuccess.biz, or visit www.maximumsales.com.

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Reduce Your Customers’ Anxiety

Frank MartinBy Frank Martinf&i solution

The sales person has a process to follow and, when followed correctly, will not only lead to

delivery but a satisfi ed customer, who will visit the dealership for service, complete a favorable survey, send referral business and return to purchase their next car.

Most surveys include all aspects of the buying process, the fi nancial transaction is very important in retaining high CSI scores. Here are some ways you can assist your customers to overcome their apprehensions before they are introduced to the fi nance offi ce.

One of the most effective ways of heading off a customer’s apprehension before fi nalizing their paperwork in the business offi ce is to take the time to meet your prospective customers before they meet you.

When deals are being worked on the showroom fl oor, make yourself available to meet your prospective customers. Introduce yourself and offer to answer any questions they might have regarding fi nancing. Make them feel welcome in your store, and they will feel at home in your environment.

If you fi nd yourself backed up with customers waiting to see you, take just a few minutes to go out to the showroom or the sales person’s offi ce to introduce yourself. Explain that you are in the process of shopping the best fi nancial package available so that when they leave in their new automobile, they will be completely satisfi ed with their purchase, as well as the terms of their fi nance package.

Not only will these changes take the edge off waiting and reduce their anxiety, it will refl ect a genuine concern for the interests of your customers. This puts them at ease, reduces some of the tension, and prepares them for who they can expect to see when they progress to the fi nal paperwork in the F&I offi ce.

Following this advice makes a signifi cant difference in customer satisfaction scores

and can put more gross in the books. You have limited time to establish rapport with a customer once they are in your offi ce, so start the process before they are seated in front of you. Bringing down the barriers fi rst makes it easier to overcome objections later. All people would rather

work with someone they know, like and trust.

Frank Martin is the CEO of F&I Solutions. He can be contacted at 866.247.9361, or by email at fmartin@autosuccess.biz.

18 www.autosuccess.bizstop by

All sales people need to have a monthly sales goal for themselves. They also need to

know how they arrived at that specifi c goal. Many times, these goals are based upon their past sales performance, but past results may not be indicative of performance.

You can increase your sales by 25 percent or more. Identify what causes mental barriers that produce limited results and how to overcome them. Many barriers are caused by conditioning, circumstance and emotions. Many people associate money with the following phrases: “Do you think money is grown on trees?” “Do you think we are rich?” “You can’t afford that.” “Money is the root of all evil.” This is why many people have limited and negative beliefs about money.

Examples of the three limiting factors are:

Conditioning.The US is the richest country in the world. Money is printed every day here. So in reality, what’s the difference between it growing on trees or on a printing press?

Circumstance. All people have negative experiences and setbacks in their lives, these experiences can lead you to let circumstances limit your beliefs about success or money. When you anchor your future to the past, that’s exactly what you get. History is meant to be a rudder not an anchor.

Emotions.Emotions are some of the most powerful sources of energy in nature. Negative emotions are also caused when your conscious mind and subconscious are in confl ict with one another. Example: If you set a goal to lose fi ve pounds, it is done in your conscious mind. If later that day, you walk by a bakery and smell cookies and walk in and eat a half-dozen, that action

Mark TewartBy Mark Tewartsales and training solution

Increase Sales By 25 Percentwas controlled by your subconscious mind. Can you see the confl ict? Your subconscious reacts to information and emotions given to it without regard to your goals. If not properly directed, negative emotions limit actions, habits and results. If rejection dominates your emotions, you have lost the war before the battles began.

What you can do to explode your results.First of all, you must change your questions. Your life and your results are a direct refl ection of the questions you ask yourself. Don’t ask what you want based upon what you have or what you have done. Ask bigger and better questions. Many trainers who teach goal setting say to make your goals believable. All goals are simply choice. You can make almost any goal believable if you change your questions.

Use this exercise to help you get your conscious and subconscious mind going in the same direction. Write down your goal in a positive present tense paragraph without any limiting beliefs.

Example: I am happily and easily selling 20 cars or more a month without struggle or confl ict. My sales and other resources are creating an abundance of money for my family and me.

It’s easy to dismiss exercises like this. However, one trait found among massively successful people is their open-mindedness in pursuit of success. Skeptics rarely are successful, let alone happy people. Ask yourself, “What have I got to lose?”

Three things determine your path in life: philosophy, free will and choice. Your own personal philosophy is determined by your questions. Everything is determined by your free will and choice. Ask the right question, and they will lead to the right thoughts. Have the right thoughts, and they will create the right emotions. Feel the right emotions, and they will lead to the right actions. Take the right actions, and they will create the right habits. Having the right habits will create the right results. Your results will form your destiny, and yes, you can increase your sales by 25 percent or more.

Mark Tewart is the President of Tewart Enterprises. He can be contacted at 866.429.6844, or by email at mtewart@autosuccess.biz.

sales and training solution

Ask Not What Your Sales People Can Do For You Ask What You Can Do For Your Sales People

Sean Wolfi ngtonBy Sean Wolfi ngton

Many managers are constantly thinking about what their sales people should be doing for them

to sell more cars, but what they should be thinking about is, what they could do to help coach, develop, motivate and lead their sales people to get what they want. The fact is that winners are developed, not hired, and good sales people can be made into great sales people with the right leader. There are some people with more potential than others, but the best leaders can transform the ordinary into the extraordinary. Managers must want to become coaches and true leaders and that begins with how they think.

It is not about you.Once you become a sales manager, it is no longer about you, it is about serving your customer, and your customers are not only your external customers, but they are also your internal customers, which include your sales team. This philosophy is also true for sales people. It is not about you, it is about your customer, and your job is to serve every one of your customers. In summary, it is the dealer’s job to serve the managers and the manager’s job to serve their sales people, and it is the sales person’s job to serve their customers. This mindset must start at the top. The best way a dealer and manager can teach their sales team to serve and satisfy their customers is to show them by example, by how they treat their sales people. Is it not true that if your internal customers are happier they will then, in turn, treat your external customers better, and they will be happier also? So, the question is, “How do I serve and satisfy my sales team so they, in turn, will do the same for their customers?”

People pay more attentionto what you do than what you say.If dealers and managers want to change the attitude and behavior of their sales people, they need to change their own attitude and behavior. To see if this issue relates to you and your dealership, ask yourself the following nine questions:

• Do you believe that people learn more from what you do than from what you say?

• If you want your sales people to treat your customers better, should you treat them better?

• If you want your sales people to always seek to learn, grow and improve, should you also strive to learn, grow and improve?

• If you want the sales people to have a great attitude with their customers, should you have a great attitude with your sales people?

• If you want your sales team to use positive and professional language, should you always use positive and professional language?

• If you want your sales people to greet their customers with a positive approach, should you greet them with a positive approach when they come to the desk?

• If you want your sales people to interview their customers before they pick a car, should you, as coaches, interview them at the desk before you pick up a pencil?

• If you want your sales people to focus on building value in the people and product rather than spend most of their time focused on price, should you change your approach at the desk to also focus on the people and product rather than focusing so much on price?

19december 2003

• If you expect your sales people to listen attentively to their customers without interrupting, should you not show them how to do this by attentively listening to them without interrupting?

Make a deal and make a difference.The point is obvious, if you want your sales team to change their attitude and approach to what they do every day, you need to change your attitude and approach to what you do every day. Show them by example. In the end, you will change your dealerships culture, your people’s behavior and attitude, and sales department’s results. The best part is that you will not only help your sales team make more deals but you will also make a difference in their lives which will help them and their family for the rest of their lives. And when your dealership gets used to this new way of business, a leader is not only going to help their sales people make more money, but they also help them become better people which helps them in every part of their life. The profi ts you help them to achieve will go well beyond their wallet.

Dare to be a leader, because sales people are looking for great leadership and someone to follow that will make them a great sales person.

Sean WolÞ ngton is an Owner of BZ Productions. He can be contacted at 866.802.5753, or by email atswolÞ ngton@autosuccess.biz.

20 www.autosuccess.bizsuccessful solutions at

CRM Solutions:Full Integration Is the Key

Mark PrzybylskiBy Mark Przybylskimarketing solution

In order to gain a consolidated view of your customers, integration is key. Is customer

information available from real-time and historical transactions in all departments and at all dealerships in your enterprise? How about from the Internet and the telephone? And what about enhanced data from outside sources such as data bureaus, lenders and manufacturers? A 360-degree view of the customer is the essence and result of true integration.

Broken down into its simplest deÞ nition. A fully integrated CRM solution means that you only have to enter new customer data once, on one screen, and that data automatically gets populated back into every other application, including your DMS, running in your operation. The reverse is also true: your existing customer data (from every stand-alone application in your enterprise, be it service management, F&I, desking, leasing, inventory and others, along with your DMS) can be ‘pulled’ into your CRM application. In addition, a fully integrated CRM provides a means for a two-way exchange of

customer information with third-party sources (direct mail houses, for example) and with your manufacturer.

How integration boosts your business.Integration is key to building data to know your customer. What does integration mean to your relationships with your customers? In order to truly know your customer, you must have access to up-to-date information about your customers as well as their historical activity with your dealership enterprise. Customer information must be consolidated into one single customer view. This includes identifying all Internet, showroom, phone, service, referral and purchase interactions with your dealership enterprise for customers, prospects and all household members. The integration of customer data makes your employees smarter, enables more effective target marketing and higher customer satisfaction. Ultimately, you deliver an easier, more satisfying experience for your customers.

The power of integratedsupplemental customer data.External data is extremely benefi cial and, at times, crucial to any dealerships

CRM effort. Standardized, up-to-date and accurate customer address information, enhanced by using tools such as CASS, NCOA & Zip+4, saves mailing expense and improves marketing efforts. Consumer satisfaction is a customer satisfaction issue for dealers as well as a legal one. It is important to know whether a customer can be contacted by phone and when you last transacted business with them.

Integrated applicationssave time and save money.The power of a simple, single entry point for customer information within a transaction is not lost on managers or employees. Entry of information from a single source and sharing this information between applications, such as lead management, credit bureaus, sales desk and F&I drives effi ciency and quality. The result is less time spent per transaction, less fragmentation, better workfl ow and a better customer experience with your dealership.

Integration of manufacturerdata to dealership CRM efforts.Manufacturers have a wealth of information about your customers. A CRM solution that can integrate information such as Internet leads from manufacturer websites, targeted marketing lists or information regarding repurchase or release opportunities is benefi cial to you and creates a seamless experience for the customer.

Without an integrated CRM solution the ability to share vital information results in incredible ineffi ciencies that cost you time, money, CSI points and, ultimately, customers.

Investing in a CRM system offering this kind of end-to-end integration can have an immediate and positive impact on your bottom line.

The benefi ts of investing in a fully integrated CRM solution are numerous. The key is to make sure that your investment has the capability to be completely integrated with every facet of your operation, both inside your walls and beyond.

Mark Przybylski is the Director of Marketing for CRM and Front-end Solutions with ADP Dealer Services. He can be contacted at 866.441.2785, ext 4104, or by email at mprzybylski@autosuccess.biz, or visit www.dealersuite.com.

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sales tips with David Thomas David ThomasBy David Thomas

The WOW FactorIf your ultimate goal is to consistently sell 20 or more cars a month, then you need the ‘WOW

Factor’ working for you.

What is the magic ingredient that will send you repeat business and referrals? What will help your closing ratio and increase your gross profi t? It is called the wow factor. It means doing the extraordinary in all steps. It means going the extra mile.

Here is how:1. Your meet and greet.“It’s great to meet you. Welcome…”

2. Your needs analysis.What are they looking for? What are their hot buttons? Determine their interest concerns.

3. Walk around.This is a great stage in the process to generate some wows. If you’re excited, they will be excited. Address their needs and wants.

4. Test drive.Continue the enthusiasm and demonstration of their wants. Set the stage with a clean car, the right music and a pleasant route. At the end of the test drive, before exiting the car, ask the magic question…“How was that?” This is a great opportunity to get a positive response before closing.

5. Closing.I’ve always been an advocate of keeping it simple, easy and friendly. My approach is polite, yet aggressive. Asking for the business can be done in an intelligent and friendly manner.

6. Follow-up.Forty-eight hours after the sale, follow-up is a must. Reiterate your mission to provide a great sales experience. Tell them thank you, again.

If you are successful and hear the coveted “WOW, that was great,” or “WOW, that was easy,” they are likely to share the experience with friends, family and associates. They will repeat it to at least 10 others, proving you have planted some great seeds. The top performers in this industry benefi t daily off of their wow factors, you will too.

David Thomas is the Owner of Subaru of Dallas. He can be contacted at 866.429.6803, or by email at dthomas@autosuccess.biz.

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sales and training solution

The Right WordsMake for Strong Presentation

Bob SchultzBy Bob Schultz

The right vocabulary can create positive buying emotions. Vocabulary is the foundation for a

natural, fl owing presentation. The size and power of your vocabulary infl uences your ability to persuade. A successful sales person must communicate effectively and powerfully. If your vocabulary consists of jargon and buzz words, here are some techniques to start you toward a more powerful vocabulary:

1. Keep a good dictionary/thesaurus at home and in the offi ce.2. Read books, magazines, papers regularly.3. Look up unfamiliar words and memorize their meanings.4. Make an effort to use words that you know but rarely bring into conversation.5. Look up synonyms of words you use regularly and use them in conversation.6. Take a course on expanding vocabulary.

If you integrate new words into your language, it will refl ect in your presentations. Everything you say to a customer should lead

to a closing. A master communicator must learn what words to use, and when and how to use them effectively.

Ninety percent of buying is based on emotion. In planning your presentation, think about what you want to say and how to best say it. Your choice of words/phrases can create a positive emotional response in the buyer’s mind. When describing products/features, paint vivid word pictures to expand the prospect’s visual impression.

When you face customers looking for a reason not to buy, use words that build positive emotion. Replace negative words with positive, powerful words that foster affi rmative images in the prospect’s mind.

Don’t say: buy, cheaper,commission, contract, cost, pitch, price, sell.Instead say: own, less expensive, professional service fee, agreement/paperwork, total investment, presentation, total value, acquire.

To eliminate negative words and habituate positive ones, write them down and recite

them. When you catch yourself using a negative word, think, ‘cancel, cancel’, and replace the negative term with a positive one.

Reinforce this in your fellow sales people during training processes. Never correct each other near a customer; do so during sales meetings and training.

An exception to the rule is that you might use negative words when using your competition’s words to compare yourself with them. Your product has a greater total value. Theirs is cheaper. You have great opportunities. They have deals. Use caution not to blatantly tear down your competitors.

Knowing what words to use, and when and how to use them will help you give natural, non-threatening sales presentations. Ultimately, it is your words that will determine your level of success.

Bob Schultz, MIRM, CSP, is President of New Home Specialist, Inc. He can be contacted at 561.368.1151, or visitwww.newhomespecialist.com.

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