Are these the secrets to doubling your sales?

Mark Greenfield

Contributor

Published 24 Jul 2020

This article was originally published in the Autofile Magazine - February 2017 issue.

10 second summary

Stop aiming for the industry 'norm' and look at how you can double or even trible your monthly sales.
Utilise your opporunity pool and provide a rememberable expereience to increase the chances of them referring you and the dealership to friends and family and to increase the chances of them returning to buy from you again.
Look into an email tool to keep your customers warm and to stay top of mind.

READ TIME APPROX 5 MINUTES

Excelling above the industry 'norm'

Having worked with many dealership over the years, a recurring trend I’ve noticed is that salespeople don’t always understand the potential they have to make very successful careers from selling cars.

There seems to be an industry accepted level, that selling ten cars a month is good enough. Ten cars a month may be all you need to maintain the lifestyle and commitments you have, however what could you really achieve by doing some very basic steps more consistently. There are salespeople throughout New Zealand that have reached for a much bigger goal aiming for twenty, thirty or over forty vehicle sales every month, on their own, doing what they love.

What can you do differently?

The key here is what can you do differently today that will contribute to your sales in the future? In my opinion there are three key areas to concentrate on over the short, medium and long term:

Selling more cars to the opportunity pool of customers we have right now
The owner of your dealership has invested heavily in your premises, branding, vehicles and advertising in order to bring as many prospective customer opportunities to the dealership. If the dealership is doing all it can in this area, then the pool of potential customers that make contact with your dealership month in month out, isn’t going to grow on its own and therefore cannot increase your vehicle sales without some input from you.

As a salesperson, you will need to take the bull by the horns, be proactive and ensure you convert as many of the dealership’s opportunities to appointments, test drives and sales. Essentially, you must understand that without outside influence, this pool of prospects is all you’ve got, so make the most of them. Ensure at all times you have a sound record in your Dealership Management System (DMS) of who these customers are, so you can manage them through the process and not forget, or miss any.
Increasing customers that refer family and friends to you and the dealership
Referrals all stem from the experience you create. Yes, YOU CREATE. From the moment a customer emails you, calls you and/or visits you, treat them with respect and surprise them with the experience.

The first 4 weeks after the customer purchases from you is when you will have your greatest chance of referral, as their new car is viewed by friends, family, neighbours and work colleagues. That experience YOU gave them needs to be lingering in their mind and you want them to mention you and your dealership every time they are asked about their new car.

Continuing those referrals over time then switches to when someone they know mentions in conversation that they are thinking of buying a new car. This is where the lasting memory of your service, combined with complimentary ongoing communication through your Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system, increases your odds significantly of them mentioning you to that person. Those simple soft touchpoints over the years from Happy Birthday messages to WOF reminders, all keep the dealership and the experience you gave top of mind.
Increasing the number of customers that return to buy again from you and the dealership.
This is dependent on the two steps above having being completed effectively. Without giving a great customer experience and having continued contact with your customer, the chances of them returning have dropped to pretty low odds.

Encourage repeat business by remaining top of mind

In my experience, the average dealership doing none of the above has less than 10% chance of gaining repeat business, yet those that do it well can exceed 40%

If 1 & 2 above have been done well, then you remain top of mind with that valuable customer. Now all you need to do is start them thinking about upgrading the last car they purchased for a newer or different model, which might suit their current lifestyle better.

A very effective way of doing this is emailing your customer a friendly message with a selection of three similar, later model vehicles to what they purchased last time (AMPD can automaticaly do this for you).

Try and keep around a similar budget and in the case of the finance customer, try and keep their repayments around the same level if they were to trade in and refinance again. Make sure each of these vehicles displayed links back to your website so they can do more research in their time and see what else you have to offer if their circumstances have changed. Of course, when they purchase the entire cycle begins again.

How can you double or treble your sales?

If you can increase your conversion rate of customer contacts that the dealership generates, increase the number of people that are referred your way, and increase your customer retention with sales to repeat customers, that ten units a month should double or treble, and remain there.

Utilise systems where you can, and if you have the luxury of automated CRM tools within your DMS, then great. If you don’t, then get one that does!

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