As a certified sports nut, I love big-time game-changing plays – the “Hail Mary” pass to win the game as the last seconds tick off, and the three-pointers from 'Downtown' at the buzzer, those remarkably bold plays that lift fans out of their seats...

We can learn much about sales success strategies from those who have and continue to lead their teams to championships in the sports arenas and on the fields across this great nation.

Consider the discipline, motivation, and innovation that made greats like Dallas Cowboys Coach Tom Landry the champions of Leadership that they were and continue to be.

 Many of the same elements that made Coach Landry such an effective coach, leader and manager are the same ones you can use to inspire, lead, and manage your sales team to greater sale success. These include:

 1.       Discipline: You insist that the right sales processes be practiced in your dealership continually, and you hold your team accountable for following the proper 'Road to the Sale' techniques, just like Coach Landry insisted on blocking and tackling drills were run over and over until his players could run them in their sleep.Research shows nothing will increase closing rates like strict adherence to every step in a sales process. Coach Landry's signature statement, “My job as a coach was to get my players to do the things they did not want to do, so they could get the things that they wanted out of life,” still rings true today and is as relevant in our business as it is in the NFL.

 2.       Adaptability: As market conditions change, so do business and marketing strategies. We change to remain effective, relevant, and to outpace the efforts of our competition.  Adaptability allows us to modify and adapt as conditions dictate. For instance, Landry revolutionized defensive play with his 4-3 defensive alignment strategy and then refined it as the Flex Defense. He also introduced “pre-shifting” to move his offense from one formation to another prior to the snap, all designed to keep the other team guessing.

 3.    Innovation: You are constantly investigating new ideas, strategies, and technology. Like Landry, you adopt technologies that will deliver better results. Landry was an early technology adaptor, using software to analyze other teams’ offensive tactics. The use of game-changing technology like this keeps your team sharper, more agile – and more innovative -- to outpace and crush your competition.

For instance, you may want to consider technology that helps you better understand why customers walk from your dealership without buying. Your prospects will tell a third-party vendor more information, in more detail, (and more often the truth) about why the disengaged from your staff. This loss of business is a huge cost to any dealership, as on average 80% of your ups will walk and not buy from your dealership -- leaving you left holding the bag for marketing costs spent to drive the prospect to your showroom.

Are the excuses your prospects offer for leaving the dealership valid, or did something else get in the way of closing that deal? Technology can provide the answers to turn those prospects who walk into be-backs who will buy from you at 700% higher closing ratio than a first time up.

 While most dealers focus on feedback from their sold and serviced customer, two reasons make gathering this unsold customer information strategically more valuable to the dealership:

• 33% of unsold customers will come back and allow the dealership another chance to close the deal, and 67% of those who do come back will end up purchasing a vehicle from that dealership. These “second-chance” opportunities can increase a dealer’s monthly sales significantly, as well as boost closing ratios tremendously.

• Unsold customers hold vital information critical to the dealerships understanding of what went wrong in the showroom sales process originally. Without this “unfiltered” direct feedback from the unsold customer, a dealer has no idea what is really going on in his or her showroom, what part of the sales process needs correction, and what the real objectives to the deal were versus false excuses originally given to the salesperson.

Whether on the football field or the showroom floor, great leaders systematically drill their teams on the basics of blocking and tackling to develop and enhance these vital skill sets. They read the competitive landscape and adapt to remain in a position of leadership and market dominance. When cutting- edge technology is available and is needed to distance them from the competition, they’re quick to adapt that technology.

When these three keys to sales success – discipline, adaptability and innovation -- come together, the car business, like the game of football, as Landry once said, is “so incredible, it’s unbelievable.”

 Happy selling!