Is The Road to the Sale Obsolete? by Jim Ziegler

Is The Road to the Sale Obsolete?

A lot of conversation these days by 'New Age' - 'Next Gen' - car people saying the 'Old School' sales processes are no longer valid with today's consumers.

Just the reference to the term 'Old School Car Guy' is an insult designed to conjure up mental images of an extinct Mastodon being sucked down into the tar pits after eating the last brown shriveled leaves off of the trees. The hidden message in these terms is that you're stupid and we're smart... an intimidation by negative labeling.

In truth, the retail car business is forming sides in the turf wars between the techies and the traditionalists. AND, nobody is giving ground.

I have just returned from an extended 'road trip' of twenty-three cities in fourteen weeks, coast to coast, actually working in dealerships... speaking at major conferences... and performing consultancies. In other words, I am seeing a lot of best practices - what does, and more importantly, what does not work.

To quote myself here: "Average People with great processes will produce incredible results." You can't manage a high-production dealership with an army of 'Prima-Donnas' all doing their own thing without structure or management.

Even though I have embraced technology as part of the sales process; it is not the entire process. Automobile Sales still have to have a structured process from 'Meet and Greet the Customer' through 'Deliver the Vehicle and Follow-Up'.

I don't believe there will ever be a day when technology will entirely replace the human relationship in car sales. The things we do and the words we say are our toolbox.

Time after time, I've experienced dealerships' transformations to much higher volume sales and much higher profitability when the management installed and enforced a "Sales Culture' with defined step-by-step, measurable and accountable sales processes.

Unfortunately, most dealerships have never quantified exactly what they expect sales persons and managers to do and say as they interact with your customers. Oh, we have a vague idea BUT very few managers can tell me their exact process... and very few can honestly say their sales professionals are doing it the way they describe it.

That's why I consider myself extremely fortunate that my career began as a car sales professional and that my first management position was as an F&I Manager. If I owned a dealership today, I would require that all of my Sales Managers had F&I experience. A great F&I Manager is a master of 'The Process' and has to be a precision closer with a stop watch running.

Is it any wonder the sales department is always amazed when the Finance Manager repeatedly 'bumps' the customer after they thought they had all the money. Perhaps, processes and training had something to do with it.

I've always said that F&I Managers have more skills, more schools and more specialized training than anyone in the dealership except the technicians.

Jokingly, I've always said... "Most Sales Managers learned their job by watching somebody who got fired."

We have the tools today to achieve 'super productivity'. There are great CRM programs available to organize, measure, and manage sales and follow up BUT, these programs are only as good as the managers who are responsible for the results. Technology is an enabler and a productivity accelerator but it is only works if competent sales management is on top of it.

So in other words, there is no 'Old School' or 'New School' ... there are only processes that incorporate both. 'The Old Car Dog' that resists and fights everything new, or the 'Next Gen' with no track record who believes they know it all...both have to bend and adapt to 'The School of What Really Works' .

One characteristic shared by virtually every successful dealership in the country is that they have well-defined sales processes and that they require every sales person to follow these processes without exception.

So, the original question was Is The Road to the Sale Obsolete?

The answer is emphatically... NO

AND the answer is also ...YES

The trick is teaching managers to be managers and sales professionals to be students of their profession... and for both to be masters of the processes.

Keep those emails coming... JIM

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Comment by Randolph S. Lofgren on November 24, 2011 at 10:04pm: Could not agree more Jim... Leadership and knowledge is key to any success.

Comment by Tobias Sedillos on November 23, 2011 at 9:56pm: Here's my best answer to that question, Jim - thank you for asking it!

http://www.dealerelite.net/profiles/blogs/the-new-steps-to-the-sale...

Comment by CANDACE BENNETT MCRAE on November 21, 2011 at 6:26pm: The most important process.....start every sales morning with 20 minutes of training. IF you have that process in place, everything else gets easier.

Too often, sales managers train the same message every single day and wonder why the sales team ignores them. Keep it fresh & relevant. One of my faves, assign specific topics to each salesmen and assign them a morning to make their presentation (nothing teaches better than having to teach and nothing builds confidence like making a presentation to your peers).

Comment by Jim Kristoff on November 21, 2011 at 5:47pm: What a great thread!

In looking back through the comments, pretty much everyone agrees that there needs to be processes in place.

I believe in simplifying the processes and training the salespeople how to use the same internet tools and websites that customers are looking at.

In the end......

You still need to.....

1. Meet and greet......welcome the customer to the store

2. ASK Questions......The customer will give you the answers

3. Demonstrate the product.......highlight what the customer WANTS to see

4. Present figures.......by asking the correct questions, you will know how and what to present....

By giving the customer a "level of expectation", in other words.....telling the customer what your process is and approximately how long it will take......the overwhelming majority will follow it and you can proceed with giving them a great show......

The bigger the show......the better the dough!!!!

Comment by James A. Ziegler on November 21, 2011 at 5:32pm: This is wonderful! Thanks Candace and Guy...the insights this thread is drawing out are great...

Comment by Guy Manasse on November 21, 2011 at 3:41pm: If a Sales Manager cannot structure a deal for F&I then he is not a Sales Manager, he is a Trainer or Dealers monkey. You are so correct Candace, great Desk guy's are hard to find. Desk guy's are like super-computers that can take a salesman's worksheet, what the salesman says, and decipher information that is real and pencil a deal that makes since for that client. Takes no talent to pencil the same to everyone and not structure a deal that works for F&I or mis-times a proper TO because he just does not understand. Solid SM's are money in the bank for a Dealer. Good stuff still coming!

Comment by CANDACE BENNETT MCRAE on November 21, 2011 at 3:32pm: Jim, You are absolutely correct about F&I managers. I will never hire a sales manager that hasn't had extensive F&I training & experience. Processes are crucial to growth and success.

Thanks for the great post.

Comment by James A. Ziegler on November 21, 2011 at 2:22pm: Kurt, extremely insightful posting here.... with the exception of the inflatable gorilla on the roof (which I believe to be the greatest marketing tool in our industry) You are 100% correct in saying that the process is often thrown out in favor of excess. My reputation for turning on dealerships to big numbers has a foundation in process and adherence to process. My greatest challenge is always teaching managers how to be managers.

Comment by Kurt Kubicki on November 21, 2011 at 2:16pm: Jim, I believe that the Road to the Sale concept is still alive, but on life support. The problem is best described by the old saying 'In Good Times bad habits get formed, and in Bad Times good habits must be formed'. Our business went through an incredible 15 year run where we had more customers than cars on the lots and financing was plentiful and easy to get. That all changed with the great Financial System Collapse a few years ago, when customers could not get a loan, OEMs were going bankrupt, and Chicken Little was screaming that the sky was falling, and she was close to being right.

During our great sales run, closers were king, process and accountability were discarded in favor of Gorillas on the roof, and bigger more expensive newspaper, radio, and TV ads because we were shooting fish in a barrel while competing in a gross profit and turn and earn race with our neighboring dealers. No one was teaching the basics to our new generation of managers, and the foundation of process and accountability that was in place during the 'old days' was completely ignored. Today, we need to re-focus our sales teams to get back to those basics of 'blocking and tackling' that are truly the building blocks of a great sales organization (just like an offensive line is to a championship NFL team). Unfortunately we lost a generation of sales management who were not given the proper training and motivation to carry on that tradition of process excellence. Managers who are skilled in leadership, motivation, and process are the new diamonds in the rough, and we are truly in need of more of them today...

Comment by James A. Ziegler on November 21, 2011 at 12:23pm: Thanks Michael, my thoughts exactly, hard to expand on it, so i'll just say thanks for your input...JIM