Just because your store is one of the more popular brands, that doesn't mean you are guaranteed success.  Having the right sign up is no promise that customers will beat down your doors.  And the  right ads or killer Internet presence still doesn't make profitability a sure thing.  Without a key ingredient, even the best of the best will fail.

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9GFCqLlB94&feature=g-all-u&...

As is the practice of all trainers at The Dealer Resource Group, we visit dealers in the area where we are training.  The goal is to tell them what we're doing for the dealer we are engaged with, introduce ourselves and hopefully gain another satisfied client.

There are a variety of reasons why a dealer might not need our service.  They could be too small.  They could have just used a competitor.  Or they could even have a trainer in house that handles all of this.  But, most dealers just believe they can do it all themselves. 

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MkUZuB_KbcM&list=FLkFq5StSX2nW4...

Part of our service, when we are training for a dealer, is to have each new person go out and shop at the local competition.  This actually serves two valuable purposes.  First, when the student sees what they are competing against and how a customer is taken care of elsewhere, they have more confidence.  In addition, we impress upon them that if they simply remember that experience it will help them out perform their competition every time.

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MgeBaZ-3I1g

When you commit to training your team right from the beginning, shopping other dealers is key.  The dealership benefits on several levels.  First, it does remind the sales person exactly what they should be doing with each of YOUR customers. Second, it let's the rest of the team know who and what the competition is up to.  Finally, if someone runs into a real professional, it gives them something to shoot for.

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWgvuoIC0q8&feature=relmfu

If you don't have your new people shopping when they start and have your team shopping at least one a quarter, you can almost guarantee that they will produce results like you see here in these video clips.  Ultimately, if you talk about your competition in terms of brand, dealer, etc., you are missing the main competitor.  Your competition are the other people talking to your customers.  This is really what determines who gets the deal.  You have to know this.

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tMyMRxtWvHI&feature=relmfu

You should make shopping part of your training routine.  As you'll see at the bottom of this newsletter, we have a special for dealers who want an honest evaluation of their own sales team.  We are doing this city by city.  If your city isn't on the list, email us and we'll notify you when we will be coming near you and arrange a shopping evaluation for you.  TO RECEIVE A FREE SHOPPING EVALUATION SHEET TO USE WITH YOUR SALES TEAM, EMAIL US WITH YOUR NAME, THE DEALERSHIP, AND EMAIL, AND WE'LL SEND IT TO YOU IMMEDIATELY.

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6SBFMnFtYPU

  You can look at each of the videos we have in this article.  They are from Pennsylvania, Texas, South Carolina, Wisconsin, Boston and Chicago.  Big dealers, small dealers, it doesn't matter.  All of our future sales people are required to shop area dealers.  The class learns so much, the students gain confidence that they can do better than their competition, and the bottom line is, they do.  If you do no other training in your store, sending your team out to shop every now and then will increase sales all by itself.

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1JXmXxNITxc

Finally, if you don't know how you really stack up, have your own dealership shopped.  Avoiding this will always cost you in the end.  Part of reaching your maximum potential is the discovery of what is working well and what is not.  If your shopper finds your team doing a fantastic job, great.  Focus on other areas of training.  If not, maybe we can help.

Every trainer with The Dealer Resource Group Is a car guy or gal.  They have extensive in dealership experience.  http://www.thedealerresourcegroup.net. . (c)2012 by John Fuhrman - Permission to reprint this post in its entirety, including contact information, is hereby granted.