It can be a challenge to keeping track of every visit, contract in transit, trade appraisal and every follow up call due. While technology improves our ability to manage these processes, nothing takes the place of a well structured save-a-deal meeting.

Here is a short list of the people and materials needed to make your meeting productive and efficient. The meeting should take precedence and be handled with a sense of urgency. The tone is set by the General Manager and he/she should direct the meeting daily. When the GM is absent, the GSM or residing manager should direct the meeting. All personnel should meet in a conference room with the required documents and reports, free from interruption and distraction.

Attendees’: General Manager, General Sales Manager, All on duty sales managers, assistant sales manager, F&I manager(s), BDC manager and any other associate responsible for the sales department interaction.

Documents needed:

· Daily D.O.C. report and forecast

· Current sales traffic log and 3-days prior

· All pending and declined deals still in F&I (deal packet and pertinent information)

· C.I.T. (contracts in transit) list.

· Daily Appointment log.

· Previous day appointment made and missed log.

· BDC report showing inbound and outbound calls (or CRM report if no BDC exists).

· BDC report showing today’s appointments (or CRM report if no BDC exists).

· Prior day appraisal log and inbound used car list.

Meeting Structure:

· GM and/or GSM should review month-to-date forecast against sales and sales rate. The discussion should be centered on either sustaining sales pace or improving the sales pace and the specific steps needed to obtain the goals.

· Attendees should discuss the previous day’s traffic log and what transpired. Careful review will improve follow up and more often than not, make a sale that might have been missed the prior day.

· All pending deals and declined deals still residing in finance should be discussed and re-hashed with the management staff. Finance should be prepared to discuss the prior day’s deliveries, pending deals and any deals that have been declined by banks.

· Daily appointment log (if any) should be planned out by on duty sales manager. Preparation is paramount to making the appointment a success. The vehicle should be ready for viewing and staged 20 minutes prior to the customer’s arrival.

· Previous day appointments should be discussed in detail. Was there a deal made on the appointment? If not, why? If so, is there a scheduled “thank you” call or email?

· Missed appointments require someone other than the salesperson to follow up. If you have a BDC manager, they should be prepared to discuss whether or not the appointment was confirmed and their plan to re-schedule another appointment.

· All appraisals should be reviewed by the GM and/or the GSM. The appraisal log will provide details of the specifics of the vehicle. If the vehicle was traded in the determination should be made immediately on whether or not the vehicle is going to be retail or wholesale. If the vehicle is for retail, the reconditioning clock starts immediately. A vehicle determined for wholesale should trigger the dealerships process.

· Review of the appraisal log will assist the team in deciding if the value needs to be raised in an effort to make a deal or, if the value was on target. A different outlet (auction, another dealer or wholesaler) for that vehicle can be decided at that time as well.

· In-bound used car lists assist with a myriad of tasks including; filling a wish list order, helping a special finance deal get approved, balancing off a negative equity situation and turning inventory dollars.

The save-a-deal meeting is an essential process of daily operations. The length of time is dictated by the volume of information to be discussed. A thorough save-a-deal meeting will improve profitability, morale and make your team additional sales. The fundamental concept of a save-a-deal meeting is that preparation is the foundation for success.