Although we are used car business development specialists and can promise this statement is absolutely true, it is also true in every sales environment, including your new car sales department; and in truth it is not an easy fix, because for many used car businesses there is much to address, in terms of this statement and what it means for your business.
Rather than exploring the many operational, investment and personnel issues leading to this statement in forensic detail, (this would equate to a “White Paper” on the subject), we thought we would just explore some of the issues within franchised dealerships that lead us to discuss and explore the statement above with the owners and why it is such an important statement, in regard to being prevalent in the case of their used car business.
Now in order to do this we have to accept one thing and for those that can’t, well this article probably isn’t for you, because the first thing you have to accept goes right to the very heart of your business, the professionals you employ and the way you have structured your business; and it is thus;
If You’re Negotiating You’re Not Selling!
Now probably 95% of the people reading this article will take a professional offence at this statement, because they have been fooled into thinking that they employ sales professionals who are then working for a professional sales organisation and in reality, nothing could be further from the truth; in reality most of you are doing exactly the same thing, so it can only be about price!
So to those who disagree, the 95% living in blissful ignorance, we say this to give you a gift of awareness for free, the first thing we ask sales professionals to appreciate, and it is this; Selling, Negotiating and Discounting are 3 totally different processes, so our only question to you would be;
So Which One Are You Doing?
Now the answer to this question runs very deep, right into the professionals employed within your sales department and the operational procedures effecting the way your used car operation, (and your new car department for that matter), is run, in terms of used car stock information, preparation standards and lead times, used car advertising and your used car stock acquisition initiatives, to name just a few. So even if you have sales professionals who are capable of selling, you can fail to provide the operational environment for them to succeed on your behalf.
Let’s take used car preparation as just one issue; the best sales people in the world will not enable you to return the maximum profit margin from a used car if it isn’t prepared properly; why? Well it is important to remember that if you don’t prepare used cars properly for sale, then you end up both apologising with profit and paying for the preparation twice. In this instance you will be forcing a genuine sales professional to negotiate and discount, skills they will not want to be using.
However, you need to cover all the bases and it is just as important to remember that you can have the best prepared used car stock holding imaginable, but if you have invested in the typical manufacturer produced sales team made up of lazy order takers, those who are waiting for the phone to ring; well then you are apologising with profit once again. The only difference being that this time it will be for not having the sales professionals required to get you the profit margins that all your other hard work deserves!
Therefore the title of this post and why it is always true; a business that is “Selling” has the operational procedures required in place to ensure that a team of sales professionals, those that run a diary the like of which we discussed in our recent article; Will You Find A Diary Like This In Your Franchised Dealership? are “Selling” your used car stock, a totally different process to waiting for enquiries and order taking, which will always lead to Negotiating and Discounting; thus why we would say that the vast majority of used car businesses we visit are not employing “Sales Professionals,” they are employing “Order Takers.”
Now you and your sales team may feel professionally slandered and outraged at this statement, but in truth it’s not all your or their fault, and please allow us to explain the very complex reasons why. To be fair, this is not just a Motor Trade problem, there are very few sales professionals in any trading environment; in fact in every sector sales professionals are very hard to find, and as a consequence, (in the case of manufacturers), they may have just given up and accepted they have to run their business around managing what is known as “Sub Optimum!”
Now when we say this, we are accepting that you as the owner of the business and the parent manufacturer have made a decision that it is easier to invest in technology and use it alongside marketing to drive new and used car enquiries to franchised dealer networks and have therefore given up on “Selling;” as well as finding and training the professionals required for the “Selling” process.
Now that is your prerogative and we can see how it has happened; after all how do you train people to do something you don’t know how to do? But the consequences of the decisions to give up on training sales professionals how to sell has resulted in the perilous state of existence you now have to endure; where your total business model is being attacked by independent businesses. Whereas, if you had made the decision to train sales professionals you would not be encountering the genuine business threats you are today, you would have made it impossible for them to target your business model, which they are only doing because they see faults, weaknesses and therefore opportunity; but this is for another article.
And for those of you with training academies? Well you may be the most at risk, by thinking that you are actually churning out sales professionals, because you are not! Again, before you hurl abuse our way, let us just point out that you can’t train sales professionals in 2 days, at a course run at your academy by someone who has never been a successful sales professional! Worse than this moment of truth is the damage this perception delivers to the staff attending your courses, because after they have left with their “Certificate Of Accreditation” which is really only a “Certificate Of Attendance” we would warn them of this;
You Can’t Become A Good Sales Professional In 2 Days! A New Suit, A “Certificate of Attendance” And A Demo You Could Be Leasing Yourself, (If You Were Any Good), Does NOT Make You A Sales Professional!
The thought that you can is totally ridiculous; “Selling” is a highly skilled profession, just like being a lawyer is a highly skilled profession; do you really think that a lawyer goes to law school for 2 days to learn how to practice law successfully? Of course not!
So our question to the owners of franchised dealerships and the parent manufacturers is this; who are you trying to fool? And the problem is actually deeper than this for most franchised dealer networks, because in practice the majority of manufacturers are setting their networks up to be “Liked” because of their obsession with customer satisfaction and the validation they are seeking from customers, and this is adding to the problem!
Why? Well the consequences of these policies and the sales departments they have built, is sales people looking to be “Liked” at all costs, because this is the only currency that matters to the manufacturer; so when a sales lead comes through to the dealership, the only concern of the sales person handling this lead is to be “Liked!” And let’s dispel another harmful sales myth right now;
“People Buy From People They Like!”
This is absolute rubbish! And if you have set your business up to run like this then you are going to struggle because customers do not buy from people they “Like,” they buy from people they “Trust” and 95% of franchised dealerships, along with their parent manufacturers, are making the fatal operational sales error of setting your business up to be “Liked” rather than to be trusted and then to “Sell!”
Most of you do this because of two fatal flaws in your thinking, or because two very important pieces of genuine sales knowledge are missing. The first is that no one takes the time to understand what makes people buy, so let us give you some more valuable sales knowledge for free;
Get Over Yourselves; You Are Running A Sales Operation, Customers Aren’t Coming To You To Find Friends!
Customers Purchase Emotionally, Then Justify With Intellect!
Sadly for most reading this article, they will make a decision to not change, to not open their minds to another more successful way, not because it isn’t true but because they find it difficult accepting that they may have things to learn.
However any of you making up “The 5%” who are curious to explore and discuss the points explored in this article, because you are looking to see how you can make more money from selling used cars, you need only contact Andrew Banning at ajb@autoformance.com or Malcolm Thomas at mgt@autoformance.com in the first instance, in order to arrange a no obligation exploratory discussion.
Alternatively please feel free to call me on 0044 7796 260261.
For more information about our services please visit our website at www.autoformance.com
I look forward to hearing from you.
Regards.
Andrew.
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