Mark Tewart's Blog (113)

Automotive Sales Training - Four Ways to Improve Your Meet and Greet Immediately

Too often salespeople are being taught to have a “power greeting”. Salespeople have been traditionally taught to walk directly up to people, stick out their hand, aggressively give a firm handshake, exchange names and welcome them to your dealership. Sounds good, however let’s review potential pitfalls to traditional meet and greet approaches and how you may improve them.

 

People in out society have 3 general comfort zones: home, work, and vehicle. Most of us spend about 90+%…

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Added by Mark Tewart on June 28, 2013 at 8:57am — No Comments

Automotive Sales Training - Fire Your Advertising Agency

There is a startling way for most dealers to double their business – fire their advertising agencies. Dealerships spend an enormous amount of money on advertising for new customers. Unfortunately, often that money is wasted. The money is wasted because the agencies are strictly placing ad dollars in media and doing production. Often, the ad dollars are spent without any knowledge and use of direct response marketing, and the game plan that will be used towards keeping those…

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Added by Mark Tewart on June 21, 2013 at 1:34pm — No Comments

Playing To Win

The San Antonio Spurs played not to win and wound up losing. The Spurs gave the power and control of the game to the Miami Heat and Miami took the power and control of their destiny and won. The Spurs will forever regret the position they took. Business lessons learned: Play to win instead of not to lose. Never give away your power or control of your destiny to the competition. 

Added by Mark Tewart on June 21, 2013 at 1:27pm — No Comments

Automotive Sales Training - Ten Tips for Winning in a Bad Economy

Unless you have been hiding in a cave somewhere, you have heard that the U.S. economy is doing poorly. Housing starts are down, the value of the dollar is down, car sales are down, real estate is down, retail is down, gas prices are up, food prices are up, bankruptcies are up and the sky is falling. What is a person to do?

1. Don't Drink the Cool Aid

The news is sensationalized and fear sells. Things are rarely as good as they seem and things are rarely as bad as they…

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Added by Mark Tewart on June 19, 2013 at 9:30am — 1 Comment

Automotive Sales - How to Increase Sales by 20 Percent Without Spending More for Advertising

The managers in your dealership must have a written job description with clearly defined responsibilities and expectations.

 

Having specific goals for the department is required. Daily action plans for selling, training, appointments, one-on-one coaching, save-a deal meetings, deal structuring, follow-up, etc will increase sales by 20 percent without spending more for advertising.

 

If you read biographies of successful people or businesses, one common thread…

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Added by Mark Tewart on June 14, 2013 at 9:00am — 3 Comments

Automotive Sales Training - Stop Being a Loser and Be a Leader

In my 30 years in the business, I have never seen such a lack of civility, leadership and professionalism in the automotive industry. You can find managers anywhere, but developing leaders is a much more challenging task. Managers are integral, but leaders are essential. It does not take character, guts or vision to manage things, but it takes all three to lead people.

 

Here are common characteristics I see quite often from managers in dealerships…

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Added by Mark Tewart on June 6, 2013 at 9:00am — 10 Comments

Automotive Sales Training - Don't Drink The Water

Traffic is better, sales are up, profits are high, dealers are buying at NADA and the whole world is rosy. Don’t drink the water. I am not saying you should not be optimistic, and I am certainly not an economic forecaster coming with claims of doom and gloom. However, I am saying that your fortunes in the future will have a whole lot less to do with the economy than what business practices you put into place.

 

There is an over exuberance in dealer-land right now,…

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Added by Mark Tewart on June 4, 2013 at 8:30am — 3 Comments

Automotive Sales Training - Five Simple Things You Can Do Right Now to Sell More Vehicles

“Big doors swing on small hinges.” Small things can make a big difference in your sales process. There has been a lot written recently about what I term the “moment of truth” in the sales process. I don’t believe that a sale usually occurs because of one “big bang moment.” Usually, a sale occurs because of a series of very small and simple things that add up to being the difference maker.

 

If you are looking for 50 closes to take your sales to the next level, you are missing…

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Added by Mark Tewart on May 30, 2013 at 1:30pm — 1 Comment

Automotive Sales Training - It's All In The Stories

Facts tell and stories sell. If you want to become really good at sales, then you must know how to tell your story. People think in pictures and they can and will follow a story. People learn better from stories and become emotionally connected to stories. What is your story and can you tell your story and tell it well?

 

What makes you who you are? You are different from anyone else. Your life experiences, background and everything about you makes you unique. Unfortunately, if…

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Added by Mark Tewart on May 28, 2013 at 1:30pm — No Comments

Automotive Sales Training -Complete Sales Freedom in Two Years or Less

Many sales people tend to always be chasing the next customer and worrying about the next paycheck. The good news is that this is unnecessary and can be fixed forever in two years or less. Sales people can eliminate future sales and income anxiety once and for all.

 

What’s the key to creating freedom? It’s marketing. If you are a sales person who is waiting for your business to provide an endless funnel of prospects and buyers, you are living in a fantasy land. Even with a ton…

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Added by Mark Tewart on May 23, 2013 at 8:30am — No Comments

Automotive Sales Training - The Five Keys to Success

Do you want to be more successful? You can achieve greater success if you begin to follow certain secrets that blow open the doors that are closed for you now. I am comfortable in saying that all people have some closed doors that limit their achievement. What are the doors that I am talking about and how can you open them?

 

The doors are a metaphor for the gateways to successful achievement. The keys are the secrets that unlock them and allow you move forward faster and with…

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Added by Mark Tewart on May 21, 2013 at 2:00pm — No Comments

Automotive Sales Training -Five Tips for Beginning Sales People

1. Educate Yourself

Don’t wait for managers or anyone else to give you the sales education you need. Unfortunately, the automobile industry has been stuck for years in a, “Throw them in and see if they can swim mentality.” Some dealerships take new recruits to a meeting room and have them watch training tapes for a day and expect them to be trained. Neither of these options will increase your odds for success.

 

Begin a massive self-education program that will…

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Added by Mark Tewart on May 20, 2013 at 2:00pm — No Comments

Automotive Sales Training - Success or Failure?

 

There are 24 hours and a total of 1,440 minutes in every day. Successful people just seem to get a lot more done in a day than unsuccessful people. The main reason is successful people keep the main thing the main thing. Success is not an accident.

 

First, you must be honest about your strengths and your weaknesses. Spend your time in what you are strong at and delegate what you are not. A sales person reading this article may immediately think they don’t have anyone…

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Added by Mark Tewart on May 16, 2013 at 1:30pm — 10 Comments

Automotive Sales Training - People Hear What They See

After returning home form a speaking engagement in New York, I wanted to relax a little and flipped channels on the TV until I came to a movie called “Beyond the Sea.” My intention was to just watch and enjoy the movie and just release all the tensions of work and travel. It was time to veg-out and not think. Then – boom – it happened. A line from the movie hit me like a thunder bolt: “People hear what they see.”

 

“Beyond the Sea” is a movie about the life of Bobby Darin.…

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Added by Mark Tewart on May 15, 2013 at 1:00pm — No Comments

Automotive Sales Training - Selling the Difference

Cars, dealerships and sales people can be commodities. As a sales person, your job is to move everything you do and everything you have towards being a non-commoditized item or service. You must sell your difference.

 

When making a decision, customers look for deciding factors. Being able to know what the differences are and then helping the customer know what they look like, sound like and feel like is your job. Customers don’t spend an hour with you and say, “This is exactly…

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Added by Mark Tewart on May 14, 2013 at 9:00am — No Comments

Automotive Sales Training - People Buy From People

As a sales professional, it can be an eye-opening experience when you go shopping for yourself. Weaknesses in other’s presentations can teach us lessons about how to strengthen our own. One common theme you might notice is that many people don’t seem to recognize that people don’t buy products or services. People buy from…

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Added by Mark Tewart on May 9, 2013 at 11:00am — 6 Comments

Automotive Sales Training - How To Flood Your Dealership With Customers

There is a revelation that is shocking and, quite frankly, scary. A dangerous and potentially fatal mistake is being made everyday in businesses. The mistake is the confusion between strategy and tactics. Strategy is your overall goal for your business and your overall marketing philosophy to achieve those goals. Tactics are executable actions you take to achieve those options. The good news is that once you have clarity about your strategy, and then apply emotional direct response marketing…

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Added by Mark Tewart on May 8, 2013 at 8:30am — No Comments

Automotive Sales Training - Words Are Cheap

Words are cheap. What matters is the true belief system behind your words and the actions you take because of those belief systems. Economies don’t improve, people improve. Waiting for something to happen is for losers. The most important economy is the one created between your ears.

 

During down markets you have to get creative to make things happen. Although you may not be able to push a new car market if it’s not there, you can niche market, create affiliations, utilize…

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Added by Mark Tewart on May 6, 2013 at 1:27pm — 1 Comment

Automotive Sales Training - How To Build a Winning Team

Each year at the start of football practice, Vince Lombardi, the coach of the Green Bay Packers started his season the same way. His opening statement to his players was, “This is a football.” Every year, John Wooden, the legendary basketball coach of the UCLA Bruins started his first practice of the season by demonstrating to his players how to properly put on their socks to prevent blisters. Pretty basic stuff, huh?

 

Notice the similarities between Wooden and Lombardi in the…

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Added by Mark Tewart on May 3, 2013 at 12:30pm — No Comments

Automotive Sales Training - Negotiate Like a Professional

Negotiating can be done in a professional manner that can increase customer satisfaction while helping to protect both parties’ interests.

 

Let’s first look at some of the problems that give negotiating a bad name and then look at the solutions. A lack of training in negotiating in the automotive industry has put sales people at a disadvantage. Usually, a sales person is taught how to negotiate in a learn-as-you-go method. Although all learning must be accomplished by doing,…

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Added by Mark Tewart on April 26, 2013 at 12:30pm — 2 Comments

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