Figures for
last year's new car sales clearly showed a down turn in
volume for many dealerships. While maintaining market share
and unit sales are important, increasing per vehicle gross
may be the most practical short term strategy to shore up
your bottom line.
This year's NADA convention in San Francisco was focused on
the topic of profitability for today's automotive retailer.
Following are a few tips on what you can do to help yourself
out.
First. It is very hard to win championship games with
players that are unwilling or unable to perform at superior
levels. Ask yourself this question. Are you emotionally
attached to underachievers? Sure they are nice people, but
we must remember you are running a business. The quality of
your people will dictate the results you can achieve. Do you
have the best players on your team?
Second. Great people without clarity of vision or process
will be ineffective. To reach your store's potential
everyone must understand exactly what their role is on the
team. Each player (salesperson and manager) must be able to
recite and define the agreed upon process of how you will
sell cars at your store. The process itself is less the
issue here, clarity on who does what, and how is paramount
to your success.
I recently was working with a new F&I director for a multi
store group. He was rather surprised to find that when he
asked for a copy of the sales and F&I process from some of
the sales and F&I managers they looked at him in
bewilderment wondering what he was talking about. Do
yourself a favor try asking your management team the same
question, the results may be very eye opening. Then ask the
salespeople if you can bear to hear the response.
The good news is it does not have to be this way. If you do
not like the results you are getting or the answers you are
hearing, and then change your approach. After all,
continuing to do the same thing will only yield the same
result.
Third. After 22 years in business, we at Ziegler
SuperSystems have found that one of the quickest ways to
lose gross is to over allow on trades. Conversely, the
fastest way to increase your bottom line is to hold on
trades. While many know this fact not everyone takes the
time to establish and define process's to insure this
result.
Requiring that all salespeople conduct a silent walk around
on the customer's trade is the key. Salespeople, clipboards
in hand and customers in tow must examine the trade's
condition and document those observations. A copy should
then be available to reintroduce later during negotiations.
Last. Give your people the support they need. Invest in your
people. Send them to programs, make arrangements for onsite
help. Remember when the going gets tough.... well you know
the rest.
Kirk Manzo is the Director of Consulting at Ziegler
SuperSystems, Inc.. He has an extensive background in
training and automotive sales spanning over 20 years. He is
an extremely valuable member of the SuperSystems family.
Contact Kirk
at: 1.800.726.0510
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