The greatest single feeling of accomplishment you can experience as a Trainer is one where someone you are Training suddenly…Gets It.
And right in front of you… before your very eyes, there is a Change.
See, in Training, change is mostly slow, frequently subtle, hard to see and sometimes hard to measure. It requires energy, time, committment, belief, knowledge, skill, communication, background, application and mostly… Will Power.
So, when someone “Gets It” and it happens right in front of you, it is a pretty special moment. Because up until that time you have invested all of yourself on…Faith.
Nothing more.
Faith in that person. Faith in what you Teach and how you Train. Faith that if you keep trying and never give in to the naysaying, the complaints, the whining, the bitching, the negativity…then you will have that moment…that special moment that occurs only after you have given of yourself and invested in another person based solely on Faith… with the only Thought and the only Reward… a moment in time when… that person…Gets It.
So, for you Trainers out there, the ones with the skin in the game, the heart on your sleeve, the feet on the deck and the eye on the prize…Keep It Up. We are counting on you.
We are counting on you to see us for what we can Become and what we can Achieve. We are counting on you Mr. or Ms. Trainer to Push us when we think we cannot be Pushed any more, to Train us when we think we have been Trained enough, to ask us to Commit to what you are Teaching us and to hold us Accountable for what we do or do not do.
That is what we are asking of you Mr. or Ms. Trainer.
Because if you do not…who will?
And because we have Faith in you Mr. or Ms. Trainer, we will…Try.
Rest assured that we will stumble, we will procrastinate, we will regress, we will start in fits and flubs…and through it all we will be counting on you.
Counting on you to be there to guide and lead. To lead us when we want to quit and remind us what we can become. You never quit on us and that is why we look to you. Because you have Faith.
For if you give up on us, what Hope do we have? If you do not Train us, who will?
Remember that you fill a Role…the most important Role any person can have …the most Respected of all Professions a man or woman can undertake…that of one who Leads and Trains. We ask that you don’t give up on us.
We ask that you…Try. Because we want to be the person that “Gets It” and make everything you do worthwhile.
We are counting on you.
Coaching For Professionals
Several years ago, our local golf course completed an extensive re-model and re-design. At the dedication, Ray Floyd was the celebrity guest of honor. At the time, Ray had been enjoying renewed success in his golfing career. The local newspaper covered the event which included an interview. The answer to one of the questions intrigued me, and formed the basis for this article. The question was, “Ray, what do you contribute your recent successes to?” Ray responded, “I hired a new swing coach and started seeing a golf psychologist. You see, I needed to make certain I was maximizing every aspect of my game, both mental and physical! I needed all I could get from my swing and had to make sure my head was in the right place. These two changes helped me to improve my game and start scoring again.”
From Ray’s comments we can conclude that regardless of experience, abilities or past successes, EVERYONE can benefit from coaching, even your business. Coaching can improve current performance and help move dealerships to their Next Level. A third party, a coach, will see things others do not see, or things that are seen but overlooked, or worse yet, tolerated. A coach can help efficiently maximize an organizations effort.
Many of the dealerships we visit lack structure and processes. Structure is like the golf swing, you need to START correctly in order to finish up where you want. Processes relate to the mental aspect. If a dealership has procedures that are followed as designed, the thought process becomes easier, EVERYONE does the same thing, EVERY TIME. The only time one needs to improvise is when the situation is not clearly defined by a process. When that happens, get help immediately.
Let’s look at each of these elements individually. Proper structure needs to include economic balance in every aspect of your business. Are you selling the right products, are you stocking the right merchandise? Are your grosses in line with others in your area, region or the nation? Are you spending more than you should to generate the sales and grosses you are currently generating? Do you have guidelines for your new and used inventories? Are you paying your people TOO much, or TOO little? Are your pay plans fair to your employees as well as the dealership? Are your goals in writing? Did your management staff have the opportunity to give their input when establishing those goals? How often are the goals reviewed? The more frequent your review of your goals, the more you tend to move toward those goals.
Processes reflect the mental aspects of your business. Everyone needs to be doing the same thing, every time. When a customer walks on your lot, they need to be greeted in a professional and courteous manner, every time. After the customer has been greeted, they need to be escorted to a place where the salesperson can conduct a thorough, fact finding interview, every time. When a customer walks up to your service or parts department, they need to be handled the same way, every time. When a salesperson sits your customer down to negotiate the deal on their new purchase, they need to follow the same process, every time. Simplify the mental parts with processes and improve the score. No one can be exempt, everyone needs to follow the processes, every time.
Processes require ongoing training and discipline. Speaking of training, who does your training, your managers, your top producers? If they are not training, who is? Here is a scary thought, if your sales managers or your top producers are not doing the training that means your BOTTOM producers must be handling it. When you hire new people, what are they learning and who are they learning it from?
A Coach can help an organization with these and other opportunities. When was the last time your dealership had a check up? Is your business on solid ground? How are your processes? Are regular, ongoing training sessions being held? Are ALL employees required to attend? Is your dealership selling what sells, and stocking what is selling. Are your managers involved at all levels, including forecasting? Are your forecast and goals written? Are the forecasts achievable? How frequently are your forecasts reviewed? Do you have a coach, and if not, why?
Dugan Anderson operates Profit Solutions, a Division of RVMax. Dugan is a former dealer and for the past 8 years has been working with RVMax and dealerships across the country, dealing with all aspects of Financial Analysis, Expense control, marketing, training and consulting.
From Ray’s comments we can conclude that regardless of experience, abilities or past successes, EVERYONE can benefit from coaching, even your business. Coaching can improve current performance and help move dealerships to their Next Level. A third party, a coach, will see things others do not see, or things that are seen but overlooked, or worse yet, tolerated. A coach can help efficiently maximize an organizations effort.
Many of the dealerships we visit lack structure and processes. Structure is like the golf swing, you need to START correctly in order to finish up where you want. Processes relate to the mental aspect. If a dealership has procedures that are followed as designed, the thought process becomes easier, EVERYONE does the same thing, EVERY TIME. The only time one needs to improvise is when the situation is not clearly defined by a process. When that happens, get help immediately.
Let’s look at each of these elements individually. Proper structure needs to include economic balance in every aspect of your business. Are you selling the right products, are you stocking the right merchandise? Are your grosses in line with others in your area, region or the nation? Are you spending more than you should to generate the sales and grosses you are currently generating? Do you have guidelines for your new and used inventories? Are you paying your people TOO much, or TOO little? Are your pay plans fair to your employees as well as the dealership? Are your goals in writing? Did your management staff have the opportunity to give their input when establishing those goals? How often are the goals reviewed? The more frequent your review of your goals, the more you tend to move toward those goals.
Processes reflect the mental aspects of your business. Everyone needs to be doing the same thing, every time. When a customer walks on your lot, they need to be greeted in a professional and courteous manner, every time. After the customer has been greeted, they need to be escorted to a place where the salesperson can conduct a thorough, fact finding interview, every time. When a customer walks up to your service or parts department, they need to be handled the same way, every time. When a salesperson sits your customer down to negotiate the deal on their new purchase, they need to follow the same process, every time. Simplify the mental parts with processes and improve the score. No one can be exempt, everyone needs to follow the processes, every time.
Processes require ongoing training and discipline. Speaking of training, who does your training, your managers, your top producers? If they are not training, who is? Here is a scary thought, if your sales managers or your top producers are not doing the training that means your BOTTOM producers must be handling it. When you hire new people, what are they learning and who are they learning it from?
A Coach can help an organization with these and other opportunities. When was the last time your dealership had a check up? Is your business on solid ground? How are your processes? Are regular, ongoing training sessions being held? Are ALL employees required to attend? Is your dealership selling what sells, and stocking what is selling. Are your managers involved at all levels, including forecasting? Are your forecast and goals written? Are the forecasts achievable? How frequently are your forecasts reviewed? Do you have a coach, and if not, why?
Dugan Anderson operates Profit Solutions, a Division of RVMax. Dugan is a former dealer and for the past 8 years has been working with RVMax and dealerships across the country, dealing with all aspects of Financial Analysis, Expense control, marketing, training and consulting.
Customers and Communications…Are You Missing Sales?
The number one area that your Customers would like you to improve in is… Communicating with your Customers.
Most of you reading this would say “We do communicate with our Customers all the time! We call them; we send them emails…why we even have a monthly newsletter that we send out. What more could they possibly want?”
Maybe…just maybe…they might want you to communicate with them the way they like to be communicated with…whaddya think?
Have you asked your Customers this question…”Mr./Ms. Customer, which way would you like me to communicate with you? Do you we contact you by cell phone? Do you prefer we text you? Would you prefer we send you an email? Or is there another form of communication that you would like for us to use?”
Once you have the answer to that question, you need to have people who are Trained to Communicate! And by training your personnel to Communicate they will become better at the one thing that they must be the BEST at in a Dealership…SALES!
“If you are willing to commit to training your entire Fixed Operations team how to effectively communicate with every customer on every phone call and at every visit you are well on your way toward creating a culture of salesmanship within your entire organization.” says Don Reed, CEO of DealerPro Training Solutions.
And that Culture is what is required to be successful and competitive in today’s Dealership.
You must have people who can effectively Communicate and that means you need to do 3 things.
1.Train everyone in Sales, Service and Parts how to answer the phone. It is a skill set like any other. There is a script or word track for just about every conceivable situation. Once they learn the script and begin to use it, it begins to sound natural and they gain confidence. There is nothing worse for a Customer and a Dealership than to have your Customer phone in and get someone who has absolutely no idea how to answer the phone or what to do. It sets the wrong tone and establishes the idea in the Customers mind that they may have made a mistake in choosing you to do business with. And that Customer will remember that experience for a long time. Think they don’t? Have you ever had a Customer start off a conversation with “One time I called here and _______ happened.”?
2.Train your Service Advisors to ask every Service Customer the following. “Mr. /Ms. Customer, what is the best way for us to contact you today?” when they drop it off for Service. The follow up question is “In case I’m having some difficulty getting in contact with you, is there another way or another person I can get in touch with?” These two questions will boost Sales in Service. Why? How many times have your Service Advisors set an RO aside for hours at a time because they could not reach the Customer? And when they finally did get them, it was too late in the day, there were other issues, the Technician was busy doing other work…blah, blah, blah. That leads to a Lost Sale and that leads to Lost Gross.
3.Train your Service Advisors to be investigatory. Investigatory means simply being inquisitive and asking questions. What kind of questions do you ask? Anything that leads to the discovery of more information. Questions in the service drive sound like “Have you had your tires rotated?”…”When was the last time you had ________?”…”Have you noticed any leaks? What color was the fluid?” These questions and others like them, will get you more action items on your Repair Order. At the writeup area you can ask other questions like “I noticed that the last time in we recommended ______ and I don’t see where we have taken care of that yet…is that right?”…These examples of investigatory questions help the Customer get the Best Service Experience and make the Service Advisor more proactive which leads to more Sales. This is the beginning of developing a culture of Salesmanship.
And that leads to a culture of Success.
Communication with the Customer is the key to Service Department Profitability. Training every Service Advisor in phone skills, how to contact the Customer and becoming an Investigator will pave the way on the Road to Success.
Send an email to rheywood@dealerprotraining.com or call 888-553-0100 and find out what your Dealership is capable of with a Profit Potential Analysis. You don’t know until you look.
Most of you reading this would say “We do communicate with our Customers all the time! We call them; we send them emails…why we even have a monthly newsletter that we send out. What more could they possibly want?”
Maybe…just maybe…they might want you to communicate with them the way they like to be communicated with…whaddya think?
Have you asked your Customers this question…”Mr./Ms. Customer, which way would you like me to communicate with you? Do you we contact you by cell phone? Do you prefer we text you? Would you prefer we send you an email? Or is there another form of communication that you would like for us to use?”
Once you have the answer to that question, you need to have people who are Trained to Communicate! And by training your personnel to Communicate they will become better at the one thing that they must be the BEST at in a Dealership…SALES!
“If you are willing to commit to training your entire Fixed Operations team how to effectively communicate with every customer on every phone call and at every visit you are well on your way toward creating a culture of salesmanship within your entire organization.” says Don Reed, CEO of DealerPro Training Solutions.
And that Culture is what is required to be successful and competitive in today’s Dealership.
You must have people who can effectively Communicate and that means you need to do 3 things.
1.Train everyone in Sales, Service and Parts how to answer the phone. It is a skill set like any other. There is a script or word track for just about every conceivable situation. Once they learn the script and begin to use it, it begins to sound natural and they gain confidence. There is nothing worse for a Customer and a Dealership than to have your Customer phone in and get someone who has absolutely no idea how to answer the phone or what to do. It sets the wrong tone and establishes the idea in the Customers mind that they may have made a mistake in choosing you to do business with. And that Customer will remember that experience for a long time. Think they don’t? Have you ever had a Customer start off a conversation with “One time I called here and _______ happened.”?
2.Train your Service Advisors to ask every Service Customer the following. “Mr. /Ms. Customer, what is the best way for us to contact you today?” when they drop it off for Service. The follow up question is “In case I’m having some difficulty getting in contact with you, is there another way or another person I can get in touch with?” These two questions will boost Sales in Service. Why? How many times have your Service Advisors set an RO aside for hours at a time because they could not reach the Customer? And when they finally did get them, it was too late in the day, there were other issues, the Technician was busy doing other work…blah, blah, blah. That leads to a Lost Sale and that leads to Lost Gross.
3.Train your Service Advisors to be investigatory. Investigatory means simply being inquisitive and asking questions. What kind of questions do you ask? Anything that leads to the discovery of more information. Questions in the service drive sound like “Have you had your tires rotated?”…”When was the last time you had ________?”…”Have you noticed any leaks? What color was the fluid?” These questions and others like them, will get you more action items on your Repair Order. At the writeup area you can ask other questions like “I noticed that the last time in we recommended ______ and I don’t see where we have taken care of that yet…is that right?”…These examples of investigatory questions help the Customer get the Best Service Experience and make the Service Advisor more proactive which leads to more Sales. This is the beginning of developing a culture of Salesmanship.
And that leads to a culture of Success.
Communication with the Customer is the key to Service Department Profitability. Training every Service Advisor in phone skills, how to contact the Customer and becoming an Investigator will pave the way on the Road to Success.
Send an email to rheywood@dealerprotraining.com or call 888-553-0100 and find out what your Dealership is capable of with a Profit Potential Analysis. You don’t know until you look.
Not Taking Action Has Consequences
Yesterday I had the privilege of addressing a room of Service Managers and Factory Personnel. And I have to believe that everyone in that room was there to find or gather some new information that would help them take action on something that might be causing them some problems at their Dealerships.
Why would you attend if you had no hope of getting something, right? I hope that everyone one of them got something that they can use right away at their Dealership this week, something they can take action on.
And because I had a long drive home afterwards I started thinking about the consequences of not taking action.
In the Service Department the consequences really multiply quickly.
Lets take a look at John Q. Advisor.
John Q. is a underachiever at ABC Motors. His HPRO is at .9 and his Gross Profit Margin is below 70%. Now, John Q. is not necessarily a bad guy. In fact, he is a likeable and hard-working employee. He comes to work on time and believes he contributing to the overall success of the Service Department.
Johns current performance level is not acceptable. And the consequence of not taking action has verifiable results. Take a look at Johns numbers.
His current HPRO at .9 at the national labor rate of $85.00 an hour equals $76.50 in Gross Labor Sales. His Parts Gross Sales are $61.20 at a 80% parts to labor ratio which adds up to a total of $137.70 per CP Repair Order written. John has been performing at this level for 3 months.
The national average HPRO is 1.5 and by accepting Johns performance it is costing the Dealership money.
How much money?
Adding .6 at $85.00 equals $51.00 in Gross Labor Sales. Factor in the Parts Gross of $40.80 and each RO that John Q. writes is costing the Dealership $91.80 in LOST SALES! John writes an average of 220 CP ROs a month.
That is $20,196.00 per month and over a 3 month period that adds up to $60,588.00! I have to ask you, would you pay any Advisor $20,196.00 extra a month? $252,352 a year?
By not taking action, YOU ARE!
Everyday that John is not Trained and not held Accountable for his performance there is a concrete and verifiable loss. Not only a monetary loss but a performance loss that affects the whole department as well.
Why?
Accepting Johns results sends a message to everyone in the Dealership that a lack of performance is ok and that continued performance at this level is not a concern that needs to be taken care of. In fact John and every employee in the Service Department need not worry about the future. It is secure at ABC Motors.
You know what is worse? John thinks that it’s ok. Should John go to another Dealership for whatever reason, he would soon find himself out of a job, again. Why? Because Underachievers are not tolerated everywhere!
So not only is the Service Manager at ABC Motors costing the Dealership money by not Taking Action, by not Training John, by not holding John Accountable, the Service Manager is perpetuating Poor Performance and Condoning it!
Do you have a John Q. in your store?
Are you suffering the consequences of not taking action? What are you going to do about it!
Why would you attend if you had no hope of getting something, right? I hope that everyone one of them got something that they can use right away at their Dealership this week, something they can take action on.
And because I had a long drive home afterwards I started thinking about the consequences of not taking action.
In the Service Department the consequences really multiply quickly.
Lets take a look at John Q. Advisor.
John Q. is a underachiever at ABC Motors. His HPRO is at .9 and his Gross Profit Margin is below 70%. Now, John Q. is not necessarily a bad guy. In fact, he is a likeable and hard-working employee. He comes to work on time and believes he contributing to the overall success of the Service Department.
Johns current performance level is not acceptable. And the consequence of not taking action has verifiable results. Take a look at Johns numbers.
His current HPRO at .9 at the national labor rate of $85.00 an hour equals $76.50 in Gross Labor Sales. His Parts Gross Sales are $61.20 at a 80% parts to labor ratio which adds up to a total of $137.70 per CP Repair Order written. John has been performing at this level for 3 months.
The national average HPRO is 1.5 and by accepting Johns performance it is costing the Dealership money.
How much money?
Adding .6 at $85.00 equals $51.00 in Gross Labor Sales. Factor in the Parts Gross of $40.80 and each RO that John Q. writes is costing the Dealership $91.80 in LOST SALES! John writes an average of 220 CP ROs a month.
That is $20,196.00 per month and over a 3 month period that adds up to $60,588.00! I have to ask you, would you pay any Advisor $20,196.00 extra a month? $252,352 a year?
By not taking action, YOU ARE!
Everyday that John is not Trained and not held Accountable for his performance there is a concrete and verifiable loss. Not only a monetary loss but a performance loss that affects the whole department as well.
Why?
Accepting Johns results sends a message to everyone in the Dealership that a lack of performance is ok and that continued performance at this level is not a concern that needs to be taken care of. In fact John and every employee in the Service Department need not worry about the future. It is secure at ABC Motors.
You know what is worse? John thinks that it’s ok. Should John go to another Dealership for whatever reason, he would soon find himself out of a job, again. Why? Because Underachievers are not tolerated everywhere!
So not only is the Service Manager at ABC Motors costing the Dealership money by not Taking Action, by not Training John, by not holding John Accountable, the Service Manager is perpetuating Poor Performance and Condoning it!
Do you have a John Q. in your store?
Are you suffering the consequences of not taking action? What are you going to do about it!
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