Digital Dealer - December 2017 - 17

service representatives.
No half-hearted efforts
any more. Full throttle
forward in the direction of
a well-oiled professional
machine. Excellence is
doing the right things
when no one is watching.
Earn respect, sharpen
skills, whatever you do -
get better at it. Develop a
spirit of total team excellence in your dealership
and watch your potential
begin to increase speed.
The most basic foundation for selling vehicles, is
building relationships with
your customers. If you
don't believe this, stop
reading this article and
head back out to coerce
and hammer on another
fresh-up. However, if
you're one of the many
dealerships to embrace
this concept, behavioral
profiling may be the missing link. Several years
ago, customer relationship software was touted
as the key to building and
keeping relationships,
and it's taken most of that
time for people to realize
CRM software is only a
10% part of the solution.
CRM is there to facilitate
and help your people and
processes. The missing
link, however, was, and
continues to be, the human element, and more
importantly, modifiable
interpersonal communication.
So, here's the solution:
train your sales staff to
identify their own and
each customer's behavioral profile and adjust
their message accordingly. If they can effectively,
in a repeatable manner,
practice active listening

and message modification, everything will
increase! Sales will go up
because more leads will
be converted to completed deals. Gross margins
will increase because the
focus of conversation will
be moved off the topic
of price and onto the
relationship part of the
business. And CSI will go
through the roof because
customers will be sold
directly at the level they
are comfortable buying.
Shed a few paradigms.
It has become such a
cliché for management to

hanced skill and psychology training and with the
market increasing, you're
going to need people at
their full potential. Invest
in your people and they
will invest in themselves,
in management and the
dealership. You also
have to then empower
them to make decisions
in order to get things
done. I like to say if it
doesn't burn the store
down, break the law, hurt
anyone and we would be
proud of it on the front
page of our newspaper,
then just make the deci-

DEVELOP A SPIRIT
OF TOTAL TEAM
EXCELLENCE IN
YOUR DEALERSHIP
AND WATCH YOUR
POTENTIAL BEGIN TO
INCREASE SPEED."
claim that 'our employees
are our greatest asset.'
Yet, much to the dismay
of most employees, the
effort management puts
forth into developing this
valuable 'human capital'
continues to be seen as
an expense and not as an
investment. It's time for
you to turn this around.
Start looking at your training programs as if they
were capital investments.
Develop your very own
'in-house' training solution
and deliver it consistently twice a month using
new enhanced material.
Don't just settle for the
'same old stuff,' make it
purposeful and clear. At
a time when there are
so many exciting new
developments in en-

sion. Empowerment, what
a great word.
"There is no man living
who isn't capable of doing
more than he thinks he
can do." -Henry Ford
As a leader, you must
practice over and over
what to say to describe
where you're taking your
people. After you've
found the right words,
stick with them in emails,
in sales and management meetings and in
general conversations
with the team. Solve the
mystery of how we are
going to grow the store by
reinforcing and understanding that all the small
process elements which
when unified as one unit
will take the store and its
people to the next level

of growth and success.
Remember in the movie
The Patriot when the Red
Coats are coming down
the road holding one of
Mel Gibson's sons hostage? Mel Gibson faces
his two young scared
sons and on bended knee
hands each a rifle then
gives them very quick
instructions as to how to
shoot the red coat officers
coming down the lane;
"remember, aim small,
miss small." He then
looks them in the eyes
and says one simple yet
profound command to his
sons...Steady. I love the
way that single word conjures up all the multitude
of lessons he could have
given them yet he knew
that this word steady said
it all. So, I say to you,
Steady.
Choose your road
wisely and navigate well.
We can no more afford
to spend major time on
minor things than we
can to spend minor time
on major things. Keep
your eyes on the road
especially when you are
accelerating and striving
to reach the full potential
you are capable of. Need
a map for reaching your
dealership's full potential?
Send me an email and
request 'The Map.' Keep
both hands on the wheel!
"Half of Knowledge is
Knowing Where to find It"
- Ben Franklin
CHUCK BARKER is President & Founder of Impact
Marketing & Consulting
Group, located in Virginia.
EMAIL: Chuck@impactgroupcrm.com

D I G I TA L D E A L E R . C O M

DECEMBER 2017

17
http://www.DIGITALDEALER.COM
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Digital Dealer - December 2017
