How To Set & Sell Owner Marketing Appointments – PART 7

 

How To Set and Sell Owner Marketing Appointments – PART 7

TRANSCRIPT: Let’s talk about activities for a minute because this is what is going to drive your results. See, in every dealership in the country, I look up on a wall, in either the salesroom or the sales tower and there’s this results board, right? It shows checkmarks, slashes for half deals, X’s for full deals, and it keeps track of your results throughout the month. Results boards are fine, but you’ve got to start driving activities. If you’re a sales manager, work on the activities. If you’re a sales person, work on your own activities.

Ask yourself, “Do I want to sell 30 cars this month?” Let’s say you’re not normally a 30 car a month salesperson. Let’s say you’re normally a 12 car a month person, but you want to sell 30 next month. So, on the ninth of the month, you look at your results board and you’ve got eight out. That’s a lot, right? Especially for a, normally, 12 car a month person. Are you on track to sell 30? What do you think you’re on track for? When I ask this in training sessions, I get all kinds of answers. I get 25, 27, 30, because you’re going end the month strong, right?

Let me tell you what you are on track for. It’s the ninth of the month and you’ve got eight out and you’re looking at your results board and see that. You’re on track to sell 12. You really are. See, I said you are normally a 12 car a month person, and when you work off of your results, weird things happen. This is automotive. It happens all the time.

I’ve seen it happen again and again and again, and it’s this: it’s the ninth of the month and I’ve got eight out – “I got this month licked. Wow. I’m gonna sell 30 this month easy.” And, I start to kick back a little bit and I start to qualify. I see an Up on the lot and I think, it’s a little hot out there. I’ll let somebody else take that tire kicker, besides I’m gonna sell 30.” Maybe I get brown bottle flu for a week, I don’t know, but here’s what happens; around the 22nd of the month, I look up and now I’ve got ten out, right? I sold eight the first nine days of the month and since then I’ve only sold two? It happens. It happens more often than anyone would care to admit. Now I scramble and in the last eight days of the month I sell two more and I make my 12. Now, the universe is right and everything is balanced in the universe, because a 12 car a month guy, me, got my 12 cars.

See, you need to manage your activities and quit worrying about your results. If you’ll do the activities, the results will take care of themselves. So, let’s talk about this. You say, “Steve, yeah, I’m not normally a 30 car a month person. I want to sell 30 cars next month. How do I sell 30 cars next month?”

Well, I’m going to ask you, “How many quality outbound calls are you willing to make each day? How many quality outbound calls are you willing to make each week, and how many quality outbound calls are you willing to make next month?” Are you willing to try to collect 100% of the email addresses of everybody who walks onto the lot? Are you willing to try to collect 100% of the phone numbers for everybody who Up on the lot?

See, you’ve got to get that information into the CRM so you can make these phone calls to these people and I’m going to give you the math. If you will make 1000 quality calls next month, you will sell 30 cars. That’s my guarantee. Somebody says, “Uh, Steve, I thought you were serious about selling 30 cars. I can’t make 1000 calls!” Sure you can. I’ll give you the math in a minute but, remember, this is math – it isn’t magic. So, some of you are thinking, “Steve, I don’t have a thousand people to try to talk to.”

I’m not talking about calling 1000 people. If we’re talking about owner marketing appointments, I’m really talking about calling 200 – 250 people next month. But I have to call them four or five times each because I’m going to get voicemail. See, when I said 1000 quality calls, I didn’t mean talking to 1000 people. I’m going to get voicemail 900 times next month. Anywhere between 800 and 900 times I’m going to get voicemail, but if I leave a quality voicemail; if I do the voicemail the right way, I’ll generate calls back. I’ll get calls back from people wanting to try to sell me their vehicle.

So, I’ll probably only talk to about 100 people next month, and I’m only going to set 50 appointments that show out of those 100 people. Remember the math from earlier? The AVERAGE sales person closes 60% of their owner marketing appointments that show. So, even if I’m average, I’m going to sell 30 of those 50 appointments that show next month.

“Okay, Steve, I see how THAT math works but I still don’t have time to make 1000 calls a month”. Yes, you do, and I’m going to prove it to you. The number we are talking about is not 1000. The number is 50. I’m going to need you to make 50 quality calls each weekday times 20 weekdays in a month. That equals your 1000 calls.

“Okay, Steve. You expect me to make 50 calls every weekday?” Yes, I do, and here’s how you’re going to do it. Between 8:30 and 11:00 every weekday – that’s two and a half hours, the average dealer in America, on a weekday, is getting zero, one or two Ups and that’s it. We’re not counting appointments, just Ups. From 8:30 till 11:00 let somebody else take those Ups and make your calls. Of those 50 calls, 45 times you’re going to get voicemail. Spend 15 seconds leaving a great voicemail, take another minute and 45 seconds to put good notes in the CRM, something like, “left third voicemail” and go to the next call. I’ll only talk to five people and I’m not going to spend eleven, twelve or twenty minutes on the phone.

If I do the call the right way, and I ask for the appointment right away, and I say, “Mr. Jones, its Steve Stauning, calling from Stauning Jeep. Now, I know this may sound a little strange but my general manager wanted me to call you today because we’ve got a buyer and an immediate need for your 2012 Cherokee. Now, I don’t know if you would be willing to sell it or not but I’ve got two appointments open for appraisals on Cherokees this afternoon. I’ve got a 12:15 and a 12:45, which of these works better for you?”

That call should last about two to three minutes, at the most. Even if I give you another three minutes to put great notes in the CRM, make your appointment folder, etc., I’m only talking about 30 minutes a day of talking to people and another 90 minutes of leaving voice messages.

Do the math. That’s two hours a day. Every single salesperson watching this video today has two hours every weekday. You have two hours where you have your hands in your pockets, sitting outside smoking, or doing whatever else that is not making you any money. Start driving the activities. Make yourself make the phone calls and the results will come.