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In a high-energy and competitive sales environment, it can be difficult to recognize when it is necessary to strengthen your sales force strategy. It doesn’t have to be that way. It is crucial for sales-driven companies to understand the challenges that can sneak up on their team and how to combat them. Training a team, much like exercising, must be a continuous tactic for strengthening a team and determining the success of their sales force.
Tips for a Strong Sales Team
Sales training is a crucial component of empowerment. To that end, identifying weaknesses in your sales team and arming your team with tools and concepts they can use to improve are important in helping to ensure
success. Here are five things that you can do to help strengthen your sales force.
Do you know your sales team?
◦ Do you ever feel like you are speaking to a brick wall when trying to groom a salesperson into what you want him or her to be? You’ve tried several ways to explain the “right” way to do something, only to find that he or she doesn’t succeed, even with coaching. The problem might lie in hiring the right person, but for the wrong job.
◦ Team profiling helps you understand who the top performers are, what roles they should be in, and where you need to optimize existing strengths.
Stop wasting time and precious resources trying to fit a square peg where it doesn’t fit.
Are you communicating the “right” information?
◦ Have you ever said to your sales or service team: “We need to increase sales by 30 percent this month”? What does that mean to the team, and to each individual?
◦ Establish specific goals for your sales team. Whether long-term or short-term goals, document and define the desired goals for your team and outline how those goals should be achieved. Don’t write the goals on the wall and walk away; revisit them regularly to ensure everyone is working toward the same set of goals at all times.
Is your approach the problem?
◦ Is it a drag to come into work every day because you know you’re going to spend your day correcting everyone’s mistakes? Perhaps you’re taking the wrong approach—spinning your wheels on an approach that simply isn’t working.
◦ Motivation matters. Any general manager, sales manager or service manager who is knowledgeable, motivating, and engaging can make the difference between seeing a vast improvement in sales and witnessing dissension among the ranks. Create an environment filled with positivity and energy. That environment starts with you. People are motivated in different ways; experiment and find what works best for your team.
Is your training strategy a “once-a-quarter” event?
◦ EFG knows training—our experts in The Transcend Group are the first step in getting your team on the right track. We can show up and train your sales force, but what really matters is you ensuring that training doesn’t stop there.
◦ Training is an everyday activity. Concentrate on those who need it most, but don’t neglect reinforcing the lesson to top performers as well. Be brilliant at the basics, make sure lower-performing sales reps do the basic steps “right” every time.
“Build value in the product.” “Slow the customer down.” We’re sure you’ve said something like this. But did you tell the salesperson HOW?
◦ Be specific in your feedback. Don’t just say, “Don’t do that” without also explaining how to do something correctly. Teach your team about the products and services you offer, and also teach them why those products and services are valuable to customers. Show them by doing.
Learn more about tools you can use to strengthen your sales force strategy by contacting The Transcend Group today. Visit our website, call us at 877-884-6661, or join our social communities for more information.
Special thanks to Steve Klees, our Senior Vice President of Specialty Channels, and Chuck McGraw, our Senior Vice President of The Transcend Group, for co-authoring this blog.
A study done in February 2011 by the National Endowment for Financial Education shows that close to 50% of taxpayers planned to use their tax refund to pay down debt, and another 44% planned to save their refund. Indeed, today’s economic climate moves consumers to be far more cautious about how they spend their refunds, and will only spend that money on what they deem to be a smart investment.
While some may view this as a challenge to auto dealers seeking to use tax season to leverage sales, this is a great time to educate your consumers about the value of a new automobile as a smart investment in themselves or their family.
Tax Refund Marketing: Is It Enough?
Auto dealers understand that cars fall into the “smart investment” category. They also understand that tax season may be the only time of year when consumers will have access to a substantially large chunk of cash that can be spent on a vehicle.
However, with one out of five Americans suffering from poor credit, those consumers aren’t willing to take the risk of buying a car with their tax refund and still accruing a large monthly payment as a result of that purchase. As a result, many dealers are finding out that it’s simply not enough to market the use of the tax refund as a viable purchasing option to potential buyers.
Trade-ins AND Refunds Go Hand–in-Hand
The key for auto dealers is to educate consumers about the value of investing in a new car using both their tax refund AND a trade-in. A marketing strategy that helps the consumer understand their smart investing options will pave the way for willing buyers to take the plunge and make that new car their investment.
How then, does the dealership market to the potential tax refund car buyer who is looking for a wise investment and who needs a new vehicle, but is hesitant about trading in? Here are some points to consider when constructing an effective auto dealership marketing campaign and conveying the message to potential buyers:
- The buyer’s trade-in will never be worth more than what it is today. The longer a customer has their vehicle, the older is gets and the more miles they’re putting on it. So the longer they wait to trade-in a vehicle, the less they will get from it.
- There is a lack of used cars being traded-in for new cars these days, so there is a good chance that the dealership will accept the trade-in.
- The more a buyer puts down toward the purchase of a new car, the lower their payments will be, so adding a trade-in to their tax refund as a down payment will greatly lower their monthly rates. This is especially important for buyers with bad or no credit to know, because their main concern is most likely the high payments that may come from purchasing a new car.
- Now is the time to take advantage of low interest rates. As the economy recovers from a difficult recession period, interest rates on auto loans begin to climb. All car buyers, even those whose credit has taken a beating in recent years, who have a good down payment and a trade-in are at an advantage now to purchase a new vehicle with low-interest financing.
- Tax season can be a time for auto dealerships to leverage sales, provided that the right sales strategy is used to reach out to consumers looking to make a smart investment with their tax return.
Learn more about auto dealership marketing strategies to leverage sales during tax season. Please contact us today or join our social communities for more information.