Ziegler Supersystems, Inc Automobile Dealership Success Plan

A while back, I was addressing a meeting with about sixty Ford Dealers at the Riverside Hilton in New Orleans. Many of the dealers were old friends of mine. I have known some of them for nearly twenty years. During the question and answer session that followed my presentation, one of the most successful and profitable dealers in the room commented that his General Sales Manager had nearly doubled his sales volume and increased the gross per unit retailed by more than $1000 per unit. This was gratifying to me because the manager he was talking about was one of my former consultants as well as one of my best friends. The GSM had installed my program in the dealership.

I knew the answer before I asked the question: I asked the dealer to tell me what it was about this manager that made sales and profits soar this dramatically. His answer was predictable. He said, he trains every day!”

Sadly enough, all of the training most “Green Pea Sales People" get is when some manager locks them in a room with a bunch of videos and says, "Now, don't come out of this room until you are fully trained." The new sales person is forced to sit through some really boring tapes with some marginally qualified guy talking in vague generalities and a basic kindergarten-level car sales curriculum in an expressionless dull monotone.

Even more sadly, that is all of the training sales people will ever get. And it is amazing to note, almost nobody retrains experienced sales people. These are the people who need it the most! This is called a cognitive rehabilitation!

When we set up a program in a dealership, we always want to be sure the sales department has an ongoing training program in place with a full-time trainer, if possible. Now, I realize every dealership isn't large enough to have a full-time trainer on staff so that duty falls directly on the sales manager, who is already overloaded with other projects.

Well, first of all, training doesn't need to grind on for hours and hours on end. As a matter of fact, the best precision training takes place in fifteen minutes bites. Remember the old adage that you can't eat an elephant in one bite but you can eat an elephant.

We sell a training guide titled, “101 Sales Training Meetings”. Every sales manager needs this book written personally by James A. Ziegler. 101 Sales Training Meetings features Roman numeral notes in an outline form for 101 different 15 minute sales training meetings. You can purchase 101 Sales Training Meetings online or call 800-726-0510 between 9-5 Eastern Time.

Every meeting should feature a different training subject. One day you train on negotiating but the next day you train on word tracks to say to the customer in overcoming difficult standard objections. Most sales managers seem to get caught up in the rut of teaching “Penciling the Deal” classes over and over again.

“Role-Play” is also extremely important. I have invented a role-play format I call “Round Robin Role-Play”. I divide the sales people up into groups of two or three to a table and then I put an example deal situation on the board. One of them is the sales person in the role-play, one is the manager and one is the customer. Once the deal is explained they start role-playing working that deal, each taking one turn as the manager, the sales person and as the customer. By the time all three have played every role, they fully understand how to work that scenario of deal. This is a great way to role–play because they get to correct each other and see how other sales people might work that deal. During the role-plays I am walking from table to table listening in for a few minutes and then, moving on to the next. This allows every sales person to stay active and alert through the whole role-play.

Round Robin Role-Play also works well on walk-around (Customer Trade-In Evaluation surveys) presentation skills. It works the same way. We get ten or more cars lined up on the lot or in the showroom and then we, once again, divide the sales force into groups of three. Each one presents the features and benefits of the car or truck to the other two and then they move on to the next unit and start over. They correct and learn a lot from each other and, more importantly, they stay involved and alert throughout the training process.

In all role-plays, I sprinkle in the Seasoned Pros with the Green Peas to get a balance . Never exempt the “Old Pros” from training. Everybody needs to train every day. This is key to staying on your game!

At the beginning of each month publish a detailed training schedule on a block calendar and post it and give it to everyone. It shows what manager will be teaching and what the sales people need to study in advance. Nobody is exempt from scheduled training. If a scheduled sales person catches a customer when training is scheduled we will turn the deal to another sales person who is not scheduled for that session.

Of course, the very best way to train sales people and managers together, all at once, is to bring in Ziegler Supersystems consultants. We have incredible results when we split the sales force and managers in two sessions a day for four days. We split up everyone into a morning or afternoon session. If my trainers visit a dealership for four days once a quarter…we’ll get you the numbers immediately…with great volume…high gross per unit and exceptional customer satisfaction all in the same package.

This is absolutely the best in-dealership training for sales people and managers available anywhere. Let us install the Ziegler Supersystem in your store. You want references? We’ll give you thousands of people to call, not one or two set-up referrals…we check out very strong.

Not only will Ziegler consultants perform classroom training, they will also work on the sales floor, the sales desk and in the F&I office, shoulder-to-shoulder with your managers and salesmen.

See our in-store dealership sales training curriculum on our website to find out what we do or call our offices anytime between 9-5 EST at (800) 726-0510 for a free information kit.

You can contact Jim at [email protected]