1. Golf swings begin and end in the mind. pg.8.bizAugust 2003Don ElliottAuctions Make the Market How to Hirethe Best Person for the JobBack to theBasics of AdvertisingPERMIT NO 879LOUISVILLE KYYou Can Be a Top Performer PAID Louisville, KY 40202Managers Evaluation: US POSTAGEPRSRT STDSuite 202 756 South 1st StreetSuccessful Leadership, Part 1

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MENU SELLING SYSTEM Present 100% of your products 100% of the time!Taught By Becky Chernek Sponsored By Jim Ziegler & Ziegler Supersystems, Inc.Ziegler has the best trainersthe best in-dealership Virginia Beach, VA Aug 12 - 14programs, the strongest, longest lasting results and the best man- Atlanta, GASept 16 - 18agement seminars. Our stuff works in any size market or dealership.Kansas City, MO Oct 14 - 16 San Antonio, TXNov 11 - 13 Las Vegas, NV Dec 9 - 11Visit our Web site and seriously check us out. Call all ofour references and check out our competitors. Not justthe few selected references theyll give you, but checkit all out thoroughly. Make a hundred calls.Go ahead knock yourself out!We can stand the scrutiny and most of our com-petitors would be hard-pressed to back up theirclaims with real numbers in real dealerships likewe do.If youre not doing atleast $2,800 a car, Stop listening to excuses and make the call right now!T IMSAOTEL T HE UL ES I NAPROF S ALES Serieseo Vid oday!Call T 0-90471-800-610-9047-61 1-800 www.zieglersupersystems.com 3. managerI N S I D Edriventeam operationuccessrevenue automobil 4 Eliminate Enemies of Success and Happinesssolutions Brian Tracy 5 The Hustle David Thomas 6 How to Hire the Best Person for the JobPam Hollowayprofitprofessional 7 No Stress Selling Fran Taylor 8 Dont Hit It at the TargetBrian Manzellasales10 Recruiting Better Sales PeopleTony Ray Munson11 Back to the Basics of AdvertisingRob Mudd12 Is Your Life Dying From Making a Living Leo Weidner13 You Can Be a Top Performer Mark Tewart14 The New Guy: Action PlanSteve Hiatt16 Auctions Make the Market Don Elliott18 Nuisance Charges Jeff Blackey19 Maximize Your Opportunities WithCredit-Challenged Customers Kevin Smith20Auto Technicians Income AdvantagesRyan Tithof21The Return on Your Investment With Good SecurityBernard Boule22Managers Evaluation: Successful Leadership, Part 1Joe Verde26Customer Development Center vs.Sales Person Development Center Terry L. Isaac27Tremendous Increase In Increments of OneTimothy Gilbert A cure wont just save children. Mary Tyler Moore It will save childhoods.International ChairmanThese kids live with 4-6 insulin injectionsdaily. Plus, they face the threat of blindness,heart attack, kidney failure and amputation.Their only hope is research. The JuvenileDiabetes Research Foundation is closer thanever to nding a cure. Help us help them. Call1.800.533.CURE or visit www.jdrfe.orgdedicated to finding a cure inventoryPatrick Luck, Editor & Publisher Success Driven Solutions pat@autosuccess.bizSusan Goodman, VP of Operations susan@autosuccess.bizLindsay Porter, Copy Editor756 South 1st Street, Suite 202 lindsay@autosuccess.biz Louisville, Kentucky 40202Amy Stuber, Advertising Services Mgr. amy@autosuccess.biz Toll Free: 877.818.6620 Jeffrey Kemelgor, Advertising Services jeff@autosuccess.bizFacsimile: 502.588.3170 Thomas Williams, Creative Director dealerGod Bless America Web: autosuccess.biz thomas@autosuccess.bizAutoSuccess Magazine is published monthly at 756 South First Street, Suite 202, Louisville, Kentucky, 40202; 502.588.3155, fax 502.588.3170. Direct all subscription and customer service inquiries to 877.818.6620 orinfo@autosuccess.biz. Subscription rate is $75 per year. AutoSuccess welcomes unsolicited editorials and graphics (not responsible for their return). 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Printed in the USA.Postmaster: Send address changes to AutoSuccess Magazine, 756 South First Street, Suite 202, Louisville, Kentucky 40202. 4. leadership solutionBrianBrian TracyBy TracyEliminate Enemiesof Success and Happiness The greatest sometimes in a matter of minutes or eventhat sounds good, even though you enemies of success seconds.know that you were an active agent in and happiness arewhatever occurred. You often create negative emotions. Stop justifying.complex ways of putting yourself in the Negative emotionsThe rst of the four root causes of right by explaining that your behavior hold you down, negative emotions is justication. Youwas really quite acceptable, all thingstire you out and take away all your joy can be negative only as long as you can considered. Rationalization keeps yourin life. Negative emotions, from thejustify to yourself and others that you negative emotions alive. Rationalizationbeginning of time, have done more harmare entitled to be angry or upset for someand justication always require that youto individuals and societies than all the reason. This is why angry people aremake someone or something else theplagues of history. continually explaining and elaboratingsource or cause of your problem. You caston the reasons for their negative feelings. yourself in the role of the victim, and youOne of your most important goals, if youHowever, if you cannot justify your make the other person or organizationwant to be truly happy and successful, is negativity, you cannot be angry.into the oppressor or the bad guy.to free yourself from negative emotions.Fortunately, you can do this if you learn Refuse to Rise above the opinions of others.how. The negative emotions of fear, rationalize and make excuses. The third cause of negative emotionsself-pity, envy, jealousy, inferiorityThe second cause of negative emotions is an over concern or a hypersensitivityand anger are mostly caused by four is rationalization. When you rationalize, about the way other people treat you. Forfactors. Once you identify and remove you attempt to give a socially acceptablesome people, their entire self-image isthese factors from your thinking, yourexplanation for an otherwise socially determined by the way other people speaknegative emotions stop automatically. unacceptable act. You rationalize to to them, talk to or about them, or look atWhen your negative emotions stop, the explain away or put a favorable light onthem. They have little sense of personalpositive emotions of love, peace, joy and something that you have done that you value or self-worth apart from theenthusiasm ow in to replace them, andfeel bad or unhappy about. You excuse opinions of others. If those opinions areyour whole life changes for the better, your actions by creating an explanation negative for any reason, real or imagined,the victim immediately experiencesanger, embarrassment, shame, feelingsof inferiority, depression, self-pity and/orPROFIT...FROM despair. This explains why psychologistssay that almost everything you do is to YOUR earn the respect of others or at least toavoid losing their respect.ARCHITECTURERealize thatno one else is responsible. Over 300 new and renovated The fourth cause of negative emotions, dealerships designed acrossand the worst of all, is blaming. Imagine USA and Canada negative emotion as a tree. The trunk ofOn-site Facility Design the tree is the propensity to blame otherpeople for your problems. Once you cutSurveying down the trunk of the tree, all the fruits ofFeasibility Studies the tree (all the other negative emotions)Inclusive Design Meetings withdie immediately, just as the lights go outmanagement team instantly when you jerk the plug out ofIncreased CSI scores and profit the socket that lights up the bulbs on aper transaction Christmas tree. The antidote for negativeConsulting to local emotions is for you to accept completeresponsibility for your situation. Youarchitects andcannot say the words, I am responsiblecontractors and still feel angry. The very act ofDesign - Buildaccepting responsibility short-circuitsServicesand cancels out any negative emotionsa praxis3 companyyou may be experiencing. 866.856.6791 Brian Tracy is the Chairman & CEO ofjmargaretten@praxis3.com miguel@praxis3.com Brian Tracy International. He can becontacted at 858.481.2977, or by emailat btracy@autosuccess.biz, or visitwww.mastersalesskills.com. 4autosuccess.biz 5. sales tips with David Thomas DavidByThomasDavid Thomas The HustleWhat does it takebest car sales people on the planet. He Hustle is getting the order, becauseto be really great went from sales personto managerto you got there rst or stayed with itin car sales? Thats dealerto dealer group owner in 15 after everyone gave up.the million-dollar fast years. He was a huge motivator and Hustle is shoe leather and elbowquestion everyoneteacher to all and inspired many associatesgrease and sweat and missing lunch.wants to know. to reach new heights. His philosophy was Hustle is getting prospects to say simple. Roberts reason for living was yes after theyve said no twentyIs it detailed product knowledge? Yes. God, family and selling cars, in that order. times.Is it a professional appearance? Yes. Is itHe was great at all three. Hustle is doing more unto a customeran outgoing personality? Yes. Is it yourthan the other guy is doing unto them.clothing? Yes. Is it your product? Yes. Is Robert died in a plane crash on the way Hustle is believing in yourself andit your location? Yes. Is it your dealers back from a dealer meeting in Las Vegas. the business youre in.reputation? Yes. I think about him and the hustle often and Hustle is the sheer joy of winning. see if I am living up to his expectations. Hustle is being the sorest loser inAll of these contribute to your success. He died a winner in life and in sales. I hopetown.But, if you really want to know, there I can say the same. Examine yourself and Hustle is hating to take a vacation,is one magic ingredient that will make see if you have the hustle.because you might miss a piece of theor break you: the hustle. It is the action.difference between selling ve a month The following exemplies what Robert Hustle is heaven if youre a hustler.or 20 a month. It is the difference betweenwas all about. This was printed in the Hustle is hell if youre not.making a paycheck or a great living. It is eulogy at Roberts funeral. HG88the difference between a great career anda job. What is hustle? David Thomas is the Owner of West Hustle is doing something that Texas Nissan in Odessa, TX. He can beRobert Fry was a great friend and mentoreveryone is absolutely certain cant becontacted at 866.429.6803, or by emailto me for many years. He was one of the done.at dthomas@autosuccess.biz. HOW TO EASILY SELL MORE VEHICLESFOR MORE GROSS PROFIT THIS MONTH! Tewart Enterprises Inc. offers the most advanced, results oriented, college-level, custom training available today. We guarantee an increase in sales and gross profit or your money will be refunded! WE OFFER THE FOLLOWING TRAINING: Management Phone Skills Basic SalesNegotiating/Closing/Desking Advanced Sales Customer ServiceLet our clients tell you what they think!P.S. FREE Newsletter! Go to www.tewart.com & click on newsletter.For FREE Consultation:866.429.6844or 513.932.9526august 20035 6. leadership solutionPam HollowayBy Pam Holloway How to Hirethe Best Person for the Job Consider this, a candidate for a sales position. Tell me 3. What strategies do you use to any question a about a time when you had to workrepeat the customers key concepts job applicant canunder stress. In order to answer this,back to him/her during your sales answer yes orthe applicant must go back in his/herpresentation? no to probably memory and relive the experience. If he/ 4. Tell me about a time when youwont give you quality information. she shows signs of reliving the stress, youovercame your own mental block orBehavioral-based questions, on the otherknow immediately that this is a person prejudices to make a sale.hand, provide you with key informationwho might not work well under pressure.5. Tell me about a sales incentiveon how well the person is likely to If the applicant shows any emotion at allprogram that motivated you.perform the job.in answer to that question, it indicates 6. How do you try to show eachthat he/she has difculty shrugging offcustomer that he/she is important?These questions begin with somethingemotion. Thus, he/she might not handle 7. Tell me about your worst customerlike, Tell me about a time when... or rejection well.dilemma and how you overcame it?Describe how you... Why are theyeffective? Because, behavioral questionsSample behavior-based interview questions:Adaptability:are based on a simple, yet powerful General: 1. Tell me about a time when youpremise the best predictor of future1. What did (or do) you enjoy most worked effectively under pressure.behavior is past behavior.about your last (or present) job?2. Tell me about a time when you had2. What did (or do) you enjoy leastto adjust your working style in orderIf you remained cool under pressure inabout your last (or present) job?to achieve your objectives.a difcult situation in the past, theres a 3. How has your previous experience3. Give an example of a situationgood chance youll react the same way equipped you for this job? in which you failed, and how youwhen you face one in the future. If you 4. Why did you leave your last job handled it.were able to change an angry customer (or why do you want to leave yourinto a happy customer in the past,present job)? Decision-making & problem solving:chances are you will use that skill and 5. Of all the work you have done,1. Tell me about a difcult decisionrepeat that behavior in the future. where have you been the most you had to make. What made itsuccessful?difcult? What did you learn?Rather than asking a job applicant6. What can you do for us that 2. Tell me about a time when youdirectly if he/she has a particular skill someone else cannot? had to make a decision without allor trait (to which he/she would almost7. How can we best reward you forthe information you needed. Howassuredly answer yes), in behavioraldoing a good job?did you handle it?interviewing, you ask applicants to 8. What kind of supervisor is likelytell you of a specic time when theyto get the best performance out ofCommunication:demonstrated the particular skill or traityou? 1. Tell me about a time when youyoure looking for or when they dealt 9. What would your greatestdid your best to resolve a customerwith the kind of situations that occur in business champion say about you? or client concern and the person stillyour business.10. What would your greatest wasnt satised. What did you do?adversary say about you? 2. Tell me about a time when youThe best behavioral questions will help 11. What was the biggest success oflost (or won) an important contractyou elicit these three critical pieces of your career? or sale.information:12. What is the one thing that you 3. Relate a personal story in which1. The situation or task What was itwould have done differently in youryou persuaded someone to dothey needed to accomplish?career?something that initially did not2. Action taken What did they do? 13. Describe the best person you everappeal to them.3. Results achieved Whatworked for or who worked for you?happened? What were the results?Goal setting:Specic skill: 1. Give me an example of anYou can also use behavioral questions to 1. Tell me about a time when youimportant goal that you set, and telluncover red ags something about the demonstrated __________ skill.me how you reached it.applicant that may make them a bad t2. What steps did you take? Whatfor the job. Listen closely to how people Sales: obstacles did you encounter? Howdescribe their thoughts and actions in 1. Show me how you would sell medid you overcome the obstacles?specic situations. Look for behavioron our product or service.3. Tell me about a goal that you setthat you wouldnt want duplicated. 2. What strategies do you employthat you did not reach. What steps for nding common ground with did you take? What obstacles didFor example, lets say youre interviewing customers?you encounter? continued on page 28 6autosuccess.biz 7. sales and training solutionFran Fran Taylor By Taylor No Stress SellingStress comes fromHere are a few ways to incoming calls a day, and get on thenot selling cars eliminate stress in automotive sales.phone until you have a minimum of oneand not doing theHave written goals. How many carsconrmed appointment a day. Go outright things on ado you want to sell, and how muchand prospect every day, and hand outdaily basis. Itscommission do you want to make oncards with a $100 referral on the back.your choice to beeach vehicle sold? Thats 4.76 per (Check the laws, and make sure this issuccessful. Its your choice to sell a lot week if you want to deliver 20 a month.legal in your state.) Stick with this dailyof cars and make a lot of money or justYour goal should be to sell at least one plan, and you will sell more cars.simply get by. car a day. You need at least one to twoWhen you have a qualied customer,slow down to go fast. Be excited on yourmeet and greet. Make a million dollarpresentation. Go on a long demo ride, andget the people to like you and the vehicle.If you go on a short demo and try to sella $25,000 vehicle going only ve miles,thats stress. There is no value built onthat demo ride, and you are selling pricealone. There goes gross, which equalsstress.When you come back from a demo, doa walk-through of the service departmentbefore you write-up your customer. Sellyourself with an, I come free with thedeal attitude. Customers love the servicewalk and like you better, because youshow you care.Stress comes from shortcutting the stepsof a sale and thinking you can make bigmoney.Discipline yourself to form a dailyroutine to make appointments, take ups,take incoming calls, have goals and notshortcut the steps of a sale. That meansless stress, because you will becomemore successful than the sales peoplewith no plan. This is more fun, becauseyou stay busy compared to sales peoplejust waiting for ups.If there are seven sales people waitingoutside a dealership. Who gets the upout of the seven? Is it the fastest guy?Does it depend on what type of car pullsup? That is stressful. Go make it happen.Have a plan every single day, and stick toit. Your stress will virtually disappear. Itsyour choice. Make that choice today; itwill affect you and others you care aboutin a positive way, because you are doingwhat is right. You will have more fun andmake more money with a plan. And, mostof all, you will eliminate stress.Fran Taylor is the President and CEOof Taylor Techniques, Inc. He can becontacted at 866.873.0041, or by emailat ftaylor@autosuccess.biz.august 2003 7 8. golf tipsBrian By Brian ManzellaManzellaDont Hit It at the Target Lets start with thecloses to the target as the club swings hit the outside of the back of the ball to single most basic to the nish. For a dead straight shot to start the ball left and play their slice. element of making occur, the clubface contacts the inside- the ball go towardback of the ball with the face slightly picture 2 the target. Where open and carries the ball with it fordoes the clubface have to be at impact toalmost an inch. The ball rebounds off themake the ball go straight to the ag? Theclubface when the face is square (picturequick and easy response is square, but 2). The ball ies straight at the targetjust as it looks like the sun rotates around while the clubface closes as the golferthe earth, it is an illusion.swings to the nish.The golf club is made of metal or anotherThere are two more points to consider:very hard surface. It is traveling, even for because the clubhead starts the swingaverage players, near or more than 100 on or near the ground, it also goes up asmph with a driver. The ball is made of it goes back. Additionally, because thea synthetic, rubber-like substance thatgolfer stands to the side of the ball, theis elastic. When they collide, the ballclubhead also goes in toward the golferdeforms on the face of the club and is as it moves away from address. Thiscarried along by the speeding clubhead means that from the top of the swingfor nearly an inch (picture 1). When the back down to the swings lowest pointball separates from the clubface, the(when the clubface would be square,clubface is nearly always in a different normally), the clubhead is travelingalignment with the target than it was at downward and outward toward theimpact.inside back of the ball.The only reason anyone slices the ball is because the clubface is too open atSo, for the ball to go straight at the target, This all gives us the recipe for perfectimpact and still too open when the ballthe face must be square at separation. The contact with the ball and straight-away takes off from the face. These golfersgolf swing is circular. Since the clubface ball ight. The clubhead is movingneed to learn to open the clubface lessnormally opens as the club swings away downward, outward and forward towardon the backswing and close it more onfrom the ball and closes toward square impact, which occurs on the inside back the downswing. It is helpful to rememberas the clubhead approaches the ball, thenof the ball with the face still open andto turn the entire left arm closed throughthe clubface must be open at impact forthe clubhead still moving downward andimpact until the clubface is pointing at ora straight shot. outward. You hit the ball down and out, near the ground well past the ball. If the not toward the target.slicers do this in concert with openingHow open? About three degrees, which the clubface less on the backswing, theyis visually noticeable. All of this meansNo matter the shot, you should look attoo can hit the inside-aft quadrant ofthat the clubhead will have to contact this area of the ball, and hit down onthe ball on the way down and out withthe inside of the back of the ball withitevery shot you ever hitfor the rest fantastic results.the clubface slightly open. This impactof your life.alignment inuences every single Contrary to popular opinion, musclescomponent of the golf swing. If you slice, and most golfers do, anddont have any memory. Golf swings the only thing from this article you triedbegin and end in the mind. Start applyingLets review: the clubface opens to theto incorporate at the range was hitting this months information in your coconut.target as the clubhead swings away the inside of the ball on the way down, A famous teacher from long ago, Alexfrom the ball. The clubface closes on theyou might hit the ball farther right. MostMorrison, used to correctly preachdownswing, at some point is square, then golfers need to come over the top and Better golf without practice. But when you do start to practice hitting the inside picture 1 of the ball on the way down, remember to start slow and short and build to the longer swings. Brian Manzella is a PGA Teaching Professional. He can be contacted at 866.873.0036, or by email at bmanzella@autosuccess.biz, or visit www.brianmanzella.com. 8autosuccess.biz 9. 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Packages as low as $99 ea* I NCENTIVE P ROMOTIONS DONE RIGHT!1(866) 873-0026 Licensed and Bonded*minimum order required CST 206503-40 10. leadership solutionTony RayTony Ray MunsonBy Munson Recruiting Better Sales PeopleThe best thing toHere are some rules for the interview: What would cause you to leave ado while recruiting Dont oversell your company.particular company?is look for people Ask tough questions.before you need Avoid interruptions during the interview.Listen carefully to their answers. Seethem. Make a great Focus on questions, and let them how well they communicate. Take noticeadvertisement thatdo the talking.if they can turn the interview around andshows what you are offering. Good people Clearly explain the job description. start asking questions. This shows thatwill want to know why they should work Dont gossip (no war stories). they take control and investigate, whichfor you (excellent pay, benets, ve- Take your time; be thorough. is what they will be doing with yourday workweek, demo, etc.). Display the Let them know what to expect customers.advertisement in your service departmentfrom your dealership and youralso. Customers of yours might be management.And nally, look for personality andinterested or know someone that wouldattitude. You can give personality testsbe good. They are already sold on your Try to get them to talk 70 percent of the and run background and drug tests also.dealership.time. Here are a few questions to ask:Make sure you check all of the laws in Why are you looking for another job?your state.Make sure to take enough time to Why did you pick sales?do the hiring correctly. This means Tell me about your last job.After you hire a great sales person, andinterviewing extensively, having more What makes work meaningful to they are performing well, continue to helpthan one interview for the best people you? (Motivators) them, praise them for specic actions.and even having multiple people within What do you like about work?Treat all your employees like a somebodythe dealership to do the other interviews. What do you dislike about work? not a something.Verify all of the information and If you had no limits what would Tony Ray Munson is the President ofreferences the applicant gives. Look atyou do or be? (Dreams)Sales Systems International, Inc. Hewhy you might re them before you even What would cause you to join acan be contacted at 866.265.6575, orhire them. particular company? (Values)by email at tmunson@autosuccess.biz.Service Advisor TrainingAll Skill LevelsPresented by.... Increase Customer Paid LaborSales and Parts Sales. Increase Customer Satisfaction Scores. Increase Customer Retention. Set up a Non-ConfrontationalJeff CowanComplete Selling System and Culture. Learn to Sustain Growth. Learn to Control Your Customersand your Workday. Learn how to Walk Around EveryI Will Turn Your Service Clerks Into SELLINGCar, Every Time TMService Advisors. We Deliver The Most Intense Learn the Sit, Flip, Pop andPowerful Two Day Workshops You or Your ServiceLook TM Technique.Advisors Have Ever Experienced! Become a Full Service Promise TMdealership.We Also Deliver Our World Class Training In-House On Your Service Drive or On DVD. We haveIn-house on your servicerecently re-recorded our DVDs. They now offer drive, offsite or on DVD40% More Content and are available in Spanish. ASK FOR SUSAN FOR YOUR FREE866.265.5552 DEMO DISK - RESERVE YOUR SEATINGTODAY! SPACES LIMITED10autosuccess.biz 11. marketing solutionRobByMudd Rob Mudd Back to theBasics of Advertising The elements of has to be present to make this plan work.You have many choices of advertising advertisingthat Offers can always change. You canmediums: broadcast television, cable, have been aroundchange your creative message as needed.radio, newspaper, direct mail, Internet, for decades are The buying of your media is what needs billboards, etc. Deciphering all of these the same today. to be consistent and focused.choices to the one or two that will be Although creativeeffective for your dealership is wheremessages and mediums have evolved, This is where your dealership can getyour advertising agency earns its keep.the principles of implementing yourmore bang for the buck. By effectively What you need to achieve, rst andmessage to your market have stayed researching your history, you can greatlyforemost, is dominance in one mediumprimarily the same. As a dealer, you needimprove your future. and then move to the next. Find theto make sure that you remain consistent medium that is most efcient andwith the basics. What are my best days of the week,remember, reach tells; frequency sells. best days of the month, best monthsThere is no need to try to be everything1. Know your market. of the year? By asking yourself these to everyone; you need to buy vertically.It is a simple but often overlookedquestions, you can put your advertisingelement. You need to make sure you budget to work when it will be most5. Evaluate the results.know where your strength lies in youreffective. Keep a report card on your advertising.dealership relative to your market. Does When you get your marks at the end ofmy store sell predominately used cars?When determining your advertisingeach month, look over your numbers andAm I a new truck dealer? Do I have abudget, do you allocate a specic dollar determine your cost per sales opportunitystrong secondary nance presence in my amount per vehicle, or do you look at(advertising dollars spent divided bymarket? Having the knowledge of whata xed percentage of your combined trafc count). How many dollars is ityour market needs and buys will save new and used variable gross? It is costing you to deliver a new or usedyour dealership money. advantageous to have your advertisingunit? What percentage of gross prot budget be a xed percentage of gross does that number represent? What weeksYou also need to know what yourprot every month. By using this and days did you see spikes in trafc?potential is in your market. How manyprinciple, your advertising expenditureWhat message and media were you usingpump-ins are coming in your area ofnever gets out of line with the inevitable when these numbers increased?responsibility?low grossing months.These ve steps are the basic elements2. Plan your inventory.4. Select an you need to follow for greaterHave inventory reective of your effective media and dominate.effectiveness in your advertising.customer. Like all systems, you have toBuy vertically. There are two key factorsunderstand step one in order to move that will inuence this decision: youron to step two. If you understand your market and your advertising budget. Itmarket, you know what type of vehicles would be great if you could dominate Rob Mudd is the Senior Vice Presidentyou need to have in your inventory mix.every medium. The truth of the matterof The Mudd Group. He can beFocus on advertising what is hot, andis that very few dealers have the budget contacted at 877.804.3485, or by emailpromote what is not. There is no need to to do this.at rmudd@autosuccess.biz.spend your advertising money on unitsthat are not going to bring in potentialcustomers. Advertise inventory that willcreate trafc.When it comes to your used inventory,SAY THANK YOUdetermine what were the top 10 newvehicles sold in your market last year,For just Peanuts!and concentrate on buying those vehiclesShow your appreciation to your best sales,at auction. Whatever models were sellingservice and body shop customers, withoutlast year, will likely be the hot ticketagain this year.breaking the bank. Give them a gift of Fine Virginia Peanuts.3. Plan your advertising expenditures.A 90-day plan makes a difference.Planning your advertising placementat least 90 days in advance can helpCLASSIC NUTS OF VIRGINIA LET US DO THE WORK . . . YOU GET THE CREDIT!eliminate last minute, knee-jerkreactions. Commitment, on your part, www.classic-nuts.com sales@classic-nuts.com866.873.0031august 2003 11 12. leadership solution Leo Weidner By Leo Weidner Is Your Life Dying From Making a LivingIn our money- matters most in your life rst, i.e., I put levels of success you must servecentered society, my spouse rst, I exercise, I eat right, I yourself rst.many people are spend quality and quantity time with mydying from making children, I love my work environment,4. Family - my relationship witha living. Marriages I have spirituality in my life, I have my spouse and children. It has beenaredying. hobbies I really enjoy, I serve and give tosaid, No success (no matter howRelationships with children, health,othersmy life is in balance. great) can compensate for failurespirituality and overall enjoyment in life in the home. Have face-to-face,are dying, all in the midst of just trying True life balancemeaningful conversations with yourto make a buck. Stress is killing people.is all about relationships.spouse each evening before retiring.The big question is, Is your life dyingIf you truly desire to make more money,Have a date night with your spousefrom making a living?reduce your stress and increase theevery week. Take 20 minutes eachbalance in your life, the grand key is day to spend quality one-on-one timeYears ago while working with the greatthe quality of your relationships. Towith each of your children.Napoleon Hill (author of Think and Grow achieve life balance, take care of yourRich), he taught me a very importantmost important relationships rst. Try the 5. Social - my relationship withlesson. He said, So many people focusfollowing order: others. As you place relationships oneon making dollars to the exclusion through four rst, you will nd yourof their personal lives. If they would1. Spiritual - my relationship with my relationships with your colleagues,just wrap their businesses around their Creator; the spiritual/philosophical.employees and customers improvepersonal lives, instead of the reverse, Spend quality time each morningdramatically. People will sense yourwhich most do, they would become farin meditation, prayer, reading aura, your energy and will be drawnmore productive, work fewer hours and inspirational material, etc. This will to you.enjoy their journey a whole lot more.set you up for success in everythingyou do throughout the day. 6. Financial - my relationship withMany people have doubled and tripled money and my job. If you will taketheir incomes in relatively short periods 2. Emotional/intellectual-my care of, in order of priority, theof time. And, they didnt have to workrelationship with myself. Recharge ve key relationships listed, yourdouble or triple the number of hoursyour emotional and intellectualrelationship with money and yourto achieve these results; the grand key batteries. Keep a journal, read from job will be improved in ways thatto their success is the edge they gaineda favorite book or study a foreign will astound you. Remember, if youthrough having life balance.languagekeep growing emotionallykeep your focus on relationships oneand intellectually.through ve, the money will take careMany feel the stress and do it anyway. of itself.You may be thinking, I have stress every 3. Physical - my relationship with mydayits just the way it isI deal with body. Take time every day (morning Attain life balance, and you will attain theit and push myself forward. Years of is best) to exercise. Eat a healthy, life and career youve always dreamed of.feeling the stress and doing it anywaysensible diet.exact a heavy toll on marriages, families, Leo Weidner is the Chairman ofphysical and mental health. Numbers one through three areLifeBalance Institute. He can beessential to your success in every contacted at 866.429.6826, or by emailWrap your business/career other relationship and aspect of yourat lweidner@autosuccess.biz, or visitaround your personal life.life. In order to achieve the highestwww.lifebal.us.In todays bottom-line-focused businessworld, so many people, especially peoplein sales, wrap their personal lives aroundtheir businesses/careers. But those whowrap their businesses/careers aroundtheir personal lives, placing what matters CONSIDERING SELLING YOUR DEALERSHIP? QUALIFIED BUYER 877.818.6620most at the center, experience a reductionin stress and an increase in productivityand personal income that are nothingshort of astounding. PREFER IMPORT FRANCHISEBalance is not about time. SELL WITH ZERO BROKER FEESpending X amount of time with family CONTACT PAT AT AUTOSUCCESS 100% CONFIDENTIALand X amount of time at work is notbalance. Balance is having the peace ofmind knowing that you are putting what12autosuccess.biz 13. sales and training solution Mark TewartBy Mark TewartYou Can Be a Top PerformerThedifference Top performers doggedly pursue successful For the next 30 days, implement the 4Dsbetweengettinghabits. Watch your thoughts; they becomeof action management: dump it, delegatethe results you your words. Watch your words; theyit, defer it or do it. When anything comeswant and beingbecome your actions. Watch your actions;your way that requires a decision, askaverage is action.they become your habits. Watch your yourself, which of the 4Ds would benetTo win more, is tohabits; they become your character. Watch you most. If it doesnt help grow you, yourfail more. Failing with reection creates your character; it becomes your destiny.family, friends, business or happiness,education. The more action you take; theBe willing to dream and design your goals.dont do it. Choose one of the other 4Ds.more money you make. When humans areThink bigger. It doesnt take much more Some of the things that require action arein motion, they tend to be happier, moreto produce a lot than it does to produce abetter served being delegated to others. Ifproductive and constantly learning from little. Producing little, actually takes more you hate following up, and you are willingtheir actions. You cant add or delete time.emotional and physical endurance. to admit to being lazy in that area, hireThats why the term time management someone else who would be willing tois a misnomer. You cant manage time; Starting this week, monitor your currentdo it and do it better. If you cant affordyou can only take more action and betteraction with more processes than everit, then group with others having the samemanage your actions in your time. before. Have a written, hourly game planproblem and share in the costs. There isusing software or manual planners. Create always a way. When you defer items,Top performers must have the God givena strong focus for each hour that you write them down, and put a date on thetalent to succeed. Although great sales would like to accomplish. Next, create aitem as to when you will make a denitivepeople are made not born, you cant maketo-do list, and write all the specic actions decision on this item and then put it in asomething from nothing. You can put you would take to accomplish your hourlyvisible folder that you have on the wall.make-up on a pig, but its still a pig. A goals. Prioritize your actions from musttop performer has the following abilities:do to why do. If you write a reviewFor the next 30 days, make a commitmentrelates to people, displays condence, haseach hour of what actions you have taken, to take massive action. Give more efforta high sense of urgency, gets people to say you will be amazed at how much time isthan you have ever done before, andyes to their product or service, utilizes goals wasted. Twenty percent of your actions getmonitor the results. Remember, its hardand rewards, has a commitment to learn, you eighty percent of your results. for good people to become great, but itsand grows to become a top performer. If really easy for a good person to becomea person has the God given abilities that Everyone knows about to-do lists, but average.would relate well to the sales profession,have you ever created a stop doing list?they can begin to work on all their assetsWhat good is writing actions in a to-doto become a top performer. Twenty-ve list, if they dont help you get results?percent of sales people account for fty- Create a stop doing list, and at the endMark Tewart is the President of Tewartseven percent of the sales. Seventy-ve of each day, review your successes andEnterprises. He can be contactedpercent of the remaining sales people are failures, and write down the areas you will at 866.429.6844, or by email atpicking up crumbs.reduce or stop spending time in.mtewart@autosuccess.biz.august 2003 13 14. sales and training solution SteveSteve Hiatt By HiattThe New Guy: Action Plan Last month,to go about helping them develop thosehimself up and dust off before taking we covered the characteristics differently.the next customer. Knowing that pure processes of the enthusiasm can sustain you for the rst hiring and initial With the struggling New Guy, we 90 days in sales, our challenge with training of our most have found that showing by examplehim is building sustainable work habits recent New Guy.combined with very constrained activity that both farm and hunt deals. In otherThe basics of the interviewing, hiringmonitoring will determine whether words, prospect, follow-up and prospect,and training process were covered.we help him survive today, to build a but close as many walk-ins and phoneAround the same time, we also hired base for the future. We will do this by ups as possible in the meantime. In fact,another New Guy going through a verymanaging his activities: each up, phone that can help balance. Who doesnt likesimilar process of training, although up, turn and write-up. In most stores, if the feeling of closing a prospect theirslightly different, due to him having you cant handle the customer, you turn rst time in? And who doesnt like thesome sales experience at a nearby store.them. That works very well for some feeling of knowing you dont have toNow, we will review both New Guys personality types but doesnt provide get sunstroke or freeze while waiting forand the action plans developed for theirthe opportunity to watch and learn aan up, because your third referral of theindividual, continued success.professional handle the deal. If you aremonth was just sent in?a manager or a successful sales person,At this point, the rubber meets the road. the odds are that there was a mentorAction plan.The initial training is over and howearly in your career that didnt just tellCongratulate the successes. Let himthe New Guys react in real life, underyou how to do things, but specically know exactly what he is doing right.real pressure becomes paramount. This showed you. Dont just give a vague pat on the backis where real character development but specic praise for specic activities,takes place and selling styles become a Action plan.habits and skills that are bringing results.blend of personality, drive, training and Provide hourly contact and management Focus on building the future. Make surediscipline. by the immediate sales manager. Waiting that selling cars today doesnt shortcutuntil the end of the shift to recap wont the skills and habits needed to surviveWhere the two New Guys results are help this talented person survive. Is there tomorrow. Work on prospecting plansnow, is exactly that, where they aresomeone in your store who needs moreand skills. Schedule specic times fornow. Today doesnt always indicatethan a daily pulse taken to help ensure mail outs, phone calls and face-to-facetomorrow, but surviving today as a newtheir success? You need to get the scriptsprospecting.sales person can make the nancialthat have been trained coming out ofdifference of being able to run a longthe sales persons mouth so frequently,The key I remind myself and mydistance race.from practice, that they become natural managers of, in building successfulresponses in any given situation. people, is that we must work towardAt the time of writing this article, one of their strengths, and make them awareour New Guys is doing very well, andThe New Guy that is doing well hasof their weaknesses. Grow a personsthe other is struggling. As management, things falling into place very quickly. talent, by matching skills and activities.at this point in their careers, we canTwo of his successful qualities are Then help them recognize and avoidmake the biggest difference in the short- denitely ego and empathy. He reallydownfalls. If you build a lot of rapportand long-term results in many areas.cares enough to cut through the veneerand fail to use that rapport by closing,The characteristics we dug for in the of the customer, has enough ego to closethen there are two obvious areas tointerviews are still there, we just haveafter repeated rejection, and can pickdeal with. The solution may be linkingquestions to setting up a close. If a salesperson can remember all the productknowledge but doesnt relate it in a waythat builds value, then there are twomore areas to work on: yes questionsand practicing presentations.Next month, we will deal with the resultsand ongoing training areas for both ofthe New Guys. Feel free to write or callwith any questions or suggestions.Steve Hiatt is the General SalesManager of Hiatt Pontiac GMC, HiattOutlet and Hiatt of Auburn. He can becontacted at 866.265.5616, or by emailat shiatt@autosuccess.biz.14 autosuccess.biz 15. feature solution Don Elliott By Don Elliott Auctions Make the MarketIt happens every day at car dealershipstitle processing, transportation, andOn the other hand, purchasing vehicles atjust like yours. Your sales person has dealer nancing. In 2002, auctions in theauction is a proactive way to build useddone his/her job by landing the customer U. S. and Canada handled transactionscar inventory with vehicles targetedon the right car, and the customer already valued at $81 billion, an indication thatfor your market, thereby maximizingsees it parked in his/her driveway. Butthe funds transfer process is an integralturns and gross prot. According tohow much can you put into the trade to part of taking your cars to the auction. the NADA Dealer Academy, auction-make the deal work? sourced vehicles yielded $1,511 gross The auction industry has also embraced prot per unit retailed last year, slightlyYou can check guidebooks, call yourand implemented Internet technology to less than prots on street purchasesbuddy across town, look for similarallow dealers and remarketers to preview and trade-ins. However, consider thatcars in your inventory or package it for inventories in upcoming auction sales, auction-sourced units typically sell orthe wholesalers on Monday morning. bid on and purchase vehicles online, turn quicker resulting in a higher returnBut until somebody actually pays you review auction market reports, and on capital.for the trade-in, its value is only an manage auction inventories. Dealers caneducated guess.check recent auction sales online and, inHow can you get the most out of your some cases, both view and participate in wholesale auto auction? Remember thatWholesalecar auctions have live auctions as an active bidder directly most of your peers and competitors arebeen providing the solution to the from the dealership. already using the auction to help manageredistribution of used cars for the their inventories. They want and needbetter part of a century. Through active Research shows that franchised dealers your trade-ins. The job of the auctioneerbidding, auctions determine the exacttake trade-ins on approximately 60 at the auction is to bring buyers andvalue of any given car on that particularpercent of the new vehicles they sellsellers together for maximum returns today in that market area. And, becauseand 35 percent of their used vehicle both parties.of the volume, selling prices remain sales. A large portion of those trade-insrelatively consistent and predictableamay not match the dealers inventory Six steps to auction success:valuable tool for any sales manager whoprole and will either sit in inventory Be present on the block tohas to know the best price he/she canor need to be wholesaled. Instructorsrepresent your cars. Someone fromoffer for that trade-in vehicle. at the NADA Dealer Academy stressyour dealership with the ability to to their students that a 90-day-old unit make the selling decision will beWholesale auto auctions do more than has been in inventory for 25 percent ofable to see, based on the numberbring buyers and sellers together to the model year a sizeable portion of a of bidders on any particular car,redistribute inventory into the rightyears depreciation. Liquidating via the where the market is, on that day, forhands. Most National Auto Auctionrobust market environment availablethat car. Other than retail, it is notAssociation auctions provide a full line at auction will often yield, in a timely likely that the value of that car willof services including auto detailing,manner, sales prices that exceed those increase over time if there was activemechanical repair, body and paint repair,achievable by other means. bidding on the unit.Wholesale auto auctions do more than bring buyersand sellers together to redistribute inventory into the right hands.16 autosuccess.biz 16. Know your market and sell to lane. Good sellers (and buyers) can bank nanced leases, would indicate the money. Familiarity with auctionusually nd an amicable solution to that many dealerships will handle activity in you market area should most problems discovered after themore trade-ins as a percentage of total provide a good measure for the value auction sale. business. Consumers who cannot qualify of both active trade-ins and yourfor new car nancing or who cannot pay grounded inventory. When you send Get titles in fast. Processing titles new car prices for whatever reason, will your cars to auction, or when youquickly and correctly is necessary to be looking for a good deal on a late- are buying at auction, there shouldcompleting the auction transaction. model used car. With the decline in lease not be too many surprises. Auction Auctions work very closely with originations and more conservative values are surprisingly consistent.the DMV to make sure your cars areresidual values, savvy dealers willready to sell. However, unless theneed to actively work the market to Identify your cars to the auctiontitle is at the auction, the rest of thend the right cars to meet the needs of early so the auction can attract transaction is delayed. their customers. The auto auction is the buyers to your lane. Auctions have a likely resource for redistribution of late tremendous resource in the database Car dealers who take advantage of themodel trades back to the right franchised of buying and selling activity in yourresources available from their local dealers used car inventory. market area. They can, for example, wholesale auto auction will be in the notify buyers who have shownbest position to get maximum returnAnd what about the value of the trade-in interest in red Corvettes that youfrom their dealership investment. Over talked about earlier? At your local auto are selling red Corvettes in the next two million vehicles that received someauction, buyers and sellers establish the auction sale. level of reconditioning were analyzed to wholesale market value for cars like establish the value of those services at you trade, each week. Whether you Be accurate on announcementsthe wholesale level. Off-lease vehiclesneed to sell that trade-in or buy fresh and diligent with vehicle disclosure. (primarily from manufacturer and inventory, auctions provide a full-range For the most part, sellers who try to captive nance sources) returned $1.77 of services to support the success of hide aws in the cars they bring to for every $1 spent on reconditioning.your dealership. auction are recognized as that type Much of the gain realized was the direct of seller. Bids on their cars are often result of the efciencies of volume at the lower to account for their pattern as auto auction facilities. a seller. On the other hand, sellers who are straightforward with theirAs a nal note, the signicant shift vehicles attract the best buyers. in the type of transaction handled byDon Elliott is the Vice President of most dealerships over the last two years Marketing and Business Development Work with buyers on arbitration will change the role of the wholesaleat ADESA Corporations. He can be issues. Not all vehicle aws are easy auto auction in the future. The generalcontacted at 866.429.6848, or by email to identify prior to the sale or in the move away from leasing, particularly at delliott@autosuccess.biz. At your local auto auction,buyers and sellers establish the wholesalemarket value for cars like you trade, each week.august 200317 17. prot saving solution Jeff By Jeff Blackey Blackey Nuisance Charges BysimplyEvery ofce manager/controller shouldcomparison-shopping. understanding the be aware of the difference between surcharges andlegitimate telecommunications chargesThe following is a brief overview of the taxes on telephoneversus nuisance charges. Legitimatedifference between legitimate charges bills, automotive charges are generally paid to a thirdand taxes and nuisance charges: dealers can saveparty, such as a governmental agencyhundreds of dollars every month. and are an added cost beyond the pricesLegitimate charges and taxes: quoted by the carrier. Most of these Emergency 911 (E911)In the six years since Congresssurcharges are legitimate; however, Telecommunications relay servicederegulated the telecommunications others are simply price quotes and billing(TRS)industry, the majority of telephonepractices meant to confuse and possibly Payphone surchargecustomers have beneted from moredeceive customers. State & local taxeschoices, lower costs and better service. Gross receipts tax (GRT) or grossHowever, the Telecommunications ActNuisance charges typically vary fromreceipts surcharge (GRS)of 1996 also created new surchargescarrier to carrier; its important to shop Universal service fee (USF): Befor telephone services, adding to thearound and ask carriers to provideaware of extra handling costs thatmandatory charges already in place. It written explanations for all fees thatare not legitimate charges.is imperative to know which chargesare not considered legitimate. Nuisance Federal excise tax: The chargeare legitimate and which are not. Thecharges provide additional revenues toshould only apply to services thatillegitimate charges, or nuisance the carrier and are usually line or accessconnect to the public switchedcharges, encompass a wide range of fees charges. While most carriers includetelephone network (i.e., localthat have been created or manipulated by such charges, customers should obtain service). It is not to be chargedtelephone carriers to generate revenue.in writing the exact fees to use when on services such as private lines, Internet access and frame relay. Additionally, if taxable services are bundled together into a package with services not subject to the tax, only the portion of the bundle subject to excise tax should actually be taxed. Other mandatedcharges: Depending on the state or localThe Architects dedicated to serving the needs of automobile dealers. government, a variety of other surcharges may be required by law. Telecommunications services are necessary and are in demand; as a result, they are a popular taxable item. If other mandated surcharges We had the pleasure of working with Win are listed, ask the carrier to explain Hoffman from Car Store Design to create a new them. layout for our Service Department and Customer Waiting Area. What an unbelievable differenceNuisance charges: it is going to make!! His creativity and attention Customer access line charge to detail certainly made the transition easy.(CALC): Competitive local telephone companies are not subject to a maximum rate and can chargeMark Pellegrino, DealerPellegrino Chevrolet whatever they choose. This chargeWestville, NJis often misrepresented by some as a mandatory surcharge collected for a third party, when in fact, the money from this charge goes to the carrier. End user common line charge (EUCL): This charge is synonymous Car Store Design is a full-service Design + Architecture practice with CALC, although some carriers based in Seattle WA, Chapel Hill NC and Ft. Lauderdale FL.might charge it in addition to To learn more call David Sova at 866.873.0039, email us atCALC. information@carstoredesign.com, or visit our web site, FCC access charge, FCC chargewww. ca r storede sig n.com. or FCC subscriber charge: Another way to describe CALC or EUCL, but which implies that the FCC imposes continued on page 2918autosuccess.biz 18. marketing solutionKevinKevin Smith By SmithMaximize Your OpportunitiesWith Credit-Challenged CustomersMaximizing for over 30 percent of customers whoindustry has seen the birth of creditopportunities with visit dealerships on a monthly basis. restoration as a viable option to producecredit-challengedDealerships spend hundreds of thousands revenue from advertising dollars.customers is one of dollars annually on marketing toof the biggest prot attract customers who have no chance of Credit restoration is a 17-year-old, multi-opportunities in producing revenue.billion dollar industry. Much of thisdealerships today. It is estimated thatbusiness has been conducted by multi-the average new car franchise dealer isDue to an increasing segment of credit- level marketing companies and smallunable to secure acceptable nancing challenged customers the automotive companies with marketing backgrounds. Credit restoration performed by trained legal personnel or done by not-for- prot organizations is completely legal and complies with the 1996 Fair Credit Reporting Act. When the work is performed by a reputable company, the results are astonishing. The audit and verication of items on a consumers credit le can result in the permanent deletion of a high percentage of negative items on the credit le. Reputable credit restoration companies dont dispute the validity of an account, rather they request that the credit grantor prove that they have taken all the correct legal steps to be able to report the item in question on the credit le. If the credit bureau fails to provide this documentation within 45 days, they must delete the item in question from the credit le. Many times, credit bureaus and lenders fail to produce this documentation, and thousands of items are deleted from customers les daily. Credit restoration companies follow up with the consumer by phone on numerous occasions to tie the customer to the dealership. The work is performed by a not-for-prot organization. The consumer purchases a benet package with numerous customer benets and discounts. One of these benets is an audit and verication of the consumers credit le. They can start the process with minimal out of pocket expense. Taking this process and turning it to sales and bottom line prot in new car dealerships is revolutionary. Credit restoration is now a prot center for dealerships around the country. Kevin Smith is the CEO of Clean Slate USA. He can be contacted at 480.694.1371, or by email at ksmith@autosuccess.biz.august 200319 13 19. prot saving solutionRyan Ryan Tithof By TithofAuto Technicians Income Advantages Missing out.business (i.e. business luncheon). spend thousands on tools and equipment Autotechnician2. The reimbursement needs to be on behalf of their employment. The auto professionals havesubstantiated or have proof (i.e.repair industry is ever changing, just like an option to use areceipt or a statistical rate like $0.36 vehicle models, thus there is always a very valuable tax every mile driven for business withneed for new tools. It is time for autosaving technique. This technique is called your personal vehicle).technicians to receive a reimbursement,expense reimbursement. Everyone has3. The reimbursement needs to be non-taxed for their tools and equipmentheard of expensing a business dinner orreturned or taxed if ever paid inexpenses that they incur. Wouldnt it bea business trip, so what does that reallyexcess. For example, if the employee great to be able to give auto techniciansmean. There are many advantages in was reimbursed for 125 miles whena tool expense account that isnt taxed?being able to expense certain expenses.he/she actually only drove 100 Time is money, and the time to properly miles. pay technicians is now. The advantagesForms of income.should be clear. Say a technician isWages, commissions and bonuses are all Tool expense reimbursement.making $15 an hour. The new proposedtaxable and reportable income. Expense Currently, auto technicians receiveincome structure would suggest to onlyreimbursement situations are not. It isone form of income that is fully taxed pay them $12 an hour and the other $3advantageous for an employee to have a (their wages). Then payday comes, andan hour to be substantiated and paidmonthly expense account, because it is their tool guy comes in and sells them as a tool expense reimbursement. Thatnontaxable and non-reportable income.the newest, state of the art tool andwould be very advantageous to theThere are only three basic requirementscollects the technicians after tax dollars, employee and employer. It would beto be able to receive an expense in addition to any interest on his/her advantageous to the employee, becausereimbursement. unpaid tool account. This situation andthey now would have less taxable the income structure are decreasingincome and receive a considerable 1. The reimbursement must betechnicians take-home pay and savings. It would be advantageous to business connected. It has to be adealership prots. Auto technicians have the dealership, because they would business expense or related to doingspent, are spending and will continue to also have less payroll taxes to match.Lowering the taxable wage base is nevera bad thing for employers. Employerscan also make their technicians happierand more loyal by giving them moreincome, through the use of a tool expenseaccount. Reimbursements must be paidthrough an Accountable Plan, pursuantto Internal Revenue Code 62. A thirdparty administrator (TPA) is needed toensure that all payments are made underan Accountable Plan.Writing off tools.In some cases, though not often,technicians will choose to write-off theirtool purchases at the end of the year. Thisis a good way for technicians to recoupsome of the dollars that they spend.However, using a tool reimbursementaccount is much more benecial. Writingoff tools at year-end can only save atechnician on a portion of the federal andstate income taxes that he/she has paid,not on the FICA and Medicare taxeshe/she paid. In addition, the technicianswrite-off is subject to a two percentoor, which means that he/she loses, asa write-off, the rst two percent of theirincome. If the technician used a toolreimbursement account instead of a year-end write-off he/she would save on thefederal and state income taxes and wouldalso save on FICA and Medicare taxes.continued on page 2920 autosuccess.biz 20. marketing solutionBernard Boule By Bernard BouleThe Return on Your Investment With Good Security When was the at a minimum. It should allow you toadequate level of security, and you have last time you satfollow the number of demonstrations implemented good security systems, down to evaluate given by your sales team. It should keeppractices and procedures designed to your securitysales people from spending valuable handle the security requirements of your to ensure your time searching for lost or missing demo dealership today, you should be all set tosafety and security of your dealership? plates. And, should prevent them from move forward condently. Some trainingEvery dealerships management realizesborrowing demo plates from other saleswill be required, and any good securitythe need for various types of securitypeople. system will expose those most in need ofequipment, practices and procedures inthis training.the dealership. However, all security isA good demo plate control system makesnot created equal. There are good securitydemo plates available to authorized Good security systems, practicessystems, practices and procedures, andpersonnel whenever they need them.and procedures work invisibly in thethere are bad security measures. The good Sales people can stay focused onforeground. If they do their job properly,ones result in a smoother running, more selling. This allows them to maintain the no one even knows they are there.productive, efcient, safe and secure continuity of their presentation. A goodWhile the cost of good security is notplace for your people to work. The badpresentation equals more sales. Moreinsignicant, the cost of bad security or noones only provide the appearance of the sales equal larger prots. Remember,security has the potential to be unlimited.real thing while leaving your dealershipsales people are trained to make sales. The ultimate goal of every dealership isexposed to a variety of potential hazards.Their training probably does not includeto sustain growth and operate protably.The real danger is that you may be relyinga course on how to care for a dealer The return on your investment with goodon these bad security systems, practicesdemo plate. There are several demo plate security is assured as your dealershipand procedures to protect your business control systems available on the market prots from increased sales by a more(a task they may be unable to perform). today. Take the time to evaluate them condent, efcient, focused and honestbefore you make your selection, and sales team working in a stable secureManagement has many responsibilities; remember, you are looking for a systemenvironment beneting from lowerone of them is to make certain that that provides you with both securityoverhead and reduced liability exposure.the assets of the business are properly and access control. Function, not cost, These are some of the keys to a moreprotected. Its up to you to test yourshould be the motivating factor in your successful, secure dealership.current security systems to nd out ifselection.they are actually working. Check each Bernard Boule is the President ofsystem to make sure it is fully functionalOnce you have checked everything andM-Tech, Inc. He can be contacted atand that it still meets your requirements.removed bad systems and procedures that 800.642.4522, or by email atReview practices and procedures, and if didnt provide your dealership with anbboule@autosuccess.biz.necessary, make changes to bring themup to date. Often, good security measuresfail to meet objectives simply because Taylor Techniques, Inc.your personnel have been allowedto settle into a comfortable routine.Routine is the enemy of security. It isyour responsibility to make sure yourAUTOMOTIVE SALES AND MANAGEMENT TRAININGpersonnel are aware of the importance ofsecurity at the dealership at all times. Taylor Techniques helped us sell 198For instance, examine the method youvehicles in the first month, with an all-use to manage your dealer demo plates.Demo plates are one of your strongesttime gross profit record.selling tools, and as such, they should be The next 3 consecutive months wereadily available to personnel who need beat that record.them. They should also be one of themain security concerns in any dealership. Last month we sold 223 vehiclesA demo plate is more than just a piece of with the highest grosses ever. Fran Taylormetal you get from the state. It represents is Presidentthe entire assets of your dealership when Taylor Techniques, you guys are the best!and CEO of TaylorTechniques, Inc.it is on the road. You should not trustMichael Hoops, General ManagerHe can be contacted ateveryone in your dealership with access toMarine Chevrolet, Jacksonville, NC MrFranTaylor@aol.comyour demo plates 24 hours a day 7 days a 866 873 0041week. Your current method of demo platemanagement should provide you with theaccess control and security you require Call Today!while keeping the number of demo platesaugust 200321 21. sales and training solution Joe Verde By Joe VerdeManagers Evaluation:Successful Leadership, Part 1 Your dealership you and the other managers needI see each person who walks on can grow, and itto work on as a group so your the lot or calls as an opportunity for can grow everydealership can grow.a sale today or sometime soon. year in sales andI forget that 78 percent will be prots. But it5. Use this article in your next fewbuying soon and even if it isntwont grow at all unless your employeesmanagement meetings. Talk about today, with a little effort, we canbecome more productive, and that wont each area, talk about who and whatbuild a sale for the future.happen until management improves rstneeds improving, set some clearand leads your team to more success. goals to make the improvements and5. About your appearance: (You and then decide which managers will the other managers set the example.):Everyone can make improvements and be responsible for which specicRating: _____become more effective in any positionchanges. I look, act and sound like a highlytheyre in - from the porter to thetrained, professionalmanager,president, so, can you improve is neverIf youre all willing to bringresponsible for a dozen or morethe question.everything in this article out into the people and millions of dollars in open and if youre willing to workrevenue.The only two questions you face are... to change and improve, youll getIm a casual sort of person, and 1. What areas in your leadership, yoursome amazing results. Id rather do things my way, talk the management style, your management way I talk and wear what makes me skills, your management habits andps - Have some fun with this, too.comfortable instead of setting the your management attitudes do youSome of the possible answers will right example. need to improve so that you can helpstir up some comments in your your dealership grow? management meetings. Youll be6. About your goals: Rating: _____ amazed what youll learn just by I have a clear plan for our 2. Are you willing to admit you can talking about how you manage your success in sales. I have specic, improve and are you willing to make sales people in your dealership.written, realistic sales goals for my the changes necessary to take thatdealership and for each sales person next step up in your management A mini-evaluation for managers: for this month, this quarter and at career so that you can take your1. About you and your daily workleast one year from today and I dealership to the next level? attitude: Rating: _____ have a written plan of action for eachIm positive every day. I go to work goal.Lets take a look at your personal excited about the opportunities. I work long and hard, and I do myperformance in several critical areas thatWork isnt much fun anymore andbest. Goal setting is ne, but I dontdetermine your growth. Ive become fairly negative somehave time. Besides, in real life, stuff days. happens and theres not much you Personally:can do about it goal or no goal.1. First, you have to be serious about 2. About the opportunities in theimproving things or nothing will business: Rating: _____ 7. Questions on your personalchange. And because teamwork, I see opportunities in everythingmanagement style: Rating: _____especially in management, is we do in this business every day!I understand that proper training,required for any real success, each Ive slipped some here, too. I guidance and support for mymanager needs to set aside somedont even look as hard to nd a deal sales force backed up with cleartime with no distractions, readin every write up like I used to, and procedures and clear responsibilitiesthrough this list and check off theirIm more apt to tell a sales person toare the keys to success in todaysanswer to each question. get another up than to go out and market. try to put a deal together myself. Im from the old school, and even 2. Rate yourself from 110 on each; though we have high turnover in 1 = pits 10 = perfect. (Tip: Go easy3. About your sales people and theirsales and a group of average sales on the 10s ... 10 is a highball).potential: Rating: _____people who produce low units andThey have plenty of potential. gross, I blame them, the customers, 3. Circle everything you want to Im not so lucky. I cant nd anythe market and just about anybody work on to improve. good sales people, and the ones I and anything else but myself. have now just make my job tougher. Your management team (group):8. Questions on your personal4. Next, go through this list a second 4. About your walk-in and phone management style: Rating: _____time and put a check by everything customers: Rating: _____ I spend time in one-on-ones with2220autosuccess.biz 22. continued HELP! each sales person daily to go over Rating: _____ their goals, activities and results.Ive been to a class to train the I wish I could, but I just dont trainer, and now, I actually hold have time - besides, these are adultssales training every day, and I know I work with and they should accept how to turn information into skills responsibility for what they do. through effective training and role DO YOU NEEDplaying with my sales force.A NEW ATTITUDE? 9. Questions on your personal I tell them what to do, and its up management style: Rating: _____to them to gure it out (whether theyOur training will put theI am their coach. I work with can or not). And even though weenthusiasm back in your the sales people as a team, and Ihave lots of turnover and most faildealership! work with each one individually to or end up below average (10), itsWe offer complete dealership keep them selling and constantly not my fault. sales training and the easiest improving. web based marketing, follow-Nope I am the boss not a coach, 14. Your sales training classes: up and sales system ever. thats for the little leagues. I tellRating:_____ How to make more sales them what I want them to do, and My classes are structured and Improve the basics of selling they better do it or nd another place planned well in advance to teach Working with objections to work. them the skills they need to take our Closing the saledealership to our next level. Prospecting 10. Time management: If I hold training at all, I pretty Phone techniques that work Rating: _____much wing it, Im busy. Plus attitude training andI have a clear, written and specic much more. plan of action each day. I control my15. Your sales training classes: activities, I am focused on sellingRating:_____MAKE MORE SALES and improving, and I am productive 80 percent of my training focuses all day. specically on...S SYSTEM LEAre you kidding? Theres no waySAS to plan a day in the car business. Im a. Skill development how to close, too busy reacting and responding overcome objections, prospect, stay LTEIN to stuff, Its a re drill every day, Ioff price on the lot, etc. A R N ATI O N thought you knew!b. Work habits how to organizeyour selling day, how to use your 11. Your personality: Rating: _____People know what to expectplanners.c. Attitudes how to put the lastsalessystemsint.com from me. I am level-headed and bad deal out of your mind, how to Web based means you can consistent, because they are the keysmaintain a positive attitude, etc.access it anywhere, home, work to success.d. Building their customer base or laptop. Track all opportunities with aI pretend not to notice that my how to set up their follow upcomplete view from personal behavior is destructive program, how to prospect in service,presentation to sold customer in sales. I ride an emotional roller how to work the phones and orphanand then follow up. coaster daily, and I always keep em owner base. Fast and easy, enter the guessing who Ill be tomorrow. prospect and let SSI do the rest! If I hold training at all probably Calendar, planner, appointment 12. Selling skills: Rating: _____90 percent of it is on easy stuff liketracker and daily to-do list all in I went to training with my sales product knowledge and where to park one. people I practice, Ive developedtrades and I like to grind them some Set goals and watch progress. and use my selling skills daily, of the time, too. Complete earnings, bonus, and and because I have, I can and do expense tracking. share those skills with my salesBegin with these 15 steps, and start Create special promotions via people, especially now that Im inon your road to improvement as a email, letter or by phone. management. manager. Available and affordable for one I didnt go to class (or didntsales person or your whole bother to practice to develop myNext month, we will continue with thedealership. skills afterwards) and Im too busy.Mini-Evaluation for Managers steps Besides, thats their job. Im sales management, Im not sales! 16 through 40.CALL NOW! 13. Your sales training classes (Not product, paperwork or procedure Joe Verde is the President of The Joe Verde Group. He can be contacted at 866.429.6689, or by email at866.265.6575 classes, just sales training classes):jverde@autosuccess.biz, or visit www.joeverde.com.805.739.8933august 2003 23 23. sales and training solution TerryByL. Isaac Terry L. IsaacCustomer Development Center vs. Sales Person Development CenterLeads are the How to teach a sales person to become The second word track must be designedmain ingredient a sales person development center.for follow-up calls (short and to the point).in successful Phone skills are the determining factor inYou must have the right information toselling. Customer the success and results that a sales person make an effective call; home numbers aredevelopment will produce. The phone is the main toolnot always the best. Have your sales teamcenters(CDCs) for a CDC and should be for your salesask, When I follow-up with you, wherehave been developed to produce leadsteam. If you know of or have a CDC, are you most likely going to be at Xthrough prospecting, making follow-up you know that when this departmenttime? The answer is usually, Work.calls and taking incoming sales calls.is staffed you interview people withLeaving messages on a home answeringThis is all done to achieve the mainnatural phone skills. You have to do themachine is not a productive call. Theobjective: setting appointments.same when hiring sales people. Many follow-up call word track must producetimes, we dont even ask the most an appointment or a new lead.One of the main reasons for CDCs is important question during an interview,to compensate for a lack of results thatDo you have any phone skills, and canThe next word track must be one forthe sales team has from prospecting,you use them effectively? Have yourprospecting; they will be talking withfollowing up, taking incoming calls interviewees take an incoming sales callsomeone other than an initial lead andand setting appointments. CDCs canwith a word track. One of two things will must learn to prospect that person. Thisbe effective if they are set up with thehappen: one, they will show you theywill produce more leads for the salesright people, skills and manager. Thishave a fear of the phone. Or, two, they person and the dealership.department requires high maintenancewill prove they do have the phone skillsto assure its success. The cost of a fullyto be successful. There are so many ways to develop a salesmanned CDC can be very expensive. person into a sales person developmentHeres a way to start to developcenter. If you teach them how to follow-A better option is to not bypass thea sales person development center:up, produce leads and take sales calls,training a sales team needs for the Develop word tracks that are short and to they will master the phone.required skills it takes to be a professional the point, this will produce results in allsales person. Bypassing this training and the areas that you need them. Sales peopleIt all starts with management. You mustallowing another department to do the must have and learn word tracks; this willbe able to lead by example. The mostwork allows your sales team to take the give them a way to control the phone call.effective way is for you to learn andpath of least resistance. Therefore, theirThe word track is the game plan to getexecute the word track live, in front ofskill level never improves, and they must the desired result, an appointment on the your sales team, on a speakerphone. Thisrely on the dealership to provide themrst call.will give you credibility in teaching andwith a CDC, causing an unnecessaryleading your sales team to the next level.expense. The job description of a sales The rst word track must be designedperson is to sell, and to sell they must be to handle incoming sales calls. Thereable to prospect effectively. They must are three objectives you need the salesproduce leads for themselves and be ableperson to get: name, work number andto set daily appointments.an appointment. This track must bememorized, so they sound natural andThe dealerships goal for every sales professional. Listen to your sales people Terry L. Isaac is the Corporate Salesperson should be for them to become daily for clarity and tone. Do they sound Trainer for the Neil Huffman Auto Group.self-sufcient. A sales professional must sharp and have an excited tone? PeopleHe can be contacted at 866.265.4680, orunderstand their job description to do this.will respond to enthusiasm. by email at tisaac@autosuccess.biz.2620autosuccess.biz 24. sales and training solution TimothyTimothy GilbertBy GilbertTremendousIncrease In Increments of One The goal of every people that means a gross prot of the inventory turn. With 50 vehicles in department should $15,000 per month or $180,000 perinventory the increase is $6000 per year. be to improve year. If the house keeps $300 per vehicleIf the inventory turn can be increased by performance.after variable and xed expenses thatve days the result is $30,000 more in But, improvingtranslates to a net operating prot of gross prot.performance does not happen overnight. $36,000. Adding back-end F&I prot ofAll dealerships should know that there $400 per unit, another $48,000 in salesNext month, we will focus on how tois tremendous gain that can be had incan be gained. achieve these increases, how to makeincrements of one. That is, the amazing more money one unit and one day at aprot-potential of adding just one moreIf the used car department can simplytime.each day, week or month. increase the inventory turn by one day the result would be signicant. If theFor example, look at the unbelievablelot has 25 vehicles on it and the averageincrease in sales in the service daily lot charge per vehicle (totaldepartment by adding just one more expenses for the department divided byman-hour per repair order. The average the number of vehicles in inventory) wascustomer pay rate in 2002 for dealership $10, the increase in gross prot would Timothy Gilbert is an Associateshops was $68. In a small shop that uses be $250 per month. This translates toProfessor and Chairman of thetwo service writers and ten technicians, an increase of $3000 per year. ThatAutomotive Marketing Department atthe increase in sales is astronomical. may not sound like much, but it meansNorthwood University Florida Campus.If each technician does four repairthis lot can increase its gross prot by He can be contacted at 561.478.5527,orders per day and just two of them are$3000 for every day that it can speed up or by email at tgilbert@autosuccess.biz.customer pay, it results in 20 customerpay repair orders per day. If the shop isonly open Monday through Friday, itSTOP WASTING PROFITS!ends up being 100 customer pay repairorders per week. Adding just one morebillable hour to each of those repair If your dealership is not using a tool reimbursement program,orders, at $68 per hour, increases weeklythen you are wasting prots and your employees are notsales by $6800. That will increase receiving as much take-home pay as they could be.average monthly sales by $29,000 andyearly sales by $353,328. Normally,the gross prot margin on customer paywork is around 70 percent, which netsthe dealership an additional $247,330 ingross prot annually.In addition, there is a consistentrelationship between labor sales andparts sales. For every $1 in labor salesthere is between $0.80 and $1 in partsImplementing an Accountable Plan will:sales. This means that while adding a Increase prots for the dealershipman-hour to each repair order is great Increase employee take-home payfor service it is also great for the parts Increase employee retention and loyaltydepartment. In the example above, at No out of pocket costs$0.80 in parts, it would add an additional Fees taken from savings created on the program$197,864 in parts sales. A 30 percentgross margin in the parts departmentThe Pro-Check Accountable Plantranslates to a gross prot of $59,359. is a GUARANTEED win-win!The total increase in sales for the two Using the Pro-Check program will decrease company expenses and increase take-departments is $551,192, and total gross home pay. The Pro-Check program should be used by all companies that requireemployees to bring their own tools and equipment to the job. As a CPA, I wouldprot increase would be $306,689.recommend the Pro-Check program to all of my clients. - Mark Heinen, CPAOn the new car sales oor, adding justone more unit sold per month per salesperson yields an increase in gross prot877.385.4227 prochecknational.comof about $1500 per unit. With ten salesaugust 200327 25. continuedHow to Hire theBest Person for the Jobcontinued from page 6 Six Features 4. Describe a situation in which youof the Very Best Websites recognized a potential problem as an A recent study focused on how variousboth detail and wide angle shots of the opportunity. What did you do? What elements of a website inuence interior and exterior was the result?usefulness and differentiate thehighest-rated sites from lower-rated Details - Simple photo or combinationIntegrity/honesty:sites. of photo and text to explain features in1. Discuss a time when your integrity pop-up windowswas challenged. How was it handled?Some of the features of higher-rated2. Tell me about a time when yousites are: Choices - the best sites provideexperienced a loss for doing what is multiple ways to nd site features andright. How did you react?Liberal use of color - allow shoppersto use online tools like dealer locatorsInterpersonal skills / teamwork:to see vehicles and interiors in all and payment calculators1. Describe a situation where you colors available, more than just afound yourself dealing with someone swatch of colorEasy to use dealer locator - showwho didnt like you. How did you hours of operation for sales andhandle it?Clear, high-contrast text that isservice, phone numbers and directions2. Tell me about a time whenlarge enough to see clearly - whereto the dealershipyou had to work on a team consumers are reading about a vehicle,with someone you did not getform is secondary to functionalong with. What happened? This information has been provided by3. Tell me about a time when youLots of photographs - the sites that J.D. Power and Associates. For moreworked with a co-worker who was consumers nd the most useful includeinformation, visit www.jdpa.com.not doing their share of the work.How did you handle it?4. Describe a situation in which youhad to arrive at a compromise or helpothers to compromise. What wasyour role? What steps did you take?What was the result?Leadership & initiative: Log 200-500% more opportunities! 1. Tell me about a time when you anticipated potential problems and developed a proactive response.Leader in Showroom Traffic, 2. Tell me about a situation when youLead Management, had to take the lead or take charge. and CRM Software 3. What is the toughest group that you have had to get cooperationTrack all outgoing real-time showroom & desking controlphone activity from? What were the obstacles? internet lead tracking system How did you handle them? What was the end result? 2-way active DMS integrationPlanning & complete in-store trainingorganization / time management:Minimize data entry1. Describe a situation that requiredwith license scannerdrivers license scan, worksheetsyou to do a number of things at the & credit bureaussame time. How did you handle it?What was the result?2. How do you prioritize projects andtasks when scheduling your time?track moreGive me some examples.The Higher Gear Group, Inc.3. What do you do when things are bring backHoffman Estates, IL 60195slow at work?more tel 866.873.0029fax 847.310.3196Pam Holloway is the Co-founder andsales@highergear.comCEO