| Seven Steps To Immediately Increase Your Sales By 20 Percent Or More |
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| Written by Mark Tewart |
| Monday, 02 April 2007 16:00 |
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There are seven steps to make immediate change. These steps are used to quickly increase sales by a more significant amount than you have ever experienced. Step #1: Change the environment
The military uses boot camp, baseball has spring training, and football has training camp. The easiest way to bring about rapid change is to change environment. When you change environment, you change behavior. People tend to hold on to limiting beliefs and behaviors as long as they stay in their normal environment.
Regular training sessions should be done outside of the dealership environment. It is easier to create a sense of teamwork, discuss goals and ideas, and receive input if you are outside of your normal environment. It is also important to eliminate distractions to supercharge the learning that takes place in the new environment. No cell phones, no interruptions.
Step #2: Change appearances
First appearances greatly influence the decision-making process of people. Change the appearance of both your dealership and your people, and it can make a huge difference. Walk across the street from your dealership and look back. Ask yourself, what do your customers see? Drive by your dealership at different angles and ask the same question. Small changes can give your dealership much greater curb appeal and catch the attention of potential customers. When customers pull into your dealership, what do they see? Your vehicles should create a sensation of wow for your customers. Make sure your dealership is clean, visually appealing and easy to navigate. Confusion breeds indecision.
What do your employees look like? People buy from those they feel most comfortable with in terms of appearance, beliefs, and values. As a rule of thumb, your salespeople should be dressed professionally, at a level slightly above that of your dealerships average customer. This will allow your customers to be comfortable, but respect your employees at the same time.
Step #3: Get incremental buy-in from your customers
To sell, you must get out of your own way. Often, salespeople are the biggest hindrance in creating a sale. You must first create trust with your customers. To create trust, you must have a mindset of TLC &ndash- Think Like a Customer. You must release the mentality of a salesperson to slow the process and bring incremental buy-in from your customer.
Its no mistake that the symbol for a question mark is shaped like a hook. The right questions, asked correctly, are the hooks that make the sale come together. Questions should be asked in incremental order so as not to scare the customer. Sequential questioning will establish a fluid process of discovery for the customer. This will create rapport and establish feelings of reciprocation and obligation from the customer. Most salespeople violate the customers trust by asking financial data questions too quickly. This also interrupts the natural pace of communications and creates apprehension in the customer. Remember that selling is like tuning a radio dial to the right frequency. You must take your time.
Step #4: Facts tell, stories sell
People need to combine verbal, visual, and emotional evidence. All this is accomplished with similar situation stories. People do not buy vehicles- people buy emotional solutions to problems that they can see in their minds eye and feel in their hearts. Features are like the scenes of the movie. Benefits are the underlining storyline and stories are the emotions that tie everything together. Personalize everything you do with true and relatable stories and visualizations.
Step #5: Be unforgettable
What is your wow factor? Have an SDP: specific defining proposition. You must make your claim of why you, your dealership, and your product are the best for the customer. Dont be shy about differentiating from your competitors. Make the largest truthful claims possible. Create the brand of your dealership. What makes you, your employees, and your dealership stand out and become remarkable? What will your customers remember about their experience with your people, process, product, or market position?
Step #6: Use testimonial selling
When someone else toots your horn, it will be heard twice as far and twice as long. Customer testimonials and evidence of trust are a massive sales builder and marketing tool. Utilize the people who like and trust you to convince others. Letters, videos, audio testimonials, pictures and direct testimonials create the strongest form of social acceptance available.
Step #7: Dance with the one you came with
Your best source of success for now and the future are the customers who like you, trust you and have done business with you. Before you spend one dollar on advertising for new customers, determine your process and actions in maintaining your current customers and how they can provide you more customers.
These seven steps are universal and undeniable. If followed they will provide you with increased sales and riches.
Mark Tewart is the president of Tewart Enterprises. He can be reached at 888-283-9278 or visit www.tewart.com for more information.
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