Does “The Road to the Sale” Lead To The Poorhouse Now?

David Blassingame Autoflex

How Well Do You Think Your Sales Staff Works Leads?

• 90% of incoming sales calls buy within one week.• 82% of salespeople that take phone ups don't get the

customer’s phone number.• 90% of sales calls will give you their name and number when

asked.• 88% of all sales people who take phone leads do not follow

up with prospects.• 50% of customers will call the dealership before deciding

where to shop.• 97% of sales calls result in no appointment.• 60% of your leads will result in a firm appointment if asked.• 50% of appointments that show up are serious about buying

a vehicle that day .• 85% of the people who leave the lot are never contacted

again.• 90% of the people who buy a vehicle are never contacted

again.

Customers For Life

Why We Test

Why We Test: Non-Hire

Why We Test: Hire

Sales & Leasing Specialist Pay Plan• Leasing and Sales Specialists will be paid on after pack gross profit on vehicles delivered whether sold or leased at the following rates:

• 25% of their gross profit for the month.

• $500. after delivering their 8th car of the month

• $500. after delivering their 11th car of the month.

• $1,000. after delivering their 15th car of the month.

• $2,000. after delivering their 20th car of the month.

• Bonuses will be paid in the weekly payroll that they are earned in. • Commissions from all deals turned in with all necessary stips by Friday close

of business will be paid on the following Friday’s payroll. • All stips and necessary signatures must be present for a deal to go to

payroll.

Sales Manager Pay Plan• All figures are calculated on past 6 mo. GP after adjustments.

• Avg. Richardson GP $391,077.

• Avg. Richardson Radio GP $72,119.

• Base of $4,000 a month

• 1% of Richardson GP = $3,901.77

• 2% Bonus on all deals in Richardson from Radio = $1,442.38

• Pay based on past 6 Mo. would have been $9,344.15 

First Phone Call

STOP LOOKING STUPID ONLINE!• Here – means ‘At this Place Now.’

Hear – means ‘ You receive sounds and interpret them’

• Their – means ‘What somebody else owns’There – means ‘ A specific place other than Here’

• They’re – means ‘They Are' (it’s a contraction) • Weather – means ‘The current conditions, temperature, precipitation, etc.’

Whether – means ‘A choice between two courses of actions or circumstances based on something.'

• Your – means ‘It belongs to the person you’re talking to.You’re – means ‘You Are (it’s a contraction of the words You-Are)’

• Yore – means ‘A long time ago. 

• Loose – means ‘It is free and Not tied down or restricted’• Lose – means ‘You can’t find something’  

• Than – means ‘…a comparison of value, more or less’• Then – means ‘Something that happened at a specific time in the past

• Red – means ‘ A bright color like scarlet for example or crimson’• Read – means ‘ I have deciphered some script’

• Sale – means ‘An event with discounted prices• Sale – could also mean ‘What you've done when you reach a deal ‘You’ve made a sale’• Sell – means ‘The active tense of selling or making a sale’ “You do not ‘sale a product’

How Did We Miss Your Business?

Hello Thomas, I recently learned that we missed an opportunity to help you get a new vehicle. We are always working to improve our service. Would you mind helping us by sharing what we could have done better? You are welcome to call or email me. My contact information is listed below.

A Message from David Blassingame, Dealer Principal at Autoflex Leasing - Richardson, TX

View Video

Very sincerely, David Blassingame Managing Partner Dblassingame@autoflex.com (972) 234-0304 Ext 227 Direct (800) 634-0304 Ext 227 Toll Free Direct

Qualify Quickly and Positively • Is your credit absolutely perfect? 

• When's the last time you financed a car? 

• Then let's take a moment now to see what we have to work with.

Call Center EvolutionWe sold 1399 old customers in 2014 (116/Month) and we've sold 479 year to date in 2015 (119/Month). I expect a minimum increase of 10 percent by adding the sales coordinators to the old customer deals for follow up, birthday calls, and anniversary calls.

Based on or current average of $2865 per O/C transaction and using an increase of 10 percent (or 139 more units) we will increase our profit by $398,235 over last year.

If we pay $30 for commission on those sold O/C deals that they bring to the table, that will cost $46,140.

Breaking the $30 down to 5 for setting up an O/C opportunity and $25 for the successful sale it will cost $46,140 in commissions if we sell 1538 cars to old customers this year. 

I also estimate we will pay an additional $1,500 for 300 opportunities that don't sell at $5 per opportunity. That Brings the total commissions paid to $47,640.

Subtract $47,640 in commissions and we still increase the profit by $350,595 if we increase sales by the 10 percent. 

Sales From Beginning of May

Sales From Beginning of May

Sales From Beginning of May

Three Roadblocks to Success

Three Roadblocks to making a Change in Culture

Change is certainly uncomfortable.

The Dealer Principal (the Owner) identifies current and future opportunities to improve their business.

They want to help his/her team formulate a strategy to take advantage of these opportunities, while simultaneously working to grow sales and profits at a rate faster than the market.

The Owner works with his/her team to build solutions that (if enacted) will likely improve their business and vault the dealership ahead of its competitors.

The Owner’s managers find ways to give lip-service to the proposed changes and create roadblocks or workarounds to appease their Dealer Principal’s desire to enact real improvements.

The Success Bias

The Success Bias is one of the hardest biases to overcome in any business; and this is especially true for a car dealership. The Success Bias basically says “we were successful (in the past); or, we are successful (in the present); so we’re awesome without this new thing; thank you very much.”

The Clock Bias

The Clock Bias can best be explained by quoting the late, great Stephen Covey: “Have you ever been too busy driving to stop and get gas?” 

In the dealership world, that sentiment is often relayed to me like this: “we don’t have time to do __________; we’re too busy selling cars” where the blank is anything that we know will drive long-term gains in both sales and profits (like training or process improvement or accountability).

The Satisfaction BiasThe third and probably most dangerous bias that keeps dealers from not only changing their cultures, but from making even just a few minor changes that can and do separate the truly great dealers from those that seem to spend all of their time treading water is the Satisfaction Bias.

This bias basically says that “good enough is good enough.” The belief being that incremental improvements somehow require exponential increases in workload and pose equally exponential risks of complete disaster, so we’re just not going to rock the boat right now.