Training at Hotel Hell
Training at Hotel Hell
A Little Help
Author: Art Little
Subject Matter: Management
Issue: Sales Training
“What Do I Do When the Phone is Ringing Off the Hook?”
This is article is part of a series of reader submissions, questions, and topic suggestions. I like answering your emails because they are real world and they may relate to your job, your life and your sales efforts. If you have more questions, my inbox is open.
Is Your Shop in a “Bad Mood”?
When your whole shop has somehow worked itself into a bad mood it affects everyone. Customers, suppliers and employees are uncomfortable, and as a result, you lose productivity and sales. The spiral effect just continues downward until it reaches critical stage. Then, if something isn’t done to turn it around, all could be lost. So once the symptoms are recognized, changes need to be made quickly.
Achieving Work-Family Balance
I recently flew from Milwaukee to Minneapolis and then on to Fargo, ND. Each time I landed, I felt my iPhone vibrating in my pocket, indicating that I had received a new voicemail, email or text message. When I pulled out my phone in Minneapolis, I had 17 new emails, 2 voicemails and 3 text messages. That flight was only about 90 minutes. I had a 45-minute layover, so I did my best to return calls and emails, but I didn’t get to them all.
14 Things Your Employees Are Dying to Hear from You
What were your last 10 or 15 employee exchanges like? Chances are they included phrases like “I need you to finish that job by the end of the day” or “How much longer do you think it’ll take to do that?” After all, you can’t run a business without addressing these types of issues. And chances are, unless they were delivered in a – shall we say – forceful tone of voice, your employees don’t mind hearing pertinent instructions and questions. So why does their morale seem to be drooping?
The problem might not be what you’re saying, but what you’re not saying. The good news is, with a few well-chosen words you can nurture employee relationships and help to enhance their engagement in your purpose.
Christmas Vacations
Merry Christmas. It’s that time of year again. There are things to do. You need to buy your wife a present, put up the lights on the house, go see some old friends and get ready for family to come over. It’s the best time of the year. Wouldn’t it be great to have a little time off? Maybe shut the shop down and go home for about nine or 10 days? Well, maybe you can.
Financial Planning for Those Who Hate To
Many “hands-on” employees and small-business owners are way more into the production, sales and distribution of their products or services than they are into the financial end of the business. They leave the tasks of managing money and paying bills to others; hopefully those who are honest and won’t get them in trouble.
Small Talk Is for Small Sales
Small talk is meaningless yapping about nothing at all. Small talk is safe, but it accomplishes nothing of value. It’s a restatement of the obvious. Small talk is for small sales.
Finding the Right Manager
How important is it to hire the right manager for your shop? It may be the most-important decision a shop owner has to make. Notice I did not say salesman. A salesman talks with the customers, gives the service recommendations, then sits back down and hopes everything else works out. Those guys in our industry do not qualify as shop managers. Sorry. A real transmission-shop manager knows how to sell, manage production and f
Back to (Sales) School
So what’s your plan? What will you do to maximize your sales opportunities during the remaining 68 business days of 2014?
I’ll get you started. These are the things you should be thinking about if you want to make the most of this year:
The Best Defense Is a Solid Offense
Sitting back and watching your business shrink into oblivion is no option, especially when you’ve devoted a good portion of your life to making it this far. When faced with this type of situation you need to ask yourself, “What did I do to build up this business when I first started it? How did I get it off the ground? If I just opened it today what would I do to promote it?” Then go and do those things. Don’t ever think that you’ve been in the business so long that you are now entitled to kick back and not have to work as hard at building the business. It’s a never-ending battle. Those who become “too good for it” fail in the long term.
The ‘Just One More Job’ Challenge
I am challenging all transmission-shop owners across the country to increase production by “just one more job” a week and put an extra $104,000 in your pocket each year. There is a simple formula to success. If your shop’s average ticket is $2,000 for a transmission job and you can learn to be more efficient and increase production by one job a week, you can increase your revenue by $104,000 ($2,000 x 52). The challenge is to increase production by just one job a week – simple goal, big results. Now, this is “extra money” on top of what you are making now. That is when the shop owner makes his profit. That is a “special time” when one more job puts the most money in your pocket. Everybody else’s pockets get filled before the shop owner’s. This is your time, and you must make the most of it.
