Are You an Order Taker or a Salesperson?
There’s an argument going on and it’s time for me to weigh in. For years I’ve heard managers complain that their salespeople are “lazy order takers.” I’ve witnessed teammates jab at one another by delivering the lowest of all low-blow insults: “You’re nothing but an order taker.”
Employee-Turnover Damage-Control Plan
The old saying “The successful people surround themselves with successful people” is easier said than done. Recruiting and hiring is one of the most-important duties a shop owner has, because the way the owner goes about hiring employees can dramatically affect his labor costs. Everyone wants to be successful, but recruiting and hiring is a hard job that is time consuming as well as expensive. That is why a lot of busy shop owners settle for the employees they have right now and put off recruiting until someone walks off. Unfortunately, this recruiting strategy creates what I call “panic hiring” and costs the shop more than you know.
Run It like You Know How
It’s a common occurrence in our trade that the most-talented and highly skilled technicians at some point believe they can take on the monumental task of owning and operating their own automotive- or transmission-repair business. It’s a noble goal and often is attained by those who have enough drive and the ability to secure the necessary funding to get started. These men and women take a huge leap from being a highly skilled and qualified employee to an uncertain business owner.
The Essence of Leadership
What makes a leader great? It might not be the qualities you think. Serving others may just be the distinguishing quality of an excellent leader. Let’s look at nine service-oriented strategies that can help you take your crew to unprecedented levels of success.
Telephone Skills Are Important, Too
I have to start with the telephone procedure. I know that might sound pretty elementary to some of you, but I have been in a lot of shops that do not have one, the smaller ones especially. They just shoot from the hip. That’s why they lose the game on the telephone. If you want a telephone procedure you can get one if you try. AAMCO wrote one 60 years ago, and every franchise and major independent shop since has copied it in one way or another with some small differences and changes over the years. If you can’t get a copy of one, you can come to my website. I am working on a new one and I will send it to you. The point to having a telephone procedure is that it gets you organized. Guys who shoot from the hip don’t know it, but it is much easier to sell off a telephone procedure.
Loyalty Starts with You
Most businesses think loyalty comes from issuing a “frequent flyer” card and giving something away for free. That’s not loyalty. That’s buying repeat business from customers who are loyal to the prize, or to the price. Eliminate the freebies, and you eliminate the customer.
When Does a Transmission or Auto-Service Business no Longer Need to Advertise?
Primarily, we cut back or quit advertising because at some point our egos tell us that we are so well known in our communities that people will just automatically come to us. That’s not true and never will be. Because we are a service business people look for us only when they need us, which for some is not very often. We are not “top of mind” like the pizzeria they call every week. When they need services like ours they have to look for them, and that usually happens when they are already in some type of trouble.
What is the Secret to Success?
Success in selling means destroying your quota. It means having a closing ratio that exceeds that of your teammates and your competitors. Success in selling means becoming your best, earning customer loyalty and not having to cold call.
Lead Experts Q & A’s
How do I get more leads? I remember the good old days when you just found a good location and advertised in the only phone book in town. The only other decision was how big to make your ad. Yes, those were the days. It was easy money. However, those days are long gone, and if you are not tuned in to where the leads are and how to get them, you could be losing leads to your competition. The shops that have the latest technology working for them are probably getting to your customers first.
Do You Follow Up or Follow Through?
As a result of putting myself out there, I had the pleasure of meeting new people on a daily basis. That pleasure also came with a challenge: I left each function with a stack of business cards, often as many as 50, and often struggled to keep up with follow-up; that is, I struggled until I created a process.
Through trial and error, defining and refining a process, and observation of how others follow up, I created a best-practices list that I now follow. Before I share that list with you, however, you should know there are two major considerations with regard to successful follow-up.
People Buy from People They Like
How likable are you? If others were going to comment on how you impressed them at your first meeting, what would they say? Might it be, “What a nice guy; I would really feel comfortable doing business with him”? Would the impression be neutral, meaning that there was no feeling generated at all, or would it be a negative in which the customer’s thinking, “I wouldn’t do business with him if he were giving it away for free”?
Recruiting Is like a Blind Date
Like going on a blind date, you never know what you are going to end up with in recruiting. We are all going on more blind dates than we would like nowadays.
Unfortunately, recruiting is a game with no defined rules. A lot of promises are made and not kept in this game, and that leads to an unacceptable turnover rate that is hurting our industry. It is a stressful, frustrating and emotional roller-coaster ride that will eventually test every emotion you have. Let’s take a look at the situation and see whether we can do something to make things easier for the shop owner and the employees.
