As we think about setting our goals over the next 90 days, let’s focus our attention next on whole goods, or the sales department. During season, if we miss the mark on this department, it is painfully obvious!
We like to view the whole goods in a dealership as an apple tree. We plant the tree, through the sale of a piece of equipment. Then, we reap the benefits year after year in terms of additional revenue coming into the dealership through the parts and service departments. Whole good sales, during season, is a key to a well-balanced and profitable dealership.
So, how do we set our goals for whole goods during the slow season? We will go back to the same formula we used in service and parts. We can make the decision that the focus of our slow season goals might be Sales Stability, Sales Growth, or Sales Accountability. Each focus requires a different set of goals to make it a reality before we go into the next season.
If your focus is Sales Stability, our goal is taking some of the peak out of the season and spread it throughout the year. While we still want those converted season sales, we have dealers who have created incredible stability for their dealership by making it easy for customers to see the value of buying their whole goods before peak season. One of the specific ways that we have seen this done is by creating touch goals for the salespeople. A touch goal is the amount of touches or contacts a salesperson needs to make each day. This could be an email, a phone call, a text, or even a customer walking in. Most dealerships who focus on creating stability in their whole goods require a minimum of 20 touches a day per salesperson – throughout the entire year.
If your focus is Sales Growth, your goal may be making sure that your marketing strategy for the next year is ready. I often see, what I would call, “reactionary marketing”. As an owner, or a sales manager, you see your whole goods sales are not where they need to be and you try to throw money at the problem with hopes that it will fix the issue. Hope is never a strategy in marketing. If you want to have growth in your whole goods, you need to keep two things in mind with your marketing. Frist, you need to tie your marketing to your projections – not all months are created equal. If in April you are projecting 21% of your whole goods sales, you need to spend 21% of your marketing money. If you would like to grow those sales by 2% for the month of April, then you would spend 2% of your marketing money. The other thing to keep in mind is that you need to spend the money six weeks before you need to see the sales. As an example, if we expect and need to see 21% of sales taking place in April, we would invest the money at the end of February or the beginning of March.
If your focus is Sales Accountability, maybe your slow season goal is to get into a group that would keep you or your people accountable for the sales process. In our Dealer Success Group Program, we have dealers all across the country who attend an online sales workshop where they are not only honing their skills but also receiving the accountability they need. Accountability for you may simply be holding you and your people to a higher standard of professionalism, ensuring the sales process is being followed in your dealership, or that customers are being provided with excellent service and follow up.
Regardless of what your focus is over the next 90 days, I encourage you to pick one thing and put all of your energy and attention behind it. We know that to see substantial progress you can’t put minimal effort behind a variety of areas; so, you must pick one thing and give it your full energy and attention.
