Dear Dealer,
Please forward this to your sales team as it will encourage them and challenge them in these difficult times.
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Dear Salespeople,
As a sales trainer I hear a very common and legitimate complaint from salespeople. The complaint is that customers are not loyal anymore and will shop you for $50. Yet in every market there are a few who stand out, or should I say, there are a few who are outstanding at building customer loyalty. Their secret is of course no secret at all; its relationship and value.
As I travel around the country and the state of MN I meet all kinds of salespeople. Some are dying, some are average, and some are thriving. The salespeople I mentioned that are thriving are just normal salespeople who have gone out of their way to build their business by building relationships and building a brand. And because of that effort they have thrived! I want to introduce you to two of these such salespeople.
Meet Wayne the “Pickle man” and Chris “The car guy”. Actually you wouldn’t necessarily get to meet them unless you travelled like I do, worked with them, shopped them, or bought a car from them. However, knowing them would probably challenge the way you do business. And since the goal of any trainer is to challenge his students here we go.
So here are my first questions for you to consider:
1) How good are you at building relationships with your customers?
2) How much value do you bring to that relationship?
3) How good are you at communicating your personal brand?
At the end of this letter I am going to invite you to make these questions more personal and practical. But first, let’s break them down a little and look at what the “Pickle man” and “The car guy” did to have more repeat business and referrals than anyone else in town. Do not think what you are about to read is wasted energy. These guys are the real deal. Both examples are of guys selling cars in Minnesota in small markets (outside the twin cities metro) and with domestic brands, yet they are $100,000+ income earners. They built their income, their brands and their loyalty by depending on the relationship not on the dealership.
Relationship building with customers is much like relationship building in general. Key ingredients are: time investment, periodic contact, caring attitude, and showing interest. It’s not just about sending out a birthday card, which you should do by the way, or performing your mandatory mailings and phone calls. It’s simpler and yet more powerful than that: It’s actually wanting to have a relationship with your customers.
Examples in Relationship Building: Lessons from Chris “The Car Guy”.
Some of how he built relationship:
- gives away a “starter kit” with each delivery; includes: bag of candy, pen, fills the change holder (nickels, dimes, quarters) with change, map, flashlight, tissue box and personal thank you note. Costs Chris about $6/delivery.
- sends out a monthly e-newsletter to all of his data base.
- sends out a quarterly 5 page printed newsletter to his customers.
- maintains his own personal website with photos and bios on his family and loyal customers.
- advertises his customers businesses in his newsletters and on his personal website.
- gives away a stainless steal travel mug with his caricature, nickname: The Car Guy, and slogan “You’ve got a friend in the business.” embossed on it. Costs Chris about $6/mug.
- calls 5 customers a day to invite them out for lunch, on average ends up taking 2 a week. Costs Chris $100/mo.
- calls 20 customers a day just to say hi and let them know he was thinking of them.
- sends out birthday cards with coupons for free meals at local restaurants to his customers, their spouse and kids (do you know the birthday of your customers kids).
- invites customers to his birthday party and his kids parties.
- invites his customers to local community events and church events.
That’s an overwhelming list and it’s not even close to all of it.
One of two thoughts occurs at this time: I’m not going to start doing all that! OR How do I start doing some of that?
If you had the first thought, go ahead and stop reading because if you don’t care, I can’t help. If you thought the second, then I can and will help you get started. The key is just to get started. Chris did not implement all of these things in one day. They were built on a foundation of a commitment to himself and his customers: a commitment of relationship building and not just “follow-up”. This list was built one idea at a time!
Examples in Brand Building: Lessons from Wayne “The Pickle Man”.
To know Wayne is to know he is not the “Pickle Man” type. You might think after you read what he did that he is a natural attention seeker, and comfortable in center stage. He isn’t. In fact he’s the opposite. He’s a quite, reserved, and in his own words, “almost socially retarded” kind of guy. He didn’t become the “Pickle Man” because he wanted to but because he had to. With six mouths to feed and knowing that he had 20 competitors offering the exact same vehicles and for relatively the same pricing he knew that if all things were equal, price would become the deciding factor. He could not afford to let all things be equal.
Watching an AFLAC duck commercial he thought to himself; “I need something memorable like that.” And with four kids who liked pickles he got “a stupid idea” as he put it. After testing a half dozen ideas with his customers over a two month process, the overwhelming winner was “Pickle Man”! And so Wayne thought, “I guess I better go to Sam’s Club so I can start giving away jars of pickles to my customers!”
Wayne approached Gedney Pickle Company and told them was going to start giving away a free small jar of pickles to all of his customers who test drove a car with him and give away a free large jar with every car purchased. The Pickle Company was intrigued! They began small but eventually started giving away lots and lots of pickles to the point they started buying cases of pickles and storing them at the dealership. Each jar costs Wayne between $2.50 – $5.00.
The success and uniqueness of the program was so exciting to Gedney that they decided to participate in the local town parade. Wayne and his family rode on a green truck and gave away jars of pickles with his business card on them, “Pickle Man” Frisbees, footballs, and hundreds of hats, shaped like pickles, to the kids. They didn’t stop there… Gedney also committed to putting up two BILLBOARDS depicting Wayne (the “Pickle Man”) in a picklemobile on the North and Southbound sides I-35 next to the exit to his dealership. The billboards had Wayne in a picklemobile and said “Free Huge Jar with every Car! Go see the Pickle Man!” Gedney paid for half of the billboard, the dealership paid for a quarter, and Wayne paid for a quarter of the cost.
Wayne gets to separate himself in a competitive market, the pickle company gets into the house of potential new pickle consumers, and the customers get a shopping experience they won’t soon forget. Everyone wins!
I know what you are thinking… and NO… it’s not about the pickles.
Don’t be confused and think, “I can start giving away pickles and that’s the answer”; it’s not. Wayne is an amazing brander but he is also an amazing relationship builder. He does the steps of the sale very well, and cares for his customers, and on top of all that, He BRANDS.
I am not asking you to become a pickle salesperson; I want you to sell cars. I am not asking you to ask the dealership to do this stuff for you; they do enough.
What I am asking you to do is be honest with yourself and try to answer these 3 simple questions:
- What are 3 THINGS I am doing right now with/for my customers that no one else does?
- Am I actively trying to build a relationship with my customers or am I just “following up”?
- What is my brand going to be, and how can I get started this week?
REMEMBER… IF all things are equal then price will be the deciding factor. Don’t let things be equal!
If you would like some more specifics on how to do this and to see actual examples of other salespeople’s branding and loyalty building ideas, I invite you to come to my “Building Your Business” class coming up at the MADA headquarters, in West St. Paul.
Agenda for the Building Your Business Class, Nov. 11th, at 8:30am – 12:00pm Click here for flier
- Staying busy when it’s slow
- Becoming free from “The Lot”
- Making “follow up” Calls
- Asking for referrals
- Rewarding your customers
- Creating Raving Fans
- Loyal Vs. Satisfied customers
- The Power of Newsletters
- Marketing to a new group
- Getting your name out there
- Database swapping
- Different types of Ads
- Ways to Add more Value
- Using the internet to grow
- Email campaigns
- Personal websites
- The Parthenon Effect
- A.I.D.A. – Writing ad copy
The cost is $150 per person.
Maybe the dealership will pay a portion, maybe they won’t.
Maybe they’ll payroll deduct all of it, maybe they won’t.
Maybe you are like Wayne and Chris and you will pay for it yourself.
What I do know is this: I promise it will change the way you look at your business and follow up! I am looking forward to seeing you there.
Your success,
Jonathan W. Dawson
P.S. – I am doing a Phone Skills Class also on that day from 1:00pm to 4:30pm so make sure that you sign up for the correct “Building Your Business” class on the 11th if you are just wanting to go to it.
P.S.S. – Maybe the dealer will pay for you to go to the Phone Skills Class in the afternoon if you pay for the “Building Your Business” in the morning. It’s just an idea.
Agenda for the Phone Skills Class Nov. 11th 1:00pm – 4:30pm Click here for flier
- Setting Definite Appointments
- Getting contact info
- Creating Urgency
- Locking down the time
- Sell Yourself & the Dealership
- Build rapport
- Sell the sizzle
- Asking the right questions
- Problem solving
- Find wants & needs
- Offering alternatives
- Reactive Vs. Proactive
- Staying calm
- Slowing down the call
- Addressing Questions
- Price
- Trade
- Rates / Payments
- Availability
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Jonathan W. Dawson
President, Trainer, Coach
Plan B Consulting
Endorsed Training Company of the MADA
Cell: 612-387-7776
E-mail: planb@helloworld.com
