Salesopedia - Activity! Do you have enough?

Activity! Do you have enough?

Written by Warren Cederberg

With all of the doom and gloom of tough times it is sometimes hard not to get caught up in the negative momentum. Lease-end residual values are taking a big hit in many markets. Market corrections are devaluing used vehicle inventories and impacting trade valuations. Manufacturers and their captive finance companies are rethinking their addiction to leasing. Gas prices are causing a market shift to higher fuel efficiency and often lower gross models.

All of these shifts can be temporary. We had similar doubling of gas prices in the early seventies but everybody got used to higher gas prices and then reverted to vehicles they needed or wanted to drive. We never did return to pre-OPEC prices for fuel but we did return to driving lots of vehicles like vans and sport utilities that were not exactly fuel efficient.

Knowing that market shifts and purchase procrastination can be temporary doesn't really help you today though does it? We make our living from the people who are shopping now and those in our client base who are shortly coming in-market. We believe in trying to have an attitude of abundance not scarcity but in these times it is easy to think that the pie is only so big. Only x number of people will buy a vehicle in my market area this year, this month, or today.

Fine then your competition is every other salesperson out there. What are you doing to separate and differentiate yourself? How will you make sure you have enough activity to match your volume and income objectives? You have to get along with the others in your sales team but that isn't really your competition is it? Your prospect or previous client will stick with you if they are sticking with the brand(s) you sell... but only if you do the right things.

Look at your level of activity. What are the right activities? Well the only time you get paid is when you are talking to clients and prospects so that's what you need to be doing for the biggest part of your day.

- Set yourself objectives for the number of contacts per day.
- Set yourself objectives for the number of appointments per week.
- Create discipline around one key to success: Have a minimum of one solid confirmed appointment for tomorrow before you go home today!

What is your call frequency to your owner sold database? We recently did an analysis of a dealership's CRM database that had over 15,000 active clients but less than 1500 "next contact" dates set! Wow. That's a lot of future sales and referrals just left to chance. They probably won't happen.

How many contacts per day is enough? You decide. Work it backwards from your income objective. How much you want to make dictates how many units sold at your average commission. How many units sold and your average closing ratio dictates how many prospects you need to work with. Double that and you have the number of appointments you need. Remember that people who come in on appointments close at 10-15% higher than walk-ins.

When times are tough a lot of sales consultants will take the hit in income, not change their work pattern, and maybe (or maybe not) ride it out. Others will take our advice and crank up their activity level. They will make more calls, stay closer to their client base, get those referrals and appointments, and increase their personal success. Which group are you going to choose to be in?

Warren Cederberg
		About the author:
		Warren Cederberg is a Director and President of ISI/PAL Automotivaters Inc. ISI/PAL Automotivaters is a Canadian company celebrating 20 years of helping dealerships increase volume and profit through training, coaching, and accountability systems. Our clients range from single dealerships of all sizes to dealer associations and entire dealer networks in Canada, USA, New Zealand, Australia, the Philippines, Indonesia, and Asia. See us at: www.automotivaters.com Copyright © 2007 by ISI/PAL Automotivaters Inc. If you share this, print it out, or reproduce it in any way, please retain this copyright statement.
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