The Best Sales Improvement Secret I Know Of

The Best Sales Improvement Secret I Know Of

By

 

Eric M. Twiggs

 

 

 

 

“The secret to success is to know something that nobody else knows.” Aristotle

 

If you were to type the term “analytical” into Google, a picture of “James” would appear!  He and I were having an intense discussion as to why his sales were trending in the wrong direction. 

James sent me detailed spreadsheets that summarized his market analysis, product sales comparisons, and the amount of new customer visits by month for the past three years. 

He believed that tweaking his marketing and merchandising mix would fix the problem.  My gut was telling me to dig a little deeper.  

I asked James to send me an analysis that compared the sales, average repair order(ARO), and gross profit performance of his three service managers.  Of the three managers, “John” had the lowest ARO and gross profit results.  To make matters worse, he also had the highest customer count and his technicians had the lowest courtesy check to customer percentage!  

Based on the math, James would pick up $17,000 in additional monthly sales if John improved his ARO to the same level of the top producer.  Over twelve months, that works out to $204,000 in additional revenue! 

One person’s performance would move James from owning an $800,000 establishment to a $1million-dollar enterprise.  This is why having the right person at the counter, who’s doing the right things, is the best sales improvement secret I know of.   

The reason this is a secret is because most owners look at the market instead of the manager when sales are down.  So what can you do to make the most of this little known secret?  Stay with me to find out.  

Clarity

 

I believe that clarity is the starting point of success.  In his book The Five Levels of Leadership, John Maxwell uses the metaphor of “the messy workbench” to highlight the importance of having clarity when looking for people or pursuing a goal. 

 Here’s how it goes: If you have a messy workbench in your shop, you stand a greater chance of finding the tool you’re looking for if you know exactly what it looks like.   If you aren’t clear, you end up wasting a lot of time and making the wrong choice.   

Searching the various hiring sites is like looking for a tool on a messy workbench.  So how do you determine what the right service manager looks like?

Having clear expectations is a great place to start.  I often talk with shop owners who would define the right person as someone who arrives to work on time, has a good attitude, and likes long walks on the beach!    When looking for “Mr. Right”, you have to ask yourself the following question: Can he achieve the desired outcomes? 

 

When interviewing I recommend creating a scorecard that lists the specific outcomes you expect the candidate to achieve.  A 53% total gross profit, $450 ARO and 95% CSI score would be examples of results to notate. 

After the interview, rate the candidate on a scale of 1-10 to determine the likelihood of them achieving the outcomes based on how they answered the questions.   For additional information on using a scorecard to achieve clarity, review my previous blog post titled The sound of silence.

 

Certainty

Now that you are clear on the results you expect, you must be certain that your people can deliver on those outcomes.  Using a technique known as zero based thinking is the first step. 

Zero based thinking is a decision making process where you imagine yourself being in the past with the knowledge you have today.  Here’s the zero based thinking question in action:  If you could go back in time, would you rehire John knowing what you now know about him? 

If your reflex response is NO, the follow up question is how soon can you find a qualified replacement?  Asking this question BEFORE sending your recent hire to training will increase the odds of you experiencing a return on your investment. 

When I asked James this question, he admitted that he wouldn’t rehire John based on what he now knows about his attitude and performance.   

The next step is to take your overall shop performance and drill down by the individual.    If the shop ARO is $250, and one of your managers is at $190, moving his performance will take the shop to the next level.  

Using zero based thinking will tell you if you have the right person.  Reviewing individual performance will tell you if he’s doing the right things.   

 

Conclusion

So there you have it.  If you embrace the ideas I just mentioned, you will grow in the areas of clarity and certainty.   Your shop will become the worst kept secret because the sales improvement will be too obvious to hide! 

 

Eric M. Twiggs

The Accountability Coach

www.autotraining.net

 

PS.  Looking for a tool to ensure that your service manager is doing the right things?  Email etwiggs@autotraining.net and I will send over a Sales Management Checklist to raise your level of certainty!