How Do I Stay Motivated?
Somebody asked me a long time ago…
“How can you handle the uncertainty and the ups and downs of being on commission?”
When I started selling cars my second time around, I’d learned so much more about selling, so this time I cheated.
Here’s one way I did it…
I’m guessing that you probably hate ‘tracking’, right? It’s OK, my first 5 year tour as an 8 car guy, I hated tracking, too, and so does almost everyone else (80%). Back then, I couldn’t answer any of these questions accurately. How about you? Print this blog post, and just fill in the blanks…
1. Counting all of the people you talk to on the lot each month, regardless of how much time you spend with them, or whatever they told you about why they came in or when they planned to buy, how many do you talk to on average each month? _____
2. Of all of the people you talk to each month, how many demonstrations do you give each month? _____
3. Of all of the people you talk to, how many do you bring inside to start paperwork to work a deal? ____
4. How many of those were totally, mentally committed to purchasing when you took them inside? _____
5. How many of those were you just hoping you could talk into buying if the price was right? _____
6. What is your closing ratio (delivery ratio) of all the people you talked to (#1)? ___%
7. What is your closing ratio (delivery ratio) of the total demonstrations you give each month? (#2) ___%
8. What’s your closing ratio (deliveries) of the mentally committed deals you work each month (#3a)? ___%
9. What’s your closing ratio of the ‘hope to make’ price focused deals you work each month (#3b)? ___%
10. What is your current average (90 day rolling average) of the number of units you sell each month? _____
11. What is your current average (90 day) commission per unit including all bonuses and spiffs? $____
12. What is your current average percent of sales from repeat customers and referrals from prospecting? ____%
If you don’t know these answers, you have no idea what you need to do to improve. So, most people work harder for a while, sell a couple more and are pumped, at least until they wear down. Then they’re tired, sell less and are bummed.
You almost always have your average month based
on your average skills and ‘selling’ activities.
Whether you track or not, in the long run, your sales and income are based on your averages in everything you do; the number of people you talk to, the ‘type’ of customer you talk to (‘ups’ or ‘repeat & referrals’), how many and quality of presentations and demos you give, your skills at closing, and whether you bring mentally committed buyers inside or just anyone so you can try to talk them into buying by dropping and dropping the price.
In the end – if you do what you normally do,
you can expect to get what you normally get.
There are two easy ways to sell more and raise your gross:
Track and improve your number of demos, targeted presentations and committed write ups.
And rate yourself and improve your questioning skills, selling skills and your skills and performance in each of my 8 steps of selling. Want to know more? Contact our office at (800) 445-6217.
I wasn’t concerned about the uncertainty of my sales and income my second time around in sales, because I knew if I just focused on improving those two each month, I’d at least sell and earn what I was averaging the last 90 days or more. It’s simple…
Learn more & do more and you’ll sell more & earn more!
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Sell more cars with Joe Verde’s sales book, “Earn Over $100,000 Selling Cars – Every Year” for a free PDF or to order a free soft cover book.
