In business you need clarity. You need to know what you do and how you do it and importantly why you do it. Today will be some thoughts of the day. You need to make a difference. Not for yourself but for others.
In sales you need to have done your research. You need to know your audience and your company and products and the relationship that you have with the audience. You need to have a goal. You need to be able to position yourself to satisfy the needs and wants of the audience. You need to be able to overcome objections and close the deal.
Today listening to all the talking heads about the debate last night I am brought to a startling conclusion. When confronted with a challenge some people shrink from it and others rise to it. I think it is clear who shrank last night and who rose to the challenge.
We have been continuing to do what we have been doing for three and a half years now. Spending more than we earn and not getting results. High poverty levels, declining income levels, high unemployment and record deficits are not results that anyone should find to be acceptable. I don’t think we want to continue on this path unless we can get different results. Do you? Einstein said that was insanity.
We are confronted with an extremely clear choice; More of the same and more and more – OR – different. Remember the words – The five points?
- North American Energy Independence
- Fix Public Education
- Increase trade – especially with Latin America – fair trade – especially with China
- Balance the budget
- Encourage small business
Remember repealing ObamaCare and redoing a lot of Dodd Frank? Remember the “big kiss” in too big to fail as a gift to the five largest banks? There is a lot to do and the time clock is running faster and faster. The time is now.
Thought of the Day #12
In looking around the media and the education community and the unemployed in America these days I am astounded that the main stream media (MSM) are expounding on the needs that the current President has to get out the vote of the young as he did in 2008. I don’t think that is very smart.
The facts as I know them include the fact that over 54% of the graduates in 2012 do not have jobs. I look at new terms for the part time workers, the educated men and women who are working at jobs considerably below their skills sets. I don’t know why the current President would want that group of people to be voting in the same proportion as they did in 2008. Do they think they will continue to vote for the results that have been produced in job creation over the past three and a half years?
These people are smart, they have taken exams, and they know what good results look like and when they are not good. Who do you think they will vote for this time around? Hope and Change? Or Please Move Aside? This is not a good job on which you should have a do over is it? Clint Eastwood had it right when he said “when they don’t do the job you just got to let them go.”
Some facts to consider
This is not a record that the younger people will find comforting. They will not be voting for the current President. They have had about all they can stand of his hope and change. I am struck with the MSM and the wringing of their hands that the younger voters will not be turning out this election and that this will hurt the current President. Au contraire mes amis, if they vote in numbers they will in all likelihood be voting for Romney. And none too soon. The time is now.
Training Tidbit #2
Webinars are a terrific tool to transmit information to people doing the job. Our webinars last about an hour, are subject specific, allow more than one person in the room and are inexpensive at $95.00.
They are the usual format. It is a GoToMeeting style with slides showing bullet points related to the topic being discussed. There is a short Q&A at the end to allow for clarification or expansion on the topic at hand.
On the 15th and 16th of October we offer four webinars. Two on Monday, TeleSelling and Basic Inventory Control, and two on Tuesday, Parts Pricing and Warehousing.
Those of you that have not attended one of these informative webinars should make the time and register. You won’t be sorry. The time is now.
CAS Filosophy v1.3
You don’t have a soul. You are a soul. You have a body.
C.S. Lewis
I watched Titanic when I got back home from the hospital, and cried. I knew that my IQ had been damaged.”
Stephen King
And, to close, words to live by:
Nothing is impossible. The word itself says ‘I’m possible!
Audrey Hepburn
The time is now.
WH Filosophy v1.5
Thank you Bill.
The lure of the distant and the difficult is deceptive. The great opportunity is where you are.
John Burroughs, American naturalist and essayist
There is nothing so agonizing to the fine skin of vanity as the application of a rough truth.
Edward Bulwer-Lytton, British politician, poet, playwright and novelist
The time is now.
Friday Filosophy #32
Overlooking the Pacific Ocean from the shores of Waikiki from me to you
All that we are is the result of what we have thought! Our thoughts are so powerful so choose great ones!
Buddha
It takes less time to do a thing right, than it does to explain why you did it wrong.
Henry Longfellow
Life is too deep for words, so don’t try to describe it, just live it.
C.S. Lewis
The time is now.
Thought of the Day #11
In business you need clarity. You need to know what you do and how you do it and importantly why you do it. Today will be some thoughts of the day. You need to make a difference. Not for yourself but for others.
In sales you need to have done your research. You need to know your audience and your company and products and the relationship that you have with the audience. You need to have a goal. You need to be able to position yourself to satisfy the needs and wants of the audience. You need to be able to overcome objections and close the deal.
Today listening to all the talking heads about the debate last night I am brought to a startling conclusion. When confronted with a challenge some people shrink from it and others rise to it. I think it is clear who shrank last night and who rose to the challenge.
We have been continuing to do what we have been doing for three and a half years now. Spending more than we earn and not getting results. High poverty levels, declining income levels, high unemployment and record deficits are not results that anyone should find to be acceptable. I don’t think we want to continue on this path unless we can get different results. Do you? Einstein said that was insanity.
We are confronted with an extremely clear choice; More of the same and more and more – OR – different. Remember the words – The five points?
Remember repealing ObamaCare and redoing a lot of Dodd Frank? Remember the “big kiss” in too big to fail as a gift to the five largest banks? There is a lot to do and the time clock is running faster and faster. The time is now.
Training Tidbit #1
Training has long been a problem for many dealerships.
On the other hand
In the years since 2008 – which I will label “BBS” – “Before Bear Stearns” dealerships have reduced their expenditures on employee training dramatically.
We offer management training through associations and directly to manufacturers and dealers for Parts Management, Service Management, Parts & Service Marketing Management and Product Support Selling via a Company called Quest, Learning Centers. We have developed nine programs each of which is a fifteen hour training class. These Quest classes had an average attendance of 25 to 30 managers and supervisors in our “class room” sessions. Since 2009 that number has fallen to from 10 to 15. One of the many different advantages from class room learning is the interaction between attendees both in the room and after hours.
Our response to this reduction has been to produce and provide alternative forms of learning; The Webinar and Internet Self Study.
As an educator I am not happy with the webinar format. I cannot see the learner. I don’t know if they got it or not. I don’t know if they are paying attention of not. But I have created sixteen webinar classes; eight for parts and eight for service. We offer each of them twice a year, each of them lasts about an hour. Technology is advancing and we now have available a format where we can see the attendees on a webinar and they can see each other and the instructor. On Self Study we have been slow to get to market. It has been a learning curve but we are in the final phases of introducing our internet self-study programs. There will be four for the parts group and four for the service group and each program will take from four hours to six hours to complete.
I believe in learning. I believe that each individual has a responsibility to continue their education through their complete life. I live that belief too. I hope you agree with me and will join me in encouraging everyone to continue their personal development through attending learning sessions whether it is in a classroom or some other format. The time is now.
Marketing Missiles v1.9
Marketing is a broad topic covering a lot of different sins. It is mass mailings, it is seasonal cards, it is monthly or bimonthly newsletters, or quarterly specials. It is promotional materials and handouts. It is sales catalogues. It is also CRM (customer relationship management) systems and sophisticated information reporting. It is a bunch of stuff.
In columns I write and other documentation I have been stressing the new forms of marketing being taught at schools of higher learning, in marketing undergraduate and master level degrees. It is called “relationship marketing.” The educators and schools are acknowledging that marketing is about building and nurturing relationships not just all of the stuff listed above. Week I don’t think that is going to come as any surprise to any of you in the business. We all know that business is people to people. So our marketing efforts need to take on a much more serious tone.
We need to “touch” our customers more frequently and with a higher level of skills and quality.
The first order of business is to have a specific purpose for the “touch”, the call. Each and every time you “touch” the customer you have to have a reason that the customer will understand is aimed at reducing their owning and operating costs. The call should be about them – not you. You are providing a service to the customer. You are looking out for their best interest. What do they use of your services? What parts aren’t they buying from you? Who are they using if they don’t use your services? Are you monitoring the operating cost per machine hour? Are you advising the customer to trade in the machine when the costs are too high on a monthly basis? These are all part and parcel of marketing – the new marketing; Relationship Marketing. We will deal with this in much more depth in the weeks ahead. The time is now.
Service Statement v1.8
The comparison in the last service blog to the doctor is a clear statement on how I view the responsibilities of a service department.
That to me is very clear, straight and to the point.
And I also believe that without properly conducted maintenance as prescribed in the owner and operator manual we cannot achieve those objectives. But today more than ever I am excited. With telematics we will be able to monitor equipment all day long. We will know how many hours it is working, how long the engine is idling, if the filters are clogged; we will know everything.
Imagine that world. You will have a “mission control” – walls of computer monitors on the walls, each representing a machine, with people manning the “support center” 24/7. You will be able to “alert” the customer to anything and everything about their machine that is abnormal or needs attention. This will become a new service for you to offer. And guess what? No one else will be able to do this for your branded equipment. Very rarely do we get second chances in life but this is clearly a second chance for you to obtain and retain service market capture rates. The question is now in the air. Will you take advantage of this second chance? I sure hope so. The time is now.
Parts Pondering v2.1
I will assume that you have the correct number of skilled people in your parts department, now we need to look into what it is that they do. This is about much more than the parts order processing factory isn’t it? It is about more than answering telephones and greeting customers who come into your store. It is more than managing the instore merchandising displays. It is much more than inventory management and warehousing. Isn’t it?
It is about selling too I think. Don’t you? So how well trained are your parts personnel on selling? Do they have selling skills? Have they had sales skills training? Do you have product knowledge? How well versed are they on your competition? How well do they overcome objections? Can they close a deal? I hope so as it is in their hands that your success will come.
Many dealers know and give lip service to training. Don’t fall for that. Or said more bluntly don’t go there. You need to have monthly meetings with your parts personnel. You need to review product knowledge, review processes and talk about matters of interest at the moment. You need to do this regularly. Do you?
Oh I know it is work. It is supposed to be which is why work is a four letter word.
Have your supplier’s representatives attend the meetings. Go further and have them contribute to it either with news or a training session. Organize the meeting so that it is never longer than ninety minutes. The employees need to have a clear understanding about the commitment they are making and not have you run over all the time. This will build a team of talented people who will understand that you are making and investment in their future and they will contribute to your future as well. The time is now.