January 2009 - Feature
17 Sales-Revving Ideas
When motorcycle riding season rolls around, it usually means three things: long days, tons of customers, and more to do than we can imagine. At least we hope that’s what happens. Powersports trainer provides 17 ideas to rev up for riding season.
By Mark Rodgers
Everything we do in the powersports industry centers around riding season. It’s always a great time of year. There’s excitement in the air. Hopefully today’s economic concerns doesn’t diminish that too much. Regardless of what the future holds, downtime is always a good time to do a little house cleaning. Being organized and prepared to work smarter, not harder, is the best thing you can do to ensure riding season is a good one.
In Stephen Covey’s book, “First Things First,” he identifies a category of powerful activities which can catapult your productivity. The “first things” are those that are important, not urgent, but are needed to increase your capacity to be productive. These things include learning, getting organized, streamlining processes, and building mental and physical energy reserves. Here are 17 “things” you can do to prepare your dealership for this riding season.
1. Clean out your desk and your office
A huge amount of time is wasted looking for lost paperwork or much-needed office items. Now is the time to make sure your desk is organized. Think about how you use your office. Can you put your hands on necessary forms quickly and easily? Perhaps they should be sequenced in the order in which you use them? Do you have ready access to brochures and waiver forms? Organize your office logically with how you work.
2. See your office from your customer’s perspective
We often organize our offices based on our own perspective, which leads to serious oversight. Try sitting in the chair where your customer will be seated. What do you see? Does it send a professional message, or is it cluttered with a bunch of “sell” material? Is there a place for customers to put some personal belongings, or perhaps a purchase? Is there ample room for customers to review paperwork or sign documents? Take your customer’s perspective and you’ll easily see what aspects of your office setup you need to change.
3. Do some market research and mystery shop your competition
This couldn’t be a more important step to take with today’s credit crunch. What you need is a spreadsheet or a notebook to create a list of local lending competitors. Then use the Internet and a cell phone to do some research. How much do they require down? What terms do they offer? What is the total amount they will finance? What are their interest rates? Then call (preferably on a phone without caller ID) and inquire about a motorcycle loan. Ask questions and evaluate the level of service. You’ll be much better prepared to demonstrate to customers why financing through you can benefit them.
4. Review literature for product knowledge
In training sessions around the country, we conduct an exercise where we ask participants to read through their vehicle service contracts. For approximately 80 percent of participants, this is the first time they have ever closely read this important information. Use your slower times to carefully read all your product literature. Get familiar with product information, policies and procedures. A little time spent reviewing now can save you a lot of hassle later.