Question: We quantify the results of individual marketing campaigns, but it feels like we’re missing something.
Tory Hornsby | 04/24/2019
It sounds like you’re on the right track with individual campaign tracking… keep it up. What you’re missing is tracking the bigger picture. This reminds me of one of my past experiences.
In the late 90’s, as a young Tory, I became the Sales Manager of a Powersports dealership. I was so pumped and ready to jump in and make a difference from day one. I had read books, consistently absorbed info from the industry trade magazines, and learned a lot about what to do from my previous Sales Managers. Of course, they also taught me a ton about what NOT to do.
I still remember my very first sales meeting. I wanted it to be perfect. I had been taught the importance of having a written agenda for every meeting, so I printed out a copy for each attendee. The agenda included product knowledge, sales training, an overview of current incentives, and monthly goal setting.
During the goal setting session, I asked each of my salespeople, “How many units you gonna sell this month?” The first one said, “32 units.” Well, he had never sold over 30 units, so we all celebrated this big goal! We hooted and hollered, and I excitedly wrote down his 32-unit goal on the board and moved on to the next salesperson.
When I asked salesperson two, I could see his wheels spinning because he normally sold more than the first guy. Now there was no way he could say less than 32, so he said, “put me down for 37 units!” That was also more than he’d ever manage to get out the door, so we hooted and hollered again, and I wrote down his 37-unit goal on the board.
Once we finished the individual goal setting exercise, we set the dealership’s monthly goal. As you can imagine, it was a HUGE one. We worked so hard, pushing every unit out the door we possibly could to hit that goal and when the dust settled at the end of the month…. we didn’t even come close!
We had set an unrealistic goal that was based on hype and feelings instead of facts and data.
Over the next couple of months, I learned that there were only 2 ways a salesperson can increase their sales, and setting an unrealistic goal wasn’t one of them.
1. Work with more customers.
If a salesperson normally works with 100 customers, increasing that to 120 will result in more units sold. This can be accomplished by being hungrier and getting more showroom ups, answering the phone more often, following-up with Be-Backs (the Be-Back bus usually doesn’t come back without follow-up), calling past customers, and prospecting when they’re outside of the dealership.
2. Work on selling and people skills to increase closing ratio.
If a salesperson normally closes 15 out of 100 customers (15% closing ratio), increasing that to 20% will move the needle big time. This can be accomplished by constant training on every part of the sales process. From the greet and getting past “just looking,” to handling objections/closing, and everything in between. When you do both, the results quickly start to compound.
Just like this, your marketing must be accountable for increasing business, and it boils down to 2 things you can easily track.
1. Increase your number of active customers.
So how do you quantify if more customers do business with your dealership in 2019 than did in 2018? Run a report of only those customers who’ve spent money with you in a specific timeframe and compare year-over-year. While the ultimate goal is to have more active customers at the end of the year, I recommend tracking this every month. Your marketing must maintain active customers, reactivate inactive past customers (haven’t done business in more than a year), and conquest new customers.
2. Improve your average customer value.
To determine your average customer value, simply divide your 2018 revenue by the number of active customers that year. Your marketing must consistently stay in front of the people most likely to do business with you and give them a reason to visit the dealership. If they visit more frequently, they spend more money.
PSM Marketing has a MARKETING SYSTEM designed specifically to grow these 2 numbers. If you’d like to systematically grow your dealership in 2019, give us a call at 1-877-242-4472, or visit www.psmmarketing.com for more information.
- Tory
P.S. Want to submit YOUR question for “Ask Tory”? Just email your question to marketing@powersportsmarketing.com and let Tory know what question you’d like to have answered in a future issue of the UMM Newsletter.
