If this were true of those who are prone to laziness and despondency in the Motor Industry then they wouldn’t sell many cars, would they?
As a company, Martec Europe strives to achieve perfection in everything we do. From our contact centre to our sales trainers, we push ourselves to be the best at what we do.

This got me thinking about our clients who won awards at the AM Awards this month.
To win an award you have to be determined to be the best at what you do, aiming at perfection and excellence.

So Congratulations to…

Lifestyle Europe who won the Best Retailer for more than 10 sites as well as Retailer of the Year.
Marshall Motor Group who won Excellence in Customer Service.

For the rest of us, it might be a good time to ensure our aim is in the right direction.

What do you think?

Felicity

Name: Roz Pearce-Gray

Position: Mentor.net Trainer

What was your first job? Duty Manager of a Children’s Activity Centre, don’t worry, I wasn’t responsible for any children.

How did you get to where you are today? Willing to accept new opportunities and challenges then having high expectations of myself.

What was your first car? A blue Ford Fiesta that wouldn’t go into 1st gear, luckily for me my Grandmother replaced it with……..another blue Fiesta.

What’s the most enjoyable part of your job? Two parts really, first would be introducing sales teams to Mentor.net and being involved instantly with positive change in their Dealership, and second would be the support I get from my colleagues, being exposed to the pressures of other business’s, I know how unique this support can be.

What’s the most challenging part of your job? The only challenge I really have is myself!

What’s your best sales tip? Treat every single customer as though it’s your first, get excited, keep your energy high.

What are you working on at the moment? Inchcape Audi Enquiry Management Process and making sure our Mentor.net Clients are getting the most out of us.

What do you drive now? An A6, soon to be an A3 Sportback.

Favourite car of all time? Difficult for me, I don’t really aspire for a mega super car, but my line up, in no particular order would be: TVR Tuscan, VW Scirocco, Chrysler 300c, Land Rover Defender, Alfa Romeo GT. I would have to have them all at once for different occasions. Greedy.

Interests and activities: I would say I do what all twenty-somethings do in their spare time, surround myself with great friends and family and make sure my weekends are filled with good times.

Having been with Martec for the past 8 years, what’s your best memory? Martec Christmas Parties…brilliant.

A word from Roz’s boss: This week one of our colleagues, Roz Pearce-Gray celebrated her 8 year anniversary with Martec Europe Limited. Congratulations on this brilliant achievement.

Roz joined us all that time ago in our Customer Contact Centre. Her enthusiasm and thirst for knowledge meant her role in the business developed considerably, in fact it wasn’t long before she was running the department.

In 2002 Roz took responsibly for running Martec’s Prospect Management Programme for Audi UK and continued to do so until 2004.

In 2008 Roz successfully spearheaded Martec’s project across Inchcape’s 130 Retailers in the UK.

Now Roz is training Sales people and Sales Managers nationwide, helping them get the most from their Contact Management Systems. She has also been instrumental in assisting Inchcape Audi migrate to Mentor.net from another system.

We are all looking forward to the next eight years, the challenges it will undoubtedly hold and of course Roz’s appetite for getting things done and done well.

Ray Harkin

Keep reading to find out more…

Name: Gavin Churchman

Position: Training Consultant

What was your first job? What ever…? Pumping gas for the local Jaguar dealer when I was 15.

How did you get into the Motor Trade? By accident! I did an apprenticeship in a Ford workshop.

What was your first car? A Vauxhall HA Viva when I was 18 that cost £50 as an MOT failure, and sold for a profit!

What’s the most enjoyable part of your job? Standing up in the class room, or sitting face to face, coaching Martec clients and giving them something different to try when they get back to work.

What’s the most challenging part of your job? Finding what I need to change about me to get someone else to change what they do!

What’s your best sales tip? It’s FAB…find out what problems the customer has. Then show them the Features your product has And how they Benefit the customer by solving their problem.

What are you working on at the moment? A plan for curious aftersales people, to help them convince more hesitant customers.

What do you drive now? Audi A6

Favourite car of all time? hmmmm…  Aston Martin V8 Vantage Roadster

Interests and activities: Golf, my family, golf, reading, golf, listening to music, food and wine, golf, keeping fit and finally…golf.

Thought of the day: You can have anything you want if you are willing to give up the belief that you can’t have it.

Felicity

“I read this today and wanted to share it with you. It comes from an american guy called Jeffrey Gitomer, look him up or ask us for more information on how to find him. I think it’s worth a read, especially as I’m a Starbucks fan.” Neil Pursell

Every day millions of people wake up, go through their daily morning routine, and with coffee on their mind, head out to their Starbucks oasis.

Ever go to Starbucks? Sure you have. Some of you hundreds of times. Some of you thousands of times. You have your order in mind before you ever get there. You stand in line, patiently waiting your turn to exchange your money for your reward – your cup of coffee exactly the way you want it. And maybe some other up-sold item. A muffin. A scone. A piece of pound cake. A cup of oatmeal. A breakfast sandwich.

The proliferation of Starbucks is nothing short of phenomenal. But you can read about that elsewhere. My focus is on why you go there, and continue going there.

What makes Starbucks a sought-after destination for you to spend more money on a cup of coffee than you’ve spent anywhere else in the world? And for millions of customers, why you’re willing to do that every day. In any weather. In any economy.

Yes, you’re looking for a morning jolt. But why Starbucks?

Here are a few of the reasons people (including me) go there:
Atmosphere. Looks like a living room or a break room. Relaxed.
Warmth. I feel like the whole place is a cup of hot coffee.
People friendly. Smile is their order of the day.
The ability to customize your order. Size. Content. And the widest variety of product (eliminating the “We don’t carry that” option from their response).
Speed of delivery. They have a system. Somebody takes your order. Somebody else makes your order. And maybe even a third person gets your muffin. You don’t have to wait long for gratification.
Consistent quality of product. Whatever you were thinking or hoping for when you walked in the door is exactly what you receive a few short minutes later. You get what you came for. No matter where I am in the world, my cup of coffee is consistently superior.
It’s easy to buy and pay. Starbucks has their own prepaid card. They’re so popular that people give them as gifts. I’ve often wondered how many hundreds of millions of dollars go unused, laying around somewhere in Starbucks coffers. But the bottom line is a high percentage of people pay with those cards, and millions of people gift those cards. It’s likely that you have purchased and used, been the recipient of, or given the gift of a Starbucks card. Their latest way to purchase is the mini Starbucks card that you can put on your key chain. (You can no longer leave your car running if you have the card on your keychain.)
Technology friendly. I can Wi-Fi there. It’s easy to get connected. The Wi-Fi element in Starbucks is so significant, that T-Mobile and AT&T are slugging it out to see who can pay more for the privilege.
Business friendly. People meet there to do business. There are plenty of tables and chairs. Some even use Starbucks as an office.
Social friendly. People meet there socialize.
Clean restrooms. For the most part.

SUMMARY:

People are willing to stand in line, pay in advance, and walk three blocks in the rain to get their Starbucks jolt.

LESSON:

Look at the Starbucks model of multiple ways to purchase the same core product. Coffee. Look at the atmosphere in which they sell it. Warm and friendly. Look at the consistency of the delivered product. And look at the detail that they go through in order to make certain that you are gratified to make that purchase, and likely to return. Then compare those elements to your business. And tell me if you can stack up to the Starbucks standard.

How friendly are your people?
How flexible are your product offerings?
How easy is it to buy things and pay for things in your company?
Who is willing to come to your place every day and spend money?

Felicity

Survey Link

Think about it… Roger Banister’s peers thought it unreasonable to expect him to run a mile in less than 4 minutes. Lance Armstrong must be an unreasonable man then, do you think? After major surgery in 1996 just how reasonable would it have been to consider returning to top class sport and again winning the Tour de France?

I recently read, a theory from a chap called Michael Neill, that you might like…“The number of reasons people have to do something is inversely proportional to how much they actually want to do it…” Meaning, you don’t need lots of reasons to get something done. If you find you need lots of reasons to justify something, it might just be the wrong thing to do.

Translating that to sales, you only need one reason to justify doing more of the right things, more of the time, don’t you? …It makes more sales.

Felicity

Have you completed our survey yet?

Click here to complete two short questions for a chance to win a Porsche Carrera…Mouse.

This survey ends 10th Dec and the prize entry will be drawn on the 11th Dec.

When the challengers entered Ford’s office, Ford was sitting behind his desk with hundreds of buttons to his side.  When asked what the buttons were for, he answered, “I employ hundreds of the brightest minds from across the world. Whatever question you ask, I merely have to press a button and in minutes someone who knows the answer will walk through the door, and that gentleman is the true secret of my success.”

“I want my advisors to be smarter than me, my lawyers nastier, and my accountants to pinch more pennies than I ever would.  In short, I have always aspired to surround myself with people who allow me to play to my strengths.”

Don’t you?

Martec knows the importance of a strong and reliable team.  Make sure you work together and create a strong and tight knit team with good ideas and proven methods of increasing sales within your dealership.

Good team work and training cements the foundations of a successful car dealership.

What do you think?

Felicity

After seeing our ideas for Sales Prospecting, we agreed to spend the month of September working with the sales team, on a focussed, habit changing, weekly basis.

The programme involved ‘one on one’ coaching, identifying his sales team’s skill levels, working at different paces to map each person correctly. We implemented a pro-active telephone process using great ‘word tracks’, positive language and got them to listen to the words their prospects actually used.

After just 4 weeks, over 200 calls were made, 37 appointments were created, 17 test drives were conducted, and 10 cars were sold, more than that, 4 service bookings also got sold. According to Chris they have NOW returned over £9,000 profit.

They had to sift through some dirt to get to the gold but it was worth it!

What could we do for you?

Craig

Imagine this… Someone comes close to the Labrador’s dinner and he sets a goal to protect it… Bark, Bark, Bark. We all know, that no matter how loud or indeed fierce the happy faced dog barks they will run a mile before anything serious happens. It’s all noise and little action, and that’s because of the second half of the Labrador’s goal, the unspoken half… Protecting his dinner was the first half, as long as he doesn’t have to upset anyone or get into trouble was the second.

Now the Doberman is a whole different story. “Protect my dinner no matter what!”

So when you set a goal for yourself, to reach a specific point or get a specific thing, are you Doberman? Or do you have a limiting second half to those good intentions, just like a Labrador?

As an example, I’m going to have that last Rolo, as long as no one else wants it! OR That Rolo’s mine!

Felicity

When visiting a dealership customers use certain ‘leverage’ words, which will tell you how serious they are about buying.

Have you ever wondered why you think a customer is more serious than another?
You may be taking one customer more seriously than another due to the words they use.
If one says “I’d like to have…” and the other “I must have…” which one do you think is more serious about buying?

Most customers use words such as like, prefer, want, need, must, and will…
Which words would you consider to be the more serious?
By only changing a couple of words it can mean the difference between “wish to buy a car” to “will buy a car”.

Thinking back to the ‘What did you say’ video tip, where it encourages you to listen to the first 100 words a customer says and how important it is for you as a salesperson to engage why, what and how the customer is going to purchase.
Listen to the first 100 words and listen out for the leverage words.
You must sell to the ‘wills’, ‘needs’ and ‘musts’, and you can be flexible with the ‘wishes’, ‘likes’ and the preferences.

The tip is to listen to those leverage words and determine how serious your prospect is about buying.

Have you tried our sales training tips?

Let us know how you got on and if they worked for you!

Felicity

Neil Pursell has been working at Martec Europe for over 15 years and he has met an array of salespeople, many of them, exceptional salespeople and some that are not. The first group provide many of Martec’s sales tips.

This video “What did you Say” highlights one of the tips Neil came across recently.

The key to making more sales in the showroom is to listen to the first 100 words a potential customer says upon first entering the showroom.

These words will tell you what they want, what they are going to buy and why they are going to buy it.

Neil was sceptical at first so he asked some of his Legendary Salespeople to try out this tip and LISTEN for the 100 words. It worked…

The key to this tip is to LISTEN to the customer and listen out for the vital clues that will help you to get that sale!

Felicity