With the Mobile Electronic awards less than a month away, the internet has become quiet. No longer is everyone shaking hands and kissing babies for votes, or continually spamming social media with “please vote for me.” At CanadianCarStereo.com, we thought it was awesome the new categories that were added this year, for example, the “salesman” category by Mobile Electronics Magazine. Often we forget that we need a salesperson to sell the gear for us to do these fantastic installs.
Two Sides of a Coin
Often we hear, I don’t need a salesperson because I sell and install my products. Although this statement might be right but is it the most effective use of your time as an installation professional? In a regular work week, if you spend two days a week quoting and three days installing what does this do to your pocketbook? Maybe the profit from the equipment offsets the time out of the bay, but what about wasted time? For example on non-business social media, answering the phone, wife or partner coming down to the store for a visit? Salespeople can filter out these distractions and give you a continuous flow of work. The most significant example of this is, ever go to work early in the morning to work for a couple of hours with no distractions? Are you always amazed at how much work you get done? A good salesperson can also do this. Our question to you is “have they been trained or asked to do these tasks?”
Investing in Our Sales People
For years we have said “it’s hard to find a good salesperson” or “I have gone through eight salesmen this year, they are all terrible.” Were they all the wrong people, had body odor, unprofessional dress or poor communication skills? These are relatively simple things to correct, or was the problem they could not sell their way out of a wet paper bag? We don’t even blink twice at buying a router lift or screwdriver set but what about investing $99.00 in your sales staff?
Do You Have a Sales Process
Every shop has a vehicle “check-in” sheet nowadays, but what is a sales process? Here is a quick example:
- Morning Routine – 8:30 am
- Turn off the alarm
- Turn on all lights
- Turn on all display boards and play “x” music (demo material provided by the store)
- Check messages and social media for any messages
- Check Install Book
- Make sure all product is placed on the “to be installed/sold” shelf
- Open Store – 9:00am
- Turn on the “open” sign
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- Customer via the phone
- Greet the customer with excitement, and answer with “Bob’s Audio, home of the $99.00 dash cam, how can I help you today?”
- Listen and ask these five questions…
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I think you get the idea, if you could get a person to open/close your store, prepare the product, and answer the phone/social media would this clear up your time and make you more profitable? Almost every store owner I talk to, says “if I could get them to do these “x” things, I would be super happy.” Does your store have a sales process for your salespeople? Investing two hours in a sales process is virtually free, and your salespeople would probably really appreciate it.
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CanadianCarStereo.com
*photo courtesy of flickr.com
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