Selling In The Motor Trade

In this episode we speak to The YouTube Diva herself, Elise Kephart.

Elise now runs her own sales training organization in the United States, and in this episode, she talks us through her very first car sale while still working unsociable shifts at Starbucks, and the long road to success that followed from that first paycheck.

She talks us through her competitive nature and how it has absolutely brought her success and notoriety in this business. Having a game plan is key.

Simon also tells the story of his first experiences in the motor trade after backpacking and running out of money!

This is the first of a three-part interview with Elise. The others will follow over the next few weeks so watch out for those!

Here are the highlights:

(02:47) That first phonecall

(04:22) Hey, let's sell cars!

(06:59) The Starbucks recipe

(10:13) The buzz of selling

(18:10) Getting that gameplan right

About Symco Training:

Symco Training was founded in 2000 by Simon Bowkett and it was his belief that the business had to offer its clients something different. That difference was clear to Simon from his days in the dealership when he experienced many sales trainers who had all the answers, but were unable, unwilling or both to actually show the delegate how they could be implemented. It remains the ethos of the business today. You see, Symco only employ trainers that are committed to delivering not only inspiring and insightful training, but are equally as happy to demonstrate these skills and techniques with real customers in your own showroom.

We believe in order for sales training to be effective and in Simon's words 'real world', it needs to be tried and tested in the only place it matters the showroom floor. There is no room for theory when your goals are for your team to sell more cars, hours or parts and retain more profit. In dealerships around the world the focus applied by many of the sales executives is to try and sell a deal. Symco specialise in getting your teams to focus on selling themselves, the product and then supporting this with the deal.

To find out more visit www.symcotraining.co.uk

SPACER is an acronym often used in the auto-trade to gauge what a customer's priorities are when looking for a car.

In today's episode Simon talks you through what each letter stands for, and how it can help you cater to the needs of each individual client who walks into your showroom, because different people have different needs.

Here are the highlights:

(01:47) Not everyone fits in one box

(03:46) Japanese Reliability

(06:09) Mid-life crisis?

(08:21) Comfort (as we get older)

(09:10) That Alpha Romeo reliability

About Symco Training:

Symco Training was founded in 2000 by Simon Bowkett and it was his belief that the business had to offer its clients something different. That difference was clear to Simon from his days in the dealership when he experienced many sales trainers who had all the answers, but were unable, unwilling or both to actually show the delegate how they could be implemented. It remains the ethos of the business today. You see, Symco only employ trainers that are committed to delivering not only inspiring and insightful training, but are equally as happy to demonstrate these skills and techniques with real customers in your own showroom.

We believe in order for sales training to be effective and in Simon's words 'real world', it needs to be tried and tested in the only place it matters the showroom floor. There is no room for theory when your goals are for your team to sell more cars, hours or parts and retain more profit. In dealerships around the world the focus applied by many of the sales executives is to try and sell a deal. Symco specialise in getting your teams to focus on selling themselves, the product and then supporting this with the deal.

To find out more visit www.symcotraining.co.uk

In this week's episode I am chatting again with Ian Parker.

This is the second part of a two part interview. If you've not caught the first episode then have a listen to that first!

In this episode we continue our chat about how the motor trade had changed over the years, but also how everything changed pre-pandemic - and whether or not normality has now resumed.

Ian again offers some fantastic tips and insights from his many years in the industry.

So enjoy this relaxed informal chat with two veterans of the automotive trade with some great training ideas for your teams and some fantastic stories too!

Here are the highlights:

(03:20) Getting the barriers to drop (05:15) The stock problem (09:49) OVER- Supply and demand (15:51) They've done their research (17:31) EV (21:50) Servicing in the future (30:37) Three tips (well,four)

About Symco Training:

Symco Training was founded in 2000 by Simon Bowkett and it was his belief that the business had to offer its clients something different. That difference was clear to Simon from his days in the dealership when he experienced many sales trainers who had all the answers, but were unable, unwilling or both to actually show the delegate how they could be implemented. It remains the ethos of the business today. You see, Symco only employ trainers that are committed to delivering not only inspiring and insightful training, but are equally as happy to demonstrate these skills and techniques with real customers in your own showroom. We believe in order for sales training to be effective and in Simon's words 'real world', it needs to be tried and tested in the only place it matters the showroom floor. There is no room for theory when your goals are for your team to sell more cars, hours or parts and retain more profit. In dealerships around the world the focus applied by many of the sales executives is to try and sell a deal. Symco specialise in getting your teams to focus on selling themselves, the product and then supporting this with the deal.

To find out more visit www.symcotraining.co.uk

What's your memory like?

Hermann Ebbinghaus first introduced the idea of the Forgetting Curve over 100 years ago.

This theory states that we are lucky to remember or retain 10% of knowledge taught.

Now that's not good if you run a sales training company !

Our job is to get as much stuff into the people who are training for you as possible.

Now as a company, we've been told that we have an 82% retention for the stuff we teach the guys after a training session - and that was 90 days after the training itself!

How are we hitting that target?

In this episode I offer some tips and tricks to help you achieve this level of knowledge retention!

(Just don't tell our competitors, right?)

Here are the highlights:

(03:37) Repetition

(04:10) What was your name again?

(08:09) SPACER

(11:51) Sales Fitness

(14:21) Making the link

(20:06) Memory Tagging

(23:39) Memory pegs and Association

About Symco Training:

Symco Training was founded in 2000 by Simon Bowkett and it was his belief that the business had to offer its clients something different. That difference was clear to Simon from his days in the dealership when he experienced many sales trainers who had all the answers, but were unable, unwilling or both to actually show the delegate how they could be implemented. It remains the ethos of the business today. You see, Symco only employ trainers that are committed to delivering not only inspiring and insightful training, but are equally as happy to demonstrate these skills and techniques with real customers in your own showroom.

We believe in order for sales training to be effective and in Simon's words 'real world', it needs to be tried and tested in the only place it matters the showroom floor. There is no room for theory when your goals are for your team to sell more cars, hours or parts and retain more profit. In dealerships around the world the focus applied by many of the sales executives is to try and sell a deal. Symco specialise in getting your teams to focus on selling themselves, the product and then supporting this with the deal.

To find out more visit www.symcotraining.co.uk

In this week's episode I am chatting with Ian Parker - Ian began in the motor Industry in 1983 at Central West Ford selling new Fords and Used Cars in Orange NSW Australia.

By 1989 Ian had established Ian Parker Motors in Orange starting with only 9 used cars on 800sqm block, and 2 staff.

Ian Parker Motors grew into a leading dealership in the Central West where everyone shopped for a quality used vehicle ~ with a quirky little jingle "Ian Parker Cares" which is still remembered today!

Now Ian runs a successful automotive coaching business - https://ianparkerinternational.com/

We discuss the changing face of the motor trade over the last three decades and discuss what has changed , but crucially - what fundamentals are still present in practice now.

This is a 2 part interview - part two to follow in a couple of weeks!

Here are the highlights:

(01:55) Ian's beginnings

(04:10) There's your desk and phone…sell cars!

(09:08) Building relationships

(13:51) Sell yourself first

(18:27) Hungry for information

(26:01) Fixing the issues

(34:17) Online vs face to face

About Symco Training:

Symco Training was founded in 2000 by Simon Bowkett and it was his belief that the business had to offer its clients something different. That difference was clear to Simon from his days in the dealership when he experienced many sales trainers who had all the answers, but were unable, unwilling or both to actually show the delegate how they could be implemented. It remains the ethos of the business today. You see, Symco only employ trainers that are committed to delivering not only inspiring and insightful training, but are equally as happy to demonstrate these skills and techniques with real customers in your own showroom.

We believe in order for sales training to be effective and in Simon's words 'real world', it needs to be tried and tested in the only place it matters the showroom floor. There is no room for theory when your goals are for your team to sell more cars, hours or parts and retain more profit. In dealerships around the world the focus applied by many of the sales executives is to try and sell a deal. Symco specialise in getting your teams to focus on selling themselves, the product and then supporting this with the deal.

To find out more visit www.symcotraining.co.uk

This week, we're going to be talking about the objections your service providers get. I want to keep this short and to the point and focus specifically on the objections. And I'll tell you why, I've just done some work with one of our clients, one of our dealer groups, and we're talking about upselling the red and amber work, you know, the tires, the air conditioner, brake fluid, timing belts, and this is where the customer objections start. So, I think selling actually begins when the customer says no.

In this week's episode, we're going to be talking about the objections your service providers can often be faced with from customers.

When I speak to clients, the conversation usually turns to upselling the red and amber work- you know, the tyres, the air conditioner, brake fluid, timing belts etc, and this often is where the customer objections start.

For this reason I'm of the strong opinion that selling actually begins when the customer says no.

This is definitely one of those episodes you will want to send out to all the service advisors in your manufacturer, group or dealership.

Here are the highlights:

(02:29) The grandma rule

(02:59) Making an informed decision vs taking an ignorant risk

(04:30) Number one: cost or timeframe

(09:08) Number two: no regrets

(10:39) Number three: I think what you're really asking me…

(12:23) Number four: feel, felt, found

(15:07) Number five: promise me

About Symco Training:

Symco Training was founded in 2000 by Simon Bowkett and it was his belief that the business had to offer its clients something different. That difference was clear to Simon from his days in the dealership when he experienced many sales trainers who had all the answers, but were unable, unwilling or both to actually show the delegate how they could be implemented. It remains the ethos of the business today. You see, Symco only employ trainers that are committed to delivering not only inspiring and insightful training, but are equally as happy to demonstrate these skills and techniques with real customers in your own showroom.

We believe in order for sales training to be effective and in Simon's words 'real world', it needs to be tried and tested in the only place it matters the showroom floor. There is no room for theory when your goals are for your team to sell more cars, hours or parts and retain more profit. In dealerships around the world the focus applied by many of the sales executives is to try and sell a deal. Symco specialise in getting your teams to focus on selling themselves, the product and then supporting this with the deal.

To find out more visit www.symcotraining.co.uk

In this week's episode, I'm going to be telling the fantastic story about FedEx and more specifically a guy called Fred Smith.

Now, this is a story I heard maybe 10, 15 years ago from Tony Robbins. I'm not sure how accurate it is but it describes how Fred struggled to start his business, how he overcame technical and financial issues and I'm going to reveal how his story can help you and your service department.

Here are the highlights:

(01:39) Fred's hub and spoke distribution centre idea

(02:58) When the distribution centre stops working

(04:56) About Fred Smith

(06:36) Let's focus on the engineer and his invoice for $10,000 and relate it back to our businesses

(07:40) How long does it take to become a master technician?

(08:59) We're not selling their time we're selling their knowledge

(12:55) Don't sell time, sell what your technician is going to do for the customer

(13:46) We always talk about a return on the investment

About Symco Training:

Symco Training was founded in 2000 by Simon Bowkett and it was his belief that the business had to offer its clients something different. That difference was clear to Simon from his days in the dealership when he experienced many sales trainers who had all the answers, but were unable, unwilling or both to actually show the delegate how they could be implemented. It remains the ethos of the business today. You see, Symco only employs trainers that are committed to delivering not only inspiring and insightful training, but are equally as happy to demonstrate these skills and techniques with real customers in your own showroom.

We believe in order for sales training to be effective and in Simon's words 'real world', it needs to be tried and tested in the only place it matters, the showroom floor. There is no room for theory when your goals are for your team to sell more cars, hours or parts and retain more profit. In dealerships around the world the focus applied by many of the sales executives is to try and sell a deal. Symco specialise in getting your teams to focus on selling themselves, the product and then supporting this with the deal.

To find out more visit www.symcotraining.co.uk

Get the book 'Words That Sell Cars' for free at https://sales.symcotraining.co.uk/words-sell-cars

Get your free trial of The Sales Fitness Programme at https://symcotraining.co.uk/trial/

Comparing EVs in UK, Europe and the States.

Jim discusses EVs with us and it looks like things are certainly moving a bit faster in the UK and Europe with EV's, than in America.

https://symcotraining.co.uk/podcast/

(c) 2022 Symco Training Ltd.

There are 20 things a General Manager needs to do every week.

Another discussion with Jim about what makes a good manger and how the agency model is progressing in the States.

https://symcotraining.co.uk/podcast/

(c) 2022 Symco Training Ltd.

"There's only one Alpha Dawg" - Jim Ziegler

We talk to Jim about his career path, how he became the "Alpha Dawg", and appreciating the lifetime value of a customer.

https://symcotraining.co.uk/podcast/

(c) 2022 Symco Training Ltd.