If you haven't been a rabid baseball fan for the last 22 years like myself, you may not know that that man on the left side of your screen is Mariano Rivera. He was one of the most important reasons that the New York Yankees won five World Series titles from 1996-2009 and 11 Division titles in that same period. The amazing thing about Rivera is that he averaged only about 75 innings pitched per season over a 19-year career (when a team plays more than 1,500 in a season,)he generally only came in the game when the team had a small lead late in the game, and he only threw one type of pitch. but no one questions his greatness and vital role on those 19 Yankees' teams.
That is specialization. If you found a way to similarly specialize in your automotive sales career, don't you think you could accomplish more with less effort, help your team get more wins, and have more respect from your customers and colleagues
It's a funny thing in the automotive industry that most desk managers and general managers will not encourage their team to specialize (making some salespeople internet salespeople is not necessarily specialization,) but when a sales professional takes it upon themselves to become a specialist, drive in more traffic, and brings the dealership more profit, these same managers are more than happy to reap the benefits.
There are many ways you can specialize. Most dealerships are way behind the curve with social media. You can become the social media content specialist and drive traffic that way. If you gain an audience and drive 2 or 3 deals each month through social media that will mean you spend less time hawking the lot and increase your monthly income by more than 10%. These people won't just be shoppers, they will fans of yours with whom you have instant rapport.
You can become your dealerhship's "truck guy/gal." If you learn massive amount of information about trucks and truck buyers and have specific knowledge about any trucks on your lot and advertise yourself that way on social media, in the newspaper, or even on phone ups you will have higher level of respect from your truck-buying customers and will likely scoop up from deals or half-deals from your co-workers who know they don't understand the trucks as much as you and pass along a customer interested in that 2014 Chevrolet Silverado with the 6-inch lift.
I have chosen to specialize as the "special finance guy." Life happens, and people end up with credit bumps, bruises, gashes, and amputations. That doesn't mean they don't deserve to have reliable transportation and the chance to rebuild their credit with an auto loan.
When it became clear that the young staff was not yet equipped to handle these situations in a profitable way, I was more than willing to step up and take it on when my GM was looking for someone. I took it a step farther and offered to step in and my younger colleagues when they did end up working with a customer with a credit score on the lower end. Quickly, they decided they didn't wan to deal with these deals that took a little longer than usual for them and saw my eagerness to take them on so they just started directing customers (walk-in, phone, AND internet) in my direction once it was determined they might need to take advantage of a special finance program.
One of my finance managers and myself have streamlined our process to the point where most of our special finance customers leave with bigger smiles on their faces than our new car customers, even though they are leaving with interest rates between 15-20%.
I now rarely have to take a lot up, have most of my days planned out with 3 or 4 appointments, have some very happy advocates, and have gained a level of respect with my fellow sales pros when it comes to this topic.
If you have been able to reach above-average success in the automotive sales game through specialization, please share in the comments for your fellow pros across the country.
If you want to learn how I've turned my specialty into a never-ending lead source and nearly 30% year-over-year growth express your interest in my upcoming Prospecting/Closing the Sale Webinar scheduled for November 10th. First 20 to submit their information get in FREE!