In part three we talk about the positive outcome of investing in a modern sales process. 

Unfortunately, efficiency is not the word that describes the sales process in most automotive retail organizations. Disconnected is the common denominator. Technology that is not integrated, training that is inconsistent across multiple tools, and a lack of measurable controls to identify issues in the sales process lead to perpetual inefficiencies. 

Efficiency is felt on both sides of the automotive transaction. The guest is often in a posture of expecting a non-transparent and inefficient process and automotive retail professionals typically have five tabs open on their browser conducting gymnastics to move a deal step by step in the process. 

To wrap up our three-part series, let’s hit the key components of making progress toward an efficient sales process. Technology, Training, Expectations. 

Technology: 

The suite of products needed to transact on a vehicle needs to be reduced, ideally to one. One tab should be utilized throughout the entire transaction. A2Z is a Dealership Experience Platform that provides a simple and connected process. With a DXP, you are eliminating redundant data entry, providing a transparent customer experience and staying ahead of the demands of looming FTC requirements. 

Training: 

Dedicating your operation to a culture of training is absolutely essential in building an efficient and predictable process. Declaring the expectations before and during the training will ensure that the sales staff is on the same page and will understand what scoreboard they will be accountable to and how they will know (not feel) if the process is being executed

Expectations: 

A sales process that is predictable is also measurable. When you design your ideal sales process the expectation should be set that the process should be followed tightly with every transaction. This reduces anxiety for sales leaders because once this is implemented and the expectations are known they can open the doors with confidence that the guests will be guided down a consistent path every time. 

The byproduct of a great sales process increases the throughput of the store, improves CSI, and earns repeat business. 

Although an optimized sales process may not sound very sexy, the results are and can be a true differentiator in your market. The authenticity of a better guest experience travels, it becomes your identity and everything becomes easier. 

It’s easier to onboard new team members because there is a script to follow. The cost to acquire new customers decreases because the reviews and repeat customers increase. Profitability improves because of higher throughput and products purchased due to the increased transparency and efficiency in your business model. 

The improvement of the sales process starts with a vision of your ideal sales process – one that should be repeated for every guest. Once that vision is established, write it down and share the expectation with others. Next, find the technology and training to execute your ideal sales process. The team at A2Z encourages you to centralize your sales process on one platform. 

We have been in the business of building efficient sales processes in the capacity of providing software and in the capacity of leading sales teams in automotive retail. Take the next step in creating a world-class sales process by booking a demo and discussing what your ideal sales process looks like. We would love the opportunity to connect.

The mentality of measuring a process has unique attributes as compared to the sales performance of a store. Measuring the sales process is accounting for the cause. Measuring sales performance is accounting for the effect. 

Most software in the sales process in automotive provides metrics on the effect exclusively. The disconnected nature of the traditional software tools in the sales process dictates that this will be a blind spot in measuring the sales process. 

Minimizing the number of software tools in the sales process is the first step in addressing the problem of measuring the cause and unlocking the power of dialing in a consistent and predictable sales process within your store. When you account for multiple stores having the same measurable process these metrics become even more powerful as you are able to benchmark high-performing stores and understand how “cause” elements of their sales process are leading to higher “effect” outcomes. 

To give an example. One store at an automotive group may be seeing higher than desired time presenting the first pencil to the guest. When the VP of Operations studies the sales process they realize that the test drive agreement step in the process was below standard in that store. 

Because the store was off the process of having a sales manager check out the license plate for a test drive they were not establishing a complete address from the driver’s license in the software at that step. 

The effect of that was a clumsy moment down the line when the sales associate was asking for the address when presenting the first pencil when it should have already been available.

The faster process is having the sales manager load and verify the tax rate of the guest while they were out for a test drive and have the first pencil already established when the guest returned.

Many cause metrics within the sales process are focused on ratios and time. Ratios articulate the rate at which the steps in the process are successfully completed. Time is a measure of the efficiency of that process. 

Having these metrics on hand is essential to understanding where your process is excelling and where it needs work. 

Stores that have a firm handle on these metrics are able to confidently make staffing decisions because they know their capacity and what their possible throughput is. In fact, many of our clients that make the choice of going to a single point-of-contact sales model are highly interested in increasing the throughput of their sales process because they have measured their efficiency and need more professionals to be able to take a guest from the start to finish to increase their total process throughput. 

The A2Z Dealership Experience Platform (DXP) centralizes the essential last-mile transaction steps in the sales process. It provides sales leaders with an omnipresent awareness of what step every deal is at within the store in one single interface. Book a demo with our team to see how our DXP empowers your sales process to be predictable, measurable, and efficient 

Only those who have spent quality time in Automotive Retail can really appreciate how beautifully chaotic it is. Every day when you open the doors, phone lines, and CRM there is something unexpected to react to – and that is just the guests! 

It is not a surprise that focusing on processes in the environment of automotive retail is challenging. It’s very difficult to slow down to focus when new fires emerge constantly throughout the day. 

You are stuck in a tragic paradox – if you slow down to focus on the business, the business still continues at the same fast pace around you. 

In Part 1 of our series, we will focus on the importance of predictability in the sales process. The reality is that there will be chaos every day in automotive retail, but the key to marginalizing the negative byproduct of the chaos is to focus on the process. Once you have a solid process in place the positive byproduct is predictability. 

There are three steps to make strides toward a predictable sales process

Number 1: Deploying the Right Technology

When evaluating technology in automotive it is necessary to take into account the essential non-negotiable elements in your technology stack. These are typically the DMS and CRM and the secondary elements that need to be accounted for are the website and digital retail tool for technology that is customer-facing. 

Simply prioritizing your technology for a non-negotiable stance around the essential elements of your sales process technology stack will clarify where you spend time evaluating new elements.

The second aspect that is not quite as intuitive is still very important – finding opportunities to remove and centralize elements within your sales process technology. 

Automotive retail has a unique problem, the steps of our sales process are often handled on disparate technologies. Over years of business, multiple components may have been added because of a feature that improved only one step. The problem with this each new technology complicates the ability to be predictable. 

If there are multiple tools to complete the sales process, there are multiple degrees of expertise on how to use them. Each separate technology in the last mile of the transaction is a multiplier to a path of unpredictability.  

Number 2: Commitment to Training

A critical element of creating a predictable sales model is the commitment to training. If it is left up to chance that the sales team understands how to interact with guests while utilizing the technology you will find unpredictability.  

The use of the technology will be inconsistent and the success will be dependent on the skill and experience of the sales team member instead of the integrity of your desired process. 

Getting the right training, from the right people simply makes or breaks the success of deploying technology to create a predictable sales process. 

Number 3: Set Expectations

A predictable sales process can only be achieved if everyone on the sales team knows the expectations. Salespeople that may be frustrating your sales manager, GSM and GM may not be going maverick on purpose – they may just be a reminder that you have work to do on your expectations. 

Expectations should be easily accessible, well known and, repeated, most importantly measured against to declare success. Even better, the expectations should be visible within the technology so everyone is playing from the same scoreboard as they are executing the ideal sales process. 

In part 2, we will unpack the second element that is holding you back – the measurability of your sales process. 

We are in the business of utilizing technology to deploy your ideal sales process. Join us for a demo of our Dealership Experience Platform and see how some of today’s most successful groups are modernizing their sales process with our DXP. 

The rumors indicate that Carvana’s bankruptcy is not an “if” but a “when”. The banter about what will happen with all of those transparent vending machine towers in major metros ranges from multilevel bars to giant aviary structures. 

Dealers are celebrating that the traditional processes are working, while the newer models like Carvana and Vroom are faltering. The tides have turned, and the traditional car dealership as we know it returns to its familiar problems. 

For traditional automotive retailers, the story of Carvana was compelling. The cast of characters with not so shiny pasts, and humorous social media posts about stock prices in free fall. However, the joke is on us if we forget that the modern car buyer bought it. It was not a few cars that were purchased, it was thousands that chose to purchase a vehicle online rather than visiting a traditional dealership. 

That is not a laughing matter. 

It felt like a daily occurrence that a new digital retail tool claimed to be the answer to the threat of Carvana, Vroom, and other online marketplaces for used cars. 

Companies that had their identity roots in chat utilities were now selling cars online, and players from outside of automotive came into the fold offering user-friendly tech that would modernize the way to buy a vehicle from your dealership. 

Are there success stories in this? Without a doubt. 

Many efficiencies were introduced and the dealerships with leadership and discipline made changes in their process to adapt to the new times. 

But here is the truth—The last mile is still broken. 
The Last Mile is Where it Really Matters; the Last Mile is the Transaction.

The Desking, Lending, & Financing process in a traditional car dealership is the biggest pain point for a modern buyer, which is where the best Digital Retail tools have let us down. They have expedited the front end of the process but created a bottle neck at the last mile of the sale, both for the client and the employee.  

The last mile was broken and exposed when COVID struck and it continues to be broken as we welcome guests back to be exposed to another virus—a disconnected last mile of an automotive journey. 

The problem is that the technology in the last mile is disconnected.  Steps in the process are conducted on different software tools, they can be clumsy, and many of them are not intended to be customer-facing.  

It leads to time waste, duplicate entry, looming FTC compliance issues, and most importantly a customer that is still very vulnerable to want to go any other direction than have to suffer through this inefficient process that lacks transparency. 

While digital retail brought us better tech, it did not fix the last mile. 

To be effective, dealerships need one experience that is designed to support their process, from start to finish, whatever that might be. One platform. Not something made for the consumer to do by themselves, but one that is robust for your employees to streamline the experience all the way through desking, F&I and compliance—the last mile that matters when completing the transaction before sending the customer off in their brand new vehicle. 

About A2Z

From online to instore, dealers deliver a superior customer experience with A2Z.  Digital Retail, Desking, Lending and Menu all in one tool powered by a single platform. A2Z provides dealers with the technology and training to implement their predictable, measurable and efficient sales process.