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Create a Sales Superstar in One Easy Step
S
tep One. Bribe your staff. Yes, it is really that simple. When I was a sales rep I had an account that I felt should do well selling a high-tech, digital eq/x-over with all the bells
and whistles. The store owner told me his guys were too busy to pitch it, they didn’t really know about the product, etc. Excuses were bouncing around like The Flying Wallendas. But the store owner was not being resistant; he was just relaying to me what his staff had been telling him with both actions and words. So I had an idea. I asked the owner if we could do a sales contest, and the first employee to sell this processor would get 100% of the profit (about $380). At first the owner balked and said he would not be making any money, and then I reminded him he is making the exact same amount if he did not do the contest. So he agreed to try it. I told him I would call everybody into the bays, and give them a 5-minute presentation of the product, and reveal the $380 spiff on the product. Halfway through my explanation, one of his guys was rude enough to pull out his phone, stepped away from the group and made a phone call. Now I understand the owner. His staff was SO unmotivated, even a $380 spiff was not enough to get the blood pumping. But as he started to talk on the phone, this is what he said, “Hey Mark, it’s Dave up at xxxxx Audio. Yeah, your truck is going great. Hey, we just brought in a new processor, it does a ton of stuff to the sound to make it sound killer, helps us dial in the amps, it is awesome, you should get it. Oh, about $1k installed. Yeah, will do.” The contest was over before it even began. The other guys were mad, he was all smiles. So we came up with a second prize, half of the profit, so it was still a $190 spiff. I was talking to the store owner a few weeks later, and he told
JASON DENTON
ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR, IN CAR EXPERTS
the selling of products, than the lack of selling prod- ucts. And the best part is, if a sales contest does not work, then you are right back in the same boat you started in. Another benefit of a sales contest being successful is that after your staff proves they can indeed sell, there is no excuse for poor sales after the sales contest is over. From talking to the retailers with the most suc- cessful sales contests, there are some common characteristics I see:
Do not allow it to be a hassle. If two employees are fighting over a spiff/reward, and if the store owner has to referee, the spiff/reward is void. This makes the staff work it out amongst themselves.
Make the staff manage it. If you are spiffing them $25 for
every premium level navigation that they install, have them copy the invoice, highlight the item, write the spiff in the top right hand corner. At the end of the contest, all invoices must be on your desk at 9am. No exceptions. Tell them that if they get a flat tire on the way to work, they should turn it in a day before to be sure. Use your discretion on how strict, but the stricter the rules/expectations, the smoother they seem to run. Provide it all in writing. Simple and sweet. List the contest,
dates, times, exceptions and the rules. Make it CLEAR that no discounting is allowed (use discretion on how you enforce it due to price matching pressure) and the customer’s best interest must always be the key. The bottom line with a sales contest is it can bring a new
me that the day after they started the sales contest, he found the owner’s manual in the bathroom on top of the Motor Trend and Maxim magazines. One of his guys took it upon himself to learn as much as he could about the product in order to increase his chances of winning the prize. Many retailers I have shared this story with have had suc- cess with it in their stores. Yes, there may be some downsides to a contest like this, but in the big scheme of things most store owners would rather have to manage problems associated with
64 Mobile Electronics June 2014
level of excitement to your sales floor and few (if any?) people I know are not motivated by a stack of extra cash. And yes, you can create sales contests for your install team as well. I have not heard too many good reasons why an installer cannot call the customer whose car he is working on, to suggest some sound deadening, grills for the woofers, and maybe a capacitor for their new amp.
Learn more about In Car Experts at:
www.incarexperts.com; 888-997-4423
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