According to management
consultants, there are five basic skills and traits that all retail employees
need. If you take the time to develop these five traits in your employees,
you’ll be richer for it, as your dealership will attract and keep more
customers.
1. Familiarity with store
layout. Employees should know everything about the contents and location of
tires and other merchandise throughout your location. When someone walks in and
asks for a certain product, your employees should not only know where that
product is but understand the price point differences between brands.
2. Brand/line knowledge.
Your employees should strive to become experts in the field of recommending,
servicing and maintaining tires, wheels and accessories. They should know the
different brands you carry and be familiar with each product line’s benefits,
drawbacks and price ranges. From a customer’s viewpoint, informed employees
believe in the products they are selling.
3. People skills. Your
employees, salespeople especially, should have above-average people skills.
This means that they should be adept at listening, understanding customer needs
and reading body language. Employees should be mature enough to engage
customers in conversation, but they should also know when customers don’t want
to talk.
4. Knowledge of basic sales
techniques. You can train your employees yourself, have an outside trainer do
it, or suggest books or classes that teach basic sales techniques. Evaluating a
customer’s buying level, helping a customer select tires and accessories,
overcoming objections and closing a sale are all important activities for your
tire sales staff to learn.
5. Motivation. Most
importantly, your employees should be excited about working at your dealership.
Dull, uninspired employees hurt your image and sales. While enthusiasm can’t
really be taught, it can be encouraged. Don’t allow your staff to be too laid
back. Show them how to work with customers and monitor them. If employees are
just standing around instead of engaging customers, your sales volume may
suffer.
- Source: Tire Review
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