Following are five ways to leverage your sales staff to rev up your tire and service sales:
1. Hire salespeople on the basis of their sales ability, not on their knowledge of the tire industry. Sales ability, in general, is more important; a good salesperson can almost always learn about the tires and services you sell, but a person who knows a lot about tires may not necessarily be a good salesperson.
2. Communicate regularly with your sales staff. Because they interact with customers on a daily basis, they may have unique ideas about how your business can increase sales.
3. Consider basing your salespeople’s commission on profit margin, not just sales volume. Why? Because they may offer larger-than-necessary discounts to get a sale.
4. Make sure your business operations effectively support all sales activities. For example, when salespeople need quotes, they should get those quotes quickly. When salespeople need to speak with technical experts to get answers for customers, those experts should be easily reachable. And, when your sales staff needs your approval for any special terms or pricing, keep the channel open and be available to provide an answer.
5. Review your sales staff’s “sales to sales-expense ratio.” A sales person may make $3,000 in sales during a month, but spend $1,000 in phone calls, travel and other expenses. Another salesperson might also make $3,000 in sales for the month but spend only $300 – more profitable to your operation.
Click here for more ways to strengthen your sales efforts.
– Source: Tire Review Business Toolbox
