MySuccessCompany.com E-NEWSLETTER
December 2024
This Month’s Selling Principle:
Annual Planning
Happy Holidays! I hope you and yours have a wonderful holiday season.
It’s the end of another year. Will this upcoming one be better than the last one for you? Have you set your short and long term goals for next year yet? If you haven’t, today’s a real good day to get it done. I’m sure everyone knows how important this process is to our success. I’m also sure that most of us already know how to do this, but just in case you’ve lived in an igloo for the last decade, click here for —> Some Goal Setting Basics. (There are several other takes on this subject in the Articles area of our website.)
Some suggestions? Let this be the year you finally; set up your own retirement portfolio, set up your child’s college portfolio, set up a vacation savings account, and fund them all each month BEFORE you pay your mortgage. Go on real dates with your spouse on a regular basis (once a quarter does NOT qualify as a regular basis). Write or call one of your mentors each month. Systematically get out of debt, and finally start your daily exercise routine. Call your dad and ask him which books meant the most to him and read at least one of them each season. Watch your child at sleep for at least five minutes each month, watch your child at play for at least one hour each week, play like a child yourself every chance you get. Learn (practice until mastered) one new close per week, learn (role play until mastered) one new objection strategy per shift, find someone to mentor and do it. Sit down and put on paper a “things” wish list with your spouse (and check things off and add to it every New Year’s Eve). Paint something, learn to play an instrument, plant something.
I’m sure you can think of even better ones on your own. So get to it! Also, remember to take the time and list out the reasons WHY you want to achieve these things, whatever they are. It’s one thing to know what we want to do and when we want to do them, it’s another to know how to get them done. But all of the planning in the world is meaningless unless we also have in the front of our minds the whys. Generally speaking, the person with the biggest WHY usually wins!
So, until next time, be well, and do good work!
Michael D. Hargrove
Follow on Twitter @MDHargrove
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“Show me a stock clerk with a goal and I’ll show you a man who’ll make history. Show me a man without a goal and I’ll show you a stock clerk.”
J.C. Penny
Objection of the Month: “I don’t want to play the back and forth game.”
These are just a few of the most common strategies shared at the workshops we’ve conducted all across North America and attended by thousands of the top sales people in our field. Please keep in mind that nothing works all the time, and no one thing will work for everybody. Each of these strategies, of course, need to be tailored to the individual user, to the specific customer, and the particular situation. Also, this is by no means the definitive work on overcoming this particular objection and it’s not intended to be.
a. “Mr. Customer, there are several different ways we can fit whatever vehicle you choose within whatever budget you had in mind. What I’d like to do, if you’ll allow me to, is to put all the ways we can accomplish for you side by side and in writing. This way you can see for yourself one after the other, after the other… and after reviewing them all, you can tell us which way works best for you. Sound fair?”
b. “I hate that too. Fortunately, with all the information that’s out there these days, the only time I end up having to do the back and forth stuff is when I’m helping a customer who’s either misinformed, uninformed, or totally unrealistic. Now, it’s obvious to me you’ve already done some of your research, right? And you do know we aren’t a library or a nonprofit organization, right? See, you’re realistic … we won’t have to go through all that, will we?”
c. “Our obligation at this dealership is to show you the best way to own this vehicle. Now, the best way, of course, is to pay cash, however, most of us aren’t able to do that. The next best way is to finance as small a balance as possible for the shortest amount of time. After showing that to you, if we need to make adjustments to suit your particular situation, we’ll do it together. Sound fair?”
d. “Let’s do this. Right now, let’s just agree to disagree in an agreeable fashion. That way no one will ever have to get upset. Does that sound doable? ”
e. “Mr. Customer, please remember that no one can spend YOUR money for you. And rest assured that I know this too. With a little bit of patience, I’ll help both you and the sales manager reach an agreement on terms. Okay?”
f. “Okay, that’s why I’m here! There are two parts of my job. One is to make sure we find the right car for you. The other is to help you and my manager agree to terms. I’m really good at both parts of my job. Will you allow me opportunity to prove this to you?”
g. “Negotiating with an amateur can be very unpleasant, I know. But I’m a professional. With a little patience and flexibility, I’ll have you out enjoying your new car before you know it! Sound good? ”
h. “Don’t you hate that? Me too! Whenever I’m forced to negotiate that way I always feel like a clown in a circus! So I’ll tell you what. If I end up doing that today, you have my permission to reach out and squeak my big red nose! Fair enough?”
i. “We won’t have to. Every week, our managers research each model in our inventory to make sure the prices we post online and display (quote) here at the dealership are competitive. It makes shopping easier, since we’ve already done the hard work for you, and it’s a sound business practice for us. You’ll see how easy it is to do business here. Right this way.”
Next month’s objection will be: “I’ve got you beat” or “I can get a better deal somewhere else.” We need YOUR input! Please forward your ideas on this one, or your suggestions on which objection to cover next, to [email protected].
“Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any other thing”. Abraham Lincoln
On Success:
Christmas Envelope
by: Nancy W. Gavin
It was just a small, white envelope stuck among the branches of our Christmas tree. No name, no identification, no inscription. It has peeked through the branches of our tree for the past ten years.
It all began because my husband, Mike, hated Christmas. Oh, not the true meaning of Christmas, but the commercial aspects of it – overspending and the frantic running around at the last minute to get a tie for Uncle Harry and the dusting powder for Grandma; gifts given in desperation because you couldn’t think of anything else.
Knowing he felt this way, I decided one year to bypass the usual shirts, sweaters, ties and so forth. I reached for something special just for Mike. The inspiration came in an unusual way.
Our son, Kevin, who was 12 that year, was on the wrestling team at the school he attended. Shortly before Christmas, there was a non-league match against a team sponsored by an inner-city church. These youngsters, dressed in sneakers so ragged that shoestrings seemed to be the only thing holding them together, presented a sharp contrast to our boys in their spiffy red and black uniforms and sparking new wrestling shoes.
As the match began, I was alarmed to see that the other team was wrestling without headgear, a kind of light helmet designed to protect a wrestler’s ears. It was a luxury the opposing team obviously could not afford.
Well, we ended up walloping them. We took every weight class. Mike, seated next to me, shook his head sadly, “I wish just one of them could have won,” he said. “They have lots of potential, but losing like this could take the heart right out of them.”
Mike loved kids – all kids. He so enjoyed coaching little league football, baseball and lacrosse. That’s when the idea for his present came.
That afternoon, I went to a local sporting goods store and bought an assortment of wrestling headgear and shoes and sent them anonymously to the inner-city church. On Christmas Eve, I placed a small white envelope on the tree, the note inside telling Mike what I had done, and this was his gift from me.
Mike’s smile was the brightest thing about Christmas that year. And that same bright smile lit up succeeding years. For each Christmas, I followed the tradition — one year sending a group of mentally handicapped youngsters to a hockey game, another year a check to a pair of elderly brothers whose home had burned to the ground the week before Christmas, and so on.
The white envelope became the highlight of our Christmas. It was always the last thing opened on Christmas morning, and our children — ignoring their new toys — would stand with wide-eyed anticipation as their dad lifted the envelope from the tree to reveal its contents.
The story doesn’t end there. You see, we lost Mike last year due to dreaded cancer. When Christmas rolled around, I was wrapped in grief. But Christmas Eve found me placing an envelope on the tree. And the next morning, I found it was magically joined by three more. Unbeknownst to the others, each of our three children for the first time placed a white envelope on the tree for their dad. It looks like this family tradition will continue.
May we all remember the Christmas spirit this year and always.
“Just like a ship wasn’t built to stay anchored, we weren’t born to sit still.”
Michael Hargrove
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