There is a great saying that I've heard in regards to sales that is not often followed in our little automotive heaven: "Get all of your sales done at the beginning of the month so you can coast at the end of the month".  Chances are that's not the theme of the meetings that will go on come Monday morning…

If the forecasts ring true we'll be down again, led this month by GM (which happened to pull off the least disappointing month very recently compared with the rest).  What if it ends up being Chrysler, or maybe Suzuki..no how about Toyota?  Chances are you don't care as much as what happens to you regardless of brand.

See, there are still areas where Chrysler does well and Mazda doesn't.  But salespeople ultimately care about what they get paid and how many units moved.  "Show me the vouchers!" is still the mentality last time we checked.  So what do you do to have the best start to the month and be a 5 percent'er rather than being part of the 95% that tries to jam it in at the end?  Is it the adrenaline rush your get when your GM (or better yet dealer) is screaming?

Log, follow up, plan, track, watch, ask, see, expect and account.  In a recent trip to Detroit, I had the pleasure of easily seeing the following statement on a piece of paper attached to the fridge door of a Starbucks we stopped at before a meeting:

Great Coaching

Communicate
Check for understanding
Follow Up
Hold Accountable
Celebrate

How many of you have great coaches, or are great coaches?  If you're not a great coach now, how many of the above fundamentals do you follow every day?  Are you a great mentor and didn't realize it until now?  What typically sets an average salesperson apart from a great salesperson is not the leads he or she receives or the fact that your manager/GM likes them more.

Those who plan their work and then work their plan, study the competition as much as their clients, push ahead when others take a break and set expectations for themselves and then don't excuse themselves win.  They almost always win.  Up markets, down markets, sideways markets, new markets, old markets.

Start making goals happen and the excuses find their way out of your vocabulary.  Find out about the top producers and model yourself around them.  Ask your customers how to serve them better.  And don't be afraid of the answer you receive and therefore don't ask.

Be great.  Sell more.  Earn more.  Rise to the top.

Best practices: Professional Insight, Powerful Results