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POWERSPORTS - CRM |
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It’s easy to get hung up on all sorts of analysis on traffic logs. From sitdowns to write-ups to closes it seems like sometimes we’re bombarded with opinions on what the numbers mean, what the ideal percentages are, and all sorts of other analysis and information. In fact, sometimes we analyze our traffic logs so deeply that we lose sight of the one thing that ultimately has the greatest effect on selling more units...total logged prospects. The bottom line is simple, the more prospects you log, the more units you’ll sell. Period. While there’s no denying the fact that paying close attention to your sit-down and write-up percentages are great ways to assess the overall health of your sales department and the level of competence (or not) of your sales staff, it’s equally apparent that paying too much attention to some of these numbers can have the opposite of the desired effect, which is obviously to sell more bikes. At a recent Composite review meeting we heard from several GM’s of large Harley stores, they had some interesting Traffic Log specific commitments from the previous composite review, and some interesting results to report. Two of these dealers committed to raising their sitdown percentages to 50%, up from the 40% they were currently reporting. They intended to drive this number by having a team leader or sales manager speak to as many customers as possible, as early in the sales process as possible. Two other dealers had committed to increasing their total log entries. They committed to make this happen by requiring a minimum of five log entries per day per salesperson, with each log entry being verified by a team leader or sales manager. On the surface, all good commitments, with solid logic behind how they were going to implement them and get the desired results, but some remarkably different results. Here’s how their first quarter ’06 numbers compare to their first quarter ’05 results. The two dealers that committed to increasing their sit-down percentages encountered some undesirable side effects. Their combined numbers showed an increase in sit-down percentage from 40.3% to 45.1%. Not bad on the surface, until we look at some of the other numbers. Total traffic log entries dropped by 758 prospects. Total unit sales declined by 18 units. Why? Simple. When management began focusing on write-ups, the sales staff quickly figured out that it was easier to “lot drop” and neglect to log a prospect than to face the wrath of the boss for logging someone who couldn’t or wouldn’t be written up. In a sense, the staff not only became trained to cherry-pick their prospects, it forced them to narrow their definition of a customer. Let’s face it, not every customer is going to be sat down. Not every customer is going to be written up. Some customers truly are “just looking”. We need to recognize this, but also recognize that those customers still need to be logged. As a result of the reduction in logged prospects, the actual numbers of sit-down, write-ups, and deliveries all dropped, even though the percentages increased. Measured door swing activity was virtually the same as the first quarter last year. The two dealers that committed to more log entries logged had markedly better results. They logged 1209 more customers than they did in first quarter ’05. As a result of this increase in log entries, they sat down 420 more prospects, wrote up an additional 456 customers, and sold 211 more bikes than last year. Their sit-down and write-up percentages actually declined slightly, although not nearly as much as a 25+% increase in log entries would indicate. Given the huge increase in total unit sales, it was a pretty good tradeoff! Interestingly enough, their delivery percentages remained about the same, in spite of the huge increase in log entries. While the initial plan of requiring five entries per salesman per day was met with some resistance, and a few instances of “padding” the logs with imaginary prospects occurred, these cases were quickly recognized during the follow-up process, and addressed by sales management. It was made clear to the sales staff that everyone in the store needed to be recognized as a customer, not just those people who were already sitting on bikes, or asking about prices or payments. All it took to make true believers in the staff was for one “I’m just here to look at accessories” customer who either bought a new bike that day or returned to the store as a result of follow- up and bought a bike. Suddenly the five log per day “mandate” was unnecessary. They began finding prospects that wouldn’t normally have made the log all over the store! Rather than narrowing their definition of a customer, they expanded it. In case you’re wondering, all this was accomplished with little to no appreciable increase in door swings. It’s important to keep in mind that there are many ways to dissect and analyze a Traffic Log, all of which provide a great deal of information regarding what’s going on in your sales department, but it all starts with a couple of simple thoughts: Everyone is a customer, and therefore everyone needs to be logged. You can bet that all of the stores we’ve talked about here now recognize this, and made 2nd quarter commitments that reflect that simple fact.
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