Of all the things your dealership could do in 2019 to grow sales, what could move the needle more than anything else?

In the book Extreme Ownership, Jocko Willink tells a story that rings true in our industry. The CEO of a pharmaceutical company had all kinds of new initiatives including:

Your prospects have a long list of business problems.  They also have many questions related to how technology could be used to solve these business problems.

Most business leaders are open to getting help in solving their business problems.  However, most people have been burned at one point because they have made a bad buying decision.  This is especially true in the area of technology where many promises are made but the actual results end up not delivering.  As a result, today’s buyer is very skeptical.

How do you earn trust in this skeptical environment?  

As you grow new business areas like Managed Services, Document Solutions, Production Print or Wide Format one of the most valuable tools you can have are case studies.  Let’s face it -- everyone knows and trusts you as a great provider of copiers. And, the value proposition for a copier or printer is fairly simple.

The trust you have for office equipment may not immediately translate into these new business areas.  Just because you have serviced someone’s copiers for 20 years doesn’t mean they will trust you with their network support or workflow software.

At the same time, the value propositions for these new areas is more complex than a value proposition for a copier.  Your clients understand what they are buying when they buy a copier (for the most part...) but they may not understand the full value proposition of a cloud-based document management system or a managed network security package.  

What do you sell?

Every business owner, sales rep, and marketing professional needs to ask this question on a regular basis.

The answer to this question is typically different than the actual products, services, or solutions you sell. Essentially, you don’t sell a product, you sell results.

As you grow your dealership’s Managed IT Services business you need to look like a credible source of IT services. In our recent webinar (How To Position Your Dealership For Success In Managed IT Services) we talked about the importance of passing the IT grunt test. Simple put, if a cave man came to your website, they should get the sense that you provide IT service.

Why do sales people win? Until recently, the primary points of differentiation for companies have been based on two factors:

• We provide great products
• We back them up with great service

While that may be true, the challenge is that these provide little differentiation in a marketplace where the great product you sell can be sourced from dozens of vendors online. And while great service is rare, the reality is that there are many companies that provide great service.

In order to win sales, we need to differentiate ourselves. How do we do that? We have to bring value beyond the product and service. 

You’ve probably heard this before: a CEB study revealed that buyers are 70% towards making a decision before they want to talk with a sales rep.

Whether you believe the number is that high given the product or service that you sell, unless there is a glaring emergency to make a decision to fix something that stops working, buyers go through a gradual process before reaching out to talk with a rep.

So, how can you become part of that process to increase your chance of winning? I’ll share a few ideas in a second post. Today, let’s get inside our buyers’ heads and see what they’re thinking before they pick up the phone or fill out a contact form.

If you want to grow your business, you need to look for areas of opportunity. These opportunities are typically found in areas of change. In our channel, we find change where things converge.

Where you find convergence, you find opportunity. Here are three convergence opportunities that could help you grow your dealership’s revenue and profits.

Today Dealer Marketing announces the acquisition of Convergo Marketing. The new team will operate under the name Convergo.

As competitive dealer principals, sales leaders, and sales reps, we all want to win. But in our highly commoditized industry it can be hard for buyers to differentiate between products that seem to have the same features and dealerships that all promise to deliver great service.

How do you differentiate in this marketplace? You need to resonate!