There has been a notable shift upward in the number of accessories available for cars and trucks today. In fact, accessories are a $40 billion industry. And because profit margins can be as high (maybe higher in some cases) as 50 percent, it makes sense that sales training tips toward pushing these accessories are more important now than ever.
Buyers will usually accessorize their vehicle to the tune of $300 on the low side within the first two years of owning it. Some car buyers will spend up to $800 while people who purchase trucks average around $1,500 on their accessories.
So, what sales training tips can you impart to increase your accessory sales?
Incentivize Your Salespeople
Are you compensating your people for the work they do in promoting accessories? Many dealerships don’t, which could lead to your accessory sales becoming stagnant.
By some accounts, limiting those incentives to just sales managers and sales employees is shortsighted. If everyone has a hand in the process, spread the wealth and watch the energy in your dealership improve.
Appoint an Accessory Leader
As with most good strategies, someone needs to be at the helm. Find the best person to name accessory manager and have them dedicate more time to sales, training, installation and options.
This not only makes everyone else’s job easier, but you’re also going to see more accessories being sold because the process is watched by your accessory manager.
Train Your Employees
If you’re incentivizing your staff to make more accessory sales, make sure you’re training them how to do it without putting extra pressure on customers, or you could run into a situation where a buyer walks away completely.
Another important area to train your sales team in is to utilize computers to configure a car. This is valuable as you put the power in the hands of the buyer. They can easily configure exactly what their car or truck is going to look like with added accessories. When a customer can visualize what the car will look like with the accessories it increases the likelihood they will follow through with the purchase.
Pre-Load Your Automobiles
While the computer model method is effective, you can also give buyers a look at exactly what they can get by loading up a vehicle with accessories and put it on your showroom floor. If you’ve got a model that isn’t moving as fast as others, try tricking it out with a premium accessories package and see if you get more bites.
What sales training tips would you offer to improve profits from accessory sales?
