By Mike Whitty on 10/29/2008 7:12 PM

As an RV Sales Manager, you make dozens of decisions every day that affect your customers, your salespeople and, of course, yourself. So, from what mindset are you currently making your decisions? From the mindset of a salesperson, or the mindset of a manager/leader?

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By Mike Whitty on 10/25/2008 11:35 AM

One of the temptations of Sales Managers is to look at the commissions of their salespeople as a great place to cut into their operating budget. After all, a great salesperson might out earn the vast majority of Sales Managers. Many dealerships will cut commissions to increase their bottom-line thinking that this is the smart and clever thing to do.

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By Mike Whitty on 10/19/2008 8:41 AM

 A Sales Manager called me one day asking if I knew of a good salesperson he could hire. Essentially, he wanted someone to start right away. So I made a few calls, and the first question I had to ask is ... "Do you mind if someone screams at you?" As soon as they got past the initial shock, they all replied in no uncertain terms, "Yes, that's not acceptable". I continued, "Well, he probably wouldn't call you names, but he's a pretty hard driving guy and he raises his voice a lot".

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By Mike Whitty on 10/13/2008 9:02 PM

 Selling will always be one of the greatest occupations you can choose. In sales, you have the opportunity to make unlimited income, or you have the opportunity to make very little income. Either one is up to you. But the one thing I’ve realized is that everyone has the potential to make more money. And in most instances, it won’t necessarily take more skill, but it will definitely take more work. It’s going to be the work above and beyond your current selling process that will take you from one level to the next. Once you understand this, you’ll be on your way to developing a plan for how to make it happen.

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By Mike Whitty on 10/8/2008 8:44 AM

 If you're like most Sales Managers, you came to this position because you had great success as a salesperson. But managing your own sales is not the same as managing your team. As a salesperson, you could easily measure your success through numbers of appointments made and units sold. As a Sales Manager, your success is measured by the success of others. That's not always an easy transition to make. However, it is ultimately a rewarding one. Being a Sales Manager provides you with the opportunity to share your knowledge and expertise, and to help others grow professionally and personally. As the saying goes, when you elevate the success of others, you elevate your own as well.

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By Mike Whitty on 10/1/2008 7:40 AM

Running a top notch Internet process involves far more planning than simply allocating a portion of your budget to the Internet and commanding your salespeople to “sell some RVs.” You need to give saleseople a solid process to follow that will accomplish your objectives. The process needs to make sense and, ideally, it will be mandatory. If the Internet sales process at your dealership is a matter of “just winging it” by picking up the phone and calling your leads, it’s safe to say that you are not truly maximizing the opportunities available to you. When you clearly define your agenda and apply a Standard Operating Procedure to get there, you can maximize your Internet team’s effectiveness.

Standard Operating Procedure: Communication

Unfortunately, many dealers don’t have a standard procedure in place when it comes to communicating with prospects in order to set the appointment. If your goal is to maximize communication effectiveness so you build trust and get your prospect to come meet you in person, you need to put the best process in place to do so.

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By Mike Whitty on 9/24/2008 5:05 PM

What is success? Success has been defined as “the progressive attainment of a worthy goal”. While this is a good general definition, each one of us has our own specific idea about what success means to us. So, what does success mean to you? For some people it means status, prestige, and respect; for others it means power - the ability to influence and command others. But for most people, their definition of success includes financial independence and security.

What is financial independence? Like success, financial independence means something different to each of us. A better question might be: “What amount of income would make you feel financially independent?”

For some salespeople that might be $25,000 per year, for others it might be $100,000. The important thing isn’t the amount of money itself. What really matters is how will you make enough money for you to feel financially independent. Understanding how an RV salesperson’s business works is one way to make sure you don’t become just another...

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By Mike Whitty on 9/19/2008 10:23 PM

There's no single, remarkable secret. In fact, great Sales Managers are many things. Depending on the situation, a great sales Manager is a time-management supervisor, a meeting planner, a contest coordinator, a talent scout, a coach, a trainer and a psychiatrist. All of those roles put together--and executed well--make for a great Sales Manager.

However, there are five key areas in which the best Sales Managers excel. Great Managers:

1. Are passionate and enthusiastic. These traits are transferred to the entire sales staff. If the leader is negative, everyone else will be pulled down. How do great managers maintain a realistically positive attitude? Great managers are great readers; they read everything they can find about their crafts and industries. They seek out mentors whose wisdom and experience can help them achieve their goals, and they encourage their salespeople to do the same. They surround themselves with high-quality people.

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By Mike Whitty on 9/15/2008 7:31 PM

Today, e-mail is not being leveraged to its full potential. At best, it is being used only to respond to customer inquiries. Unfortunately, even that is being implemented marginally. The biggest attraction of e-mail marketing is the cost. Compared with the traditional channels of marketing, using the Internet and e-mail to communicate your message with your prospects and customers is extremely cost-effective.

Start Building a Database of E-mail Addresses Now

The first step to creating a marketing program via the Internet is to start collecting the e-mail addresses of your customers and prospects. They are your best potential source of future revenue. The number of consumers who have e-mail addresses will pleasantly surprise you. E-mail is not limited to the stereotypical young, computer savvy individual.

You need to create various methods of collecting e-mail addresses. Once you start to create a database of e-mail addresses you can develop different campaigns to communicate with both your...

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By Mike Whitty on 9/11/2008 8:35 PM

Want to make more money selling RVs? Here are a few hard questions about your own mental attitude towards selling.

How would you rate it? Is it good? Bad? Positive? Negative or indifferent? It's sad. Most of us get into sales with a lot of handed down self-defeating attitudes about selling. Let's take mental inventory of your own attitude.

On Mondays… are you excited to start work? Do you look forward to setting that first appointment? When asked at a party what you do for a living, do you cringe? Or are you proud to say that you are an RV sales professional? Are you afraid to close? Are you nervous about price competition? Do you feel guilty about asking for the sale? It's a fact: If you improve your mental attitude about selling, you automatically improve your results. Once armed with...

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