Drive up to a dealership and you will most likely see a lot lizard. Their species is easy to spot. They tend to congregate in front of the dealership, smoking, joking, complaining and waiting to wait on someone. Notice I said waiting to wait on. These lizards are a curious species in how they tend to look for prey. The professional is a different breed. The professional tends to not wait on much or for long. The professional has goals, a work plan and is too busy taking action to join the lizards for long, if any at all.
You have heard it before that a dealer provides facilities, inventory, capital and an office; in return, the salesperson provides the effort. It’s the type of effort that defines which category the salesperson will be in. The choice of category will influence the attitude, future and happiness of the salesperson. Let’s look at traits of a professional:
- A professional has goals. Those without goals are destined to live and work for those who do.
- A professional has a work plan. Professionals recognize that time is their most important currency, because when the 1,440 minutes of each day are gone, they aren’t coming back. A professional avoids and kills all time vampires without mercy.
- A professional self-educates consistently because he understands he could not possibly know it all and has a desire to get better every day.
- A professional has a complete follow-up program built over and beyond the dealership’s CRM, because she realizes the real capital of her business is what she does with that database of customers.
- A professional has a marketing/prospecting system, because he realizes that you cannot give the control and power of your income up to dealership advertising, seasonal traffic patterns or economies. The professional makes and works a plan to get all of his business through his own efforts and becomes independent of walk-in traffic.
- A professional works consistently on gaining and maintaining a positive attitude, because without it, everything else does not work. A professional does not care that others may scorn her and her positive approach to life.
- A professional is continually realizing the importance of combining mind-body-spirit for continued success, and without the combination of all of them, his efforts and success can quickly go away.
- A professional creates a “business within a business” that features her own personal stamp or brand.
- A professional is committed and commitment equals consistency.
If you are cynical about dedicating yourself to being a professional, I invite you to take a good look at the lot lizard. Observe him as he squirms around endlessly on the lot. Observe the lot lizard’s attitude, happiness and success. Ask yourself what their long-term possibilities are for success. The choice is yours. Lot lizard or professional?
If you would like the free Special Report “Becoming A Professional,” e-mail me at info@tewart.com with the word “Professional” in the subject line.