Montvale, NJ-“If BMW is not number one in their (sales) program, we better make sure it becomes number one in their hearts,” insists John Mitchell, BMW’s Corporate Training Manager, explaining his dealer sales training goals in an exclusive interview with Personal Selling Power.

Over the past seven years, Mitchell, an ambitious and relentless worker, has developed a marketing training team of eleven people which has built “a success triangle of professional selling skills, superior product knowledge and positive attitudes” within the BMW dealer organization.

Last year, when other car manufacturers’ sales dropped by as much as 35 percent, BMW chalked up a gain of 13 percent. “If our sales continue at the present growth rate,” said Mitchell, “we predict that by the end of 1982 our sales will have more than tripled in the past seven years.”

Mitchell’s latest sales training creation, entitled Buyer Motivation Workshop, or B.M.W., has earned high praise from dealer principals and salespeople alike. So far, over one-half of the total sales force of over 1,000 people has been trained to use the novel techniques. Some graduates already report sales increases of up to 150 percent.

Personal Selling Power interviewed Mr. Mitchell last month to learn more about BMW’s sales training and motivation techniques.

PSP: One of your biggest challenges is to train and motivate a predominantly nonexclusive dealer sales organization. How do you do it?

Mitchell: In the automobile industry, we are dealing with a level of selling skills that results from only about one-third of all new salespeople receiving any kind of formal training in professional salesmanship. Two-thirds are going through the proverbial “school of hard knocks.”

Two years ago, we conducted a survey to identify the key element in making a sale. We felt that we’d get the most valuable answers from qualified prospects who shopped for a BMW, but decided not to buy from our dealer salesperson.

PSP: What did you find?

Mitchell: We hypothesized that it could be the deal, the discount, the trade-in or that they didn’t like the car, the dealership or perhaps the salesman. These shoppers went through every step of the sale, including the test-drive, but didn’t buy. Our survey showed that most shoppers were quite impressed with the car and the salespeople. They were impressed with their enthusiasm and product knowledge. They really liked the car’s features, but wouldn’t purchase it.

PSP: At this point, many sales managers would say: They don’t know how to close.

Mitchell: Right, but this was not the case. The majority of the nonbuyers pointed out two major problems. First, the salesman was very knowledgeable about the car, but the problem was that he seemed to be more interested in telling us what he wanted to tell us rather than what we wanted to know.

PSP: What was the second reason?

Mitchell: The survey indicated that many prospects did not feel they were treated as individuals. Some said they felt the salesperson treated them like just another commission check.

PSP: How did these survey findings change your sales training program?

Mitchell: We designed a special selling skills course which we call Buyer Motivation Workshop. In a one and one-half day training session, we teach dealer salespeople how to develop and use three well focused questions at the beginning of the conversation so they can identify the prospect’s most important reason for looking at BMW.

PSP: Are you saying that without the training, dealer salespeople would not first ask questions that determine the prospect’s interests?

Mitchell: I don’t say that dealer salespeople don’t find out any information about the buyer. They usually ask questions like: “Have you ever owned a BMW before? What kind of driving do you do? Who else other than you yourself will be driving the new car? That’s all valuable information, but the question you’ve got to ask yourself as a salesman is: “Is that the most important information you need to make the sale?”

PSP: They need to find the primary reason for considering the purchase of a BMW.

Mitchell: The key question to ask is the one that’s certain to give you that information. Some salesmen have come up with, for example: “Of all the cars you can choose from in today’s market, what in particular interested you in a BMW?”

PSP: What kind of answers do they usually get?

Mitchell: The truth. Most shoppers are surprised to hear questions like these. Most people are so disarmed by buyer motivation questions that they just tell you precisely the truth.

PSP: Did you develop a list of specific questions that get better results than others?

Mitchell: We don’t teach specifically worded questions. We ask them to come up with their own individual questions. If we would teach only one or two sample questions, some salespeople might say: “That’s a great question, but I am not like you. I don’t talk that way. I don’t sell that way. I don’t use these kinds of words and I would not feel comfortable with that.” For this reason, we ask our workshop participants to develop their own questions and together we evaluate them on the basis of two criteria. First: Do you feel comfortable with it? Second: Does the question lead the buyer to tell you about his most important reasons for considering the BMW?

PSP: Now, let’s say the buyer responds, I am looking for a high quality automobile. What would be the next step?

Mitchell: You must dig deeper. At this point, you’ve only scratched the surface. You need to ask the prospect to define what he means by quality. The reason is that definitions can be very different from one buyer to another. We found that when a buyer, for example, says he’s looking for quality, he may associate the word quality with things that you would never dream of. For example, one prospect may think that quality means that the car is easy to service, the next one thinks that quality stands for superior workmanship. So imagine yourself making the same sales presentation to both of them. While you’re going through a detailed explanation trying to prove the superior workmanship, the prospect begins to get frustrated because he’s not hearing about the car’s serviceability, or warranty terms, for example.

PSP: In other words, you teach salespeople to ask their prospects to define what they mean – after they’ve stated their primary reasons for looking at a BMW.

Mitchell: Right. For example, if the customer says, “I want to have a good quality automobile,” the salesperson could add: “I see. Most of my customers appreciate BMW’s outstanding quality, but would you mind telling me what you mean by quality?” At this point the prospect may surprise you by explaining: “You know, I mean a quality car that gets me noticed.”

PSP: So in this instance, the prospect links quality to prestige and if the salesperson picks up only the first part, he would not be able to fully understand the primary buying motivation.

Mitchell: Yes, and he would be missing some of the most important information he needs to close the sale. At this point of the sale, you may even go one step further. If you want to make a really powerful presentation, you can ask: “Ok, so, you’re looking for quality, and that means a car that is not in the shop all the time, is that right?

The prospect agrees. Then you might add, “But tell me, why did you put that one on the top of your list?” At this point, you may get a more detailed answer like: “Well, I tell you, the last car – you can see the one out there – it gave me all kinds of headaches with the transmission, the radiator…”

You see, the prospect’s last answer may give you the most important clues as to the buyer’s real motivations for buying a new car. It’s one more tool to help you close the deal. From this point on, you’ll keep referring back to the buyer’s own words. So when you describe your product’s features, you’ll simply add: “Unlike with your present car, you will be able to save yourself a lot of headaches with a BMW.”

PSP: So you can select the specific product benefits that match the buyer’s primary reasons for coming into the showroom in the first place.

Mitchell: Right.

PSP: What kind of results did you get?

Mitchell: We’ve conducted over 400 post seminar interviews and found that 90 percentof our course participants say that they are using the techniques. Over 80 percent say that they are not only extremely helpful in making their time with the prospect more effective, but also that they improve their closing ratio by as much as 150 percent.

PSP: It seems that your non-buyer survey has really paid off and helped you to increase sales productivity. How do you supplement the Buyer Motivation Workshop?

Mitchell: We produce a number of self-paced training programs for our dealers with film strips, a competitive comparison manual and a comprehensive product knowledge manual.

PSP: With a large nonexclusive dealer organization, how do you get dealer salespeople to invest their time and learn about the BMW line?

Mitchell: We have close to 400 dealers and in the beginning, we had to overcome their reluctance to spend time on our product. For this reason, we’ve created a program where we seek our BMW’s most knowledgeable salesmen in the U.S. We started about five years ago when we designed our first National Product Knowledge Contest.

PSP: How does it work?

Mitchell: We send product knowledge entry blanks to over 1,000 dealer salespeople. Each year we have three rounds and in each round you can win a personalized wall plaque indicating your level of achievement. It’s a system that appeals to the salesperson’s basic competitive spirit.

PSP: How many salespeople participate?

Mitchell: Last year, of the 1,000 entry forms mailed out, we received close to 700 responses.

PSP: How long does it take to complete one of these tests?

Mitchell: We figure that they have to invest about one hour’s time. We tell our contestants exactly where the answers can be found – in our own training materials. We encourage them “just to be sure, look it up.” When we receive the entries, we score the forms and return them with the correct answers. After several rounds, we select the regional winners. The final contestants are invited to fly at our expense to our national headquarters for the ultimate test. The final test consists of 100 questions where the contestants can’t use any source material. The one with the highest score is our national winner.

PSP: What incentives do you offer to participate in your National Product Knowledge Contest?

Mitchell: The regional winners are invited to a big banquet with our top management. The next day, we usher them into our president’s office where they receive plaques and cash prizes. The national winner receives a special plaque and he and his wife receive airline tickets for an all expense paid V.I.P. trip to our headquarters in Munich, Germany. Usually the trip is timed to coincide with the Oktoberfest. When our national winner gets to Munich, he’ll be invited to the top executive suite, where he will be toasted with champagne. Also he’ll receive a special gift and a plaque saying: “Most knowledgeable salesman in the U.S.”

PSP: Have you been able to measure the results of this Product Knowledge Contest?

Mitchell: We are very pleased with the results. We are in constant contact with over seven hundred salespeople for seven months. The one thing that truly separates this program from others is that we are able to show that our training brochures are being read and understood, and that the knowledge is fed back to us. We’ve created a two-way training system with a built-in feedback mechanism that tells us how effectively it is being used.

PSP: Many sales managers and trainers believe that real confidence in selling comes from knowing the product. Do you feel that too much product knowledge is counterproductive?

Mitchell: I don’t think that there is anything wrong with knowing too much. The thing that is wrong is in assuming that everybody wants to know all you have to say.

PSP: So your Buyer Motivation Workshop and the Product Knowledge Contest complement one another.

Mitchell: That is our intention. You see the sales training efforts of the 80’s need to focus not only on teaching product knowledge, but also on the skills necessary to match it with the prospect’s primary buying motivation.

PSP: Do you have a specific method to motivate your dealer salesforce besides your Product Knowledge Contest?

Mitchell: We do have a unique sales training event that always gets 100 percent enthusiastic support. This year for example, we’re introducing the 528e model. To motivate our sales organization to learn and to become enthusiastic in selling the new car, we invite them to a test drive on a professional racetrack. Currently, we are comparing the 528e side by side with our 733i.

PSP: What points do you drive home on the racetrack?

Mitchell: Actually we don’t say that much, the hands-on experience does the convincing. We give everyone a chance to get a feel of how exhilarating it can be to drive a great new BMW. This helps them to speak with greater enthusiasm when they present the car to the prospect. We show details like braking, handling, safety at high speeds, acceleration and overall performance.

PSP: What do your salespeople like most about this event? The high speed?

Mitchell: You guessed it. They can put the pedal to the metal. It gets your adrenaline flowing when you experience the quiet comfort of a precision car at 100 mph. Of course, we use professional racetrack driving instructors. This week for example, we’re using the Skip Barber School in Limerock, Connecticut.

PSP: Could you tell us how your instructor conducts a typical training session?

Mitchell: Well he usually takes a group of salespeople for a quick spin to show the course. Then he comes in to the pit and one of the salespeople takes over. He drives under the supervision of the instructor, and goes slowly up to a speed within his and the car’s safety limits. At that point, many think that they are driving like Mario Andretti, they feel they’ve just completed the fastest round on the racetrack. As they come back in, the professional driver asks them: “What do you think?” They usually speak enthusiastically about the car’s incredible performance and handling qualities. At that point, the pro tells them typically: “Now we’ll go another round and I’ll show you a little bit more of what this car can do. I’ll push the parameters a bit further, so you can get an idea of the reserves of this driving machine.”

PSP: So you impress everyone a second time.

Mitchell: Exactly.

PSP: You’ve been in sales training for over seven years. What do you feel are the key ingredients of a successful sales trainer?

Mitchell: Well, I feel that in our industry you need to have at least two years of recent automotive sales experience. Someone who does not know the everyday struggle of the retail sales business would have a hard time overcoming the credibility gap. You’ve got to know the work that has to be done in the showroom, you’ve got to experience the exhilaration of winning and the agony of losing deals. The other ingredient is to have a way of finding out what your audience really needs. You need to give them what they need and not necessarily what you feel they need. A last factor would be your ability to secure your management’s commitment. Your sales training ideas are only as good as the commitment you’re able to get from your managers. You need to get results first, then you build the credibility. I’ve worked hard to prove to our management that a properly trained sale organization can make a substantial difference on the bottom line.

PSP: What motivates you as a sales trainer?

Mitchell: I feel I am pursuing a mission. I still cringe when I hear a salesman in a showroom say: “Can I help ya?” or when someone tells me they bought their last new car in spite of the salesman. I want to bring professionalism, integrity and value to the profession of selling automobiles and I am dedicated to bringing credibility, importance and vitality to the sales training function. I am addicted to the feeling of excitement and satisfaction which comes when I see salespeople grow. Sometimes I feel I overwhelm people when I speak on my favorite subject, but since I have a total belief in what I am doing, I can only answer your question with four words: I love my work.

PSP: Thank you.

Editor’s Note:

Mr. John Mitchell has agreed to share information on his programs with the subscribers to Personal Selling Power. Please direct your questions on company letterhead to Mr. Mitchell, c/o Personal Selling Power, P.O. Box 5467, Fredericksburg, Virginia 22403.

HOW BUYER MOTIVATION TECHNIQUES WORK

In a post seminar interview, an East Coast BMW dealer salesman explained how the new techniques have helped him to become more successful.

“On the way home, I realized the fact that, in selling, I always stressed the qualities that I liked about the car. But these qualities are not always the ones that interest the prospect.”

“Now I know that buyer motivation dictates the prospect’s attention span. People love to talk about what’s of interest to them and tune out quickly when your presentation is not on target. But since you’ve taken the prospect’s pulse up front, you know how to tailor your presentation to match his interest so what you are saying really hits home.”

“I’ve given walk-around presentations before and spent as much as two hours showing the car’s features and was not able to find the buyer’s hot button. Of course, many people walked away without buying.”

“Now I ask several questions to find out what interests them in a BMW and take the time to define their terminology. This gives you a good picture of how the buyer’s mind works. The other day a guy walked in and said he wanted a high performance car, but what he really meant was longevity. I used the word longevity at least 20 times in my presentation and each time I said it, his face lit up.”

“By asking buyer motivation questions at the beginning of the conversation, you’re really setting the stage for the close. But what’s more important, by making customers aware of why this car best satisfies the things they said were most important, price becomes a secondary issue. This technique literally turns price shoppers into car buyers. My sales increased by 80 percent this month.”

John W. Mitchell, corporate sales and management training manager for BMW North America, is an MBA graduate of the University of Kentucky. His automotive sales career began in 1969 when he joined Volkswagen of America. His experience includes face-to-face selling and district sales management; as well as general sales management for an independent dealership. John started with BMW in 1975 and is now in charge of all Sales, Parts and Service Management Training for BMW automobiles and motorcycles.