As a general agent, it's important for you to bring not only products but solutions to your dealers. Dealers are always looking for higher profits and one way you can deliver is by helping their salespeople learn to close a higher percentage of sales.

Why is it that some salespeople close higher percentages of products than other salespeople? Is it the rapport they build during the customer needs analysis? Is it the information obtained during the interview? Or is it that some salespeople are just luckier than others?

The truth is that it's all of that … and more. One definition of luck is when opportunity meets preparation. If you want to close more deals, simply find out about your customer’s needs. It’s so much easier to build value in your products when you personally identify with the customer. Everything a professional salesperson needs to know to build value in their product is found in the asking.

You've heard of the 80/20 rule? It recommends spending 80 percent of your time and effort to find out about the customer's circumstances and needs. Using that information and the customer’s experience, the remaining 20 percent of the time should be spent explaining how these products benefit the customer specifically.

Think about this for a moment. If you know about the customer's circumstance, lifestyle and true budget objective, won’t you have a better chance describing the feature and benefits of products as they directly apply to that customer? There is no "one size fits all" word track program that fits all customers. If product penetration levels are not where you want them to be, take more time to understand the customer’s needs.

Every professional salesperson hears the response "I'm all set right now" from a prospective customer at some point in his or her career. But how do you know if the customer is really "all set?" In fact, the prospect may very well be set in what he or she is doing. How do you really know if the product you are offering is right for the customer? Simple questions allow us to determine the customer’s degree of commitment or lack of understanding.

"If there was a way that you could make more or save more on what you're doing right now, you would want to know about it, right?" There is no downside risk to sharing your expertise about how someone can benefit from what you’re offering. Create curiosity with the prospect and use your expertise.

In the retail automotive business, every single customer in the building is there for a reason. Start by discovering why the customer is there and where else the customer has been. What stopped them from making a decision to purchase a vehicle?

Don't be one of those salespeople who go into a robotic mode of selling and forget to find out about customers and their real needs. Knowing those needs makes the sale easier to close. The most successful salespeople practice a process and never deviate from it.

Everybody has heard that people buy from people they like. The real fact is that people buy from people they trust and people whose advice they find credible. You can’t be trusted or perceived credible if you don't take the time to find out what your customer’s objective is in a perfect scenario. It's different with every customer and that's what makes sales such an interesting and rewarding business.

Take the time to do a "what's important to you" customer analysis. You will close more sales and, ultimately, develop a deeper referral network. Isn't that what you want? So, go out, have fun and make it happen!