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When is the best time to give yourself a pay raise?

How about now?

You can give yourself a raise any day by increasing your effort or building your sales skills. Work harder and/or get better at what you do. It’s just math. If you plan to be in the business the next 3-5-12+ years, you can also give yourself a raise in pay by causing your client base to shorten their trade cycle. We have all heard the disappointing statistics about the age of the typical vehicle on the road.
 
“The average length of ownership in Canada is somewhere in the nine-year range” -Dennis DesRosiers (Canadian Auto World - April 2014)

We all know that many of our customers miss the ideal time to trade. They should trade when their used vehicle is at its highest desirability and worth the most but they keep it too long and enter the second phase of accelerated depreciation. The first phase of accelerated depreciation was when it was new and they drove it off the lot. Suddenly it became a used car.

The second phase of accelerated depreciation is at the juncture of the end of basic warranties, the start of higher maintenance costs, and reaching less desirable odometer readings.

If they can trade in that 3-4 year old period they get the highest used vehicle valuation and lowest difference to switch to a new one. Left on their own, some customers you originally sold will naturally come back to you when their car gets too old. Your pay raise from this kind of "passive retention" is 7-9 years away. So if you get the same volume of new customers that year plus the additional repeat customers you get a higher sales volume and "tada"! - your pay raise.
 
So what if we don't take the "passive retention" approach? What if we educate our customers on how a shorter trade cycle actually reduces their cost of ownership? What if we keep this message in our periodic follow-up calls - especially when their vehicle is nearing the 3 year old mark?

  • Shorten the average trade cycle from 9 to 5 years and give yourself 2 raises within 10 years.
  • Shorten from 9 to 3 years and give yourself those two raises within 7 years.

Hey one of the great things about a career in automotive sales is your ability to personally decide "how high is high?" Most salespeople understand how increasing effort or increasing sales skills positively impacts personal income but have never given trade cycles much thought.
 
Take an active approach to shortening the average trade cycle within your client base. It becomes a force multiplier when combined with more effort and better skill.

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