Custom Sounds, the 16-store car stereo chain based in Austin, TX, said it crossed the $16 million mark for the first time in annual sales, creating revenues equal to $1 million per store.
It closed out 2014 with an additional $1.54 million in sales over 2013 and profits just shy of $1 million on sales of $16.3 million.
It attributes its success this year to its sales training program that it calls Racetrack selling.
Custom Sounds uses secret shoppers and hidden cameras to videotape salesmen periodically. The tapes are reviewed as part of the salesmen’s regular training each quarter.
The sales method follows a racetrack theme, creating 5 “pit stops” where salesmen do 2 to 3 things at each point in the sale. It was implemented 1 ½ years ago.
Custom Sounds President Mike Cofield teaches the system to members of the MESA car audio buying group, but he wouldn’t tell us the details other than to say the first pit fall the system eliminates is trying to sell from behind the counter.
He claims a key to the training is simply continuing it. “When you train you get an immediate bump in sales and then it tapers back as people fall back into their old habits. But as you keep training it begins to take hold for longer and longer periods. This is how you create a sales culture in your staff. It’s a two year process at least. Once you get enough of the staff doing it, when a new guy comes in, he emulates it.”
The company had already boosted profits through developing a system of promoting car audio accessories, and then developed a training program on phone sales. And while profits rose and then store traffic improved (from bringing in customers off the phone), sales at the stores were inconsistent. “We had a better conversion rate on the phone but not from the door to the register. That’s the idea behind Racetrack selling,” said Cofield.
He claims the key to any training program is to monitor it. With phone calls you can call up and listen. In-store training is harder. “You have to video tape the sales process to see if people are following it.”
There are friends of the store who receive discount coupons on merchandise for acting as secret shoppers, so the program is not expensive.
The store now trains prior to major seasons. February training prepares for the spring selling season and May prepares for the summer. Then there’s training in August, when sales are slow, so there’s extra time and then in November ahead of Black Friday. “It’s got to go on forever,” said Cofield.
Employees who follow the “canned phone rap” perfectly get a spiff. The store listens to 3 phone calls per day per market. “So 12 times a day there’s an opportunity for someone to make phone money,” Cofield said. In-store Racetrack selling is also rewarded.
As for 2015, Custom Sounds said it kicked off the year with a 25 percent increase in sales in January over January 2014, with all time record growth for the month of $258,000.
Source: CEoutlook
