Sometimes you will see an experienced veteran car salesman hit a sales slump that they just can't shake or a new car salesman hit a slump and they don't know why. When the new salesman came out of their car sales training they followed their training instructions to the letter and started making car deals right and left. Same thing with the veteran, they have been selling cars for years.
Both the new car salesman and the car sales veteran from time to time will find themselves in a car sales slump. They start getting bored with the same routine they start to think that they can shortcut the steps of their auto sales training and save some time. They are choosing the fresh ups they take by looking and sizing up their customers. Their sales start slipping and their closing ratios are taking a nose dive. It is often called getting to smart for their own good. Instead of following the lessons of their training and prior experience they are changing the selling system. There are 3 car salesman tips below that need to be followed in order to build a good foundation to sell cars.
#1 Basic Car Salesman Tip: Cherry Picking Ups
The practice of cherry picking is when the car salesman that thinks they can determine the credit status or buying likelihood potential of a customer by looking at them. Then they will decide if they are going to wait on that customer or let another salesman help them. The downside of cherry picking is that customers will often dress down and intentionally try to look less desirable as a defense strategy. They want the salesman to think they that they don't have money or credit so that they won't be pressured. I have seen many sales people miss out on very nice commissions by cherry picking. The moral of this car salesman tip is that you can't pick out the buyers and the lookers by looking at them. The more people you help the more you will sell; it's all about the numbers.
#2 Basic Car Salesman Tip: First Meeting
The basic meet and greet is the first meeting of the car salesman and the potential car buyer and a very critical step to selling cars. You know what they say about first impressions and it's not any different when it comes to being a car salesman. Introducing yourself in a prompt professional manner is the proper thing to do, but I you are dressed poorly or smell like an ashtray you stand a good chance of making a bad first impression. You must look, act, dress and speak like a professional to make a good impression. This and other car salesman tips will get you off to a strong start.
#3 Basic Car Salesman Tip: Vehicle Selection
This car salesman tip may seem obvious, but proper selection is often overlooked by novice car sales people. You will never sell and the buyer will never buy the wrong car at the right price. All car buyers would like to have the top of the line automobile at the price of a base car. When you spend some time talking and determining their needs and you will save yourself a load of grief. If you show your customer the fully loaded model and they can only afford the base model you take a chance of embarrassing them. However if you show them the base model and they can afford more they raise themselves. It is easy to step them up to the nicer models, but very hard and uncomfortable to bring them back down to a model that fits their budget.
When you get in a car sales slump go back and read these very basic, but very important car salesman tips. You need to come off as a professional from the very start and get to know your customer and their needs. Talk to as many potential customers as you can, stick to the basics and your numbers will continue to climb as well as your car sales.
Showing posts with label Basic. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Basic. Show all posts
Thursday, August 2, 2012
Tuesday, May 15, 2012
Sole Trader Basic Accounts Income and Expenditure Account
In order for a sole trader to be able to keep basic tax accounts certain conditions regarding the status of business accounts must be satisfied. Sales turnover should be under the vat threshold limit, a balance sheet not required, a business bank account not used and no employees employed. If the conditions are met then a simple income and expenditure statement is all that is required greatly simplifying the bookkeeping.
Self employed businesses are not required to maintain a balance sheet. If a balance sheet is maintained then to produce one the business needs to operate an accounting system based upon double entry bookkeeping and involving technical features such as debtors and creditors control accounts. Sole traders who do not need to produce a balance sheet can then maintain their basic accounting using single entry bookkeeping which is basically making lists of the financial transactions.
If a balance sheet is not produced the sole trader must keep a record of all capital expenditure items as part of the basic tax accounts to enable the capital allowances to be claimed each tax year. Receipts need to be retained as part of the basic accounts to enable the annual investment allowance to be claimed in the first year and writing down allowances in subsequent years.
More detailed financial records are required to be kept by the sole trader if they are vat registered. The vat threshold for the financial year starting April 2008 is 67,000. Part of the vat rules state that when a business is vat registered they should maintain an audit trail of transactions to support the vat return.
A sole trader does not have to operate a business bank account however if a business bank account is used then accounting records should be kept as the taxation authority, HMRC can ask to see details of the account. This inspection is to verify the transactions support the basic accounts produced. If a business bank account is not used then HMRC do not have a statutory right to view the sole trader personal bank account and that personal; account does not have to be a feature of the sole trader basic accounts.
When a sole trader has employees then as an employer a PAYE system is required which involves maintaining accurate wages records of employees, gross wages, income tax and national insurance deductions and net pay. Various PAYE records must also be maintained such as the working deductions sheet and also payslips must be issued to employees. The payroll records form part of the financial accounts of the sole trader who would actually be better called self employed if they have employees.
In the circumstances where a sole trader has no employees, is not vat registered and does not maintain a business bank account then formal accounts are not essential and a simple income and expenditure account statement can be produced. It is still essential that those sole trader basic accounts are supported with copies of invoices given to customers or records of amounts taken plus documentary evidence to support the payments made to suppliers.
On the sales side the basic accounting can consist of a list of the sales which when totalled produces the sales turnover of the business which is the income side of the income and expenditure statement. As not all sales may be received at the time of sale it is useful to keep a record of the date of the sale, the customer, amount and when and how much the customer has paid for credit control purposes.
Similar to the income side the expenditure can consist of a list of the amounts paid out to suppliers. It is advisable to perform a small amount of analysis of this expenditure as when reported on the self employed tax return the expenditure may need to be analysed according to the type of expense. All expenditure items claimed as business expenses should be supported with documentary evidence of that expense for basic tax purposes.
At the end of the financial year the sole trader income and expenditure account statement will state the total sales with the expenditure side being a list of all the expenditure by type of expense including any capital allowances claimed. Total the expenditure and deduct the total from the sales turnover to produce basic accounting record showing the net taxable profit.
A simple method of keeping the information to produce the income and expenditure account statement is to use an accounting spreadsheet with preset columns for sales and the expenditure types. The sole trader should also consider maintaining a separate list of the assets purchased as part of the basic tax accounts.
Self employed businesses are not required to maintain a balance sheet. If a balance sheet is maintained then to produce one the business needs to operate an accounting system based upon double entry bookkeeping and involving technical features such as debtors and creditors control accounts. Sole traders who do not need to produce a balance sheet can then maintain their basic accounting using single entry bookkeeping which is basically making lists of the financial transactions.
If a balance sheet is not produced the sole trader must keep a record of all capital expenditure items as part of the basic tax accounts to enable the capital allowances to be claimed each tax year. Receipts need to be retained as part of the basic accounts to enable the annual investment allowance to be claimed in the first year and writing down allowances in subsequent years.
More detailed financial records are required to be kept by the sole trader if they are vat registered. The vat threshold for the financial year starting April 2008 is 67,000. Part of the vat rules state that when a business is vat registered they should maintain an audit trail of transactions to support the vat return.
A sole trader does not have to operate a business bank account however if a business bank account is used then accounting records should be kept as the taxation authority, HMRC can ask to see details of the account. This inspection is to verify the transactions support the basic accounts produced. If a business bank account is not used then HMRC do not have a statutory right to view the sole trader personal bank account and that personal; account does not have to be a feature of the sole trader basic accounts.
When a sole trader has employees then as an employer a PAYE system is required which involves maintaining accurate wages records of employees, gross wages, income tax and national insurance deductions and net pay. Various PAYE records must also be maintained such as the working deductions sheet and also payslips must be issued to employees. The payroll records form part of the financial accounts of the sole trader who would actually be better called self employed if they have employees.
In the circumstances where a sole trader has no employees, is not vat registered and does not maintain a business bank account then formal accounts are not essential and a simple income and expenditure account statement can be produced. It is still essential that those sole trader basic accounts are supported with copies of invoices given to customers or records of amounts taken plus documentary evidence to support the payments made to suppliers.
On the sales side the basic accounting can consist of a list of the sales which when totalled produces the sales turnover of the business which is the income side of the income and expenditure statement. As not all sales may be received at the time of sale it is useful to keep a record of the date of the sale, the customer, amount and when and how much the customer has paid for credit control purposes.
Similar to the income side the expenditure can consist of a list of the amounts paid out to suppliers. It is advisable to perform a small amount of analysis of this expenditure as when reported on the self employed tax return the expenditure may need to be analysed according to the type of expense. All expenditure items claimed as business expenses should be supported with documentary evidence of that expense for basic tax purposes.
At the end of the financial year the sole trader income and expenditure account statement will state the total sales with the expenditure side being a list of all the expenditure by type of expense including any capital allowances claimed. Total the expenditure and deduct the total from the sales turnover to produce basic accounting record showing the net taxable profit.
A simple method of keeping the information to produce the income and expenditure account statement is to use an accounting spreadsheet with preset columns for sales and the expenditure types. The sole trader should also consider maintaining a separate list of the assets purchased as part of the basic tax accounts.
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