Are you ready to make a deal today? Grab your coffee, grab your Gameplan, and get rolling.

The auto industry is currently pacing to sell over 16 million vehicles this year. Americans are buying cars and trucks at a very healthy pace. Traffic is flowing in the doors and things are returning to their pre-recession figures (at most dealerships). Those who have been in the business long enough know that markets change. Demand - and therefore customer traffic - goes up and down. 

Salespeople, here are a few quick tips to help you make the most of your day:

To sell smarter you need to eliminate all those things that waste your - and your customer's - time. How can you work more efficiently? Try steering clear of these time-wasters:

Winter can be a challenging time for salespeople in the automotive industry. It’s easy to get swept up in the holiday season and lose focus on selling. Instead of losing productivity to lighter floor traffic and more distractions, it’s time to play Season Defense. The best sales teams use this time to circle their wagons, refocus on the basics, and keep improving. 

There isn't a salesperson alive who hasn't experienced a slump. If you find yourself coasting downhill, here are four steps to follow to pick yourself back up:

Giving your customers what they want is the most basic principle of selling. Still, everybody at one time or another has dealt with a salesperson who simply didn't listen to their needs. Taking time to truly understand the customer will not only help you close the deal today, it'll keep them coming back in the future.

Whether you're selling paper clips or cars, the most successful salespeople share the same qualities. Here are some of the things that separate the best from the rest:

A submarine has individual compartments to protect itself from disaster. When attacked, the crew moves through each compartment, closing the hatch of the previous compartment behind them. Selling requires the same procedure: moving completely through each compartment, or step of the sales process, to arrive safely at a successful sale. We all know salespeople who skip steps to get to the close faster, without shutting the other hatches behind them. And chances are, their sale ended up dead in the water.