Years ago I was taught that there is a way to grow business in the Auto Industry that didn't require hefty ad budgets, didn't require long hours and didn't require a bunch of 'hard work'.

That got me thinking about many of my friends in dealerships RIGHT NOW who are still pounding out 60-70 hour weeks, working bell to bell and trying to figure out something new to increase sales this month and next month, they start at zero again and they're just as frantic.

Excuse my language but F*%& THAT! You guys are too talented to live at work and neglect your families to make money and frankly...you don't have to work that many hours. With a few intelligent changes, you can shave 20 hours off your schedule and make even more money. I promise, I'll get to that in a minute.

One of the things that attracted me to selling cars was a statement I heard from one of my dad's buddies (who pulled a favor by hiring me in the first place back in 1993).

Russ said "Mat, if you learn how to do this right, sellin' cars will be the easiest money you ever made."

I was in awe...easy+money=perfect for me!!!!!

Let me frame this in a bit. Russ looked like Matthew McConaughey did in the movie Dazed & Confused and for you who don't know that movie, see the photo in this post :)

The difference was that Russ had a suit, and a hand full of rings, and my favorite piece of jewelry - a Rolex Datejust (I'm more of an Omega fan now since James Bond is cooler than Russ).

Anyway, Russ was just "cool" to me. Granted I was 17 going on 18 but his words of 'easy money' was as captivating to me as Jesus' sermon on the mount. 

I just knew I was going to be a rich man. The only problem was that Russ left out a few details on how to 'do this right' so like many people in our business, I struggled for a few years.

FAST FORWARD....

A few years later, I was still bumping along as an 8 car guy and I went to a sales training workshop where one of the best trainers I had ever seen said: 'you need to learn to work smarter not harder'.

Up to this point, I thought I was working 'smart'. I mean, I was listening to my manager, for the most part, and I was working bell to bell and racing to the phone when a phone up came in and hustling to beat the other guys to the lot when a customer pulled up so what was I NOT doing right?

Now, 19 years later, the same things I was doing wrong then happen in every dealership I walk in to, every single day of the week.

Don't believe me?

When you look across the showroom do you see any of the following things taking place?

Salespeople sitting in their chairs waiting for people to come onthe lot.

Salespeople talking about the football game while they stand around.

Salespeople talking about the elections while they stand around.

Salespeople sitting around texting their friends or their wife or their buddy the picture of that whale video where it flipped a kayaker over. 

Salespeople complaining about how the dealership doesn't do enough advertising and there aren't enough customers.

Sales Managers sitting at their desk looking at real estate online, or boats, or Harleys or new watches on ebay, or on Craigslist, or...you get the idea.

If you said 'yes' to any of those, nothing has changed.

Sure, we have CRMs now and lead generation tools. Sure, we have Facebook and my favorites, Google+ and Twitter. But the one constant is: Salespeople aren't actively creating opportunities to speak with people who will buy cars. 

NOTE: For those of you who are saying that this isn't you...it may not be. Or, it may be you but you don't realize it. 

My old sales manager, Bart, saw me doing these same things and had a 'come to Jesus meeting' with me. He made me write down everything that I did in my planner, every half hour, and then take it home for my wife to sign off on so she could see what I did all day. That was my requirement to be able to keep my job - Ta-da! I was cured. But I still didn't know what to do until that sales trainer broke it down.

Start with people who already like you or the dealership

The first thing I learned is that everyone I will meet is a buyer. The only questions were 'when will they buy and who will be the one to sell them.' - This is still true today.

The next thing I learned is that customers who have already bought from my dealership are more likely to buy from us again and there is a good chance that their sales person hasn't followed up with them or doesn't work here anymore anyway. This is still true today.

The next thing I did was take action to CREATE SALES OPPORTUNITIES.

Once I realized that all people will eventually buy something, I began looking at customers differently and I just set one goal: When I meet someone, find out when they, or someone they know will be buying another car. I knew if I found out this information, all I had to do was be the nicest, most professional sales person they met and consistently follow up with them. This would make me better than 90% of the other salespeople they would meet because the other guys would be waiting for them to walk in while I was already building a relationship.

This simple realization doubled my sales in about 6 months, you can do it too, and here is how.

Key focus areas:

Orphan owners/lease renewal list

Service customers from last week (ask GM to get this list from service manager)

Customers sitting in the service lounge each day

Calling lease renewal customers:

Mr. Smith, this is Mat from ABC Motors. I'm just giving you a call to update our records. (Verify address, obviously you have phone, verify email)

And how many drivers live in your home these days?

How many vehicles do you have?

Of the drivers in the home, who's next in line for a new or used vehicle?

NOTE: 90% of the time they will say 'nobody right now' to which you will respond: I didn't mean right now, I meant down the road. Then they will say "oh...down the road it will be..."

When you say down the road do you mean weeks, months or more like a year?

Great, will that be a special occasion or just because it's time?

And when the time comes are you thinking new or used vehicles?

As we get a little closer I'll followup to let you know about any specials that we have going on at that time, would that be ok?

Customer says yes and now...you have a referral!

For you naysayers....remember, everyone is a buyer, the only questions are when and who will sell them, remember.

The words are almost exactly the same for service customers, you just need to start with this:

I'm doing a quick call to get your feedback on our service department.

On a scale of 1-5, with 5 being the best - how would you rate the friendliness of our service advisors?

On a scale of 1-5, with 5 being the best - how would you rate the quality of our work?

How likely are you to recommend ourservice department to your family and friends: Very, somewhat, not at all.

Then transition with: Just a few more questions to update our records...how many, how many, who's next?

HERE IS WHAT THIS WILL DO FOR YOUR CAREER IF YOU ACTUALLY TRY IT:

5 x daily you do the above 

4 people will give you their info

that = 20 referrals per week

x 4 weeks per month

= 80 referrals per month!

If you only close 10% of them, you'll have 8 more sales next year during this same month!

If your average commission is $300 - you just got a $24,800 raise without spending one more hour at the dealership! If you do this every day, it will take about 30 minutes of your morning and once you're selling another 8, 10, 12, 15, 20 cars per month - you won't have to work those 60+ hour weeks anymore because you'll be making your managers so much more money year over year that they won't expect you to live there! 

They'll want you to be happy so you can drive better results.

THIS IS CALLED WORKING SMARTER NOT HARDER.

If you do this every month, you'll have appointments all day long within 3-6 months. This means you'll actually be busy selling cars while the rest of the guys around you are still complaining about the market, the advertising, and anything else they can use to justify their laziness.

You're amazing, you're in sales because someone saw your outstanding potential to be great! Don't settle for being "ok" or "average" when somewhere inside you there is a champion!

Most of all remember this: You only work, so that you can enjoy your life outside of work. All the money, for all the stuff, is really so you can enjoy the time with the friends, family, loved ones, etc. that are waiting for you at the end of the day so STOP giving your time to the dealership and work smarter so you can spend more time at home.

F*&% WORKING HARDER AND START WORKING SMARTER so you can benefit your dealer, your family, your friends AND YOURSELF!

Helping the best get better,

Mat Koenig

CEO

KonigCo

"Your competition won't stand a chance."