Welcome back to our new video series, Advertising for Success. We want you to find incredible amounts of success in this business, and we’re going to do everything we can to help you find your way to it. So, we’re going to tell you all we know about advertising. And what better way to begin than by protecting your market!?!

Last week, you heard about how Ali’s advertising adventures began with a basketball game. This week, we’ll hear from 100 Cars Club member and high achiever, Ernie Rodriguez. He’s going to tell us a little about how he got started. I invite you to watch this week’s video to learn more.

Ernie is awesome! He wasn’t even in the business when he started to protect his market. He just did what he could do for the people he cared about. It wasn’t about anything, but that. 

Everybody wants to work with someone they trust. Someone they love. Someone who will take care of them. Someone who will use their expertise and experience to protect them. That’s what we all need to be in this industry. But that’s not how they teach us, is it? 

That’s okay. Because you were good for people way before anyone started teaching you not to be. And that probably never felt quite right, did it? 

Of course not. 

This business can be brutal when you’re operating out of that place of fear taught by the industry. They want us to be worried. They want us to be selling scared. It’s tough to make friends in a mindset like that though. 

Your business can be really beautiful when you operate out of a place of love. What if every single one of your customers was treated like a friend? What if every single one of your customers actually is your friend? 

After we have been in the business for a while, we find our groove, and we forget to evaluate our own processes. As your business grows, the way you do things should grow too! Now look, I’m not here to knock the dealer training. That was a great start! And we appreciate whatever it is they’ve done for us so far. But now, it’s your time!

Paying attention to the process that works for you will make you more aware of the customer’s need and how to get to it. Write your sales process down today - not the dealer’s 12 steps. Write down what you do with your customers, and see if it’s time to revise.

Start with 3-Step Selling in Chapter 7 of Keep It Simple Selling as a base and move forward from there. 

In revising what you’ve been taught, expect change. As you evaluate your steps, keep these things in mind. 

• How does it really make you feel? If something feels right for you, take time to figure out why. If something isn’t right for you, eliminate it.
• Use your own vocabulary. If what you’re saying isn’t in your heart, if you’re fumbling, if you sound like you’re reading a script - you will come across inauthentically. 
• Trust your intuition. You know what’s best for you, for your customer, and for this deal.
• Be a pro in your process. While you update your process, pay attention to the steps that take the longest. Is there anything you can do to speed up those pieces? Would it be beneficial for you to have an assistant? Even just for a few hours, a couple days a week - should you begin to free yourself up for more success?
• Be yourself like no one else can. Keep your list close to your desk, and refer to it. Remember to practice being who you are at your best.

Tell us in the comments below, “What are you most excited to adjust in your process?” The awareness of the shift and the magic in reaching a new goal will propel you to the next easily. Share your experiences below so we can all learn from one another!