Kids are expensive.  I know, tell me something I don't know.  But, I thought it would get easier as they grew.  WRONG!  As I set my daughter up in her first apartment at college, the bare necessities had me hoping for a lot more book sales and training assignments.  But, we went shopping anyway.  She needed everything from bedding to pots and pans.  Furniture to picture frames.  For those of you with college age kids, you know what I mean.

So, after many trips to stores, malls, outlets, and other places I never visit, we had everything bought and paid for.  Now all we had to do was wait for delivery.  Like many of us who have spent years, or even decades in this industry, shopping is not a top ten of our likes.  I don't shop well.  If it's on sale, I save a bit.  If it's not, I probably buy it anyway.  I am a lay down.  I want to pay and have it all delivered to my satisfaction.  I pay for the right to be satisfied.

But, imagine what I would feel like after having my check clear, my credit card charged, or my cash deposited, if I had the bedroom set delivered without a box spring?  Or if the dressers arrived without drawers.  Suppose the couch came without cushions.  What would I feel like?  How should I react?

The last five clients have had a total of 52 brand new sales people go through my training program.  I push them hard to master the basics of selling themselves, the dealership, the products, the price, and creating that sense of urgency that results in sales and high customer satisfaction.  One of the critical parts of training is that each student must go shopping at another new car store. (You may have seen some of these students on video.)  Sending them out to see what is going on in other showrooms can have two results.  One, they meet a star who treats them the way I teach, or a "typical" know it all who treats them as if they are annoying.

Here are the results of the last five classes:

Out of 52 students, only two were asked for their name and phone number (NADA says 91% of customers never get a follow-up call.  I wonder why?)

Only 3 were given business cards by the sales person.

12 waited 8 minutes or more before even being greated (five were never spoken to by anyone).

Not one single student was offered a demo ride.

7 were told to come back when they had a check in hand.

1 was offered to be taken on a dinner date.

1 was offered a brochure.

The benefit to me was that 100% of my students realized that if that was their competition, they were very confident in their chances for success.

My point is, if you would be disappointed in paying for something and then getting less than you were entitled to, why would you expect a customer to be happy with a price you've given them when you haven't even gone through the most basic of steps?  Let's look at it from another angle.  What would you be selling your cars for if your price reflected your real effort?  If you go back to the basics, the proof will be in the gross as well as in the volume.

For example - Three students in one class learned the real basics.  In two weeks after training, here are the results.  One delivered 12, another 11, and the third 9.  The entire dealership has 12 sales people and at that point of the month, they had a total of 60 out the door.  Yet, three people, who had no previous car experience, accounted for over 50% of the total volume.  Why?  The answer is basic.  The question is, "Would you pay full price to someone who acted like you did with your last customer?

Please send any comments to dealerprofitsnow@aol.com .  Dealer inquiries are also invited.  Check out my books on sales, management and leadership on amazon.com.