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Comment by Brian Bennington on February 14, 2015 at 10:34pm

Interesting post, "my new friend" Rog.  Knowing you're a sales trainer, my only question is "What kind of a sales rep (and in this case I use the term loosely) would think gross is a "dirty word"?  I know you're teaching a good number of novices and I understand how, periodically, you might have a student who questions "How much is too much?"  I'm sure you've probably told them that, in the reality of selling, the person who pays the least is often the least happy and the most difficult to satisfy.  When I moved to CA and began selling cars, I deliberately avoided any management job and kept to myself, primarily because I had a hot new 22 year old honey who moved out to live with me (she's now my wife of 29 years and my business partner) and I knew I could make comparable money to any manager as a "no other responsibilities" sales rep.

While I maintained a low profile and tried not to offer "selling suggestions" based on my many years of training sales reps in my previous field, inevitably I'd be asked how I'd handle questions like this one.  Keeping it simple, I'd say if a sales rep felt they made too much gross on a deal, they should show up at that customer's house every Saturday and wash their car until they "assuaged their guilt" enough and figured they'd "paid the excess gross back in labor."  (Something I never heard of anyone actually doing!)  I'm a believer that the "rep should control the selling and the desk should control the gross."  Unfortunately, after reps gain some experience, they want to get involved in the gross, but they'll always be better off if they concentrate on improving their selling.

Because my long-time expertise (and my current vocation) is in generating referral and returning customer business, I incorporated some simple tactics to keep my customers happy and keep them convinced I was sincerely concerned with their satisfaction.  And believe me, in CA– the land of "we only want to see a customer one time 'cause we aren't quite sure what to do after that"–I had a big time advantage.  Yes, I made good grosses, but I was worth it because my presentations were done well and I took excellent-by-sales-rep-standards care of my customers.  You know, reps think their customers will remember them forever, but in truth, they're forgotten nearly as quick as the customers forgets what they actually paid for their vehicle.  That's something I was acutely aware of and did my best to not let happen.  (Of note, in regards to your apparent strong religious believes, while I'm a "spiritual person," I've never attended church regularly since I was young, primarily because I thought its timing was bad.  The last thing I wanted to do was get up early on a Sunday morning after having an intense and exciting Saturday night!)     

     

Comment by DealerELITE on February 14, 2015 at 4:50pm

Thank you for sharing

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