Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Anthony Bartoli on September 19, 2012 at 2:14am

Hello Kurtis and welcome to the "Car Biz".  You are on the right track of success by being on sites like this.  I too can remember when I started in this business over a decade ago and came from an entirely different background and asked the same questions on what will make me stand out.  I was lucky to have the vision to see through the BS that lurks throughout this business and figure out who was steering me in the right direction.  When I started I remember my first few minutes when I asked OK what should I do first and the answer was, like so many dealership practices out there, "there's your desk, there's the lot, go to work" and then you are directed to the "up bus stop" where the other sales people where waiting.  
Here is the main things or advice I have found that contributes to my success....
1. Forget the name on the building and treat this as your own business.  That is right you have just been given your own car business.  Your new partner (the dealership) has just supplied the inventory to sell, the buiding and desk to work out of, the materials (forms, pc, CRM) advertising, support staff and they will handle all of the finance and accounting.  If you opened a business would you only just wait for people to show up or would you get your name out there?

2.  TRAIN - TRAIN - TRAIN.  It is funny how I see sales people, sales managers and even owners think that after they have completed their first 5-30 days in the business they are now experts and never need train or just do the required OEM training.  All other professions I know of constantly are training....Athletes, Lawyers, Doctors, Actors, Nurses, Investors, etc.  Invest in yourself with time, money or both to improve yourself.  Each day take atleast 30 minutes to do something that makes you better at what you do.  Learn a new car in your new and used inventory by researching it. Know the competition.  Practice sales and roleplay.  I work out and train in repitition practicing my form.  Athletes practice in repitition so they are ready when it comes to game time.  We must do the same with the steps of the sale.  It amazes me when sales people decline to perform when they are asked to do a walk around in front of each other or on video but think they do a great job with the customer. 

I highly reccomend attending workshops, conferences, webinars and implementing one thing a week in your arsenal of sales.

3.  One of the most important steps of the sale is BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT - before and after the sale.  You are on the right track of going out for business but do you have a strategy.  Plan and attack..  Plan out each day.  Set aside time to make phone calls and how many you are going to accomplish.  You need to figure out how many calls you need to make to make a contact with a customer, then how many people you need to talk to, to make an appointment, etc. 

Start out with specific, trackable, and attainable goals.  Maybe you set aside Wednesdays from 11am to 12pm to take a couple of $5 pizzas to an HR dept of a company to see if you can display flyers or have them passed out with their paycheck statements on specials you have.  Also see if your GM or service manager will give you a couple of free oil change coupons for the HR staff.  

You can ask for orphan owners, work the service drive in the morning, etc.
Join community organizations and promote "your business" at meetings and social events.
Do a referral program and contact non profit organizations and let them know if they pass out the flyers and get the word out that you will donate $100. for every person they refer from their organization that purchases a vehicle from you.  It is easy for them and they dont have to handle any inventory, deliver candy or pizzas, etc.  Churches, school teams, scouts, rotary clubs, etc are good to start with.
Make it a rule to hand out 3 business cards a day outside of the dealership.  When you stop for gas, coffee, soda, etc.
MOST IMPORTANT...Make sure your family and friends know what you do.  Don't be that old stereo type insurance salesman, but let them know you have started a new career and if they ever know anyone looking for a new or used vehicle to send them your way.   
Kurt the sky is the limit on this just keep thinking out of the box.  Good luck.

 

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Permalink Reply by Kurt Rule on September 19, 2012 at 10:05am

Hey Anthony,

Thanks for the reply, I really appreciate the advice given!  After reading your post I guess one of the areas where I really fall short is planning my days out. I have all these great ideas on how to grow my business but at the end of the day it seems like I am just out of time. I am unfamiliar with webinars and any workshops here in Ontario Canada.

Today is the day I begin to shine and stand out, I will do what it takes to be number 1. Any articles, training, or advice is greatly appreciated and will be applied immediately. Thank you so much for showing your Canadian neighbour some love!

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Permalink Reply by jeff sterns on September 24, 2012 at 1:21pm

Hi Kurt, 

I have been thinking about your post since I originally saw it. I am now a vendor to car dealers but do still get that call from someone I worked with 5,10 or 20 years ago wanting advice or laughing about a war story. I sold cars for 8 years and ran sales depts and stores for 21. I was not a star, rarely salesman of the month but I did it every month, with nearly no "ups" (after about 2 years) and spent a lot of time on my boat as well...which I could because I knew who was coming in to see me each day or who I was going out to call on with a plate, touch up paint, mats, a form, whatever....hoping to do another quick delivery hood and trunk for the neighbors or work-mates to see. And made 6 figures during the last 6 of the 8 years on the floor. ps It wasn't talent, it was "swings".  You see Kurt, "you're" the most important person on this forum. The new guy. Who actually wants to make it a "car"eer.

In "the road to the sale", #1 always seems to be "meet and greet". To me it was always GENERATE A CLIENT

When I first started selling at a little mulch lot after school, I read everything I could get my

hands on. One of the first books I picked up was Joe Girard’s “How To Sell Anything To
Anybody.” Boy was I excited! I was 17 and I was going to somehow magically be able to
select any object, pick out a random person and sell it to them! Well, although there were
some good philosophical points in the book, unfortunately I didn’t ever get the specific
recipe for selling anything to anybody. I did however remember Joe’s “Rule of 250.” At the average funeral or wedding there are 250 attendees. This is how many people the average person influences over their lifetime. It didn't sink in for a few years but I learnedto eventually turn getting referrals into a science. Same goes for sold-customer loyalty. If you close, say, 15% of the people you meet in your showroom or while out doing business (dry cleaner, barber, restaurant) that means that you don’t sell five of six people you meet. This is average. What if you got as interested (this is really all it takes) in causing loyalty with this segment of people? What if you got referrals from all of your unsolds or bought elsewhere’s? What if they referred half as many people per capita than your sold customers? There are five times more of them! If you got a half of a referral out of each unsold for every one referral from a sold customer, that’s 2.5 referrals added to the one the sold customer gave you. Fact is I never did get less referrals from unsolds and bought elsewhere’s. I got more. More per person! What would this little stat, if worked properly,do for your business? Double it overnight? Don’t think so small! I see this as a marketing job where selling something actually interrupts your work plan. You are responsible for your traffic and opportunities. Not the store. It’s their job to bring in enough traffic for you to make a sub-standard living (Right, Joe Verde??). It’s your job to build upon that and grow your pipeline of clients. Don’t be upset by this. Think about it, if “they” provided you with enough traffic to get rich, what would be your incentive to develop your relationship with your clients and their circle of influence? It’s your job to get up, get going and off the floor so they can hire another green pea to wait on the fresh-ups (that you will eventually want no part of, trust me). Believe me, you want to grow your business with the building blocks (the customers) each cemented properly into place, not just tossed to the side while you look for — or worse, wait for the next to come along.

I'm here for you or any new person that would ever wish to talk about it.

 

Jeff Sterns

VP of Sales & Business Development

ChatLead.com      

jeff.sterns@CarChat24.com

Twitter: @JeffCarChat24

Toll Free:  (800) 510-7567 ext 702

Mobile: 727-638-0069

Fax: 800-430-1535

www.CarChat24.com      

"Helping car dealers sell more!"

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Permalink Reply by John Goddard on September 25, 2012 at 3:29pm

Welcome.....Be sure to incorporate social media into your presentations. it is ever evolving...A great way to get the word out... also read as much as you can.. Tracy Myers, Grant Cardone, etc.. this site has alot of vauable information for you...

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Permalink Reply by Skip Shakely on September 25, 2012 at 3:37pm

I have been in the business for 40 years in Oct. and the business has changed more in the last 10 yrs than the previous 30. All that said and with all the new ways of doing things, computers, lead management programs, CRM's etc. the things that still work are good old face to face relationships. People still buy from people. AutoTrader went to the extent of creating a whole program and process to attract customers. it's called Tradein Marketplace. An elctronic sack attack. In 1973 when I started selling cars we used to go to an area where a large number of people parked their cars. a mall, a shopping plaza and we would take a stack of paper bags and tear off a small piece and write the customer a note that simply said "I have a buyer for your car, call me" and we put our phone number on there. When the customer called and a good many will we told them we have a buyer for their car and  we do. It is the used car manager. We want them to set some time aside that we will need from them so we simply tell the customer we inspect all of our cars before we sell them so it will take about an hour to do that when will you have that time to set aside? Set the day and time. You now have an appointment for that day. Now when the customer shows up you simply write the trade up on whatever your store uses to appraise trade ins and take the car to get appraised. When writing the car up, ask the customer if he will be replacing that car. If yes, show them what you have to offer using your stores selling process. If no, ask what color his car is. Guess what color your customer doesn't want. Right the color his car is. you can do that on the phone and not have the customer there but wouldn't you want a customer to show up and atleast have the chance to show him what you have to offer. Who knows you may be able to make a deal. That is just one simple way I got customers in and what helped me get off the floor and work by appointment. Also when I did this and worked by appointment I also didn't work nights or Saturdays. I chose when I worked and didn't work. Hope this helps. By the way if you look at AutoTraders tool it is just a sack attack on the web.

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Permalink Reply by Mathew Koenig on September 25, 2012 at 4:24pm

Kurt,

Thanks for turning to the community at DE for input, there are a lot of great folks on here that can all share some great feedback. I've been in the business since 1993 and the best advice I ever heard was:

"The best salespeople learn to ask the best questions."

Cardone is great, Verde is Great, Tony Robbins, Zig Ziglar, they're all amazing motivators, speakers and sales professionals in their own right.

If you want to achieve sales super stardom, make your career 100% focused on serving the customer's wants and needs, not about selling. 

If you focus on their wants and needs, they will want to buy from you rather than anyone else.

Congrats in advance on your amazing career!

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Permalink Reply by James Schaefer on September 25, 2012 at 4:30pm

Kurt,

Being new to this business, you will have a lot of peaks and valleys.  My suggestion is to continue to read the blogs which are posted on sites like this.  However, there are a lot of people like myself who are trying to pitch their product or services.  So another recommendation is to search for content on the web for ideas.  Google Automotive Sales, Increasing CSI Scores, Social Media Marketing, Automotive Customer Loyalty & Retention, and any other terms you can think of.

 

Study ideas, but remember to keep it simple.  You have a good product.  Treat people how they want to be treated, and follow-up with them because you care.  If you do this- Time will allow you to be successful.

 

Good luck selling!

 

James Schaefer

DeliveryMaxx

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Permalink Reply by Bobby Compton on September 28, 2012 at 11:14am

Hi Kurt, and WELCOME....

Nothing gets me more fired up than to see someone like yourself reach out and up for help!

The first lesson I was taught about this business is to stay green and growing or I would become ripe and rotten - in other words stay as hungry for the business and knowledge of it as you are right now, and forevermore!~

This site has an abundance of videos, the best trainers in the business and an open forum to collaborate right here and right now!~

My phone number is 530-314-0487 if you ever have a question on the fly, feel free to text or call.

Salud my friend,- I have a good feeling you will be a great success....... B.C.

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Permalink Reply by Kurt Rule on November 9, 2012 at 1:25pm

Hey everyone!

I just wanted to thank everyone for their input, its been a while since I logged on last. October was my best month ever, and I am hoping to continue on into November. Its easy to slow down when things aren't as busy but with a community of support like this one why would you! Its nice to see all of us working together, sharing ideas and genuinely trying to help each other. I hope all is well for everyone and lets continue to SELL SELL SELL!!!!

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