One More Thing (Text Version)

Sometimes the difference between making a deal and missing a deal is knowing one more thing to say. As a matter of fact, that’s the difference a lot of the time. If you know what to say to the customer, you sell them. If you don’t, your competitor is going to get their chance.

In 1989 or 1990 I was on the road selling workshops. I was visiting a big dealer in northern California trying to get him to send his people to an upcoming workshop and making absolutely no progress. I was just about to stand up and walk out of his office when I remembered something that I had just read in Tommy Hopkins book, ‘How to Master the Art of Selling’. In a last ditch attempt I laid it out there and ended up closing this dealer that ended up being my biggest participant in that particular workshop. If I hadn’t said that one thing, I wouldn’t have made the deal and my biggest pay day that month.

At the time that book probably cost me $20 or so. Saying that one thing that I got out of that book that day probably made me about $2500 in that one shot. I’d say that whatever I spent on that book was a pretty sound investment. How’s that old saying go? The only investment you’ll never lose money on is the one you make in yourself? So many times now when I’m doing a workshop or a kickoff meeting I get bent out of shape when a well meaning owner or GM introduces me and as a justification for sales people and managers being there says something like ‘If you pick up just one thing that helps you sell one more car a month, isn’t it worth being here?’ Well, if someone spends 8 hours with me in a day, I want their expectation to be that they’ll pick up a lot more than just one thing, but on any given day, when you’re talking to any given customer, it’s going to be about having one more thing to say that’s going to help you close that appointment or close that car deal.

Most of what I know about selling I learned. Somebody taught me. Unlike sports, where let’s face it, if you’re going to be at the top of any game, you need to be born with a certain level of ability, selling can be taught and learned. Your income potential is governed by knowing what to say and what to do and then executing. Invest in yourself! What’s the one thing you’re going to learn today?

I Know What You’re Thinking is Gross (Text Version)

Guess what dealers said they were most concerned about at the NADA convention? This is just a survey I happened to see the results to. It wasn’t declining volume or increased competition. It was declining gross profits.

So how do we increase gross so that we’re able to make a fair profit and not every deal is a mini? The answer is by working with customers that haven’t been shopping as a family adventure for the past 60 days. Let’s face it, if someone’s been out shopping for weeks, they’ve probably been low balled or lied to about what they can buy a car for. At that point it’s a struggle to even make any deal. So what’s the answer? The answer is dealing with people before they’ve shopped and in many cases been misled by the competition.

Who are those customers and where do we find them? The answer is your sold customer base. In my training, I talk about the last person that a customer talks to having the advantage as it pertains to unsold customer follow up. Let me expand on that for sold customer follow up. I don’t just want to be the last person a customer talks to, I want to be the first person as well. I want to get to my previous sold customers before they’re actually in the market and draw them into the market. That’s how you ensure yourself a fair profit. Be the first AND last person that your customers talk to. What does that take? It takes managing your sold customer base. It takes knowing their buying patterns. Knowing the buying patterns of their other family members. Information is power and it applies here as in other endeavors. Being proactive and actually working your customer base rather than just hoping to bump into your previously sold customers by the front door. That’s your answer. That’s how you increase your gross and make a fair profit for your efforts. Now you just need to bridge the gap between knowing and doing, want more? I talk about this and many other topics at great length on my ADAPT VT platform. Feel free to give us a call.

Walking and Talking (Text Version)

This has nothing to do with telephone, internet or activity management training. It’s just something I think you’ll find helpful and I felt like talking about it.

So many times I walk into a dealership and I see sales people out on the lot with customers and managers growing roots behind their desks. If the sales person is fortunate enough to write the customer up and get a commitment to buy, a lot of managers won’t even meet the customer for the first time until the transaction runs into a snag or in other words the sales person needs a turn. At that point, it’s much more difficult to create rapport. That’s a hard turn to take and it reminds me of what I was taught not to do as a sales manager.

Years ago, one of my GM’s taught me that you were never to be behind the sales desk unless you were working a deal. You always had to be walking and talking. Marvin if you’re watching this, give me a call sometime. I’d love to catch up. If your sales people were outside with customers, you were outside. I always wanted the first meeting with a customer to be very casual and for the purpose of simply building rapport and familiarity. I’d be walking around outside and if I saw one of my sales people with a customer, I’d find a reason to chit chat. If they were wearing a San Diego Chargers cap, I’d talk football. If they had kids, I’d ask them about their kids. If it was cloudy, we’d talk about clouds.

My sales people were instructed to never introduce me as their manager or the boss at this point. It was just a chance meeting and a little bit of chit chat out on the lot. That way when the time came and the sales person needed a turn or a change of face, I would walk up and be a familiar face to the customer. They knew me. Now it went from “this is my boss, the heavy” to “hey I know you guys. Let me help you get this done!” It’s so much easier to take a warm turn, in other words a turn when the customers already met you, then a cold turn when they’re half way out the door. Walking and talking. Thanks Marvin, I never forgot.

Don’t Let Me Hurt Your Feelings (Text Version)


I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again, I’ve learned so much about selling by being a customer. Here’s a saying that we take for granted that you’ve heard a million times “persistence wears down resistance”, as a matter of fact I invented it. That’s not true, but it’s a great saying and you need to apply it to your mind set daily when you sell cars.

Let me tell you what happened last night. I got a call from a Wells Fargo mortgage broker, Greg, who was following up on me from back in my San Diego days. He called me about refinancing my house as well as a couple rental properties I own. I asked him to put together a proposal for me because I’ve recently been thinking that I should refinance to a lower rate. Now’s the time, and Greg’s going to get the deal. This story probably doesn’t sound unusual to you yet until I tell you our previous conversation, or lack there of. This guy called me probably about 3 months ago when I was sick. I was sick, I was grumpy, and I really blew him off on this phone call. I probably shouldn’t have even answered the phone that day. He’s been calling me for years now from time to time and leaving me messages most of the time. I’ve always ignored his messages or haven’t really given him the time of day. But here we were yesterday, the guy has never given up and he just happened to call me at a time when I’m ready to do something. That’s what you get when you’re persistent.

To so many sales people, follow up is a one and done proposition. You follow up with a customer, you don’t get the answers you’re looking for and you’re done with them. That’s a mistake. Everybody’s going to be buying a car eventually. Sometimes you just have to be willing to follow up long term. What I didn’t realize over the years as I was blowing Greg off was the fact that he was secretly building up a little bit of rapport with me. Every time you follow up with a customer, whether they come down and buy or not, you should be building up a little bit of rapport with them so that they feel like they owe you as soon as the time is right. You can’t take things too personally when you sell cars. You don’t know what’s going on in this person’s life when you’re following up with them. I’ve been blown off hard by customers before, and many times I suspect it’s just because they’re in a bad mood about something that has nothing to do with me. They’re in a fight with their spouse, they’re boss just yelled at them or they’re hungry and cranky. Who knows. But then the next time I call them and they’re a completely different person and I get the result I’m looking for.

The bottom line is this; I don’t think that 90% of car sales people would have been as persistent as Greg. After the call three months ago most sales people would have deleted me from their CRM. His persistence worn down my resistance. And I suspect my commission will be making his house payment for the next few months. Thanks for watching.

Letting Go (Text Version)

In any conversation about following up unsold customers I think it’s critical to discuss how you let people out the door when they don’t buy. I know you’re disappointed, I know you’re shocked that they don’t see the benefit of doing business with you today, but your last minutes with this customer before they leave is key.

Over the years I’ve learned a lot about selling by actually being a customer. More specifically, I’m a lay down. A few years ago, I went to a timeshare presentation in Sedona. When I walked in there, I thought there was no way I was going to fall victim to a timeshare pitch. By the time the guy was done, it made more sense to me than anything I had ever seen. Hence the part about me being a lay down.

I had two objections to doing business on the spot by the end of the presentation. Number one, I wanted to talk to my accountant and find out what the tax benefits of buying a timeshare would be. Number two, I simply wanted to check out the company online and see what I could find out. That’s what I told the sales rep. If it would have been me in his position, I would have offered me his office to call my accountant, since it was a Monday morning, and a computer with internet access. Instead he started hammering me on why I needed to buy today without even considering my objections. His attitude was terrible. Then his quote un-quote closer came in and she was even worse than he was, once again not making any attempt to address my objections, while the original sales person sat next to her with a hurt look on his face. When I got up to leave no body made any attempt to thank me for coming in or for my time.

Their attitude was ‘don’t let the door hit you on the way out’. I was really irritated when I left. Guess what happened the next day? The sales person called me up with a renewed enthusiasm and tried to get me to come back in. At that point I wouldn’t have taken their timeshare membership even if they would have given it to me for free. The moral of the story is this, as your customer is ready to leave, no matter what the discussion was, sincerely thank them for coming in and thank them for their time. Have a big smile on your face so that they remember how much they like you as they’re walking out the door. You know you’re going to be calling them back the next day trying to get them back in, don’t destroy your chance as they’re on their way out the door. Want more? It’s all on my ADAPT Virtual Trainer.