Good morning busy automotive sales professionals…  Have you ever stopped to think why some advertisements work and yet the salespeople who see those resulting clients usually fail? There is a correlation worth examination.

When the factory advertises a vehicle, they usually display one with all the options (that’s even in the small print) but the advertised price or payment is from a vehicle without the options shown in the advert. It’s also the same when a dealer advertises as well but even worse. So keep this in-mind and I’ll get back to this in a moment.

Have you ever wondered why a brand new (greenpea) salesperson can out-sell an experienced & well trained veteran? Think about it for a second… The brand new salesperson has no idea what he/she is doing.  He or she is polite and hungry and probably just happy to have the job.  I’d like to take a moment and examine the effects of that “hopeful” attitude… Read more…

For Managers, For Salespeople, Sales Process attitude, automotive advertising, factory, hiring, sales training, salespeople

What have you done today?

When I visit dealerships to train new hires on techniques and software, I can tell that many of these dealerships could do so much better if they just did a few minutes of training everyday. Just yesterday, I was at a store with a new sales manager… I was there to get him up to speed on their desking software. He was using the “smile face sharpie” technique of desking deals.  Because he was new, I cut him some slack.   

After he finished an advertisement and other “busy” work, we finally sat down 2 hours after I arrived.  I don’t make this point to say my time is more important than his, but instead to illustrate that training wasn’t anywhere near the top of his list! As usual, he became very excited about this software and made the same comment everyone else does… Something about how much more money he would have made last month if I had arrived earlier.  No disrespect to that dealership, but if training were a key part of the store’s culture, said new manager would have been properly trained on day 1.  Not doing so cost them money. Read more…

For Salespeople daily, managers, sales training

How much profit would you like us to make on this sale?  That would be the dumbest question in the car business.  It doesn’t take a rocket-surgeon to figure out that the most common answer will be:  “As little as possible”.

I know that question sounds a little ridiculous, but many salespeople and managers ask a question that sounds exactly the same to a customer:  “How much down payment are you going to put on this car?”.  Come on…  Be honest.  Think back through your last 10 deals and I’ll guarantee you asked something similar at least 8 times!  If so, you’re asking the 2nd dumbest question in the car business. Read more…

For Managers, For Salespeople down payment, sales training, salespeople, video

 With car sales approaching a 25-year low, it’s tempting to blame the economy, cut expenses and “ride” out the storm.  Typically, the first cuts come in the advertising and sales training budgets.  I thought we’d have a discussion about sales training.  

Is sales training really too expensive or is ignorance even more costly?

What would be your opinion of a hospital that slashed its training and license requirements  in order to save money and make it easier to hire new employees?  A Hospital where the entire staff had been trained by “experienced” doctors and nurses who loathe their chosen profession and most had been fired by other hospitals?  As you arrive for that elective surgery, how long would it take for you to detect their incompetence and rush to another hospital? Read more…

The Business automotive advertising, automotive sales training, blame the economy, car business ethics, car dealership, dealership bankruptcy, Declining Car Sales, economy, Sales Process, sales training, salesforce