So, You Think You Want To Sell Cars, eh?

(Revised) If you’re thinking about entering the car business (either as a permanent career move, or “just until something better comes along”) and you are a never-ever beginner, BEWARE.  You are in for a huge surprise.  Selling cars is not easy–its difficult.  Like Jeremy Cato of the Globe and Mail said, “This job is not for me or the faint at heart.” Professionals make it look easy.  During the several years I was a General Sales Manager, I had my fair share of resumes dropped on my desk for people who supposedly wanted to sell cars.  I estimate that only five (5%) percent were for female applicants looking for a job.  I know it may be hard for you to believe but I even hired my fair share of “new people” who just didn’t make it in the car business.  However, I became convinced that the best applicants for me to hire were those who had little, if any, sales experience (car sales or otherwise). Overall, the sales people I trained who have become successful in the car business are those folks that had zero sales experience. Therefore, they brought no bad habits to my dealership.  Trust me, there is major baggage normally attached to every applicant coming from another dealership.

It took awhile for me to figure out; what was it that made the difference for one seemingly intelligent person to fail in the car business and another to excel?  The people that truly excel in sales are those who already have a high degree of “practical intelligence,” or can learn it quickly.  What I mean by practical intelligence is not the IQ kind of general intelligence but the ability to read situations.  The ability to know or learn what to say to whom, when to say it, and knowing how to say it for maximum effect.  That is practical intelligence, and that is what makes the difference.  Practical intelligence is not in the genes, it is learned.  All you need to truly succeed in sales is just enough IQ (say average) and an ability learn, and use a high degree of practical intelligence in a persistent manner.  Learning practical intelligence explicity incorporates a constant commitment to practice.

If You Can Sell Cars, You Can Sell Anything:

So, here are a just a couple of free tips for those of you who are about to embark on the adventure of selling cars.  If you can learn to successfuly sell cars, I believe you can sell any product or service–provided you remain coachable.  First, you will need to understand selling cars (or trucks, RV’s, etc.) is extremely competitive.  No, I’m not referring here to the competition between brands and dealerships, I’m talking about the fierce competition between sales people at the dealership.  Let’s say you’re about to start your first week at the dealership.  Generally speaking, the other sales people on the floor regard you as a threat to their income.  They do not want you there, they do not want you to succeed and will definitely expend time and energy to contribute to you failure–quickly.  You may receive some warm smiles and handshakes–”welcome aboard” type stuff, but lookout–here it comes!  It is your peers’ intention to indoctrinate you to the ways of the “huddle” as quickly as possible.  The priority intention is to incorporate you as a member.  Over the course of the next few weeks, I will be writing about some of the things new sales people must be aware of.  The huddle is the informal parliament in the sales department of the dealership.  The huddle will often successfully create rules for you to follow.  It will directly or indirectly set the tone in the sales department, and decide whether you are “one-of-them,” or not.  The huddle is often subtle and quite tempting.  If you are the type of person who needs to feel welcome by other salespeople, or you have a need to chat with your peers a lot in order to feel welcome; you are a prime candidate for membership.  You do not want to join the huddle but if you’re not careful, you will quickly discover after a short time you have become a member without realizing it.  Membership in the huddle is comprised of beginners together with those salespeople that deliver a minimum acceptable number of cars per month to keep their jobs.  Here’s one example of the huddle at work which I observed on more than one occassion.  I’ve witnessed salespeople (members of the huddle) approach new hires who had not yet even started training.  The newly hired people were casually approached and told, “you can’t make any money here.”  ”It’s really slow in the car business now, hope you already have plenty of money.” You may think I’m kidding but I’m not–that’s the huddle at work even before the new person started. If you’re a never-ever beginner in the car business, ask your sales manager about the huddle and a few examples of how it works at your dealership.  If his or her response includes something similar to the tone of, “welcome to the car business,” or “it’s the car business,” you might very well be in trouble.

The exception is if your dealership has well-trained, professional sales people working there; if so, then you are not a threat at all.  Professional salespeople in the car business do not particularly care how many “new people” managment hires–their incomes are uneffected.  It’s the other salespeople (the majority in every dealership) who see you as a threat because they believe there will be less “opportunities” available.  Opportunities are what new potential customers are called the car business.  If you take an opportunity (also referre to as an “up”) then there’s one less opportunity for other salespeople.

Therefore, one of my first free tips for you is this.  Develop thick skin quickly.  You will need to shield yourself from the huddle, and you will need to protect your attitude from customers as well.  More on that later.  I hope you are at a dealership that recognizes the extreme importance of training and therefore you receive training quickly.  Most new hires in the car business need to make money rather quickly however, these people are often not advised of the true earning expectations during the first three to four months.  In order to make any money in the first few months in the car business, you must become trained quickly.  Stay away from the huddle and let me know if you need help.

If you’re in sales and you’re not making all the money you should be, then this post is for you.

If you are in sales, and you sell anything including motorcycles, RV’s, small trucks, big trucks, cars, boats, real estate, HVAC equipment and you hired me today to help you take your game to a higher level, which of the following skills would you say you need improvement on?

Basics, First impressions, Greeting, Building rapport, Interviewing, Presenting, Demonstrating, Front-seat closing, Controlling the process, Getting minor commitments, Selling used, Selling new, Getting the Now commitment, Selling on payment, Getting off price on new, Attacking price on used, Objections, Clarifying, Rephrasing, Closing on objections, Handling buying objections, Up-selling, Asking for the order, Cross selling, Controlling the negotiation, Selling for MSRP, Setting up the negotiation, Tracking, Follow-up by phone, Goal setting, Achieving goals, Closing, Internet leads, Incoming calls, Setting appointments, Follow-up by mail, Follow-up by email, Prospecting by mail, Delivery techniques, Referrals, Service customers, Leasing, Time management, Prospecting in person, Customer Service Index, Management turnover, Business office turnover, Payment questions, Building added value, Personal development, Handling the down-time, Handling the huddle, Service walk, Acquiring customer loyalty, Evidence manuals, Using twitter, Using social networks,  . . . Did I miss anything?  Oh, yeah–Getting things done, Using a personal brochure, Creating a personal contract, Using the personal contract.

Put these skills on a piece of paper and rate yourself on a scale of 1-10.  For each skill that you need improvement with, write a sentence or two describing why you believe that is the case.  Then for each skill you are not at the 10 level, ask yourself the following questions.

If I raised my ___________________ skill by 1 or 2 levels, I could sell __________ more units per month.

If I raised my ____________________________ skill by 1 or 2 levels, I could truly increase my monthly income by $ ______________.

Can you afford not to get better?  How much money are you leaving on the table each month because of a personal failure to get better?  If you’re not getting better, making more money and having more fun it is a direct result of not acquiring sufficient practical intelligence and/or a failure to apply and/or practice the PI.  What will you do to get better at each skill set?  Put the results in an email and send it to me.  I will keep it confidential and I will personally respond.  Send it to: roland@rolandsalestraining.com

Financial services managers in the auto industry are often misunderstood by the sales team and the consumer.

For a variety of reasons I have not posted any articles for quite sometime however, I do expect to post regularly in the future.  Thank you for coming by.  Give me your comments, diggs, tweets etc. as you feel is appropriate.

The financial services manager in the auto industry is commonly referred to as the “business manager” and is responsible for a wide variety of extremely important tasks.  To be remarkably successful in this position you must employ the skills which sales person uses while simultaneously drawing upon several others.  Moreover, you have less time to accomplish success.  I do not intend to fully discuss here all the tasks, responsibilities, and required skills to be a successful financial services manager but rather touch on the topic of how this position is often misunderstood.

In this article I’m going to refer to financial services managers as business mangers.  That is the term most used in any given dealership.  Business Managers are responsible for completing all associated paperwork in the cash or credit transaction of selling a motor vehicle whether it be a new or used car, a motorcycle, or recreational vehicle.  The tasks and responsibilities are pretty much the same.  The task of completing the paperwork is not mutually exclusive to the responsibility to generate profit for the dealership.  The “business office” is generally an integral part of a sales department profit center or, it is considered a profit center on its own.  Nevertheless, the business manager must generate profit in addition to providing exemplary service to the customer with respect to time, accuracy, disclosure, and value.  In teaching others this position one of the first things I needed to get across to the student was this: you have a short time line by which to accomplish much.  A business manager must be highly organized, efficient, and accurate.  However, on the other end of the personality spectrum, the business manager must be excellent in establishing rapport quickly.  He or she must mirror the client similar to that which the car sales person does but also has to effectuate trust and believability quickly.  One major learned skill set that dramatically improves a business manager’s success is the ability to project an image of knowledge, professionalism, authority, and empathy all at the same time.  The time line is generally less two hours total for the business manager.  I’ll explain later why this shortened time line often causes sales people in the dealership to be confused, envious, and sometimes non-cooperative.

From the consumer’s perspective.

Many consumers do not have a clue as to the purpose or role of a business manager in a car dealership.  Amazing but true, many consumers are ignorant of the amount of paperwork necessary to purchase a truck, car, or RV; or its importance.  Other consumers stereotype all business managers as members of group in the automotive business not to be trusted.  ”They’re just here to try and sell me a bunch of crap I don’t need.”   It is up to the dealership, the sales person, and the business manager to properly educate the consumer to understand the importance to them in dealing with a competent business manager at the dealership.  If the value and benefit is not communicated, the consumer will leave with a poor taste in their mouth and/or the general feeling that he or she was taken advantage of.  This is a major responsibility for the business manager however, the most successful people in the position usually have the support of management and sales staff in terms of educating the consumer to the value provided them.

It is the business manager’s job to complete all paperwork promptly, accurately, and with full disclosure to the consumer.  Additionally, the manager must present the various options to the consumer even when it appears that the customer has his mind made up as to how the transaction should be handled.  For example, a customer may say, “I’m paying cash,” for their purchase of whatever vehicle.  This may very well not be the best thing for the customer to do but she doesn’t know it.  Once presented with the impact of the total cost of purchasing the vehicle by a competent and empathetic business manager, the customer may appreciate the information and change her mind.  In doing so, undoubtedly the business manager has established value to the customer.  Is it often better for the customer not to pay cash? Absolutely.  Consumers do not know that the business manager’s job is to present intelligent options to the customer in addition to preparing a bill of sale.  Business managers are misunderstood by consumers and its primarily their own fault.  Why?  Because business managers do a poor job of communicating to the customer what to expect, what is going to happen next, and what information is needed and why.  By communicating to the customer that it is vitally important to them that they received all the information necessary to make intelligent decisions on their own behalf, most consumer’s will give you the benefit of any doubt and allow you to proceed.  When kept in the dark as to what, why, how, and when–consumers understandably are mistrusting, on-guard, and thus in a hurry to get out of there!

The improper perspective of the sales staff.

Business managers are paid by commission.  If the business manger is successful it means that he or she has properly presented the value of various products or services to the customer and that the customer recognizes and appreciates the value to the extent that he or she purchases the products or services.   There is always a cost benefit analysis that the customer engages in.  Some purchase the business office products or services, some customers do not; so what?  The key to overall success in terms of customer satisfaction and financial success to the business manager and dealership is that the information was presented in such a manner that the customer understands and makes the right decision for themselves.  Often a business manager will present various options in terms of purchasing the motor vehicle i.e., cash vs. credit vs. leasing.  From there, the business manager will need to quickly but clearly explain the various maintenance options to the customer.  These options may include extended warranty programs, life and disability insurance plans, road side assistance, road hazard protection, and chemical protection products.  Moreover, the business manager needs to make sure the customer understands the various lengths of manufacturer warranty provisions–what is covered and what is not.  In addition to providing the customer all of that information in a very short period of time in a clear communicative manner, the business manager will often have to provide several payment options (terms, rate, amount financed) if the customer has decided to finance the transaction.  Lastly, a business manager must be prepared to overcome a host of potential objections quickly, professionally, and in doing so continue to ask for the business.  In a number of these transactions, it is possible that the business manager will earn a larger commission than the sales person earns from selling the car.  Here is where the improper attitude kicks in.  I have actually witnessed this disease in a automotive dealership.  The sales staff was generally poisoned in their thinking that the business manager was earning too much money i.e., more than they did on any given car deal.  Naturally, greed and envy are powerful forces when left unchecked.  A war brewed and the result was just what you might expect from human personalities.  Although the dealer principle was aware of these issues, feelings, and improper perspectives by the sales staff, he did nothing to correct the situation–did nothing to stop the war before it got started.  Before long, key sales people were actually taking it upon themselves to advise customers not to consider some or all of the products and services the business manager would ultimately discuss with them!   In other words before a customer was introduced to the business manager, the sales person had already poisoned the minds of their own customer with respect to the business office in the very dealership the customer was going to buy a car from!  Sounds incredibly stupid and is.  True story.  From observing that situation, I learned how important it is to fully educate a sales staff as to why a business manager may earn more commission on a transaction than they did.  This requires that the sales staff have somewhat of a comprehensive understanding of the major responsibility that the business manager has on his or her shoulders in addition to an understanding and appreciation of what it takes for someone to be successful in that position.  I know that to be truly good at selling cars in today’s market environment, it takes a considerable amount of skill, persistence, and determination.  More so to be a successful business office manager.  What are you thoughts?