Car Sales Assistant 2008 Video Tutorials

Hi--I have just finished some video tutorials on how to do a few things on Car Sales Assistant 2008. There will be more to follow. If you would like to see something in particular, please let me know.

How to Log a Customer
CLICK HERE to Download the Full Size Video in WMV format.

This short video explains how to log a customer into CSA 2008. It also shows a quick overview of the customer screen including the difference between a phone up, prospect and sold customer as well as what all the check boxes do on the customer screen. This is the heart and soul of CSA 2008 so this video is pretty much a "must see!"

How to Make Phone Calls to Customers and Prospects
CLICK HERE to Download the Full Size Video in WMV format.

CSA 2008 automatically schedules follow up phone calls for your phone ups, prospects and sold customers depending on when you want them to be created. The phone ups show on the left side of your main screen as the number of calls that need to be made. Click the number and you will see a list of people who need to be called. These people will remain on the list until you actually call them. When you call them, you must "Complete the Phone Call" to take them from the list. This also gives you the option to leave notes as to what you talked about so you can build rapport with your customers.

How to License Car Sales Assistant 2008
CLICK HERE to Download the Full Size Video in WMV format.

When you download the fully-working trial copy of CSA 2008, it works for 14 days. To continue using it after this time, you need to purchase it. After purchasing it, the program must be licensed since it is copy protected. Your data that you enter will still be there.

I know copy protection is a pain but I have put a lot of time and effort into my software and I don't over-charge for it. If I didn't have copy protection--well, you know what would happen. One person would buy it and the rest of the dealership would get it for free. ;-)

More to come!

Dealing with Stress in the Car Business

I once heard that the average car salesperson lives to be 54 years old. I find it hard to believe because I have only had 2 car salespeople that I knew of die while being car salespeople. One was in his sixties and a smoker with heart problems and one was almost eighty years old (and still just about outsold all of us!)

Of course, my experience is limited--I have only worked at 4 dealerships--7 years at one, 5 years at my current one and 2 with 3 months each.

One thing I know for a fact is this: The car business can be stressful!

I have always said that there is nothing worse than a bored car salesperson and my definition of a bored car salesperson is someone who is not selling cars.

OK--here are some quick tips to get rid of stress in the car business.

• Smoke a cigarette every chance you get. Not only will it make you feel better but it will make you look cool to people of the oposite sex. (just kidding...)
• Actually, do the opposite. Try to be healthy! I am a little overweight but I am taking steps to fix myself. Let me tell you a little story...

I am 41 years old and about a month ago, I was playing softball. We had 2 outs and I had a full count. The pitcher threw a pitch and it was about a good of a strike that I have ever seen. I looked back to the umpire and he said, "Ball three--take your base!"

I said to myself, "Wow--this is my lucky day!" I trotted over to first base and my buddy Cory came up to bat. I stood on first waiting for Cory (who is a right handed batter) to blast the ball somewhere into left field when all of a sudden, he hit a line shot and it was coming straight at my head! I had time to say "Oh" when it blasted me on the side of the head and knocked me down.

Here's what I remember...

• Looking at Cory
• Cory blasting ball and it curving at my head
• Me saying "Oh"
• Ball blasting the side of my head--just below the temple and above the jaw.
• Me getting knocked down.
• Me seeing people looking over me and me getting up.
• Me going to emergency room

What I don't remember is the 5-10 seconds of me laying on the ground, unconscious as my feet kicked.

I went to the emergency room, scared shitless--you see, I NEVER go to the doctor. I had fears of head trauma, brain damage, x-rays, cat scans, etc. I was OK, though but the doctor noticed that my blood pressure was a little high.

"You need to be on blood pressure medicine," he told me.
"Can't I just lose a little weight?"
"No--you really need to be on them. I'm going to give you a 3 day supply and then I want you to go see your regular doctor."

Needless to say, the pharmacy must have misread the script and they gave me a 30 day supply so I waited and waited until the 30 days was up and then set an appointment to see a doctor--scared shitless again! Remember--41 years old--the time when doctors really get excited to have you as a customer!

OK--to make a long story short, this doctor disagreed with sticking me on blood pressure medicine and told me to lay off of salt, take water pills and watch what I eat. He also drew blood to check my "thyroid, kidney, liver, cholesterol, etc." Once again, scared shitless--not of the blood (I have donated and have no probs with needles) but with waiting for the results because...

1) I sell cars and we eat like shit
2) I sell cars and we deal with a lot of stress
3) I am probably 30 pounds overweight (in my opinion, that is)

I went today and guess what--my top pressure was 20 points lower and my bottom was 10 points lower and I am in perfect shape according to my blood!

Guess what--back to stress. It has always been on the back of my mind... "Is my cholesterol too high? God--is my liver OK? I do like an occasional drink, you know..." Once again, laying off of salt and watching what I eat has dramatically relieved stress. I feel great and I sell better. Especially knowing that I am pretty healthy.

OK--back to ways to relieve stress...

• Stay away from the newspaper unless you are reading sports. There is never any good news in the newspaper--good news doesn't sell papers, bad news does.
• Do not ever watch local news. All you will hear about are kids dying in fires, murders, rapes, oil prices, war, scandals, etc. You know what? You already know gas is high--you don't need the newspaper to remind you.
• Stay away from below average salespeople--you know the ones I'm talking about. The ones that blame all the stuff from the local news on how bad it is. You know what? I made the mistake last month of reading how GM is cutting production of trucks and how people aren't buying them. I almost believed it and almost went back to delivering pizzas but then I put it out of my head. You know what else? I sold 17 cars last month (not bad in Michigan as bad as things are here) and 11 were Silverados, 1 was an Avalanche and one was a $55,000 Suburban.
• If someone is about to get fired, stay away from them. You have your own family to worry about--hate to sound self centered but getting caught up in someone else's affairs won't help you sell cars and provide for your family. Want to know who is about to get fired? Watch them--they are the ones who do whatever the managers say--fill the brochure racks, clean the counters, line up the cars, move the blockers, not sell cars.
• Don't take your job home. Put it behind you.
• Take your days off and do something fun with the family. I love to take my kids swimming at a local pool. And for some reason, women in bikinis love to come over to see my 1 year old son if you get my drift (glad my wife doesn't read this blog!)
• If a manager is stressed or in a bad mood, avoid him! Shit rolls down hill--remember that.

By the way, I hope you don't mind me using the word "shit" in this blog. I think I have said it around 5 times already in this article and I don't use it to offend anyone--it is part of my normal shitty dialog so please just listen to what I, the biggest shithead in the world has to say without having a shitty attitude about it! ;-)

OK--back to stress...

• If you are healthy enough, play sports. I play softball and once in a while, paintball (great for relieving stress! You get to shoot people and everyone has fun!)
• Try this one. Find a dark area on a clear night in the middle of nowhere. Put a blanket out and lay on it and just look up at the majesty of the night sky. You may see some meteors (shooting stars), some man-made satellites go by (the move pretty fast and change brightness) but you will just melt away in all the beauty that the heavens have to offer.
• Call some of your customers--especially happy ones so they can tell you how much they love their car. It always makes me feel good when I make others feel good. If someone is unhappy, make them happy.
• And finally, sell a car. Nothing relieves stress like putting some iron over the road and making some money.

Thank you all for reading my ramblings--I do appreciate it. By the way--I use this blog as an outlet to relieve some of MY stress!

Marv Chomer
Creator of Car Sales Assistant 2008
Follow Up CRM Software for Professional Salespeople
Only $89.99 per Copy (1 Mini deal will pay for it by the way...)
CarSalesAssistant.com

Car Sales Assistant 2008 Update Coming

Hi! I want to thank all of you have tried Car Sales Assistant 2008 and I would especially like to thank the people who have purchased it.

I am working on some updates right now--hopefully they will be done in the next week, or so.

Here are some of the things it will have:

1) Some people have reported that the program will not run at all. This is usually a problem with the copy protection. I am in works with the people who wrote the copy protection and will have a different version on the next update that should get rid of that problem. The only drawback will be that people who have already registered will have to email me a new code unless I go to the online registration (see below somewhere.)

2) I am currently working on the code to convert data from CSA 2007 to 2008. Earlier versions like 4.0 and 3.0 will come next. There are no plans for updates of CSA 2.0 or CSA 1.0 data at this time.

3) Some people have reported that they cannot delete a customer. That will be fixed.

4) There is a crash if you put more than $999 in your commission. That will be fixed.

5) Hopefully I will be adding email support on the next update. Email is so touchy--I just want to make sure it works for 99% of the people out there.

6) Speaking of the new copy protection--I may try out a new licensing system where you can visit my website to obtain your license code instead of having to wait for me to email it to you. This should alleviate a lot of headaches--mostly yours!

7) Down the road--I'm going to develop a--well, let's call it a "person list" of your customers that you can default to. For example, if you want--it can show you everyone you sold this month as well as your working customers--or whatever 5-10 options you desire. This is still in the planning stage and down the road.

Also--I will be working on more tutorials. I had some video files but everyone said they could only hear me talking and couldn't see the video. Whoops! It worked on my computer! So--I'm opting more for tutorials with screenshots and text instead of me talking--I talk fast anyways so I'm sure I'm hard to understand. You can see the current tutorials here.

Check back here from time to time or at my website for further updates and when it is done.

Marv

How to Sell More Cars

My name is Marv and I sell cars for a living as well as run a website called www.CarSalesAssistant.com that specializes in software specifically for car salespeople. Our main product is Car Sales Assistant 2007, a follow up software program that I designed and programmed for my own use in the car business as well as a product that I sell to car salespeople all over the world. If you want, visit my site and download a free 14 day trial and see if it will work for you! If you like it, I only sell it for $79.99 per copy. Well, enough of the advertisement--down to business.

I have decided to share my thoughts on the selling game--especially how it concerns the car salesperson. Of course, a lot of these techniques that I am going to share are universal and can be used in other sales-related fields.

A little history about me. I have been selling cars for almost 12 years. I currently sell new Chevrolets in what has to be the worst economy in the universe--that being the state of Michigan. I actually got my start in Tennessee and being a yankee from the North, most people would look at me as if I had the plague when I tried to sell them anything.

When you are done reading this article, you will have had more training than I had in my first year in the car business. My training consisted of, "Here's how you fill out a buyer's order. You write down the sticker price and if they don't take it, you say If I could sell it for $1000 less, would you take it today? If they say no, say What if I could sell it for $2000 less? If they say no, What about $3000 less? If they say no, do a T.O. to me and catch another one. Oh yeah--you need to build value first so tell them everything about the car. I want you to tell them every feature. Huh? You don't know all the features--then go outside and drive one of each car. The keys are hanging on the wall."

No shit--that was my training. Even with that, I sold 2 cars my first day but I'll be honest--they were both lay-downs and I was very enthusiastic and enthusiasm is very catchy.

Having an inquisitive mind, I like to learn things. I am a self-taught computer programmer so I figured I could teach myself how to sell cars. There are a couple of good books on selling cars especially Joe Girard's How to Sell Anything to Anybody but as good as it is, it was written in the 70's when they didn't even have MSRP prices on the cars! There are also some good sales trainers that sell their products--you know the kind--the fill-in-the-blank workbooks that have scripts that sound too good to be true but besides that, there really isn't much for car salespeople out there. So, I bought a few generic books on selling (my collection has probably reached around 50 books since then) and got to reading.

I started getting better and better and sooner or later, I was consistently in the top 3 or 4 in sales in the dealership. In the late 90's, I decided that the follow-up card that the F&I printed out wasn't good enough for me so I wrote what became Car Salesperson's Assistant 1.0 (I later changed the name to Car Sales Assistant and abbreviate it as CSA. Someone at the dealership saw it and said, "Marv--you should sell this program." I took his advice, put up my website, sent a few emails to dealerships (OK--I didn't know about spam back then) and started selling a couple of copies here and there.

Eight years later and here I am. I was #1 in sales last year at my dealership and most of it I can attribute to the use of my follow up software as well as the techniques I will share with you if you choose to check back from time to time. Please contact me through my website if you ever have any comments--I would love to hear them.