Earning the Right

The other day, I went to get a hair cut. I walked into a place I had never been at and the girl working at the counter said, "Welcome to hair clips" (or whatever it was called.) So far, so good--great greeting!

OK--I looked around at all the girls and saw that they all had pretty bad hair cuts. Oh oh!

The one started asking me information--phone #, address, full name and all I could think about was, "Great--gonna be stuck on a mailing list."

"Hey--how much do you charge for haircuts?"

"Eleven dollars."

"Cool!"

She sat me down and asked what I wanted and I told her. "Yeah--I usually go to my barber but we were in the neighborhood."

Then she said something that really turned me off. Before the first gray hair on my head was cut (not all gray--bits and pieces) she said, "Looks like we earned a new customer."

Hmmmm--I don't know why that statement put a bad taste in my mouth--maybe it was the fact that she assumed that she had my future business before even cutting my hair. In my opinion, she hadn't earned the right to assume that she had earned a customer until he cut my hair.

Needless to say, she hacked up my hair and chopped into the mole on the back of my neck. "Oops--I nicked your mole!" No shit!

I don't know. Maybe she was saying "We earned a new customer" because of the fact that I had never been there before. One thing for sure is that I will probably not go back in there.

OK--what the hell does this have to do with the car business?

How many times have you done a decent greeting, asked a few questions and went RIGHT TO THE PRICE? Have you earned the right to go for the close or are you jumping the gun?

I don't always follow every step the sale. I sold 2 today and only one of them test drove the car. Guess what? The one who drove nickled and dimed me to death (a nice friendly mini deal) and the other one didn't negotiate at all and actually bought a bed liner and a few back end products (about 8 mini deals-worth of $$$). I am a firm believer that when someone is ready to buy, they are ready to buy. But I always make sure they are there to do business before I jump through hoops and get the price, etc. for them.

Wow--I am rambling today. Hope I have earned the right to gain you as a loyal reader to this blog.

Marv

10% off Coupon to Celebrate new Store

I am proud to say that I have a new web store up and running. I sell my Car Sales Assistant 2008 there. Right now, not only am I selling it for $69.99 per copy (it normally sells for $89.99).

Not only that, but from now until 7/31/08, you can take an additional 10% by using this coupon code when you check out. The code is TAKETEN

Here is a link to the store:
http://store.carsalesassistant.com

Website Construction

Over the next couple of days, I'll be moving www.carsalesassistant.com over to a new server so it may be down from time to time.

I have many plans for this website including...

• A forum for salespeople
• This blog will move there
• Free software for salespeople to use online (lease calculator to begin with)
• A new shopping cart
• More tutorials on how to use CSA 2008

Please check back to this blog for updates and news.

Marv

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

Update of CSA 2008 is Online 7/5/08

Hi--as of 7/5/08, the newest update for Car Sales Assistant 2008 is up and running. If you have anything less that 2.0.7 7/5/08 on your mane page, download and install the update.

The main fix was a crash when logging a new customer ("error in follow up NEWROW") as well as the screens not lining up when creating a new address or customer.

Also, I am taking people down to be affiliates to sell copies of my program for me. Please contact me if interested--it will be an easy way to make some extra $$$!

I also added a "start page" that gives a good overview of the program. You can disable the start page at any time.

You can download the update here. You will then need to unzip it (open it) and copy all of the contents into your CAR SALES ASSISTANT 2008 folder that is either in your WWW.CARSALESASSISTANT.COM or NOVAEONA SYSTEMS folder in PROGRAM FILES (hope I'm not confusing... so here.)

1) Double Click MY COMPUTER or COMPUTER for you Vista users.
2) Double click C: Hard drive
3) Double click PROGRAM FILES
4) Look for either WWW.CARSALESASSISTANT.COM or NOVAEONA SYSTEMS. Double click it.
5) Double click CAR SALES ASSISTANT 2008. Copy the contents of the file that you downloaded (after opening it) into this folder and over write the files when prompted.

You may need to re-license the software but I think you will love the change--I know I do.

If you haven't downloaded the full program yet, you can download it here. Open the file after downloading and double click the SETUP program to install. Follow all the prompts.

Marv
www.carsalesassistant.com

I'm Updating Car Sales Assistant

Hi, Everyone!

I have been hard at work updating Car Sales Assistant 2008 and just wanted to let you all know what is going on.

• I am aware of a problem with Vista machines where you can't choose a letter or a picture--the program just goes into la-la-land. It is a problem with the copy protection I am using--it is conflicting with the Windows based open dialog. I am working with the people who created the copy protection to get a fix going. As far as I know, it is only a problem with Vista, not XP, etc.
• I never was a big fan of how the windows in my program interacted. You could move the main one and the customer ones would stay in the same spot. Well, I just learned how to make a window (form) within a window (form) and it looks nicer, you can now minimize the whole program, etc.
• I have a deep down feeling that the follow up is not working right so I am re-writing it from the ground up. Here is what is going to be cool about the new system. Lets say you want to add a 30 day letter. In the old way, if you already created your letters, it wouldn't add a new one. Now, if you make a change to your follow up schedule, it will effect all of your customers which is a good thing.
• I am trying to implement a follow up every X amount of days like a call every 30 days for example.
• I am going to be adding pop up message reminders. I had this feature in CSA 2007 and everyone seemed to love it (and are asking for it) so I will be adding it. Here is an example of what it will be able to do. If you have an appointment set for 10:00am, it will pop up 15 minutes early to remind you--kinda like the appointment scheduler we use on cell phones.

Also, I will be adding some new content to my website such as...

• A free online lease or payment calculator
• A free forum for salespeople to get together and compare notes, techniques, recipes, etc.

Finally, one more thing that I will be adding is this...

Gas is high right now, money is tight so here is your chance to make a few extra $$$'s! I am going to be adding a referral system where you can have your buddies check out my program. If they buy, you will get $$$ from me--the more that buy in a month, the higher your commission rate. I get a ton of referrals and I think the people who are kind enough to show others my program should be rewarded, don't you?

With a partner, we are working on an online version of Car Sales Assistant where you can do your business from ANY computer (home, work, etc.) More on that later.

And finally, I am working on a dealership version of my program that will sell for a lot of money to you and I (but not to dealerships) so the payment for referrals on this one will be a lot of money--we're talking hundreds of dollars if you show it to your dealership and they hook up.

For all of you who have found bugs and been patient while I worked on them, I bow to you and give you sincere thanks.

Marv Chomer
www.carsalesassistant.com

How to Sell a Car

Right now, we have 0% for 72 months on pretty much everything and we are a freaking madhouse! People are scrambling for what's left and it is dog eat dog out there!

It's been a very busy few days and today a guy came in and said, "I want a price on a truck." So, I sat him at my desk and was about to give him a price--I was about to go from step one in the sale process to step 10! You know what? I caught myself by looking at his shirt--he had a Myrtle Beach shirt on and my wife and I have been talking about taking the kids there. More on that later.

I started asking questions about his wants and needs (step 3) and he told me a couple of things...

1) He told me he was going to get a price and then shop at the Saturn dealership because he had heard about the Vue
2) He told me that he had a friend at another Chevy dealership who had sold him his last three vehicles
3) He told me that he wasn't going to buy today because he was going to wait a couple of months and because his wife wasn't with him.

In other words, he gave me three good reasons for me to believe that he wasn't going to buy today. I almost gave him a price then when I silently reminded myself that this guy was here for a truck and we make, in my opinion, the best truck in the world.

I then said, "I can give you a price right now but the price won't mean anything unless you see how nice of a truck you are looking at. Let me go get it."

We went on a test drive and remember his Myrtle Beach shirt? "Hey--you've ever been to Myrtle Beach? We're thinking about going there." This question began a ten minute conversation between this gentleman and myself about Myrtle Beach. We talked about fishing, how the sand looks, how warm the water is, what stuff kids can do there, his time-share, his other place up north, etc. and I was totally interested in what he had to say and I think it helped me make a friend with the guy--I genuinely liked talking to him and I think the same for him.

You know what happened next? He trial closed himself for me and overcame all of his own objections without me saying a word about the truck. "Man--I really like this truck! My wife is gonna bitch at me but you know what--I do this every time--I buy a vehicle and bring it home to her." Oh wow--how often does someone come right out and tell you they are going to buy a truck--before even getting a price no less!

Needless to say, I sold the guy the truck--one of three that I sold today. I almost set up the next guy to sell him--if I would have done what this guy had wanted and if I would have been lazy like I almost was, I would never have sold this guy. The next dealership would have beaten my price and I would have probably convinced myself that "that guy was just shopping, he already was friends with someone at another dealership, he was still two months away from being ready to buy and his wife was never going to let him buy a truck." Instead, I got this guy the truck of his dreams and got compensated for it.