A lucky 13 things you can do to sell more cars

My 3 Kids

Try these 13 things for 1 month and watch the sales roll in.

1) Don't prequalify.  If someone is on the lot in this bad economy and cold weather, they are there to buy a car.  Let the banks decide if they can buy--not you.

2) Be aggressive--catch everyone you can.  Watch the lot like a hawk and greet people outside--if you wait until they get inside, someone else may beat you to them.

3) Follow up on every unsold prospect.  Do a "great news" to everyone when they leave and have new information to give to them when you call (more rebates, more for trade, new model in, manager wants to see the trade, etc.)  Use a program like my CSA 2008 or even a simple legal pad (I use this method a lot--easy to scan over, I write SOLD when I sell them and it makes me feel great!)

4) When you sell someone a car, find out what their family members are driving and if they are in the market for a car.

5) If you can't close someone, keep trying.  It may take 5 "No's" before you hear the yes.  If you still get a no, do a turn over to your manager.

6) Use a proper greeting.  "Welcome to Biff Motors--my name is Marv--and you are...?"  They will then give you their name.  Continue asking questions to control the sale.  "Who's the lucky one who gets the car--you or someone else?"

7) If someone says they want to think about it, study it, pray on it, talk to their wife, check their financing, talk to their banker, check with their son, check their horoscope, sleep on it or anything similar--it is an excuse to leave for 1 of three reasons...they don't like you, they don't like the car, they don't like the price.  It is usually the price.  Find out what the problem is (ask them--is it the car, the price or something I said or did?)  They will usually tell you price.  Isolate the objection, turn it into a budget, help them find money in their budget (gas savings, insurance savings, savings because of new warranty) and close them.

8) Build rapport with 100% of the people you talk to before you try to sell them a car.  Find something in common.  Get them to laugh (very powerful.)  Smile a lot.  Make them your friend and they will find a way to buy from you.

9) If you are talking to a husband and wife, realize that the wife usually wears the pants and makes the decisions.  Talk to her more than him and she will respect you because quite frankly, most salespeople talk to the men more.  Shake her hand first, etc.

10) Take any deal--whether it is a mini deal or otherwise--they may refer someone to you who will pay full sticker.  That happens to me all the time!  If you know you can sell someone a car, sell them!  I had an idiot manager that would let people leave with "1 point of reserve" and under-allowing on their trade--stupid, stupid, stupid!  If it comes down to it, a $100 mini will pay your phone bill and might get you a "Spin" so take the deal!

11) Give everyone a great demo.  I like hooking my IPhone up to the stereo during the test drive--works great.  Make them fall in love with the car.  Focus on what makes them hot--if they like "style" talk about the looks, not the side-airbags.

12) Do not talk price until you build rapport, find out their wants and needs, choose a car and do a great demo.  If someone walks in wanting a $150 payment and you ask them what their payment range is and get $150 as an answer--2 things will happen.  You will, in the back of your mind, want to flush them and they will back you into a $150 per month corner.  If you do a great demo, build rapport, etc. first--they $150 may become $350.  I hear it all the time--"I came in here wanting to spend $200 and spent double that."  Hell, when I bought my house I set a $100,000 limit and spent $30,000 more for less equipment than I originally wanted (I wanted a finished basement, 2 bathrooms, sliding door to garage--did not get those things...)

12) If someone asks for something that you don't have (like a color for example), don't say, "No, but I can get you one."  Use a dealer trade as a last resort.  

13) Keep positive!  Quit reading and watching the news--there is nothing good on there.  Go to work to sell cars, not hang out in the huddle and make friends with under-achievers.  Have a great attitude.  You have one of the few jobs where you can make a couple of grand a day if you work hard enough.  I have made $3000 in a day before (my personal record)  I know people who don't make that in 2 months.  I know it's tough right now--I sell cars in Michigan and we have officially been in a recession since 2000 or something like that--so I know how hard it is, I promise.  I have decided that I am going to make 100,000 next year selling cars--that is my goal.  I am going to do everything on this list and I will do it.

Have a nice holiday season!

Use the IPod or IPhone to Sell a Car!

One day--I got stupid. I was at Best Buy and happened to see the I-Phone. I still had over a year in my Sprint contract and knew it would cost $200 to break my contract but you know what? I met a salesperson that I liked and trusted--he showed me some cool things on the I-Phone and I bought on the spot. $399 + $200 to break the contract. I made a $500 spur-of-the-moment purchase decision. You know what else? I got my wife to put it on HER Best Buy card!

This article is not about the great job the salesperson did or how to get people to buy on the spot.

This article is about doing a little extra on your demo to build value and rapport.

Lets turn the car back 22 years--it's 1987 and I'm a 19 year old punk buying a new Toyota Tercel. The salesperson didn't let me drive and ordered me the wrong color, forgot to add air and the car came in without a radio. Looking back with 13 years of car salesperson's eyes--he probably needed a unit to hit a bonus and told me that my car was in and just sold me something else off the lot.

This article is not about switching people from one color to another nor is it about switching people on equipment.

This article is about doing a little extra on your demo to build value and rapport.

OK--what about the Toyota salesperson? Well, he didn't let me drive, when I told him it was the wrong color he told me, "If you don't like it--walk home." Wow! Why do I remember him? I remember him because when we went on the test drive (and only he drove) he put on racing gloves. The 86 Tercel was the boxiest car you could get and this dude put on racing gloves. In my mind I said, "Wow--this car looks like a race car!" and I bought it.

OK--what does all of this have to do with an I-Pod?

A lot!

Most of the new cars have a little phono-plug where a person can plug in their I-Pod. I decided the other day that I was going to plug in my I-Phone while on a test drive to show off that little feature. You know what? I have done it 3 times and sold all 3 cars!

The cool thing was on Saturday. I had a guy that wanted payoff ($17,400) for his truck and it was only worth $12,500. He was adamant. I somehow got him to drive and asked, "Do you have an I-Pod?" He said yes.

"What kind of music do you like?"

"Rock."

I pulled out my I-Phone and plugged it in. "We're about the same age--I also like Rock. You know what? Nothing tests a stereo like Pink Floyd." His eyes lit up. "What's your favorite Pink Floyd album?"

"Dark Side of the Moon."

I plugged it in and we happened to be in an Impala that had a Bose system. He messed with the base and treble and cranked it up and it sounded great! There was no way he was not going to buy the car after setting his radio up.

I had a lady today--"What kind of music do you like?"

"Country."

"Well, you won't find any country on this phone," I joked. So, I played a little Led Zeppelin through the phone and pre-set all of her radio stations to the XM country stations as well as her FM one. She loved it and bought.

I think I may be on to something here!

New Update for CSA 2008 Coming Soon!

Hi, Everyone! Hope all is going well.

I've been working on a new update for CSA 2008. Fixing a few bugs and I've added a new feature that allows you to easily backup your data without having to browse-to and copy folders. If I get froggy, I'll also add the ability to import your data from a spreadsheet.

I'm also working on a new manual for CSA 2008 that should make a lot of things much clearer.

Please check back from time to time for updates.

Marv

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!