Car Sales Assistant for iPad, iPhone and Mac Coming!

Features

• Data will sync between iPhone, iPad and Mac over iCloud (which every Apple user can get for free)
• Universal App: buy for iPad and get iPhone version for free and vice versa!
• It will eventually be highly customizable with downloadable templates for real estate agents, insurance agents, boat sales, RV sales, etc, etc.
• Built from the ground-up using Apple technology such as touches, swipes, tables, etc.

Coming Soon to an App Store near you!!!

Marv

New "Universal" CRM Coming!

Introducting Up-Sell CRM!

I have been selling Car Sales Assistant for over 10 years now with great success. I get a lot of questions, though, asking if I have a version for other fields such as real estate, boats, motor cycles, insurance, etc. I always put it on the back burner to write versions for all those other fields (and more) but it takes a lot of time to write custom CRM programs!

Well, I had a brain storm to write a "Universal" CRM that can be customized for ANY field out there. Heck--if you are a church pastor and want to keep track of your members, it can even be customized to this! They sky is the limit.

I think I am gonna call it "Up-Sell CRM" and it is finished. All I have to do is write the manual and put up the web site.

With this program, you (or I) can edit just about everything--views, quick links, fields that you use, what money totals do you show, colors, etc. Just about everything is customizable.

I get people who ask me, "Can you add a field for Social Security # to CSA?" Well, if you want a field for that, you can add it.

I am going to make it so people can upload their created-templates to my website for others to use and download ones that others have made. Perhaps someone has a better car sales CRM template than CSA? It is possible. By the way, the first template I will make will be a car sales one that works just like CSA to show the power of it.

Here are a few screen shots of where you can edit the fields.

The above picture shows where you can edit the personal items that you want to keep track of in your CRM.

This picture shows the "Sold" items to have in your CRM. You can also have a seperate template for unsold "Prospects"

More pictures and info coming soon so keep checking back!

Coming Soon: FreeCustomerLog.com

Coming Soon: FreeCustomerLog.com! Put away those paper logs!

I got an I-Pad!

I guess I fell into the hype--I got an I-Pad the other day. I really didn't need one (I have 3 computers, a MacBook that dual boots into Windows XP, an I-Phone) but I wanted one. I have been working hard lately selling cars and programming so I decided to reward myself.

It was funny--when I mentioned buying it, my wife said she would never use it (more on that later...)

Here are some of my initial feelings about the I-Pad.

• The large touchscreen is really awesome.
• The photo stuff is cool--the way you can pinch open groups of photos and view them in a cool origami fashion (you have to see it to believe it!)
• I bought an App called "Star Walk"--it is so freaking cool. It knows where you are (based on GPS no doubt) and you can hold it up to the sky in any direction and see exactly where the stars are--it is almost like looking through a window at the heavens--only with cool constellation outlines, colors, music and more. Only $4.99 and worth every penny!!!
• I downloaded the IBooks App and bought a book about Steve Jobs for $11.99 (about $5 cheaper than buying an actual book.) It is so cool reading on the I-Pad--you flick a page to turn it, you can look up words in a dictionary, it remembers what page you are on--and a lot of the classics are free (Mark Twain, Jack London, the Bible, etc.)
• I'm listening to Pandora radio on my I-Pad right now--a live version of "Whole Lotta Love" by Zeppelin.
• The I-Pad is also a big I-Pod!
• I downloaded NetFlix and we watch streaming movies through the I-Pad.
• The have a cool Marvel Comics App where you can get free comics and buy them for $1.99 on average. I don't read comics anymore but I could see how kids could love this App!
• All I-Phone Apps work on the I-Pad.
• Email and browsing the net are wonderful using your fingers instead of a mouse. Man--I can't say enough about it!
• You can feel the quality--a glass screen, aluminum body, the colors and screen are crisp and sharp--man--Apple really has its shit together!

All in all, I was feeling stupid after buying it but once I got it home--I was hooked.

Oh yeah--speaking of my wife--she is very religious so when she found out she could read the Bible on it--she was hooked and said it was "very cool." Wow!

Coming on April 1, 2010 CSA 2010!

This is no "April Fool's" Joke!

I will be releasing CSA 2010 on April 1, 2010. It is going to look very similar to my http://FollowUpCRM.com service but will work on a PC with all versions of Windows from XP and up.

It is going to have a tag-line in the order of "Follow Up Simplified" because that is my goal. In previous versions, I tried to make it an "end all" program for car salespeople--covering everything I could think of but I will be the first to admit that I made some confusing decisions.

This one will be the easiest CSA to use--period!

Please check back and try it out when ready--I'm sure you will love it.

Marv Chomer

http://CarSalesAssistant.com

http://FollowUpCRM.com

http://CheeseWong.com

Coming Soon:

http://CoolFaceBookGames.com

HONK if You Own a Toyota Bumper Sticker

Pretty funny bumper sticker for sale--check it out at CheeseWong.com.

FollowUpCRM.com is up and running!

Follow Up CRM is now up and running. Visit FollowUpCRM.com and register for your free 2 week trial.

Happy New Year!

Marv

FollowUpCRM.com Screenshots and Information

Exciting News Everyone!!!

Hi, Everyone! I am very excited to announce that FollowUpCRM.com will be going live on 1/1/2010. What is it? It is my new online CRM system. Right now, it will support car salespeople and in the future it will support...

• Insurance salespeople
• Real estate agents
• RV, 4-wheeler, motorcycles, snowmobile salespeople
• Doctors, Lawyers, other Professionals
• Cell Phone salespeople
• Appliance Salespeople
• Boat sales, etc. The sky is the limit!

As the name states, it is an online program that you run through your browser. It works well on windows, mac, cell phones, net books, etc. It will work over any browser from any computer. Check your customers at home, at work, on a plane, in a train, on the beach--wherever!

I will be charging a small charge to use it--probably $10-$15 per month per user (more for dealership versions with the manager stuff...) and will be giving away free months for trials, for referrals, for people that post a lot in the forums, etc. We are going to have fun!

OK--first question people may ask is, "What about security?" Here is what it will have in place...

• 128bit SSL encryption
• Encryption of sensitive data like addresses, emails & phone numbers.
• Encrypted passwords to get in the program with encrypted online folders.

Here is a screen shot with a sample of the encryption. It is (as far as I know and have studied) un-crackable.

Here is what the main screen will look like.

On the upper left, notice the "Money Made"--you can keep track of where you are. Under that are a ton of quick links. Next to it are some easy to use search functions and then lists of your customers sold this month, hot prospects and pending sales/sold orders. To the far right is a "To Do List" as well as your appointments.

If you notice the menu, it is a pull-down type and makes it easy to create certain types of customers or prospects. Here is an example of creating an internet lead.

After you click NEW INTERNET, you are taken to the PROSPECT SCREEN to enter the internet lead's information. From there you can edit data, track contact history, print letters, set appointments, send emails and more! Here it is.

If you will notice, unlike my previous versions of CSA, only important information for prospects are on this screen. I also made it where you put "Vehicle Wanted" and "Trade Info" into text boxes without having to have a field for Year, Make, Model, Color, etc. It makes it a lot easier and faster to create a prospect or customer. Notice the "Contact History" on the bottom right. Put what you talked about in the text box, click ADD and it is added to your history. If you print a letter or send an email, it is automatically added to your contact history. See the field that says "Last Contact?" When you add to your contact history (or print a letter or send an email) it makes that into todays date so in the main form, you can call certain types of prospects or customers at certain intervals. Here is a screen shot of the settings where you can set up your own values for call intervals.

In this example, I will contact internet customers every 2 days and sold customers every 45 days, etc.

What about automated follow up? FollowUpCRM.com makes it very easy. The easiest it has ever been in any of my programs. You can create your own custom letters and emails and save them for laster. The program automatically merges your data with them. By the way--the emails are full HTML so you can have colors, images (you have to link to them on an external website), different fonts, etc. Here is a screenshot of the word processor.

See the stuff like ~firstname~ and ~lastname~? FollowUpCrm.com merges that with your data. If you print a letter, it is converted to a PDF file and you can use a pdf reader like Adobe Acrobat (free from Adobe.com) or any other one to view and print the letters.

Setting up follow up is very easy now. Here is a screenshot.

In this example, 1 day after a sale, it will generate a letter for a sold customer that is either new or used that has paid cash, financed or leased. You can break it down and send a csi letter (for example) to only new car cash deals 14 days after the sale. You can have an unlimited amount of follow up items and it can generate phone calls, letters or emails. Also, if you set up a follow up email for an internet lead and they come in and buy, the program will know this and quit sending them follow up emails as a prospect and switch over to sold follow ups.

Speaking of email, when you are a paid user (not available with trial) you will get your own FollowUpCRM.com email address. You will be able to use it to send emails to your customers. You can send a monthly news letter, a thank you email, etc. If someone responds to the followupcrm.com email, it gets replied-to your real email address so you can use it as usual. I have to give users a followupcrm.com email address because that is the only way that godaddy (my host) will allow people on my website to send email and because it will stay out of spam filters better if the email is from the hosted website.

One more screen shot of the program in action. This is the customer screen. Notice the differences between it and the prospect screen.

Oh yeah--did I mention that this program works well over a cell phone? At no extra charge? Proof is in the pudding. Here is a screenshot of the program in use via my I-Phone. That is an older version of it so the final product might look a little different (the zip code won't be wrapped for example...)

Well, everyone, as you can tell, I am very excited. I hope you all give my new program a try. I'm even going to have a button that you can click if it helps you sell a car so everyone can see how effective it is.

Best regards and Happy New Year!

Marv Chomer

www.CarSalesAssistant.com

www.FollowUpCRM.com

Coming on or around 1/1/2010: FollowUpCRM.com!

I am proud to announce that my new service, FollowUpCRM.com will be up and live on 1/1/2010 (or within a couple of days LOL) Instead of a one time big charge, there will be small monthly charges for its use--I'll keep it reasonable, I promise! Also, I will be offering free trials so people will be able to see the ease-of-use and the power of this program.

Think of it as Car Sales Assistant that runs online through a web browser on any computer, net book or even cell phone that has a true browser on it (I-Phone does and I think Blackberry does, I'm sure Android does, etc.) It will be very cool! I am using it full time right now and I love it--I love the fact that if I am on the lot and need a #, I can access my data through my I-Phone, click to dial, and call my customer.

Initially, it will be released for car salespeople (since I am one.) Next, there will be a version for dealerships with cool manager stuff like averages, closing ratios, blah blah blah. Then, the fun starts--versions for boat salespeople, insurance agents, real estate agents, RV salespeople, etc. You know what? I had an insurance agent give me a quote for health insurance 2 months ago and she has never called me to close the sale. Whoops! FollowUpCRM will almost force her to call me and make a sale (I'm ready to hook up but her laziness might cause me to shop her--just like your customers will shop you if you don't do a decent job of follow-up.)

OK--I'm on a rant. Lets just say that I am very excited about this one.

Here are some cool features...

• Full html email support with a built-in editor where you can create templates and use them over and over--FollowUpCRM will even merge it with your customer data!
• Print letters to your customers ONLINE! How? FollowUpCRM will take your letter and create a PDF file that you can print. Don't like the cheap ink jet printers at work? Print at home on your big-daddy $1000 color laser! Oh yeah--your letters can have colors now. Sweet!
• Set the number of days to contact certain types of customers. For example, I have mine set to call my sold customers every 45 days and my internet leads every 2 days (as well as phone ups, prospects, people on your general mailing list, people on a want list, etc.) If the person is not contacted (email, letter or phone call) within the # of days, they will show up on a quick link until you contact them! (Too bad the insurance agent I spoke about didn't have this feature--I would have already hooked up!!!!!)
• Speaking of contacts, FollowUpCRM keeps track of your contact history AUTOMATICALLY!
• I'll admit--the automated follow up feature on CSA7 can tend to stink. I have simplified it dramatically. It is very easy to use and set up and has automated letters to print AS WELL AS automated emails to send. Whoopie!
• When you first log on, you go to a main screen--there you see all your quick links (like CSA7 has) as well as your money made (today, month, year, career), a quick search area, a quick list one (for example, if you want to quickly see all your phone ups from last month or your sold customers from March of 2003...) It also has your sold customers for the month, your HOT prospects (people you are working), a cool TO-DO LIST and your appointments.

OK--this just scratches the surface of what this program has. A few people have asked me about security. I take security very seriously--I don't want people snooping at my customers and I know you don't either. Your customers are your property, not mine--I just store them for you and provide a program to manipulate the data to help you sell more cars.

Here is a list of the security measures that this program will employ...

• Your log on password is encrypted. For example, if you use "password" as a password, it is encrypted to read rN20SDiz6HJ0fJ6xHUHAjA== (which is "password" encrypted)
  The password has some "salt" added to it--do a google search for "encryption salt" for more info--lets just say that it adds an extra layer to protect from dictionary attacks.
• All sensitive data (address, birthday, phone numbers, vin #'s, email addresses, etc.) for your customers will be encrypted using a 128 bit encryption process that even the defense department can't crack. There will be a private key to insure that if someone were to steal the database, even they wouldn't be able to read your data.
• The database will be hosted through godaddy.com. They take security very seriously and back up the data on a regular basis.
• The folders will be "role protected." In other words, if someone doesn't log in to get access to the data, they will not be able to access the folder where the data resides. Since your password will be encrypted, they will not be able to log in!
• All data transmitting over the internet (to and from the FollowUpCRM server) will have a SSL 128 bit encryption layer so if you transmit the data over an un-secure connection (like a public wireless) someone will not be able to hack in and even if they could, they would see a bunch of giberish.

Simple data like a customer's first and last name or any notes you type in and even the vehicle year and make will not be encrypted--why not? Well, if someone were to steal the data and see that you sold a "John Smith" a "Chevy Impala" in the state of Ohio--well, what the hell would they do with that info? They won't have John's phone #, VIN, email address, home address, etc--all encrypted!!!

I just want people to understand that I will keep all of their stuff private and make follow up a very pleasant experience. Oh yeah--referrals will get you free months!!!

Thanks everyone and once again, Happy Holidays.

Marv

Service Customers

I have a new routine. Every day, I get handed a stack of everyone who has used our service department on the previous day. Here is what I do with them...

• I call them and if they answer, I thank them for stopping by our service department.
• I then ask if everything was handled to their satisfaction.
• Most of the time, the customers are very satisfied and tell-me-so with joy in their manner of speaking.
• I can see from the service sheets where the people have bought from before and probably 80% of the people did not buy at our dealership. In that case, I'll tell them, "I'm going to send you a business card. Please call me personally if you ever need anything."
• Usually they are very appreciative because of their good service experience (we have an excellent service department.)
• I then put them into my new program, FollowUpCrm.com (not up yet for the public but will be soon...) and I print a "Thanks for stopping by our service department" letter. FollowUpCRM keeps track of the fact that I sent them a letter and I have it set up to contact these people every 90 days.
• In the letter, I thank them again and let them know that I am a salesperson at the dealership and to contact me if they, or anyone in their family need anything.

I have been doing this for about 2 weeks and here are a couple of thing I have noticed...

1. Once again, I work for a dealership that has an excellent service department. It actually makes me happy to hear that from our customers because...
2. When I'm trying to sell a car, I can bring up the fact that I contact the service customers and 99.9% of them love their experience.
3. Once in a while, I get a buyer on the phone. I talked to a guy originally from Canada the other day (across the river from my home town of Wyandotte, Michigan) and he told me, "The vehicle you are calling about--it was a lease and I just turned it in. I'll stop by in a few days because I need another vehicle."

Now, if you know sales statistics, I have a huge chance of selling that guy when he comes in--probably 50% - 75%.

"What about missing an up when you are on the phone?" you may ask...

Well, I have a nice office on the corner of the dealership and have a nice bay window (no more cubicles for me) where I can watch the used car lot ($$$) and we only have two salespeople so I catch a good portion of the customers anyways. Also, it keeps me busy and sharpens up my skills because I am constantly talking to people.

The owners love it (no managers at this dealership--yay!), the customers love it, I love it and the other salesperson at the dealership laughs at me. LOL

Keep checking back to this blog. I know I haven't written much lately but I have had some huge changes in my life (moving across the country), I sell cars a lot (55-60 hours a week) and program a lot (20-30 hours a week.) I plan on opening FollowUpCrm.com to the public soon--I'm not kidding--you are gonna love it.

Marv

p.s. I'm going to have cool email alerts--FollowUpCrm will contact you via email to remind you about appointments, etc. It's gonna freaking rock!

Online CRM Coming!!!

Well, things are going pretty well for me in Tennessee. I just perhaps just finished my best November in my life--all during deer-hunting season which in Michigan, was usually the kiss of death.

I'm working on an online CRM for car salespeople (and later real estate agents, boat salespeople, RV, motorcycle sales, etc.) that is going along very well. I'm going to charge a small monthly fee for use instead of a one-time fee like CSA7 but it will have some cool features like...

• A simple design that makes it quick and easy to do follow up.
• An enhanced automated follow up system that will allow you to differentiate between new and used customers as well and purchase types (cash, finance, lease). It rocks!
• The ability to use from ANY computer with a web browser. You will not need to install the program and updates happen on my server-end so when I add a new feature or fix a bug, it will be there instantly.
• You can use this program over a cell phone--I have tested it on my IPhone and it works well and fast. Another cool feature is that the IPhone automatically takes phone numbers and makes it so you can click to dial. This helped me the other day when I wanted to call a customer--I looked them up, clicked their # and called them. Cool feature that I didn't expect!
• When you print letters, the program creates a PDF file that you can save to print later, move to another computer to print or print on the spot.
• Speaking of printing letters, the program puts the name of the letter into a follow-up history so you can keep track of who you have called and how long it has been since you have called them.
• Speaking of how long between calling people, you can set the number of days to call your people. For example, I have it set to call my sold customers every 45 days, unsold prospects every 3 days, internet leads every 2 days, people on a mailing list every 90 days, etc. When you contact a person (whether call, email or send a letter) it will reset the date so it will not notify you again until the number of days have elapsed.

Quite frankly, I think this program is the future of my business. I'll still make computer versions that you purchase and install to a single computer but I think this will be easier to use as well as more versatile for my customers because of the instant updating, ability to use anywhere, etc.

I'll be giving away free trial copies soon so you all can check it out.

Marv

p.s. A dealership version will also come out that will rock and roll!

Finally Settled-In!

Me all relaxed at work!

Well, it has been a few months since I have written anything here. My family and I have made a huge change and have moved to Tennessee (my wife's home state.)

The cool thing is that I have a job at a local Chevrolet, GMC and Buick dealership. It is a smaller dealership that really takes-care of their customers--everyone knows everyone else in the town, they have loyal customers, are community orientated, etc.

Speaking of the customers, they are mostly truck buyers. It is back to being cool selling vehicles because people around here buy because they need a vehicle (cattle farmers, etc.) instead of buy because one leases for $200 per month (a-la Michigan.) I love the fact that I can go back to selling on value instead of, "What is the cheapest lease you have?"

Oh yeah--I sell new and used vehicles now (mostly used) and like that a lot better than just selling new.

More articles coming!

Marv

Steve McNair found Shot and Killed

Wow--as a seven-year resident of Tennessee (including 2000 when this great quarterback took the Titans to the SuperBowl) this is a shock for me. Steve McNair was found shot and killed in a Condo in Nashville, Tennessee.

He was a warrior in the classic sense--it seemed like he was always injured and hurting yet he still came out and gave it 110%. He was my all-time favorite quarterback--may he rest in peace.

Free Online Payment Calculator

Hi, everyone! I've been out for a few weeks--I actually spent some time in the hospital and had my gall bladder removed. I've lost a little weight, no longer have a sick stomach all the time and feel great! I want to thank everyone who contacted me and wished me well.

While recouperating, I wrote a couple of nice payment calculators. There is a basic one (rate, finance amount and term) and an advanced one that is actually a full deal builder (shhh...don't tell your manager!) They are online and totally free to use. Please tell all of your fellow salespeople about them--the more people who use it the merrier! Here is a link to check them out...

http://carsalesassistant.com/free-payment-calculator.aspx

Please keep in mind, though, that there is no error checking built into them yet so if you do something wierd like put "gagagogo" as your sale price instead of something like 20000, you may get an error.

Also, I have a coupon out right now SAVE10 that will knock $10 off of your order at my carsalesassistant store. CSA7, using this coupon, is now on sale for $59.99. Here is a link to my store...

http://store.carsalesassistant.com

Thanks!

Be Nice to Customers

I guess I could just leave the title on this article and it would say enough but then who would read it???

OK--I had a customer a few months ago. The guy grew up with my dad, I got along great with them and guess what--they bought somewhere else. They didn't buy my brand, by the way.

I found out about it after making a follow up call. When they told me that they bought a Saturn--I could have been like a ton of salespeople out there who try to make the people feel guilty--you know the types.

"I spent 3 hours with you!"
"I have a family to feed!"
"Thanks for wasting my time!"

Or I could have been a professional and said what I did, "Congratulations! I really like the Vues. Do me a favor--if you ever need anything in the future, please let me know."

You know what they did? They had a sister looking and sent her to see me. I sold her a car. If I would have been rude to them in any way, this would never have happened.

Referrals are without a doubt the most important aspect of selling cars. Repeat customers are a given and if you do a good job following-up, you would get a ton of them. Referrals, on the other hand, are people going out of their way to recommend you.

Thanks for reading this blog!

Marv
http://carsalesassistant.com

The Day the Dealerships Closed

I work at a Chevy dealership in Southeast Michigan about 15 miles away from Detroit.  To say that the economy has hit us hard is a huge understatement.  I'm going to make a few claims before going on with this article...

• The media (local news, newspapers, etc.) is a huge reason that the economy is tanking.
• The media "likes" to publish/broadcast negative articles because fear sells.
• In 13 years of selling cars, this is as bad as I have seen it.

With those three assumptions, on with the article!

Well, GM is closing a shit-load of dealerships and the big thing was waiting for the "package from FedEx" that would be a letter stating that you were one of the closing dealerships.

Early in the day, our dealer got a call from someone at GM--we were safe from closure.

A half an hour later, someone from a local Detroit news station came by--he had his little news truck parked outside--filled with cameras, microphones and the other evil tools to spread the bad news that spreads harder and faster than the swine flu!  Here is a little script paraphrasing the conversation with the bad-newsman and our dealer.

Bad News Man: So--did you guys get the "package?"

Dealer: No.

Bad News Man: So--you still might get the package, right? (he was really hoping that we would!)

Dealer: No--we got a call instead.

Bad News Man (Smiling): Did they say that you are getting a package?

Dealer: No--they said we are safe.

Bad News Man (Grasping...): But--you still--uh--might get a package, right?

Dealer: No--we are safe.  We are not closing.

He looked like someone told him there is no Santa Claus.

Dealer: Do you still want to interview me.

Bad News Man (Sad): I guess we can do a quick one outside.

Me (Marv): (Grinning but acting serious) Do you want us to act like we're closing so you can get your story???

You should have seen the bastards face then!!!  LOL.  Needless to say, they went outside for a hurried interview and the "good news" article never made the evening news.

OK--a few hours later--I'm talking to a Bad News Woman.

Me: have you been to any dealerships that are closing.

Big Fat-Assed Bad News Woman (Visibly Depressed): No--but we have several crews out there and a couple of them have gotten "lucky."

Me: Well, I hope you get "lucky" and find a dealership that's closing.  While you're at it, maybe you'll get "lucky" and find a baby that's killed in a fire or something.

BFABNW: I didn't mean it that way.

Me: Naw--it's alright.  It's good that you are doing this because you will be going through this in a couple of years when the three news stations merge or close down because people can get news faster and better through the internet.

You should have seen the look on the fat bastard's face!

OK--the day is almost over.  In pops a young dude with a camera.  I can't help myself at this point.

Me: Are you here to do an article about the great news?  You know--the new camera that the astronauts are putting in the Hubble Space Telescope?  It will increase its power by ninety times and allow us to see deeper into the universe!

Him: Yes I am! (He laughs)  No, actually I'm here to report the great news that you guys are staying open.

Bless his heart!

Well, there are still going to be more cuts and I hope we don't get chopped.  I feel I have some basic skills and that I can sell cars anywhere but I like where I am.  I have 6-years worth of customers there, the managers have faith in me and leave me alone, it's close to home and I work with some good friends and for an honest dealer.  My heart goes out to all of you who have gotten the bad news--I wish I had some words of encouragement but this is all I have.  You are skilled at what you do and can sell cars anywhere.  Good luck.

CSA 7 On Sale for the Month of May Save $10

I know it's slow out there (I still sell cars!) so I am running a sale during the month of may. CSA 7 is now on sale for $69.99 per copy (normally $79.99).  Also, CSA-Pro (the dealership version) is on sale for $850 per copy instead of the normal $999.

To purchase, visit my store.

Marv

A Script I Created to Generate Referrals!

OK--you're making your follow-up calls to a sold customer (say six-months after purchasing) and you are unsure what to say.

Here's a great script that I came up with the other day that will generate family referrals for you and maybe even some sales.

You: Hi, Jim.  This is Marv at ABC Motors--I sold you your Mustang a few months ago and I just wanted to check in with you to see how everything is going.  How's the car running?

Customer: It's running fine.

You: Great!  You know what?  I've never asked you--what other cars do you guys have in your household?

Customer: We have a 2005 Ranger and a 2003 Lincoln.

You: OK--the reason I'm asking--my used car manager told us in a meeting that he is looking for some great used cars.  He's selling so many--he's running out and he even said he will give top dollar for them.  Are you thinking about trading any of those in?

Customer: My wife's been thinking about trading the Lincoln for something newer.  How much will he give for it?

You: I don't know--I'd have to get it looked-at by my manager.  (Change the subject.)  What is your wife thinking about getting--another car or maybe a SUV this time around?

(Investigate a little and then go for the appointment.)

You: Tell you what, Jim--lets get together so I can get my manager to look at the car and so we can get your wife to look at the newer models.  What would be better for you guys--this afternoon or maybe this evening?

Customer: How about this evening...

You get the picture.

OK--what if the customer says the wife wants a car but a few months down the road?  Simple--put them into Car Sales Assistant 7 and have the program create a pop-up reminder to call them a few months later.

This script, I am discovering, works very well and it isn't a real high-pressure script.  Either the customer is going to tell you that they are in the market for a car or they aren't.  Either way, keep track of what they are driving so you can try it again six months later.

You: Jim--remember when I called you a few months ago when my used car manager was looking for cars?  Well--he told us this morning that he is looking for used Lincolns and I remembered that you had one.  Have you guys been thinking about trading it in?

Hopefully you get the picture!

Thanks for reading this blog.  I know it is getting tough out there--especially for you Chrysler Dodge Jeep salespeople and us GM people.  It is time to become professional and sell all you can. People are still buying cars--even from companies that have gone B.K. and those about-to. Follow-up on everyone, follow the steps of the sale, don't give up when closing your customer, realize that "I want to think about it" is an excuse hiding a true objection and most importantly, use my software!  LOL.

Marv

www.carsalesassistant.com

Minor Update to CSA 7 Online

Hi, Everyone--I just uploaded CSA7 Version 2.0.1 to www.carsalesassistant.com now.  It fixed a small bug with widgets being in front of windows.

If you have already installed CSA7 and are not using version 2.0.1 then download the patch here. Make sure you do a fresh reboot of your computer before installing.

Haven't downloaded CSA7 yet?  If you are using Vista or XP Media edition (or if you know you have .Net 2.0 or higher) then use this link.  Otherwise (XP, ME, 98, etc.) then use this link.

New Update for CSA 7 Online

Hi, everyone!

I'm very pleased to announce that the new update for CSA 7 is up and running.  It includes a number of widgets such as a "To-Do List", a better appointment calendar, a car-anniversary widget, leases expiring in 7 days or less, birthdays today, etc.

If you are using anything but version 2.0.0 (on your main screen) with a build date of 4/26/09 then download it here.

Note that if you are using an earlier version of CSA (like CSA 2008, 2007, 4.0, etc.) then you will need to download and install the full program, not the patch, to use it.  Visit my website to do-so.

If you have any problems whatsoever, please let me know.