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!

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!

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

CSA 2008 Update is Up and Running!

Hi, Everyone. I just uploaded the new build to CSA 2008. Here are some of the new features.

• Email support! You can now email individual customers by clicking on their email address or send mass emails to all of your customers, or any customers that you search-for. For example, if you want to send an email to every customer who bought a "Cobalt" for example, do a search first and then email them all messages.
• Support to import from CSA 3.0, CSA 4.0 and CSA 2007. All you do is browse to your CSA files and click import and you will be all set.
• I changed LOG A CUSTOMER to LOG AN "UP". Also, there is now a search screen that pops up so you can see if you already have the customer in your master record. A lot easier to use now.
• You know the MONTHLY PROGRESS thing on the left hand of the main screen? It, by default, shows your month-to-date in sales but you can change it to any 2 dates now such as 1/1/08 to 12/31/08 to show your year to date if you prefer. I had a dealership that purchased my software that had weird months so I did it for them and thought it would be a great feature for everyone else.
  
• Added new tutorials.

Download the newest version here. Also, if you already have CSA 2008, you can update by following the instructions on these tutorials.

If you find any problems with any of it, please contact me via my website www.carsalesassistant.com

Thanks,
Marv

Effective Follow Up Techniques

I would venture the say that good follow up techniques will make or break a salesperson. Quite frankly, you can do a terrible job at it and still get some repeat and referral business but you can do a fantastic job at it and sell a ton of cars.

Here are some observations and techniques that I have garnered on the subject of follow up.

There are many ways to follow up with customers but I will focus on the most important--those being the phone, email and mail. If I were to order those three in order of importance, here is how I would do it.

1) Email: Everybody reads their email now a days--especially if they are from someone they know and if they don't have attachments on them.

2) Phone: In my opinion, a phone call is only good if you get a chance to talk to your customer. Quite frankly, I never answer my phone unless I'm expecting a call--I hate speaking on the phone. I will, though, always read my email.

3) Mail: People get bombarded with mail--I get about 2-10 pieces of "junk mail" a day and mostly throw it in the garbage BUT I have hooked up time and time again (like 0% on a credit card, etc.) I have learned that mail sent in a business sized envelope is pretty much never read but if you send postcards, your response rate will be a million times higher. Post cards are easy to read and don't involve opening an envelope, etc.

OK--my follow up system.

Day 0: When someone buys a card, they get a post card from me thanking them for their business. I send that immediately and it is colorful, etc.

Day 1: I call them to thank them and to see if they have any questions about their car. I let them know that they will be getting some "stuff" in the mail about their car and to make sure they read it.

Day 7: I send them a letter telling them more about the dealership--who to see for service, who to call with questions about their paperwork, our hours, etc.

Day 14: I send them a letter telling them about the CSI survey they are going to get.

Day 20: I call them and ask if they got the survey. I ask them to make sure they put "completely satisfied" and to make sure they send it in.

Day 28: I send them one last letter with a couple of business cards in it asking them for referrals.

I also send out a post card or newsletter once every month, or so, with special deals, recipes, etc.

By the way, all of this can be scheduled and done in an easy way with my Car Sales Assistant 2008 software package.

OK--other follow up in detail.

Emails: Always have a good subject line that will relate to them personally or their vehicle. This will improve the chance of them reading your email.

Do not have attachments. Most people hate attachments--they are so informal and can sometimes contain viruses.

Mail: once again, post cards are the most effective. Use a color printer and have something colorful but straight to the point. Use my software to print return addresses and customer addresses on the other side.

If you need to send a letter, use an envelope that is a weird size or shape so it doesn't look like credit card junk mail. Hand write the customer address--do not use labels.

Phone: If you leave a message, send your customer a letter with a business card telling them that it was you who left the message (especially if it was an orphan owner.) People easily delete answering machine messages and may remember you if you send a letter and a business card. How many messages have you heard on your machine? Jim--this is Joe Blow from XYZ cell phone service (delete)... "Uh--Martha--who was that cell phone guy who left that message?"

If you leave a message, have it be something like this. "Jim--I have some great news! Call me as soon as you get this."

Well, home at lunch--have to get back to work. So--enough for this afternoon. Good luck using these techniques!

Car Sales Assistant 2008 Status

I just wanted to give you all a quick update on Car Sales Assistant 2008. I had a sick day today (bad sore throat and cough--hard to sell cars if you can't talk...) and got a lot done today.

There is a good chance that CSA 2008 will be done by the end of the month--definitely by the end of the year but who knows...probably sooner.

Here is a cool thing I added today--automated follow up letters after you create a customer or prospect. The program can now send letters if you get a phone up and they don't show up (of course, you'll have to have their address...) for example: Dear John, thanks for talking to me on the phone. I look forward to meeting you in person. Please call me at 555-5555 if you need to reschedule. This is an example of a phone up letter for someone who hasn't shown-up yet. If they do show up, the program is smart enough not to print the letter.

Here is another example: letters to unsold prospects. Thanks for stopping by... If they come back a buy, you don't want to send any more prospect letters to them--the program automatically deletes those letters that don't qualify anymore.

Or best yet--lets say you lease someone a car and generate a letter to hit 30 days before they are scheduled to turn in their lease. If they come in and buy before then, all you have to do is un-check "Vehicle Currently Owned" in their screen and the letter will not be generated.

Hope all of this makes sense--I'm hopped up on cold medicine and I do tend to type pretty fast.

The biggest change to csa 2008 from earlier versions are the fact that prospects and customers now share the same record--I get emails all the time... How do I convert a prospect into a customer? Now, all you do is check the SOLD button and they are now a sold customer. I'll admit--I made some bad decisions in earlier versions...

Please check back on www.carsalesassistant.com from time to time for further updates.

Future Products from CarSalesAssistant.com

A lot of people have been asking me about new versions of Car Sales Assistant. I'm very happy to announce that I am in fact working on a couple of new projects including a totally new version of CSA. It is being programmed 100% from the ground up and is taking advantage of Microsoft's new .NET platform which probably means more to me on a programming side than you on a user side.

Here is an early screenshot of the new CSA--I don't have a name for it yet but have been calling it CSA 2008 while programming it. Keep in mind that the final product will look a little different but this is very close.

On the upper left hand of the screen are QUICK LINKS such as Sales this Month, Sales Last Month, Hot Prospects, etc. It will show you the number of people who fit that criteria and you simply click the number to see the lists.

In the middle left, you can see a running total of your current month--money made, averages, etc.

On the bottom left is a QUICK SEARCH box--great if you see a car pull up--you remember selling the car but can't remember the customer's name--type the model and color in the box, click search and see who it is. I'm 40 years old and my memory isn't what it used to be so this works great for me!

If you have used previous versions of CSA, you'll remember that there were separate databases for sold customers and unsold prospects. Now they are both contained in the same database and simply checking SOLD determines if it is a customer or an unsold prospect.

Also, in earlier versions, keeping stats involved you typing in how many ups you had on any given day, demos, closing situations, sold, etc. Now those stats will be taken directly from the customer database to keep you from typing more.

Remember earlier versions of CSA? If you had the same customer buy multiple cars, you had to re-type the name, address, etc. for all the new records. Now there is a master database that contains all of the people you come into contact with. Now if you sell a person car #2, all you have to do is click on the master record and if there are changes to their address, it is automatically changed for all the records. Click on the master record and you will see a list of all the cars they have bought from you, all of their family members who have bought from you, all your contact (follow up) with them as well as family members who are in the market for a car since 20% of all families have someone in their household who will buy a car within the next year.

By the way--the picture is one of my daughter (the picture within the picture) who is now 5 and my 3 month old son--I was just amazed how much alike they looked when they were born so I snapped the picture of my son next to the picture of my daughter.

Back to my software...

I will be working on a dealership version of CSA 2008 that will have manager reports, orphan owners, csi tracking, etc.

We are also working on online versions of our software that will allow you to work with your data from any internet browser including the I-Phone, etc. We will charge a small monthly charge for the online versions instead of the one-time-fee of the ones that you install to your computer.

Please feel free to contact me at any time with any suggestions of things you would like to see in my next version--it's never too late to add things!