Car Sales Assistant 7

CSA 7 is going along very well--I'm getting some good, positive response from it!

I will have an update up tonight that will allow previous users to import their data (from CSA 3, 4, 2007 and 2008)--I am also working on a module to import from CSV (excel) files.

I'll keep you posted.

Marv

A Cool Thing I Started Doing

Hi, everyone!

By the way, the newest version of Car Sales Assistant has been released.  I'm calling it Car Sales Assistant 7 since it is the 7th version of the program.  You can check it out at my website carsalesassistant.com.

This article is not about it, though.  It is about something very cool that I, and one other salesperson, have started doing.

We each bought a digital photo frame that we keep on our desk.  Everytime we sell a car now, we get a picture of the customers in front of the vehicle.  What do people always do when you take their picture?  Besides saying "cheese," they smile.  So--you get a smiling picture of a customer next to their nice, new, clean car and this is what we do next.

We go to Sams Club and get a 1-page calendar made with the picture.  It costs all of $1.49.  We send one to the customer immediately (before they get their CSI survey.)  Then we call them a few days later and say, "Did you like the little gift I sent you?  I know it isn't much but I just wanted to let you know that I appreciate your business."  They are 100% of the time always happy to get it.  You know what else?  They will show it to their friends and if you prime them right, they will send their friends up to see you.  You know what else?  Can someone who looks so happy in a picture give you a bad score on your CSI?  Nope!

Back to the picture frame.  Customers always look at it to see if they know someone who bought a car from you.  Everyone in the pictures are smiling (cheese!) so subconsciously, your new customers are saying, " sure makes his/her customers happy!"

Invest the $50-$80 on a reasonable picture frame, a nice cheap digital camera (I use a Sony that is 5 years old--bought them with GM Perqs when we still had them )-: or sometimes my I-Phone) and invest the $1.49 in a calendar plus maybe $0.15 for a picture to put in your file box.  You know what else?  Import the picture into Car Sales Assistant and never forget someones name again!

Have fun everyone!

Very, very easy stuff to do and your customers will love it!

CSA 7 Screenshot and Some Features

Here is a screen shot of Car Sales Assistant 7, the newest version of our follow up CRM software for car salespeople.  Here are some things of note...

Notice all of the quick links on the upper left side of the screen.  21 in all.  Here are some of the cool new ones...

• Today's Customers:  All people that you have talked to today--whether they are internet leads, phone ups, showroom prospects or sold customers.  So--if your manager says, "What have you done today, " you can show him or her!
• Internet Leads/Phone Ups: They will show up on this list until you sell them, they show up in your showroom or you mark them as "lost."  Why is this cool?  Well, you don't want to forget about them--if you set an appointment (and that is all you should do over the phone or internet) and if they show up--you will have a 50% average closing ratio.  Get 20 to come in and sell an extra 10 cars!!!
• Expiring Leases: You can see a list of leases about to expire within X amount of days.  You can set X to whatever value you like--3-6 months is the best for me!
• Customers/Prospects to contact: If you want to call a working prospect (current prospect in the program, that is...) every 2 days then you can set the value to 2 in your settings and any prospect who doesn't get contacted within 2 days will show up on this list.  This goes the same for customers.  You can actually set different values for both customers and prospects like every 45 days for customers or every 3 for prospects.
• Family in Market: Very cool stuff--this alone will pay the price of admission!  According to Joe Verde, 30% of family members have someone who will be in the market for a car within 3 months.  What is so great about this?  Well, if you at least KNOW what the family members are driving (and CSA7 makes it very easy to track this) then you will have an opportunity to contact them and perhaps sell a car (with over a 65% closing ratio for all you math wizards!)

This Month's Progress: You can now see what your averages are for each category.

I'll be the first to admit that Car Sales Assistant 2008 is confusing.  To log a lead, you have to follow these steps...

1. Click LOG CUSTOMERS
2. Read a thing that tells you what to do. 
3. Search for a customer to see if they haven't been logged before.
4. If they have been logged, click them.  If not, click NEW ADDRESS.
5. Edit the personal data.
6. Click LOG THIS CUSTOMER.
7. Put in all of their prospect and purchase information.

CSA7 makes it easier.

1. Click NEW CUSTOMER menu and pull down to the type you want (Sold, Phone Up, Internet, Unsold Prospect)
2. Bam!  You are now on the customer screen where you can enter their data.

About 50% of the people who bought CSA2008 had questions on how it worked and I had some people say it was a "clumsy" interface, hard to understand, confusing, it sucked, etc.  I had a method for my madness but I think CSA7 will apeal to more people with its ease of use.

Notice that all the data for your customer is on the screen.  At the dealership where I work, we use an untra-expensive CRM that really sucks.  Here is what I need to do when I make a follow up call.  I have to click on the person and see what vehicle they drove.  Click on the notes to see what I talked about last time.  Exit the screen and then click on the button to make the call.

In CSA7 all of that data is on one screen so you can just click, call and watch the $$$'s roll in!

Family Members: This is a feature that I had in earlier versions of CSA (not 2008 though) that I really missed.  It is a great opportunity to sell more cars.  When you call a customer, take a survey and ask them about all the drivers in their household.  Ask what they are driving and put the info in.  If they are leasing, for God's sake--put in the date their lease expires so you can call them if they qualify for a pull ahead or when their lease expires.  Ask them who is next in line for a new or used car.  Enter a date when they will be in the market and guess what--remember the quick links?  This family member will show up on the quick link when in the market or when their lease is about to expire (or pull ahead...)  Do this for every one in your database and you will never have to catch a fresh up again.

Whoops--please note that this is a beta version and missing some of the buttons on the customer screen.

This program will be released in 2 days.  I will charge a nominal fee for previous users to upgrade to this if they like.  In the intial release, there will be no import functions but I will add them later (like from earlier versions or from spread sheets.)

Is there anything you would like to see in CSA?  If so, let me know!

Thanks so much for reading this blog.  Things are really tough right now in the car business (especially here in Michigan) but if you work hard, you can still make selling cars work for you and make tons of money in this business.  CSA7 will make it easy to work hard and accomplish your goals.

Marv

Coming Soon: Car Sales Assistant 7

I have been hard at work programming CSA 7--the newest version of car sales assistant.  It is about ready for realease.  Anyone who orders CSA 2008 between now and then will get a free upgrade.  

Screen shots coming soon!

How I got "Sold"

Hi, everyone!  Hope you are all having a good and prosperous new year!

First off, on a personal note.  A little history about myself.  As well as being a car salesperson, I am also a programmer on PC-based computers.  I program in Visual Basic 2008 in Windows and swore that I would never own a Mac. Well, what would get anyone to chunk out $1400 for a laptop when you can get a good one for half that price?  The I-Phone for one.  I have one (and love it) and want to begin to write software for it (such as an I-Phone version of Car Sales Assistant for example) and even to write a few games (I learned how to program writing games by the way.)  In order to program the I-Phone, you must own a Mac.

Last Saturday, I went to Best Buy to look at games for my XBox 360 and walked past the Macs.  I tapped on the keyboard and really liked the feel of the keys.  A young sales dude came up to me and said, "Isn't that nice?"

"Yeah," I answered trying not to look interested.  "I have an I-Phone and have been wanting to check one of these out."

"That's what got me to get a Mac," he said with great enthusiasm.  "I have this one over here. Look how it is made of aluminum and how nice the screen looks. Look at this power cord."  He pointed to a power cord that is actually magnetically attached to the computer so if someone trips over it, it doesn't fling the whole laptop crashing on the floor (what killed my last laptop by the way!)  "The screen gets brighter and fades automatically depending on your lighting conditions and some of the keyboards light up."

"Wow!  That's pretty cool," I said.  "I'm a programmer," I told him, " and would like to program the I-Phone."

"I'm not a programmer," he said, "but it is really cool how the I-Phone and the Mac work together.  You can develop your software on the Mac and run it on a simulator and then when it is ready, you can copy it to your I-Phone and put it on the App Store."

You mean I can simulate an I-Phone on a Mac?  Hook, line and sinker.

"I think I have one of these left," he said, using a sales technique unknowingly--you know which one--creating scarcity in the product to make me want it more. 

God, I hope he has one left!

He typed a few things into the computer and I saw the words, "10+ in stock."

"I have at least 10 left.  Would you like me to go get you one?"

"Uh--I'm married and would have to talk to my wife," I said using the excuse we all hear selling cars on a day-to-day basis.

He looked at me and said, "I'm here until 7:00."  Wow--he fell for my excuse!

Thank God he didn't go for the close!  I said to myself.  I would have bought the computer!  He had me--he was friendly, very enthusiastic about his product and very knowledgeable about something he didn't actively do--program an I-Phone. I got the hell out of there knowing how close I came to spending $1299 + $99 for a warranty + 6% sales tax!!!

While driving home, I had nothing but that MacBook on my mind as I lovingly held my I-Phone in my hand.  Once again, Thank God the guy didn't go for the close!  I already own about 5 computers and do not need a Mac!

OK--what is the moral of this story?  The moral of this story is to not give up after one "No."  I could have been closed by that salesperson.  I was so close to buying it that if I had a Best Buy card with 0% financing and if he would have asked overcome my "want to talk to my wife" excuse, I would have bought one.

By the way--my wife has a Best Buy card and guess what--when I got home, I convinced her to go out and buy me the MacBook--the awesome laptop that I am using to compose this blog as we speak!  I have been using computers for over 25 years and this, by far, is the best one yet.  I love the feel of the aluminum--it is a very solid computer.  I love the keys--I can fly on this keyboard.  I love the mouse touch pad on it--I can actually use 2 fingers to scroll up and down and use pinch modes to zoom in and out--just like on an I-Phone. The soul of Steve Jobs (the CEO of Apple and Pixar) is all over this computer. The asthetics of it, the fact that you don't hear a fan whirling all the time (or ever actually!), how cool it feels and runs, how awesome the operating system is, etc. God--if only he ran GM!

You know what else? There is a program called I-Photo--I imported about 500 pictures into it and my boss (who has the same MacBook) told me about a facial recognition system built into it. You pick a picture and it draws a box around the faces and asks for names. I did my son Alex. You repeat the process with another picture and click a search button and within a fraction of a second, the program shows a bunch of pictures that your son is in and guess what, it is about 95% accurate! I repeated the process with my daughter, wife, mom and myself and it is actually learning. Now when I import pictures, it knows who is in them! I could go on for hours and hours about the cool calendar that I created in I-Photo (click BUY when done and Apple creates it for you and ships it to you the next day--pretty freaking cool!) I could talk about the awesome I-Movie program (go to Apple.com and check out the tutorial on it.)

Programming on it is going slow--I am learning a new language and programming style from scratch but I promise--there will be cool programs for car salespeople soon.  There won't be the full blown Car Sales Assistant (that is a lot of info for a cell phone screen) but there might be one where you keep track of prospects and appointments on the I-Phone.  I also plan on converting a few games that I have written over the years.

The moral of this story? I walked into Best Buy and on a whim spent $1400 of my wife's credit because a salesperson (even though he didn't close me on the spot) did a fantastic job with me.  You can do the same selling cars. I love this computer and I love what I can do with it. I hope to make a million dollars writing games for the I-Phone but if I don't, I will not regret the purchase.

Marv

New Years Resolutions

First of all, hats off to "Sully" Sullenberger--the guy who landed the plane into the Hudson River and saved over 100 lives. Wow--what a hero. Someone needs to buy that guy a trip to the International Space Station, or something!

OK--it's that time of the year. I work with a guy who gets on the Adkins diet every January, another who quits smoking, about 6 who say they will work harder to sell more cars, etc. They all get broken by the way.

So, why even try? Well--if you try to follow a New Years Resolution for even 1 week, you are doing better than not doing it at all.

For example: I set a New Years Resolution to not create objections. What do I mean by that? I had a customer come up on Saturday. We had just gotten 6 inches of snow and the lot was in a shambles. They wanted to drive a red Malibu--her favorite color. "Red is just so pretty!" Now--things don't always happen like this but the only car I could get out of the snow for her was a silver one and as a matter of fact, I didn't even have a red one on the lot. She drove the silver one, loved it and bought it on the spot.

How does this have to do with creating objections? Well, if I would have told her that I didn't have a red one instead of just pulling out the silver one, she probably would have objected. "But I really want red!"

Just a quick one for today. It is eleven below zero today (and that's not even counting the windchill yet!!!) We are expecting another 5" of snow today--my desk at work is in a nice, sunny spot. I just got over the Flu--I think I'm just gonna get a tan today! ;-)

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!