Pretend I just walked into your office.  We had an appointment to sit down and discuss your training needs, and the possibility of you hiring me to teach your sales staff how to close more sales and make more money.  If we had a conversation like the one that follows would you hire me? (I’ll skip the beginning and cut right to the fun part) You: There are lots of trainers out there, what makes you the right choice?  What’s different about your system? Me: Great question, I’m glad you asked.  There are 3 keys to my sales system that make it super powerful… (silence) You: Um, what are they? Me: Whoa, slow down.  First you have to pay me.  Let’s say $20,000/month to start. You: That seems a little steep, what am I getting for that? Me: Alright, the first key to my system is to have your salespeople open the conversation the correct way.  If the first words out of their mouth when they greet a customer are an...

Wait, what? Goat testicles? Yes you read that correctly, and no, it’s not just a lame attempt to grab your attention and then pull the old bait and switch on you…  So what am I talking about?  Well first let me give you the short version of the John Brinkley story and then I will explain how it applies to the car business. In 1918 “Dr.” John Brinkley (after years of selling patent medications and various other quackery) opened a clinic in Milford, Kansas where he began performing a procedure promising to restore virility and cure the “sexually weak”.  As you no doubt have guessed based on the title of this post, the procedure involved transplanting the goat glands into the patient.  Now you may not be shocked to learn that there were often complications with the procedure.  He had next to no actual credentials as a doctor, often performed the operations while intoxicated and paid less attention to contamination and...

Before we start let me ask you a question.  When was the last time you purchased (or wanted to purchase) a decently expensive product that you didn't know a ton about?   What was the research process you went through?   How was your experience?  How much good information did you find and how much crap was out there?  How did you know the difference?   I went through this last year when I was looking for a new computer, and I'm just starting the process again looking for a surround sound system.    When you start looking online for information on electronics you sure get a lot of keyword stuffed robo-spun content, fake review sites, and other spammy looking crap don't you...  Then you get a bunch of stuff that might look professional but it's only talking about prices, so you know they're just trying to sell their product and you still need information so you ignore those.  But when you find a source...

You do want more customers don’t you? Well typically when we think of getting more customers we think of advertising.  So what is advertising? Before you read on, take a minute to come up with an answer.  What is your definition of advertising?  Does it involve branding, or getting your name out there? Really take the time to come up with something, it’s important.  But don’t beat yourself up over it if you struggle.  It took years of searching for a man who is now known as the father of modern advertising Albert Lasker to finally find a suitable definition for advertising. In 1904 Lasker met with a former Canadian Mounted Police officer named John E. Kennedy who was finally able to give him the definition he had been searching for, which was surprisingly only 3 words… “Salesmanship in print” Now over time with the changing technology the definition has been modified to the more appropriate “Salesmanshi...

Authors Note: Attention DrivingSales members, you are about to benefit from a presentation I recently saw that suggests the key to success is to create as much value as possible without expectation of anything in return. I take that to mean I should give away my best ideas for free, so here you go. The post that follows is going to lay out some key points for using direct mail that (if you put them into use) will put money in your account almost immediately. (And keep putting money in your account as long as you’d like…)   “I’d like to get a vending machine that sells vending machines… It’d have to be real f***in’ big.” -Mitch Hedberg   So what do I mean when I say we’re going to build a floor traffic vending machine? Well it’s simple really, when you go to get a bag of chips from a vending machine you put your money in, push the button and the chips come out. It’s predictable and reliable and ...

If you aren’t familiar with the T.V. show Kitchen Nightmares I’ll give you a brief rundown… Basically, owners of soon to be failed restaurants call in Super-chef Gordon Ramsey to spend a week helping turn things around and restore the business to profitability.  Week in and week out the show follows the same format…  First the owner tells their story, and provides the details of how bad things have gotten.  Then Chef Ramsey shows up, looks around, orders a few items off of the menu, meets the owners/staff and inspects the kitchen.  By the end of the show (and lots of fireworks) Ramsey has given the restaurant a “makeover”, a new menu and a dining room full of satisfied customers before he rides off into the sunset.   So what does this have to do with the car business?   Well, the most frustrating thing about the show (which I am admittedly addicted to) is that within seconds of showing the owner complaining...

(I apologize in advance for the rant that is about to take place…) All of the discussion around the commercials that air during the biggest football game of the year is enough to make me wish I could turn into the Hulk and start smashing everything in sight.  Which one was the best?  Who missed the mark?  Are they just playing it safe?  Are they as creative as they used to be?  Is the insane cost of them worth it?  Grrr… I HATE YOU SUPER BOWL ADS, I HATE YOU SO MUCH! Now don’t get me wrong, I like to laugh and be entertained as much as the next guy.  (Probably more) So I am certainly not suggesting that if you are entertained by these commercials that you are an idiot.  I appreciate the creativity and the humor too.   My hatred stems from the idea that the buzz they generate is good marketing.  As Kevin O’Leary is fond of saying on the Shark Tank (and the Dragons Den) “I mourn the good mone...

Does this sound familiar? Boss: “Okay, so we have to generate some floor traffic, let’s advertise a big sale…” Lackey: “Good idea boss, but how are we going to make it work?  When we did that last week we didn’t get much traffic.”  Boss: “That’s because the guys down the street had a big sale last week.” Lackey: “I think they have one this week too…” Boss: “But this week we’ll use louder voices in our radio spots, and bigger starbursts in the newspaper…” Lackey: “What if they put balloons on the cars?” Boss: “We’ll use MORE balloons, BIGGER balloons!  Nothing says “good place to buy a car” like grown men putting bunches of balloons everywhere…”   Okay, so I may have let my personal hatred of balloons get the better of me there at the end, but you get the idea.  Now I’m guessing that t...

“Hey listen, my business is built on referrals so if you ever know anyone who might ever drive a car…” -Weak-assed salesperson     Is this little “script” a part of your sales or delivery process?  C’mon, be honest…  To be fair, “weak-assed” might be a little harsh, but saying something like that is the referral getting equivalent of “if you ever need anything feel free to call me…”  It’s putting the ball in the other person’s court so you feel like you’ve done something and haven’t risked rejection. Why do we do this? It’s because we are looking at referrals the wrong way. Think about it, do you see someone sending you a referral as them doing a favor for you?  If so, it would explain why someone would be a little weak or embarrassed about asking for a referral wouldn’t it? But let me ask you this, have you ever recommended ...

Not a day goes by where I don't see (or hear) a lot of discussion about the effectiveness of different advertising methods.   Which websites are the best for delivering traffic?   Do I need to be on Auto Trader, Craigslist or Kijiji?   Does radio still work?   Am I optimized for mobile searches?   Am I using QR codes effectively?   Does anyone read the newspaper anymore?   What the hell is a QR code again?   And so on...   While this debate carries on, many dealers jump from bandwagon to bandwagon, trying to be on the “cutting edge”, afraid to miss out on the next big thing... After all, you don't want to be left in the dark ages while your competition gobbles up your market share do you? Of course not, that's a scary thought. (Which is why the nice person selling the advertising to you doesn't forget to ask the question...)   So, we are going to answer a question...

Listen, it’s no secret that as a whole our attention spans are shrinking at an alarming rate, right?  I mean hasn’t technology and an instant gratification mindset created a world full of monsters?  I know I’ve lost a customer’s attention to their cell phone on more than one occasion. Maybe that’s true, maybe humans are doomed to devolve into twitching, slobbering monkeys permanently attached to remote controls, cell phones, and 3D glasses… That is certainly a possibility. On the other hand, maybe you’re just boring… Okay, so shock value aside, really think about it for a second.  In your experience, have you ever been so interested in a book, or a conversation (or a video game or something) and completely lost track of time?  Of course you have, time flies when you’re having fun right?  Because you’re focused on it. So, do you think it would benefit your marketing if you could put a ...

Would you say I was crazy if I told you you should have an infinite marketing budget?   Well in all fairness, I might be a little crazy but don’t get out the straightjacket yet.   Anyways, instead of questioning my sanity, why not ask yourself a question… “What kind of advertising could I do where it would make sense to spend as much money as I possibly could?”   I’ll give you a hint, it’s the type of advertising where you know that for every dollar you spend you get X dollars in sales coming in.   No, it doesn’t involve telling the customer how long you’ve been in business or how trustworthy your staff is.   Nope, it doesn’t have anything to do with co-op money from the manufacturer, try again…   Give up?   The two magic words for advertising your business are... Direct Response.   I'm sure most of you have heard of direct response advertising,...

Do you consider yourself a stereotypical “left over from the 70’s greasy car salesman”? You don’t do you? Do you identify with that stereotype at all? Probably not, although you may work with a guy... If you have only recently started in the business, there is a chance that when you told your friends and family you were starting in the car business that they didn’t immediately picture this character and question (or tease) you about it... Ok, so it’s only a very slim chance but still... can you blame them?  It’s a VERY powerful image that has been associated with our industry for longer than lots of us have been alive.  And although it’s taking a while, we are slowly recreating our image from “greasy car salesman” to “professional sales consultant.”  (In fact I think it’s worth mentioning that when I did a search for “greasy used car salesman” on a stock photo websi...

Yes, I used the word incest, but don't worry... I'm not going to make any mention of any specific parts of the world you may live in, or the likelihood of your neighborhood being wiped out by a tornado.   This isn't a comedy blog, and I'm not "Larry the Cable Guy"... However, I would like to discuss something just as annoying.   Auto industry advertising.   You know what I'm talking about, open the newspaper or listen to the radio...  Really?  The lowest prices EVER?  This weekend only?  Never going to happen again?  You can tell a dealership advertisement in less than a second can't you?  Of course you can, they all look and sound exactly the same.  But why is that?  Listen, it’s no secret that advertisers copy each other’s ideas on a pretty regular basis.  I can’t remember ever hearing a marketing guru speak that didn’t recom...