Am I your car guy?

It has been about a month since I posted a blog. My last few have not been all that positive. I sell cars and it is very important to come to work with a positive attitude. Times seem to be tough right now. Stores are low on inventory and customers are few and far between. It is time to turn these negatives into positives. I will try to keep it short because I can go on all day about this subject.

Customers and their methods of shopping seem to be evolving so much faster then the local dealership. The product is out there the marketing is in place yet people are not flying into the dealership. When they do come in are we ready to make the best of it? I read the blogs. I hear the pitches. I even made my own page on facebook.  I looked at my friends list the other day and noticed that most of them are other people in the business like me.

I am on the sales floor everyday. I see the customers and talk to them.  Many of them are looking for one thing. That one thing is a salesperson. If you work at a dealer look at your top guy. He has a following and referrals. His customers are using the service department. The top guy is known around town people want to deal with him because their friends and family do.  Does your store have that guy? Do these guys still exist?

My dealership is lucky we have quite a few guys who have been in the business and same store for more then ten years. They have followings. I see my store and others trying different ways to get customers in the door. In the end the salesman is the face of your dealership. All the time money and effort is out the window if the customer can’t find a salesperson.

How about taking one of your guys and creating a brand out of him? The competition has the same product at the same price. What separates you from everyone else? Maybe you have the top guy in the County or even the state. The store down the street does not. As a salesman I try to do this myself. I work hard to get my name out there.  I go to many different car shows. I have entered cars from my dealership. The guys who go to the different shows all know me now and guess who they come to see? This is one of many examples of prospecting that I do.

My name is in front of my sold customers once every quarter. I can’t wait for the dealership to do it because I like my house and my four kids like to eat. These are tough times for sure. This is when the top guy always shines. I see the value in a good salesperson and so should the dealerships because the stock is rising for the good sales pros out there! I cannot wait to teach some of these methods to the young guys who want to hustle.

Good Salesman: Grow Sales, Cut Costs,Bring better CSI and their customers use your service!  Does your store have Top Sales people?

If you sell cars you and have any talent you probably have one of the most secure jobs in the dealership.  So you want to sell cars?

The salesman works a couple of twelve hour shifts a week and every Saturday and if he does not sell enough cars he owes the dealership money.

The Salesman takes on all jobs in the dealership that have come available since they cut back and fired everyone who drew a salary all for free.

The Salesman gets blamed for not setting up the back end when the business manager does not sell anything.

The Salesman travels to the customers house or place of business to get the signature someone forgot.

The Salesman drives to a dealer 50 miles away for a dealer trade.

The Salesman does not get paid until everyone else does.

The Salesman learns most of the policies of a dealership after the fact.
The Salesman is the face of the dealership and the manufacturer. A manufacturer spends millions of dollars on ad campaigns. The dealership spends thousands of dollars on local ads in the newspaper and online. The Salesman is the first impression the customer encounters. Why are salesman untrained? The typical training at a dealership is handing them a bunch of brochures and have them try to remember the horse power and torque ratings of every car. Thrown to the wolves! It is what happened to the manager that is trying to train them. They can hire a company to teach salesman how to act like a baby boomer to sell to generation X.

Now the GM salesman has to deal with the sixty day guarantee.

Here is a scenario:

The Salesman stays late and comes in on his day off to sell twenty cars to make his bonus. Two months later someone brings his car back.

The salesman is now charged back for his bonus and the commission hopefully not in one check. Since there is no support left at the dealership the salesman will have to re make the deal jacket tag the keys and return the car back to stock before he can take another up.

Management want Salesman to dress like a professional.

To top things off the salesman is 100% commission and is asked to work 12 hour shifts and their duties are expanded to do everything the salaried workers used to do before they were laid off to save money? I can’t believe people are surprised the salesman don’t dress so well. How may bankers have to jump start a car and walk around in the elements all day? If a dealership wants their salesman to dress like professionals maybe they should be treated that way or at the very least paid like one. I want everyone to think real hard and tell me the last time the pay plan at your local dealership was changed in favor of the salesman?

When all is said and done the salesman survives all and is the last one standing.  Like a cockroach after a nuclear war.

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