There are three rules when it comes to properly A/B testing the various components of your website and the tools that drive it. We use them and we know there are a handful of other vendors who use them as well, but you don't have to be a vendor to take advantage of them. Dealers can do this type of testing as well.

This should not be confused with multi-variant testing, a technique often used in PPC and landing page optimiztion that gives multiple variations of a page to see which converts best. With component A/B testing, you're looking for micro-improvements rather than finalist selection.

Here are the rules for basic A/B testing. There are others, but if you make sure to follow these, you'll have the best chance of success:

1. Make One Change at a Time

One of the most common mistakes made to both widgets and entire web pages is the concept that "it doesn't work, so let's change it." With that perspective, it's appealing to make several changes. This is the wrong approach.

You can learn a lot more about pages and widgets by testing one change at a time. If you know that a page is not converting and your hypothesis is that there are potentially three things wrong with the page, don't change all three. If you do and the results improve, you won't know which change made the most difference. Even worse, one of the changes could be very positive but one or two of the others could be negative, so you might have a winning change you could apply elsewhere that you ignore because the other two changes confused the numbers.

2. Collect Enough Data

It's easy to get impatient. Proper A/B tests take time. You have to make sure you have a complete set of data before making any decisions.

Unfortunately, it's challenging to know when you have enough data. In our own data analysis model, we collect data for years. We make some changes after a short period of time, perhaps a couple of months worth of data, while other changes could take a longer period to get a good data set.

If you're testing widget placement, for example, you might see immediate results improve just by moving it from the bottom to the top of the page. Don't jump just because the data looks good anecdotally. Let it work its way through and continue to test for at least a month or two, depending on the volume of traffic that gets to see the widget.

3. Never Stop Testing

This is the key to long-term success. You should have tests running on most components of your digital marketing at all times. In our world, a little plus a little plus a little can equal a lot. We always test because that's what it takes to improve our product. You should do the same.

It may seem tedious, but the results can be tremendous. For example, we've seen dealers test their pricing model to see whether round number prices ($24,888) work better than odd prices ($24, 827). You can test different variations of wording on contact forms. You can test whether it's better to say "hi" or "hello" in chat (yes, that's something that we've done and the results were pretty awesome).

The image above is a sampling of our chat operator images. We've seen a clear difference in lead conversion based strictly on the faces used in the chat console. Can you guess which of these was the best (by 7.94%) and which was the worst?

Take a guess and comment below.

Selling comes naturally for many of us in the car business...

In most conversations, people in the automotive industry have a tendency to turn the conversation with the techniques we've been taught - building rapport, qualifying, leading the conversation, listening for hot buttons, etc.

On website chat, there's a slightly different mentality required to make it work. Unlike phone and face-to-face conversations, it's more challenging to utilize our natural and trained skills to lead people towards the goal. We have to, in many ways, earn the right to ask for the lead. This is contrary to some philosophies that attempt to go straight for the lead information on chat, but it's better to talk them through it rather than force the issue.

There are two common scenarios that we see on chat today. First, there are those who answer the chat and reply to any question with a request for contact information. Even if they ask something simple like, "what time do you close," the response is always, "I'm not sure but I'll check on that and contact you. May I have your phone number and email address, please?"

The second growing phenomenon is the "lead gate". In this scenario, requests for chat are prompted with a form getting all of their information up front. If they want to ask a simple question, they have to fill out a lead form just to be able to get through to people. It's like calling the dealership and having the receptionist answer by saying, "Thank you for calling Sterns BMW. May I have your name, phone number, and email address, please?"

On the surface, it can seem like a good idea to ask for the information up front. If they're serious, they'll leave the information, right? Wrong. Just because people aren't wanting to leave their information for the dealership doesn't mean they're not serious about buying a car. In fact, many people prefer chat because it's less risky to them. They aren't having to talk to a salesperson on the phone and they don't have to wait for a reply via email.

The wonderful part about chat is that we've seen thousands of instances over the years where a person is a bit standoffish from the start, but after being helpful and answering their questions quickly and informatively, they are willing later in the chat to give their contact information to the chat operator.

Earning a lead on chat means that you're starting off by meeting their needs so that they're more willing to meet your needs. That's the give and take that makes top dealerships the most successful.

There is a ton of hype in our industry when it comes to lead conversion. Everyone seems to have the magic formula, but that formula seems different depending on who you're talking to at the moment. Are there really that many magic formulas when it comes to generating leads or do the majority of vendors act on gut feeling?

It's a question that you need to ask your vendors. Ask all of them. If they're generating leads in some way for you, whether it's through website wonder widgets or inventory secret formulas. I'm not saying all of this to call people out. It simply comes down to numbers, really. Numbers mean math. Math means science.

One of the most compelling reason that I came to CarChat24 in the first place was because I was a believer in the product when I was on the dealer side. It made sense to me, the way they tested, retested, and reretested everything. There is science behind all aspects from the images of the chat operators used to compel people to chat all the way down to whether it's better to start a conversation with "hi" or "hello".

Get feelings can lie. Not all of them, but there have been many situations where the component of lead generating that we thought would perform the best turned out to be the worst of the bunch. That's fine by us. We're not interested in being right with our guesses. We want to be right with the products we deliver.

The point I'm trying to make is this: with all of your vendors, get an understanding of the science behind their methodology. Do orange buttons on the right work better than blue buttons on the left? Have they tested every variation? Should you lead image on inventory have a branded overlay? Should all of your images have branded overlays? Should texting be an option above phone number and contact form or do you dismiss having customers text you altogther? Are big buttons on your mobile site preferable because they are easier for small screens, or do they make the scrolling harder?

There are a million questions you can ask a vendor. Guess what? They probably have all of the answers, depending on who you're asking. The most important question to ask them is how they know. Are they testing it? Are they applying science or gut feeling?

There is a psychology that goes into everything that has to do with lead generation, but even psychology fails sometimes. Best practices, benchmarks, and secret formulas are only as effective as the testing behind them.

Check on your vendors from time to time to see if they're improving their products for you. Find out if they're testing or if they've found something that sells easily and they don't want to mess with it. I know it might sound accusatory for me to be suggesting all of these things, but I've seen the results of the alternative. More importantly, I've seen the results that come from this constant adherance to testing, testing, and more testing. It works.

Website chat is viewed by many dealers to be an alternative method of communication, as it should be. There are some who view it as a lead generation tool and they can look at numbers to show that they're getting more leads, but to truly test their results that must take a closer look.

Properly positioned and managed chat on dealer websites can definitely be great for getting more leads. However, there are passive services out there, the ones that are pretty much contact forms with different branding, that are not generating more leads. They're simply capturing the leads from people who would have used a different method of contact whether there was chat on the website or not.

As we detailed on a post we titled, "A Great Automotive Chat Solution Will Increase Leads", one of the primary goals of website chat should be to give more of your website visitors a reason to make contact with you and become a lead as a result.

Reports from any chat provider will show you how many leads they're able to capture. You then have to compare that to the other lead-generating tools on your website. Are you getting more leads or are you simply replacing leads from other sources with chat leads? If your total number of leads is not going up, as is the case so often when we're talking to potential customers, then your chat is not positioned properly.

Analyze all of your reports together. Don't simply take what your chat provider shows in their report and assume that things are going well. What you may find is that your chat leads are present but that your other lead sources from your website went down once you installed chat. The goal is to get more, not replace pre-existing ones.

One of the most disturbing trends we're seeing on dealer websites is when they use chat areas as another contact form. It's true that chat is a way to generate leads, but when collecting contact information is the primary goal, the whole point of chat is missed.

Here are some things that we have found to be true with chat that dealers should keep in mind when they determine how to position chat in their digital marketing.

1. Stop Asking for Contact Information Up Front

A few months ago I saw an analogy in a blog post that positioned this statement in the right context. To paraphrase: You wouldn't have your receptionist answer the phone by saying, "Thank you for calling, may I have your name, phone number, and email address, please?"

Help first. Answer their questions and earn the right to get their contact information. When you put up a gate that requires them to give you contact information, you're pushing people who want to talk to you away. There are plenty of contact forms on your website. If they wanted to fill one out, they would have. Instead, they wanted to talk to you. The lead form gates might seem to inflate leads, but they actually decrease the quality and quantity of leads that you receive.

2. Don't let Chat be a Passive Part of Your Website

I've heard a couple of sales pitches from chat companies that talk about the way that chat cannibalizes leads if it's proactive. In other words, they're saying that your chat should be a discreet button that people have to hunt down if they want to use it. The theory is that if they really want to chat, they'll find a way to do it. No need to be proactive.

This is a con. I hate calling out competitors but here is a clear and demonstrable fact: proactive chat increases the total number of leads that your website generates while passive chat does not. With this being the case and something that is common knowledge amongst those of is in the chat industry, one might wonder why a company would promote the idea of passive chat. The answer is simple. It's more profitable for them. With managed chat services, the more chats you get, the less profits they make because they need people to operate the chat. When the total number of chats per dealership is reduced, managed chat companies make more money.

We look at things through a longer-term lens. Even though we won't make as much profit per month with proactive chat, we realize that serving your website visitors appropriately and generating more leads for the dealership will keep our clients on board for longer. Less profit per month, more profit over the life of the client. It's about aligning goals.

3. Stop Turning Chat Off

This is the biggest gap that chat fills. Most dealers do not have a receptionist manning the phones 24 hours per day. You might hear chat providers say that "serious buyers" are not online late at night or early in the morning.

This is clearly a falsehood. People are on the internet at all hours of the night and morning. Shame on the chat providers who promote this concept. As a dealer and someone who likely uses the internet, you should not fall for this.

Chat fills the gap of instant communication. Many people will call. When calling is not an option and they want answers immediately, they know that a live chat service is their best bet to get their questions answered at that moment. Don't fall for the idea that people only chat during business hours. It's simply not true.

Conclusion

Chat is an amazing part of the communication apparatus available to today's savvy car buyers. Many of them use it for various reasons to contact dealers. Having the right chat strategy is something that dealers today need to take seriously. 

You see kids doing it all the time. They're on their smartphones texting their friends, sharing information on social media, and chatting through the various chat structures available to them. It's as if they're not as interested in talking anymore!

Wait a minute. That's not just the kids. That's just about everyone. I find myself doing the same thing. If you call my cell phone and make it to voicemail, my message even encourages people to text me. For the most part, all of us have fallen into the trap of real-time text-based communication rather than slower methods like email or contact forms. We're even talking less and chatting/texting more.

This is a trend that we talked about on our company blog and it's something that could even be considered a paradigm shift in the way that businesses communicate with their customers. This is why it's such an exciting time for me andmy company to be in the chat business and it's why so many dealers are finding tremendous success with their own website chat.

It's not isolated to websites. Even on social media, they're switching to as much real-time communication as possible. Facebook is promoting their Messenger chat system to the point of making it the exclusive way for people to chat on mobile devices through the Facebook interface. The trends couldn't be any more clear.

It's surprising to me when I find a dealership that does not offer chat on their website. When I talk to them, a common reason for it is that they tried it in the past and it didn't work. Things have changed. More people are chatting. They like the real-time communication that chat provides without having to engage on the phone.

If you have "been there, done that" with chat, you may want to give it another look. Things have changed since you last had it on your site. People have changed. Habits have changed. Take advantage of these changes and explore what chat can do today compared to what it didn't do for you in the past.

Over the years, there have been many times that companies have promoted the concept that a dealer's website only needs chat during business hours. We've stayed relatively silent on the issue until now.

Here are four reasons that we believe clearly tell the story about why your chat should be manned 24-hours per day, 7-days per week. This belief helped us to achieve the status as the Driving Sales Top Rated Chat Product.

1. Forms are Failing

Most dealers are seeing a decline in form submissions relative to other forms of contact. Consumers are less likely to fill out a form today than they were just a year ago. If people are pulling away from it, why would a dealer want to replace a high-value communication format like chat with another lead form during non-business hours?

2. There's No Other Option Late at Night or Early in the Morning

Unless you have a dedicated 24-hour service that is picking up phone calls and answering questions late at night or early in the morning, chat is pretty much the only option to have live interactions with people during these down times. Some would argue that there aren't as many people inquiring about sales or service at 11pm, and they would be right, but who can really afford to miss any opportunity in this competitive growth atmosphere?

3. Some People Do Their Research During the "Quiet Time"

Shopping for a car often requires concentration without distraction. Today, more and more people are doing their important online surfing late at night or early in the morning. This is research time for more and more people and having someone there to answer questions is imperative to separating yourself from your competitors.

4. First Communicator Wins

The other day I heard a story about a woman who wanted to drop her car off for service. She started chatting at 4am with a dealership and found out when they opened and learned on the page the chat operator took her to that they had rental cars available.

When she came to pick up her car the next afternoon, she relayed the story that they were the third dealership website she had visited, but couldn't get answers at the other two via phone or chat. She drove 8 extra miles to have the peace of mind of knowing that they were going to be there for her.

We cannot assume that everyone is going to surf the website looking for hours or exploring options. Today's digital age consumer is on the go and wants answers quickly, even at four in the morning. It goes to show that having an "always on" mentality with your website can make a difference in your business. If you're not talking to your website visitors when they're ready to talk to you, they will probably try to find someone who is ready to talk on their schedule.

It’s amazing. And I’ve seen it a hundred times. They don’t realize they’re doing it but they still do it. That’s for sure. I heard a salesman with his chest puffed out (as it should be) reliving the story of a terrific job done with the happy new owner of a car. The salesman DID do a great job. These people were cold to begin with and initially he could barely get them to part with their names. They wanted a price only (no need to see a car today) to compare with the countless quotes the husband had tucked away behind his pocket protector.

They didn’t like or trust car salespeople and were happy to share this point with him. He then found a seed of common ground and built on that, getting them to open up a bit. They agreed to a test drive. He went twice as far as normal to use the time to get further related to them. He asked them things that created fantasies of what the friends and neighbors and their kids would think and how the first road trip would be in their new car. He showed them every button and everything under the hood. He physically got into the trunk and lay down to show off all the space. He created a story to put each benefit into their realm of understanding. They would now feel almost incomplete without those benefits. He sold the dealership and service department. He created a relationship.

He ignited desire and the price fell into line because they had places to go in this car! They left happy and will be his for life. He was damn proud and deserved to be. He accepted full accountability for this result. Makes sense, yes?

Two days later, he’s complaining. Very thin traffic. The people he’s been waiting on just aren’t getting excited. Morale is down. Another salesman quit today. “That’s how bad it’s getting around here.” He’s going to have a weak paycheck.

Management, inventory, advertising and the giveaway competitor up the street are all on his nerves. This man is a good salesman from a closing standpoint. He’s good. Not stellar. Good. He did a stellar job with a couple a few days ago but he’s still just good. Why? Accountability. Just a tweak and he’s great

With an accountable attitude, his thinking would be more like: “Man, I used to be weak on my prospecting and follow up but now that I’m stronger with it, it’s really going to pay off! I won’t be in this position this time next year!” And, “I’m not doing well with the customers I’m getting. I should review what happened and see where I can improve so I don’t keep losing them.” Sound corny? Maybe. It just makes you more money, that’s all.

In my mind you don’t get to take credit for victories if you don’t take credit for negative outcomes. — Jeff Sterns

I believe that if you don’t take accountability for EVERYTHING (and I mean everything), you can’t be a master at your craft. This is a craft. Sure there’s some luck in selling, but no amount of luck will get it done for you month after month, year after year.

Here’s another line to highlight: You have to make a decision now. There’s going to be a lot of making decisions “now,” along the way, while reading this book. You can’t wait until you’ve finished the book to get your career started! Plus some of the things we talk about, if you can “believe it before you see it,” will begin to work BEFORE you understand it. One of my favorite authors, Dr. Wayne Dyer, says, “You’ll see it when you believe it.” I’ve seen this proven right a thousand times. First choose your beliefs and then the evidence to support that belief will appear.

Remember, it’s now 18 years since I built that house. It took me a long time to break down and analyze what had actually occurred. Things will come together for a long time after you’ve completed this book. Understanding it completely is NOT key to it working. Starting something NOW for damn sure is!

The decision you have to make is to be accountable for everything. Wins and losses.

“The event is not important, but the response to the event is everything.” — I Ching

This is where you get to CHOOSE how you feel. Below are some ways to look more deeply at an issue. (Excellent idea to repeat verbatim where applicable. We still have to talk about the subconscious. The following alone, when faithfully used, has made tremendous differences for people.)

• “I did a great job with those people.” (“Man, no one else would have gotten that deal! They weren’t doing anything and just wanted a price. I didn’t lose hope, as it was almost impossible to get their name. I’ll use this as a reference point to remember for self encouragement if I ever lose hope during a future deal.”)
• “Traffic is thin.” (“If only I was on the “stay in touch” program a year ago that I’m on now. I’d have a steady stream of clients coming through. At least I’m already causing a good year next year.”)
• “The ones I did wait on just aren’t getting excited.” (“I need to work on my skills. Where can I improve? Why am I not impressing these people?”)
• “Morale is down.” (“I’ve fallen off listening to my motivational/training CDs on the way to work lately. I’ve been a bit weak on reading, too. I can decide to feel good now in this instant, as I am fully accountable for how I feel. Like I’m gonna put my morale in someone else’s hands? I’m going to go effect a boss and a co-worker in a positive way before I leave today.”)
• “A salesman quit today.” (“I will never ignore another new or struggling person again. I could have helped that guy. How must he have felt with the other salespeople letting him die? I’m as accountable as anyone around here for turnover. Turnover is a black eye to the whole store and hurts my image too.”)
• “Problems with management.” (“At least I have a job that will have me coming and going as I please soon enough. A manager can never hope for that! I’ve never seen a manager having a problem with an employee who was getting the job done, bringing him deals to sign with no upset customers. I guess I had better get back to being one of those favored, productive employees. What have I done to make his day?”)
• “Inventory problems.” (“Some salespeople sell whatever they have. What if I had a cart full of bananas? What would I be really good at selling? Bananas! As long as there is a car left on the asphalt and a customer, I can do something. It is what it is and it’s just something that happened. No one’s happy about it but I can take the next customer, get related and sell a new or a used vehicle or get a deposit on a non-existent car and make my boss go buy it!”)
• “Advertising isn’t very effective.” (“Well I guess I have only myself to thank for my past couple of years’ actions that have me even caring at all about the advertising. I’ll be creating my own traffic soon.”)
• “Giveaway competitor up the street.” (“Why do I let that crap into my head? The dealership up the street is really just a person at that dealership who has to do a better job than me. I don’t know of another person who can get related as I can. Sheesh! It’s not like a ‘dealership’ can wait on someone!”)

Now, the good news is that you don’t have to say this stuff out loud. It’s called self-talk. It may sound a bit corny but I’m tellin’ ya, don’t let anything out of your mouth that you don’t want to come true. It may sound a bit too easy on the house but what the heck? What’s the object here?

You need to make a decision to accept accountability for EVERYTHING as it relates to your career. I know that it works in the rest of your life too but I can best attest to how it affects salespeople. Stay out of the blackout gang (complaining co-workers). Are those other guys and gals who are standing around complaining going to get you to your specific and pointed goals?

If coworkers sit down for a visit, are you politely asking them to let you work, or are you allowing your day to be spent by them? More on that soon. What are you using your life for? Only you know what money means to you. If you love it at your store and never want to retire, that’s FINE. Are there others (known to you or not) you’d like to help out? Would you simply like to use your time more wisely? A customer who takes hours to close and turns into a deal is ALWAYS easier than one that doesn’t take long, but walks.

What if you waited on the same amount or less people but sold many more of them? This isn’t more work, it’s less! Plus, you’ll be building that many more relationships as there are very few deals without them. There is no downside and it has nothing to do with greed. Giving to charities or directly to needy families or your church or temple feels good, and it is good. I’ve given more since retiring than some salespeople earn. I like to have that ability and I like that it’s happening. If I could work the same hours and not retire, keeping all things equal but earning more to donate, it would be worth it.

Maybe a waterfront house with a boat and a convertible and the time to enjoy it sounds great to you. Maybe “things” don’t flip your switch at all. It’s not all about “stuff.” Supporting charities is a priority to my wife and I. Also, we have a special needs son who has been very expensive for over four years now.

My wife and I have been to an alternative medicine doctor in Hawaii, to Johns Hopkins in Maryland and everywhere in between talking to doctors and trying many things that insurance doesn’t cover. We even considered moving to Poland to be near a clinic for six months! Thank God for the money to pursue every avenue for my son. Like Forrest Gump said, “Money isn’t everything, but it is one less thing.”

I can assure you that the decisions and attitudes discussed above will make a tremendous difference in your income and life enjoyment. If it’s not fun, what’s the point?

Keys to Success

• Do everything on purpose.
• Make everything a choice. You never have to do anything. You get to.
• (Even when the choice is “pay taxes or go to jail.” When you choose, it affects you differently than “having to” do something.)
• Even choose how you feel.
• Take accountability for everything including your morale.
• Donate or tithe regularly. Important as any of the above.

“Ah, to come to the end of one’s life and realize one has never lived.” — Henry David Thoreau

Is life just happening to you or are you living it on purpose? Does your life and income depend upon the direction of the wind? Is it fate? Or will you pull it? You can decide what you want, add some character (doing something you committed to long after the feeling that had you originally commit wore off), follow some rules for success and start ticking off your goals as you achieve them.

When I was in my early teens, I moved to Florida with my family. I had just moved from the town I was born in and was a bit lonely, but had a few pen pals. One was a girl named Lisa, whom I grew up with. Well, I was a bit of an artist and was excited about Florida and all that it represented to me in contrast to Detroit, and drew a picture of a house I was going to live in one day. It was on stilts and the water was behind it with a boat anchored and a convertible car in the garage underneath. There were palm trees and the sun and sea gulls. I think I was trying to make her feel bad for being stuck just beneath the Arctic Circle in the Midwest and said she should move here when she grows up, as if to say, “look how great life will be.” I was too stupid to know that I was supposed to be older to do it!

We stayed in touch and nine or 10 years later when I was about 23 years old she decided to come to Florida for a few days of R&R. She was a law student needing a break. I picked her up at Tampa International Airport. We threw her bags into the trunk of my ‘67 Ford Galaxie convertible (yes, it had a 428 under the hood!). Man what a car and what a day to show off Florida to my “stuck in the north” friend! We drove over a land bridge, crossing Tampa Bay with the top down, watching the pelicans dive for fish as we sped along. We explored the beach and stopped at a waterfront restaurant for lunch. We then drove along Clearwater Bay, heading to the house to drop her stuff and get to relaxing. When we pulled up to my one-year-old house, she said, “That’s the house!” I said, “Yea, that is the house.” “No,” she said. “It’s thee house, the one in the picture.”

I had always known what I wanted as part of my picture of paradise. I never forgot. It would have been like trying to forget being hungry. I did however forget the drawing I’d sent her approximately 10 years earlier. She had it, still. We looked at it. It was the house. It was a stilt house on the water. It had the old Ford backed in underneath, along with a collectable Corvette. There was a boat out back hanging in a lift. The drawing was not the statement. It was a thing I did as a manifestation of my dream. My goal. My decision. It couldn’t not be.

Many other things happened over that decade. I noticed houses and convertibles and boats. I felt incomplete without them. They were Florida to me. I honestly never considered NOT having this life. Same as never considering whether I’ll eat today or not. It just was. It was real every time I spoke of it or doodled a picture. I got envious whenever exposed to anything close to my ideal. “I WILL HAVE THAT.” And it became real as the words went out.

Some other things happened along the way. I was not one of those workaholic schoolboys. I had a buddy who was, and he turned out fine too, owning the restaurant he worked in after school by the time we graduated high school. Soon I got faced with choices. Mow lawns or no gas. Wash windows or no party money. Detail cars or no dates or movies or mall…you get the picture. Some might say, wow what a disciplined kid. Man, was he motivated. It was never that I was wrestling with lying around vs. hustling. It was all about choices. In my mind, I never had to do anything. My Dad always said, “You don’t have to do anything but die and pay taxes.”

I’ve expanded on that. I say all you have to do is die. You don’t have to pay taxes. You CAN go to jail, an obvious choice but still a choice. I didn’t think of it as work. I thought of it as, “I choose to have this life. Money in and of itself is worthless. It’s not like you can eat it. It does take money however to finance whatever pulls you.” So I did indeed choose to have some money. That was it. Further, I was committed to a convertible, a boat and a waterfront house. I also knew that when I was someday married with kids I’d want my children and their friends jumping off a dock into the saltwater — for me, that’s the only way for kids to grow up. Please hear this: In my own private mind I thought this was the only possible way to have a life.

I was so focused that there was simply no alternative. Sure I’ve worked hard, but not as hard as the family living in subsidized housing with a constantly breaking car and very little pleasure. Look close: Working hard is easier than struggling. And finally, again, it was my only future because (this is key) it was my PRESENT for almost a decade. Most of my financial choices were driven by my desire to end the discomfort associated with my outside (no house yet) not matching my inside (I already have all this stuff).

Highlight this line: When you explain things to yourself as a choice, and you choose based upon a previous decision, circumstances feel better and you know you’re moving toward something. If you see something as “no choice,” be careful as this way of thinking can lead to becoming a victim. Once this occurs you get in the mode of things happening to you. Next, you feel powerless and give up a key ingredient to success: Accountability.

Now, sometimes during a class or seminar I’m conducting I’ll get asked “Jeff, can’t you just share the secrets to selling? The tricks, shortcuts, or just some really good closes?” The answer is, “Sure.” I’ve done it thousands of times. I’ve even trained competing dealers while I was employed by one of them! I’ve trained literally hundreds of competitors (at factory request or even the competitor’s request) in the mechanics and philosophy of what I was doing to make my own dealership number one in the nation in sales or customer satisfaction or leasing or service volume. I’d ask my owner, who allowed our secrets to get out (drove me CRAZY ‘til I understood the harmlessness of it), “Boss, why do you allow me to train the competition and not hold anything back?” He would repeatedly reply, “It makes us good sports. AND they won’t do it.”

“What? Everything I know, whether I refined it or not, I learned from someone else. Why wouldn’t they…”

“Jeff, listen. They won’t do it. They’ll hear it all and even take notes, won’t change on the inside and go home and say that they already do all the stuff we do. They don’t realize that who they are being speaks louder than what gets said to their staff and customers. Also, they wait for proof (more proof than the fact that we’re already dominating the market with these attitudes and systems) to come to them before they fully commit to the program. Life happens to them before the new way ever becomes a habit, which would allow them to realize their potential for success. They just plain won’t do it. Don’t hold back out there. Give ‘em a great show!”

So for years at two different dealerships, I continuously conducted facility tours and classes on what we do. I gave the participants all the answers, yet I haven’t seen enough of them change and implement anything to ever get concerned about helping the competition.

 I got to witness another distinction on another level. For the years that I ran sales departments, I did the training. I did the “green pea” class, the “remedial” class for the guys who once had it but had somehow temporarily (or worse) lost it, and I did the general training and motivation. In working with so many people over so many years, I got to watch my systems work and fail simultaneously on my sales floor. I realized that applying the medicine of selling system training to a salesperson covered in the “Teflon” of being the same person with the same beliefs had nowhere near the success rate of a salesperson ready to absorb and transform by first making some decisions. Further, I’ve seen many who become the “right person” have large sales success well before they get the mechanics of the system down. As a hard-to-avoid benefit of personal transformation, they also experienced and shared a greatly improved feeling of happiness, better marriages or other relationships, more interest in charity, their spirituality, reduced used of alcohol or other numbing substance or activity, and physical benefits ranging from losing weight or quitting smoking to just plain not getting sick as often. This combined with a mastery of the selling system has produced incomes beyond the salesperson’s actual goal.

During a management stint at a dealership where I spent nine years, I had one gentleman working for me who had been there for 16. He’d achieved tremendous growth after his first full year on my team’s program. Remember, he earned a very similar amount each year for 16 years, and prior to his “buy in” his income was naturally declining as he was within five years of retiring and he was just not “killing himself” anymore. He certainly deserved to enjoy this part of his career. I think that when he proudly showed me his pay stub’s YTD compared to last year (up 300%!), he was enjoying himself pretty well! It still makes me feel good to think that I participated in a more luxurious and travel-filled retirement for him. Another fellow in that same dealership’s used car department, with similar tenure, was already the dealership’s top money earner year after year with Salesman of the Month plaques literally covering every inch of his walls. He gladly reported that in his 1st year under my systems, he had the largest money year of his life with an approximately $50k increase over his previous best. He said that he still regrets not getting more serious about my prospecting/referral program as he would liked to have stopped being on the dealership’s rotation schedule and taking “ups” off the floor. He deserves proper credit though, as with such a successful history some would be closed to being coached. I had yet another fellow whose income grew, but not as dramatically.

He did however leave the floor to come and go as he pleased on his own schedule. To him, the extra income was nice but what turned him on was time on the golf course. This occurred after 2 1/2 years of him buying into “The System.”

So how did these people as well as thousands of others improve their lives, make hundreds of thousands of dollars more per year and actually have a life? They started with a decision. When you think of it, everything does. How does the woman in the weight loss ad go from being too heavy to 150 pounds lighter and bikini-proud? A lot of things happened but the first one was a decision. The decision was not to deprive herself of one of life’s pleasures like eating can be for any of us. Her decision was to feel good and look good. After that, she didn’t have to use will power or “white knuckle” her way through having only one bite of dessert. It was clear to her. She made a decision. She set a goal. She pictured the end result. She was specific in her end result (size 1, 120 lbs, be able to run 5 miles by Jun 5, etc. etc.). We’ll get into affirmations a bit later.

She DID NOT just say, “Give me a diet and tell me what to do in the gym; thanks, bye!” If she did, she’d have the “system” but she’d also have a 99% chance of failing because of the way she would have been talking to herself and because she wouldn’t have had a CLEAR and SPECIFIC end result stated and written and perhaps shared. When the dessert was in front of her, her willpower would only be able to do so much for her. Plus she would have been miserable at best with all of that deprivation. She would not have been trained to stay focused on her goal. She would not have realized that it’s ALL a decision, a choice. Plus, her subconscious would have been working against her. More on that later, too.

By stating her goal and picturing the end result, she did not have to fight off her dessert urges! She simply chose her “new” vitality and body! She was not saying no to a second bite, but she was saying yes to the bikini or health or that happier marriage or whatever personal reason she originally decided. There is a pointed and specific way to do this and anything else you want in life. We are about to dig into it. This above example is also why I’m not just throwing a selling system at you. I don’t want you to fall off of your diet and exercise program in the middle of it. When you do this stuff and do it right, coming from and going to the right place, it can make you a millionaire and it will be easier than your lowest paycheck months have ever been! To just give you the diet and gym instructions without the groundwork laid out will not do the trick. If you are willing to pay the small price and follow these instructions to a “T” you will never believe it isn’t part of every school’s curriculum. You are about to make a choice right this very minute. This can be the moment (RIGHT NOW) that causes the rest of your life to be what it will be. You get to decide what you want to use your life for. You get to be a victim or accountable for what happens next. You are about to do everything on purpose.

Good thing those competitive dealers that I toured over the decades didn’t get this part first! My owner’s dealerships may have fallen to #2 under my watch!