Well, I finally gave into a torn ACL and Meniscus and had surgery about 10 days ago. I injured them playing basketball two years ago and have just kinda "toughed it out" ever since. I've constantly had excuses not to have them taken care of, but I promise they were all legitimate excuses!

Mostly, I just didn't want to miss the selling action, and being there for my customers! 

However, I figure just because I can't be in the dealership physically right now doesn't mean everything has to stop for me or my personal brand. I've made sure to continue putting out content daily on my Facebook Page, send emails, texts, and communicate with my customers online.

I also had a plan in place for my time away from the dealership before I left, just in case I needed in dealership assistance. 

I have established what I like to call "battle buddies" in the dealership. These are colleagues that assist me when I am not in the dealership but have a customer that needs help. I do the same for them when needed. It works great and promotes an environment of teamwork.

With today's technology you really can do just about anything, even sell a car from your couch!

My iPhone was all I needed yesterday to do just that. Thanks to my continued efforts on Facebook promoting our current specials, one of my previous customers who is currently leasing a 2016 Nissan Rogue referred a friend to me. She actually created a dialogue between the 3 of us right on my Facebook Page, it was perfect!

Within 30 minutes I was chatting with her friend through Facebook messenger while watching a movie, cuddling my schnauzer, and icing my knee. 

Her friend told me everything I needed to know about her wants, needs and more. Basically she wanted the same vehicle as her friend (The Rogue) and she wanted to take advantage of our $199 No Money Down lease deal. Easy enough!

She also wanted to be "pre-approved" before coming into the dealership because she was a little unsure of her qualifications, and as she said to me on the phone "I don't want to waste your time."

Fair enough, I didn't want to waste her time either!

After a 10 minute conversation on the phone and a sheet of paper full of notes and information, I moved the schnauzer off me and composed an email to her, from my iPhone.

The email thanked her for the opportunity to help, provided her with a link to our secure online finance application, and introduced my battle buddy to her as well as CC'ing him to it.

Then I emailed our internet department to let them know that an online finance application would be coming through for this customer and to forward the information to my battle buddy.

Then I forwarded my battle buddy all the information he would need to get the pre-approval done.

Within a couple hours we had the approval from finance, a color picked out, a delivery time schedule, all of this from my couch thanks to my iPhone and some great teamwork.

As always it was great to sell something! 

A lot of salespeople in today's world fail to use technology to help them sell effectively. From start to finish, technology is a huge part of selling today! 

Not to mention customers shop online and research online now more than ever before, we know this.

People get their news and form their opinions of you and the products you represent by what their friends online say in social networks and forums.

You need ATTENTION! If you can add value to their news feed with your content, be available when they need help, someday they will be in the market for a vehicle and you will be the first person they think of! 

People use technology, social media, text, email, so a salesperson needs to be extremely comfortable and well trained to use these as well. 

Now, even though I know that I won't be setting any sales records from my couch, it was good to be able to help a customer, be part of a great car buying experience, all from a simple Facebook message. 

Learn to use technology effectively and be sure to build solid relationships with your team and you'll be able to sell a car from anywhere! 

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Also, be sure to visit my website newtosales.org for advice, tips, motivation and inspiring reads for salespeople!