Ugh...car sales

[DasLeben]

So, as some of you know I just started a job at a Toyota dealership about 2 weeks ago. I'm really enjoying the job now (once I realized that you CAN do this job without violating your ethical boundaries), but it just so happens that the other new guy is outselling the hell out of me. I mean, I've sold 4 cars in the last 2 weeks (I'm behind schedule...I need 12/month to keep my job). This guy? He's sold 11. He runs into serious buyers almost constantly. Every time a customer walks on the lot, they're sitting at his desk signing paperwork within an hour. I constantly get strokers and shitheads all day, whom my sales managers can't even close. I'm getting a paycheck tomorrow for $800, and I'm getting extremely anxious and annoyed.

How the hell do you deal with someone on your level that is making you look bad? This is really trying my patience.

[Dynasty]

If you are looking bad, you're making yourself look bad by not doing your job up to expectations.

It's not anybody else's fault.

[Punker]

He looks into each peron's soul.

[handsome]

You need to sell 4 cars a week to keep your job? Wow... sounds like a rough profession. Good luck man.

[liquidboss]

Sounds like he is getting somewhat lucky and you are not. Don't worry about hat fool and pick up your game.

[Richard Roma]

You [censored] child! Who the [censored] told you you could hack it in car sales? Who the [censored] told you that you could work with men?

I remember the day I started in this [censored] business. I had a [censored] twinkle in my eye and a [censored] cock the size of an elephant's brain. And I got the [censored] beat out of me kid. It wears you the [censored] down kid. But you know what we men do? We get the [censored] papers signed.

I busted my ass for what? So you could come in here with your [censored] slack-jawed attitude and piss in my cheerios? I had that [censored] paper signed before you were born! Do you get me chief? Do you hear that which I am saying?

[Dynasty]

These gimmick accounts are getting lame.

[Sooga]

You need to read this:

http://www.whysanity.net/monos/ggr2.html

[eric5148]

Insufficient sample size.

[GoblinMason (Craig)]

If it is luck it will even out in the long run. Hopefully you will get to stay that long.

However, from someone that has been in sales (not car), there are significant factors other than luck that will vary your longterm sellrate. Granted, selling a car is probably more difficult than selling someone a service plan at Best Buy. However, I would imagine that selling add-ons are very similar.

I don't know what kind training you've had or if you have a sales background, but you could also have significant leaks in your game. Things like overcomming objections and building a solid raport with your customer will impact your results significantly. Try to know common objections and have rebuttals ready. You must believe in your product and make sure your customer sees this. If you don't (or at least aren't very good at appearing that you do), it will me much more difficult to sell.

Try different ways of selling, see what works for you. Change your delivery, timing, phrasing, etc. It's certainly difficult to find what's the best, but once you figure it out it will be the difference between when you read your first poker book and when you started crushing 8 tables whatever limit you play for 3bb/100.

That said, I don't really miss my sales days. Although the feeling you get when you close a tough sale, I miss. (especially when someone else couldn't seal the deal.;))

-Craig

[phil_ivey_fan]

from what I've heard seen and read, sales is very similar to poker in that you can have a bad streak. If you are good at what you do (sales in this case), over the long run you are +EV.

4 cars a week doesn't sound easy in today's economy.

[DasLeben]

You all are right on the money. Sales is very much like poker. If I'm riding around in the golf cart with someone and two customers come on the lot, I may get a sale and the other guy won't, or vice versa. There is a high amount of luck to it.

But, I guess I'm having a hard time believing that at times. I'm definitely learning the ropes, but so is this other new guy. I just don't get how he's selling almost 3 times what I am. I guess he just started on an upswing, and I started on a downswing (which happened to coincide with my poker downswing...weird). /images/graemlins/tongue.gif

And for the record, 12 cars/month = 3 cars per week, not 4. You sure you guys play poker? /images/graemlins/wink.gif

[Los Feliz Slim]

[ QUOTE ]
He looks into each peron's soul.

[/ QUOTE ]

What kind of UV protection do you need for that?

Sometimes the cards come, sometimes they don't. Play them all the same way, and don't let the bad runs screw you when they come.

[cardcounter0]

So, you are sitting around on your butt waiting for three people a week to walk in and hand you money? And when these three people a week don't just walk up to you and buy a car, you come here and whine? Get out there and sell some cars dammit! A salesman sells. An order taker waits for people to place orders. Order taking isn't the way to SELL cars.

[Arnfinn Madsen]

I have had great success in sales (3x-4x average performance) and could easily sell more than 4 cars a week (not to brag, just to make you know it is possible).

Your post shows thinking which lays the path to failure and has to be changed. His selling does make you look bad in one sense, but he probably markets the shop well in his selling which also is to your benefit. If you want to succeed in this game you need to get impulses from people better than you (since you obviously currently is not good enough) and thus his presence is a blessing for you.

Since it is Toyota, almost all customers entering the shop consideres buying a car and have the opportunity (if they were just looking at cars they would go to i.e. a Ferrari dealership. This means, and this a psychological bareer to cross, that the potential is way above your budget.

How to succeed is no big secret, most textbooks are right (but internal resistance prevents many salesmen from following it).

-Put yourself in the mind of your potential buyer.
-Do NOT tell him about all the benefits of the car, people are allergic to advertising and "selling" so this is counterproductive. I have closed large deals without even mentioning a single benefit of the product or service. Ask him a lot of questions about his needs etc. and just point out the car that solves as it should be selfevident: "Aha, so thats what you are looking for, come with me here".
-Remember that people buys from people, 95% of buyers (even if only 2% would admit it), first unconsciously chooses whom to buy from (the one who seems most interested in their needs, thus all the questions), then chooses which model from psychological reasons, then makes some reasoning for it (it has 64 valves, blah blah blah). Thus pointing out that a car has 64 valves will not help you sell the car even if the buyer states this as the reason.

Now, go kick some ass tomorrow!

[GoblinMason (Craig)]

[ QUOTE ]
Ask him a lot of questions about his needs etc.

[/ QUOTE ]

This is great advice.

-Craig

[Cunning Linguist]

[ QUOTE ]
Insufficient sample size.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah, this is just a bad beat post.

[IggyWH]

Make friends with the guy and his tactics will rub off on you. I've never met a good salesman who doesn't LOVE to talk about themself... open up that line of communication and he'll be letting you in on everything.

[HopeydaFish]

Don't get into the trap of believing that you're just unlucky, or that all of your customers are "tire kickers". That's self-defeating, and it's very easy to do and makes you feel better in that it shifts the blame away from you.

Selling is a lot like learning to play poker well. You will get a certain amount by watching successful people do it, you will get a certain amount by doing it yourself, and you will get a lot of it from reading books and studying.

Have you read any books on selling? I used to sell retail, and the big turning point in my career was when I read John Lawhon's aptly named book "Selling Retail". I'm sure there are many many books out there that are devoted to selling cars.

Have you watched the guy who has sold 11 cars? Obviously whatever he's doing is working. Rather than resenting him, you should try to figure out ways of emulating him.

You need the right attitude when you're selling. You have to believe that each customer is there to buy. If you act like you don't think the customer is going to buy, chances are almost 100% that you'll end up being right.

[IggyWH]

I don't know about others who have replied here, but I am currently in the market for a new whip and I'll give you some things that I ran into that "might" help you out :

1)I went to a Ford dealer like a minute away from my house on the way home from work the one day. I was walking around the lot when a guy first walked past me, then came back and here's how the conversation went :

Him : Is anyone helping you?
Me : No.
Him : Do you need help?
Me : No.
Him : Ok, well find me if you need anything.

This guy rubbed me wrong right off the bat. I did have questions because I had seen a car I had never seen before, liked it and wanted some info on it. This guy approached me like a salesman and I wasn't with that.

2)A couple days later, I see an ad in a local car trader so I go to the dealership (same name just different brand at a different location). No more than a minute after checking out this car (I think it's pretty obvious to tell when someone is browsing and when someone is checking out a specific car) this guy comes up to me. Right off the bat he says hello, tells me his name and shake my hands. 15 minutes go by and he hasn't said 1 thing about the car. We're just standing there BSing about a bunch of different things. I felt real comfortable with the guy and then turned the convo about the car. I asked him a few questions which he answered quickly and then asked him about the millage. He went inside to get the keys to prove to me the millage they had on the car was correct. When he came back, he had a plate with him also and said let's take it for a spin. I had no plans in test driving the car, I was only there to look, but the guy had been so nice and helpful, I figured why not. The test drive was just us BSing again... nothing about the car at all other than him asking me how I felt about the car. After about a 15 minute drive we go inside, go to his office and continue to BS... still not talking about the car. Once again I'm the one who brings up the car, we talk some numbers and I tell him I'll give him a call Tuesday. We then BS again for another 15 minutes. I plan on going up tomorrow and getting the car.

[Arnfinn Madsen]

He gave you the feeling that it was your decision, although it was he who decided that you are going to buy that car (not you) then proceeded to make you convince yourself to do it.

[Jules22]

[ QUOTE ]
Make friends with the guy and his tactics will rub off on you. I've never met a good salesman who doesn't LOVE to talk about themself... open up that line of communication and he'll be letting you in on everything.

[/ QUOTE ]

this is spot on, accurate advice. i used to sell vacuum cleaners of all things, and believe me, you would be astonished what u can learn from experienced sales guys. ps dont ever get into vacuum sales, that [censored] was silly, but good money

[DasLeben]

Thanks for the great advice. Seriously.

My approach as of right now is to avoid asking questions such as:
"How can I help you?" (their answer: "I'm just looking!")
"Would you like to take it for a drive?"
"Would you like to come inside and talk numbers?"

My approach is to simply say things like:

"What brings you in today?" (they have to answer this one)
"Let's take 'er for a spin. Hop in!"
"Tell you what. Let's go inside and we'll see what we can do for you."

And once inside:

"Go ahead and take a seat in that office right there. Let me just grab some paperwork."

So far, this way of "controlling" the deal has worked fabulously. I generally have no problems getting people to test drive the car, and haven't had many problems getting people inside. The problem I have is in closing. I have had way too many deals fall through in "the box." I've gotten everyone from people refusing a car offered at invoice, to people wasting my time in my office just to go joyriding in the GTO. It's really really annoying.

I will definitely get out there and kick some ass tomorrow though. The other salesmen have been great in helping me out so far, and I'll be trying to apply everything they've taught me from here on out.

Also, please don't get the impression that I resent this other new guy. Him and I are definitely on good terms, and I tend to hang out with him during the slow periods in the day. I've even had him follow me around working my ups, and he's said that I sound fine to him.

[DasLeben]

Alright...I went back to work today, and within the first 2 hours sold a used '03 Chevy Silverado 1500 for sticker. I just told myself that it was important that I sell value, and not price. Apparently this worked, and he walked out happy, and I walked out very happy. /images/graemlins/tongue.gif

[RacersEdge]

What's the variance like in car selling?

All I can think of is maybe you are not qualifying your customers fast enough by not leaving the casual ones to just look on their own while you try to snag the serious buyer who just walked in. (Just stealing some sales lingo my dad uses in talking about selling.)

[DasLeben]

[ QUOTE ]
What's the variance like in car selling?

All I can think of is maybe you are not qualifying your customers fast enough by not leaving the casual ones to just look on their own while you try to snag the serious buyer who just walked in. (Just stealing some sales lingo my dad uses in talking about selling.)

[/ QUOTE ]

Variance can be pretty strong. I went a 4 day period without selling a thing, and then I sold 4 cars in 5 days. It's weird like that.

Qualifying buyers is definitely something I'm working on. There are guys on the lot who can spot serious people a mile away, but sometimes you just get stuck with bad ones.

[groo]

Take more ups than everyone else....then get you salesmanager involved as early as you can. His paycheck depends on your success, and as long as you are willing to learn, he'll be willing to teach.

[DasLeben]

[ QUOTE ]
Take more ups than everyone else....then get you salesmanager involved as early as you can. His paycheck depends on your success, and as long as you are willing to learn, he'll be willing to teach.

[/ QUOTE ]

I just realized today (almost missed out on a deal) that when someone comes up and asks for either a sales manager or someone I've never heard of, ALWAYS go with them. The sales manager will almost always flip you the deal, or you'll take the deal instead of the non-existent salesman.

I almost let a guy go and look for this person himself today before I decided to go inside and wait around to see if he found him. As it turns out, the guy he was looking for was now management, not a salesperson. Wham...he buys a used car from me for stickered asking price. /images/graemlins/grin.gif

[groo]

[ QUOTE ]
or someone I've never heard of

[/ QUOTE ]

Remember, you're new and you haven't heard of everyone yet. When you go out of your way to help them find this salesperson (which usually doesn't work there any more) you start building a relationship and developing trust. Those are the two things that will sell more cars for you than anything else.