Ugh...car sales

[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). [img]/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img]

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

[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)]

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Ask him a lot of questions about his needs etc.

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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.