About five days ago, I was going about my morning making phone calls and returning overnight e-mails when my used car manager called the entire sales staff to the sales desk. He instructed us to go out into the 20-degree Indiana morning and remove pricing booklets from our pre-owned inventory.
While all of my colleagues stood around grumbling about the cold or waiting for the new guys to do it, I headed outside with the lot attendant and began removing the booklets. Just as we were finishing up, a man pulled up in Ford Focus that was obviously several years old. It turned out to be a 2009, and he was a contract engineer that had put over 210,000 miles on the car in the last 4 years. The car had over 254,000 total miles.
He was looking at pre-owned Focuses, but what he wanted was a Fusion, for the extra room and more comfortable ride. He was just afraid that he wouldn't be able to fit in his budget. After affirming that it sounded like he had done his research, I mentioned that I did have one or two Fusions that I might be able to make affordable for him, and they didn't have very many miles.
Three hours after meeting me, this customer was driving home in a Ford Fusion with less than 15,000 miles for less than he had decided was his maximum monthly payment. Point is, if I hadn't gone outside and done my job, I would have never met him, and I would have missed that sale.
Ironically, on that same day, I was informed that I would be promoted to the position of Internet Sales Manager in my dealership, effective March 1. Over the weekend I began building the game plan I intend to implement with my team at that time, and one thing became very obvious.
The process must come before the goal.
Selling 15 cars each month can provide a pretty good living. I ask my guys to shoot for 19, but whichever number you choose, you cannot sell them all on the first day of the month (probably not even in the first 10 days of the month.)
So, what must you do on days one through 29 to make sure you are where you need to be on day thirty? You must understand what the process is that leads to these sales. I'll write a follow-up about the process I will be implementing, but at a point prior to asking for the sale. This step, however, occurs only once the customer is on the lot so you must know your job.
Though, you are judged an paid based on your sales and you must be ready to close at the drop of a hat, your job largely consists of all the things separate from the sale.
One tip I will leave you with involved working internet leads. When you contact an internet lead, you should have two goals. The primary goal is easy -- SET THE APPOINTMENT! I say it's easy, but many forget this is the goal, and actually try to sell the vehicle over the phone or the internet.
You must also have a secondary goal, a reason to make you and the call valuable, even if you don't set the appointment right now. For me, this often consists of one of two things: getting permission to call back and best time and method to do so or presenting an alternative to the original request the customer had.
I think this tip is best demonstrated in my ending to every initial e-mail. After providing the information the customer requested, I always end with the same two questions. "When would you like to take one for a drive?" and "Do you have a vehicle to trade?"
One of these questions will generally illicit a response, and that, ladies and gentleman, is my job.