This email made it into my inbox. Not sure who wrote it but I thought I would share it with everyone. Thanks Todd
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If I hear one more person give another reason why they can’t sell cars I am going to punch someone in the face.
“The banks aren’t buying” – Yes they are idiot, just not like they were, so change what you are doing.
“There are less customers looking” – So get out of your office and work the ones you have harder.
“The deals aren’t as good” – Says who? Cars have always been expensive and they have always cost more than the customer told you they wanted to pay…so now you are going to start believing the customer?
“We cant lease anymore” – yes you can idiots …there just aren’t giveaways that any no talent order-taker could give away, so maybe you should quit and we’ll get a salesperson who can do the job.
Guess what?..We sold cars when interest rates were 18%… We sold cars when they would blow up…we sold cars that flipped over…we sold cars in recessions…we sold cars that were uglier than a monkey’s armpit and broke down on delivery…we sold cars from empty showrooms…we sold Yugo’s, and Daewoos, and Pinto’s, and K-cars for god’s sake, and Suburbans when gas was $4 a gallon.
How? Because we SOLD them. We inquired about our customers needs and wants, their budget, their family, their jobs, their travel habits. We made friends and sold the snot out of the right vehicle that met all of their needs. We didn’t sell the deal, we made the deal sell. We didn’t believe them when they told them the car was too much…because we selected a vehicle that wasn’t too much; and, when they chose a more expensive model…we told them it was more expensive and they would pay more. We sold them on the idea of putting money down so they wouldn’t be buried with debt so that cash down wasn’t a burden but a benefit – and they always found more money for the car we made them want…because we made them want it…we made them need it…and they loved us for it.
We didn’t lie or cheat, we didn’t fudge the numbers, and trick them into paying more…we sold the sizzle…and we made money doing it and our customers loved us when we were done. And they told their friends how great we were to do business with.
When I was a salesperson I loved the rain. I loved it because the other salespeople would hide in their office convinced that they were not going to sell anything because nobody was going to come out in the rain. So I stood on the lot under my umbrella and waited, ’cause I knew that if somebody did show up…they were there to buy something.
Today the news media is pumping bad weather into everybody’s living room and it is raining bad news. Today I want to be a salesperson again standing in the showroom waiting for the customer who is going to walk in despite everything they have heard because they are looking for someone to say, “its OK to buy,” and I would be there in my tie with a warm handshake and a smile ready to make it OK to part with a few thousand dollars…and I would make it fun too.
Yes, it is true that dealers will close. Banks will go under. The car business is changing. This is the time when we will undergo an economic housecleaning. We will see the weak salespeople who survived in this business out of sheer dumb luck find their true place in McDonalds dunking fries. We will see the sales managers who forgot how to sell, and who never knew how to motivate and train professionals, move on to telemarketing gig’s or make that career change they have talked about for so long.
Good riddance. This business is not for the weak or feint of heart. Here only the strong survive. When all is said and done only the best will be left standing. We will be sipping our coffee, and cashing our big checks, and rolling steel.
I will be here with my umbrella, my tie, a warm handshake and a smile. I say bring it on.
MAKE IT HAPPEN!!!
-Rob
