Intro to the Intro

So for the past year I've been striving to create my own business.

Unfortunately, my partner and I had differing opinions on the direction, and split ways.

Since then, I've taken up a Sales position at a local Car Dealership.

Here are the lessons I've learned about sales and specifically car sales in the last two months.

With this, I'd like you to be reminded that I am still new, and that these are simply my own personal observations.

.

The process outlined below can be applied to anything in life; from interviews, to dating, to actual sales. Life is sales.

Always always always remember ... Features and Benefits.

You guys can use this guide to gain a sneak peek into the automotive sales industry, or even as a template to further your own success. I highly recommend getting into car sales if you're young like me. It is an excellent stepping stone into bigger sales positions, and a practice ground for developing the most highly compensated skill in the world. Sales.

Be well, my brothers; and conquer.

Car Sales 101:

How To Make A Friend, Sell A Car, and Fuck Them for More Money Than They Actually Have*

.

*May cause: Divorce, Uncontrollable Crying, Ruined Lives, The Formation of Addictive Drug Habits, Diarrhea, Vomiting, Extreme Satisfaction, Undying Loyalty, The Creation of Friendships, Bridges Burned, One’s Notch Count to Increase Exponentially, Unmanageable Wealth, Euphoria, Unmanageable Debt, Depression, The Sale or Purchase of a New Vehicle.

INDEX:

(Selling Process)

• Meet & Greet

• Fact Find (Qualify)

• Trade Appraisal

• Sell From Stock

• Present

• Demo

• Paperwork Pt. 1

• Present Dem #’s

• Paperwork Pt. 2

• Delivery

• Quick Reference Guide

o Overview

o Glossary

Introduction:

Hey there Green Pea! My name is TheAureate. As of the time I’m writing this guide to sales, I’ve been at a local Car Dealership for about a month and a half. These are the lessons I’ve gathered over the time I’ve been here. May you learn from my experiences so that you can become even better, even faster than I ever will.

With that being said, I’ll leave you with the purpose I see myself fulfilling in sales. I tell this to each and every one of my customers. Half because I’m a manipulative fuck, and it sets them at ease; and half because it’s half true.

“Alright (Customer Name), I just want to let you know right now that there is no way I could EVER possibly sell you a car you don’t really want. If I could, I sure as hell wouldn’t be selling cars, I’d be selling stocks. *Laugh …. *With that being said, I see myself as a facilitator; as a problem solver. I am here to help you find the perfect car for you, and get you the best deal I can on it. I’m going to guide you through the process of buying the second biggest asset you own, and all I need you to do is come along for the ride. Sound fair? ….. GOLDEN! Follow me."

The most IMPORTANT lesson of my car selling experience as of yet is always remain calm and in control. Car sales is role playing, and you’re playing the leader. That means that at all times everything is amazing and great, and you are always in front. Hence, “Follow me.” There is never any room for your customer to doubt your expertise and authority on YOUR domain.

Meet & Greet:

You’ve finally finished all of those damned Nissan tests, and you’re ready to take your first up. The answer to the Bluetooth question is ALWAYS all of the above, by the way.

So you’ve been standing at the door all morning, and the first customer of the day rolls up. Fantastic! Wonderful! Splendid!!

You’re excited to go greet them, but what do you say?

I gotcha covered boo.

AS SOON AS the customer rolls up to a parking spot, prepare yourself to walk on out. In the dog eat dog world of sales, if you don’t greet them as they are sliding sideways out of their worn, four year old seat; someone else will, and you won’t pay your bills.

As your customer is opening their door, you find yourself walking through the door and towards their vehicle with a BIG smile on your face; like you’re a kid at Christmas getting that precious first glance at your fat stack of presents lying pristinely under that glorious tree of happiness.

You have a huge smile because this customer is going to pay for your electric bill and they don’t even know it yet. NOT only that, but there isn’t a doubt in your mind about it. You have nothing but determination and self-assuredness.

“Hey guys! How are you today? … I just wanted to welcome you to (Local Car Dealership)! I’m (Name), and you are?”

*Customer gives you their name because you are a savage and you didn’t leave room in your voice for any other option. You commanded the situation.

• It is imperative that you REMEMBER this name. Each person’s name is their own favorite word. Remembering a name shows that you took the time to remember it, and it builds an immense amount of rapport. See, ‘How to Remember Names’ for more detail.

“(Customer Name), it’s a pleasure to meet you. What can I help you with today?”

Remembering to say, “WHAT can I help you with?” is key!

If you were to say, “How can I help you?” you would be asking a question that has NO as an answer. When in a leadership position, this is death … cancer, ebola, aids, child trafficking, pedophilia, slightly tilted picture frames, and everything else wrong in the world.

Asking, “How can I help you” may very well get you a serious answer; but it could just as much get you an, “I’m fine.”

Instead, we ask, “What can I help you with?”

This question DEMANDS and answer, and it’s beautiful because of it. No matter what, you will find out what this fresh up is here for. Whether it be service, parts, or sweet sweet sales; you will quickly and efficiently find out.

No matter what their answer, you will say, “GREAT! Follow me.” … and lead them to the solution of their problem.

Fact Find - (Qualify):

Assuming the customer is interested in sales

…… “Great! Follow me.” …..

Once you have identified that your up is interested in looking at a vehicle, take them directly to your desk, pull out their chair, sit them down, and tell them that you’re going to grab waters.

They may refuse, but grab one for yourself and one for them anyways. They refuse because they put themselves on guard, and they don’t want to have any sort of mental debt to the dealership. Too bad.

You’re going to mentally in-debt them from the get-go.

Once you bring the waters back to your desk, sit down with your customer and pull out a Guest Sheet™.

This one single piece of paper is the greatest weapon in your car selling arsenal; and the first step in the qualifying process.

The Guest Sheet™ will allow you to quickly discover what you need in order to find the ideal vehicle for your customer. If you’re clever enough, it will also tell you a lot about who the customer is, and what you’ll want to touch on later as you find “Pressure Points”.

During this time, you will also ask what your customer likes and does not like about their current vehicle. Their answer will help you determine what vehicle you need to show them, and what features to either touch upon, or address as a benefit.

• Be sure to pay attention to your customer’s current payment and payoff amount. These two questions will tell you about how realistic your customer is, and whether or not you will need to bump them down to a different car or trim level (Feature Level).

Often times, I’ll tell my customers about the point of the guest sheet. I like to be as transparent as possible to help my people feel as comfortable around me as they would their best friend. I’ll say something like, “(Customer Name), this is our guest sheet. It helps us keep track of what we’re looking for and efficiently narrows our search down from 700 cars to around 10.”

95% of the time, this is more than enough to get the entire sheet of information. If it isn’t, rationalize a reason for them to answer.

“I just need an email for my managers’ sake. It can even be your junk email, just whatever I can use to fill this out.”

Step 2:

The rest of your qualifying process will continue the whole way to presenting the numbers. Qualifying is essentially paying attention to the information BEHIND what your customer is saying.

For instance:

When you ask a customer what they do, you’re making a rough estimate of what they make based on what you know of their field, and whether or not they can realistically make the payments on the car they want. This prepares you for the potentiality of bumping them down a level.

When you ask how long your customer has worked at X, you’re learning how reliable they are, and getting a rough guesstimate of their credit.

When you ask about what they like to do, or about family, you’re discovering what they will use this new vehicle for and how you can shape your benefits to them during your presentation.

As you find more and more answers to these seemingly simple questions, you’ll identify more and more Pressure Points.

Pressure Points are features and benefits that really hit home to your customer, dripping little bits of value onto their imaginary value scale in their head, tipping it more and more in your favor as you continually show why they need them.

As you continue to qualify your customer, you can begin to develop a game plan of the features you will want to hammer in during your presentation.

Trade Appraisal:

Alright.

You’ve filled out your guest sheet and taken it to your Sales Manager.

Now you grab an appraisal sheet from the tower, and you begin filling it out.

You will re-write all of your customer’s contact information from the guest sheet, and then tell your customer to follow you out to their car.

I often say, “Alright, let’s get this appraisal rolling so that we can have it finished by the time we get back from our ride.”

This primes the customer for a test drive, and once again, leaves no room for an alternative. WALK YOUR CUSTOMER TO THEIR CAR!

Now that you’re out on the lot, SILENTLY, but briskly, do a walkaround of their car.

TOUCH everything that could de-value their trade.

• TOUCH the tires.

• TOUCH scratches.

• TOUCH cracks.

Write each flaw down on your appraisal sheet.

Grab the VIN number from the lower corner of the driver’s side windshield.

Now say, “Alright, (Customer Name), you get to drive my car. I just need to take a quick spin around the block in yours to make sure everything is golden.”

Jump in their car and write down interior information.

I usually just take the trade around the short test drive route.

This is a great time to begin your rapport-building.

Often I will start asking questions about who the customer is. Many of the qualifying questions I mentioned above are also asked on this ride.

You’ll also find that your customer will try to sell you their car. When you touch the flaws, you make them de-value it in their own head, causing them to explain how they got there, and preparing them for a lower trade value on the pencil.

Once you get back from your drive, park the vehicle at the Pre-Owned building, have your customer sign the appraisal sheet (solidifies devaluation), drop off the key’s and appraisal, and go hunt the lot with your customer for the car they want.

Sell From Stock:

As of right now, I have over 12 million dollars’ worth of product on my lot.

That is literally a metric shitload.

Selling from our stock is actually really easy. Once you’ve filled your guest sheet completely out, simply go to your Sales Manager and ask them what car they want you to show based on the parameters of your fact finding.

As I’ve already mentioned, grab a Trade Appraisal sheet on your way back to your desk.

Once you’re done with the appraisal, simply walk the lot with your customer.

This is great for you, because your customer gets to make comparisons between the different vehicles and they choose the car they like most from the options YOU GIVE THEM based upon what your Sales Manager tells you to show.

This is also the time I give my customer my purpose speech from the introduction section. It lets them know that I’m here to help them however I can, and we all start having fun.

Leadership … The name of the game.

Once you find the best match, walk your customers back to your desk and tell them that you’ll go grab the car.

If the car is dirty, just let them know that you’ll be an extra five minutes while you wash it. It is always better to present a clean car than a dirty one.

Presentation:

Wonderful! You’re almost halfway done now!

You’ve been qualifying your customer, you’ve completed your part of the trade appraisal, and now you’ve pulled up the ideal car that fits your customer’s parameters and likes.

Now you butterfly the car.

This is when you open up all of the doors, the hood, and the trunk.

Many salespeople will tell you that you need to find a perfect way to end up with the customer in the driver’s seat so that you have an easier time convincing them to go on the test drive; but I’ve found that using this method barely ever results in an objection.

What I do instead is touch on each of the pressure points I’ve identified, and go over the basic points consistent across all of My Brand's vehicles.

My Brand’s big two points to discuss are:

• Safety:

• Reliability:

With each feature you discuss, though, you must provide a benefit. This is ESPECIALLY so on the pressure points.

Here are a couple examples:

F: Heated Seats -> Identified pressure point through older couple talking about how they’re tired of the cold weather.

B: “….. Yeah, and so this Crossover comes with heated seats. So when it’s this darn 12 degrees outside your butt won’t be freezing to the leather, and you’ll be able to really relax and enjoy your ride …….. unnnnnnfortunately, you also won’t want to ever leave and so you may as well give up on visiting the grand kids. Laugh …”

F: SXM Travel Link -> Happened to point it out as you sat down in the passenger seat.

B: “So this Truck also includes the SXM Travel Link!” “Check this out, if you go to info right here and press the gas stations button, your navigation will actually pull up gas stations near you that you can filter by distance and price!” “Next time you’re driving back home to Montana you won’t have to worry as much about filling up on those long stressful stretches with three gas cans in the back.” Once you’re done covering the major discussion points, simply say, “Ok (Customer Name), jump in. Let’s go for a ride.”

.

As always, you’re leading this experience. There is no, “No”. You’re ‘suggesting’ a course of action to your customer without any thought that they wouldn’t do it. There is no room in your tone for any choice but to jump in.

Demo Ride:

This is my favorite part of the sale.

This is the biggest rapport-building section of your time with your customer.

I often spend the majority of my test-drives simply getting to know the people I’m with.

I, personally, find myself really invested in my customers, and it works for me. I find that it REALLY builds trust when I’m genuinely interested in them.

Sometimes, customers are simply closed off and there is nothing in the world I can do to get them to open up; but most of the time my customers love their time with me.

This is really great because it leaves a positive emotion attached to their memory of the car they want.

This good feeling about you and the car will come in handy when you present the numbers.

During the test drive, it is also important to hammer in the benefits associated with your customer’s pressure points, and even remember to be silent every once in a while so that they can actually get a feel for the car.

It is also important to make at least 4 minor trial closes concluded with the big yes or no.

Some quick examples of trial closes are:

• “Liking the ride?”

• “How do those seats feel?”

• “Sounding good and quiet?”

• “Can you see yourself rolling around down with your crew in this?”

Contrary to what I’ve taught you about yes or no questions earlier, the goal here is to build as many positive remarks about the car as possible.

Imagine a mental scale of value. Each positive point about the car tips the scale a little bit more in the direction of the car being valuable. The more positive remarks, the more ownership your customer takes of the car, and the easier it is to close the deal.

Finally… the big yes or no trial close.

As you roll back into the dealership, ask, “(Customer Name), if I can get the numbers to your liking on this (Vehicle Model), will you take it home today?”

This question will tell you whether or not you are on the correct car.

If your customer answers no, you can ask why not, and find the vehicle that better fits their needs.

If your customer answers yes, say, “Wonderful! Let’s go inside and see what we can do.”

Throughout your Demo; spread your rapport-building, pressure points, and trial closes to about a 60/30/10 ratio. This gives you space to keep a good bit of variety in what you talk about, and it allows for a more natural flow in your conversation.

As you take more and more of your own ups, you will develop your own style and your own ratios of what works best for you.

Paperwork Pt. 1:

Once you’ve returned from the Demo drive in which you’ve successfully trial closed the right vehicle, lead your customer to your desk and sit them down.

The two big documents we need in order to move on to presenting the pencil are the Credit App and the Payoff Amount for their trade-in.

You can access both of these on the CRM page for your customer.

The Credit App can sometime be a little tricky, but if you’ve built up trust it shouldn’t be a problem.

If, however, your customer doesn’t want one done; simply say, “Ok, I understand you don’t want your credit to take a hit and that’s ok. I do, at the very least, need to get some of your information as an identity check to verify that you are you and not your evil clone. …. Now let me ask you, what is your birthday?”

Then fill it out.

This stuff is easy peasy, so take a deep breath because at this point you almost have a deal, and keep on keeping on.

Once you have both documents, and they are signed, take them to your Sales Manager so that they can begin building the pencil.

When you go up, set them up for success. Just like you need to automatically assume a deal when you greet your customer, you make sure that your Sales Manager is given all of the tools they’ll need to maintain a confident mindset.

Tell them it’s a done deal.

Presenting the Numbers:

People tend to get nervous at this point.

Just realize that the entire point of the salesperson in a close is to help their customer rationalize the decision to buy. Make it make sense.

Salespeople will see a pencil that reads $1400/mo and freak out because they think that this will cost them the deal.

I want you to always remember these two things:

  1. It’s not your payment. It’s theirs; and although you’ve done your darnedest to pry away every little detail of their life so far, you really don’t know what their bank account looks like.

  2. It’s ALWAYS going to start high. We work from making gross – down. This is the basis of negotiation. The only real thing you need from the first pencil is a written commitment of a specific down and rate. If you get this one, sweet, you just made bank. If not, well that’s on purpose anyways. When you get your pencil, you will walk up and say to your customer, “Alright, (Customer Name), I have GREAT news! We’re gonna make this work. Now, based on our current parameters, I have 3 different down payments and 3 different terms. I just need you to circle the one that works best for you.”

Now you’re going to lay your pen down, lean back in a comfortable position, and STFU.

The person who talks first at this point is ALWAYS the person who loses.

If you sit there for ten minutes while your customer thinks about it, that’s A OK. Chill out.

Eventually they will either choose a selection or tell you it’s too much.

If it’s too much you simply ask why.

Asking why is your chance to reaffirm the car’s value by assuaging your customer’s fears, and massaging their pressure points again.

“Yes Mr. Johnson, I understand you expected more for your trade; but you have to take into account the fact that your tires were balding and your windshield was cracked. We’re going to need to replace those and detail the car, which brings us to where we are with it now.”

“Yes Ms. Behr, I understand that you were around $400 in your car and we’re at $515 in the better car, but you have to remember everything that you’re getting along with this upgrade. I know you loved those seats, and the navigation. And that color was JUST the one you wanted.”

“I understand that you want to be $15 lower a month on the crossover, Mr. Thomas; but if you think about it, that’s really only a difference of packing a lunch instead of eating out once per month. Aren’t those heated seats alone worth one lunch per month?”

Make it make sense. Put it into perspective.

On the other hand, you do not need to fight too hard on your first pencil. This is purposely made high in order to set the customer’s expectations. At this point, they’re fighting to lower it from a very high pedestal instead of the ground. This means that you are able to move a bit and still make gross.

Once your customer objects to the price and you’ve reminded them of the value in the car they want, ask them what they CAN do. When you do this; try to bump them a small amount in payment, down, or both.

“Ok, I understand that $700/mo is too much, and that you’re at $485/mo on your Altima; but I need to get something that we can take up to the tower to work with. Can you do $500/mo with $500 down?”

From this point, you will continue this back and forth process until you have a deal.

Paperwork Pt. 2:

As soon as your customer signs the deal, say, “Wonderful! Thank you for your business (Customer Name)! Let’s go ahead and finish this up then.”

At this point, you will print out a deal packet and begin covering the signing.

Once your packet is finished, take it to your Sales Manager to check over. If it’s good, take it to the finance office and write your customer’s name on the board and the time you wrote it.

Now you simply go back to your customers and wait for your Finance Manager to come grab them.

You can talk about anything except for the deal with them. Until that car’s wheels touch the road, a deal can be backed out on.

This is actually an excellent time to set up your customer’s first oil change appointment and coach them through the survey process.

I like to grab the example sheet and say, “Ok guys, Automotive Corporate MAY select you for a survey about your purchase. This is an example of what the survey would look like, but it will only be one question on the screen at a time. I know there are different categories like facilities and finance, but the entirety of the survey would affect me in the eyes of Corporate. It’ll only take a few minutes to fill out, but you would REALLY help me out if your experience with me was 10/10, truly exceptional. …… If it wasn’t, I would appreciate it if you would let me know now so that I can fix it before you leave today.”

Once Finance shows up, grab the keys to the car and take it to detail.

Drop off the keys at the sold section of the window and do a happy dance because you just sold your first car!

Pass go and collect $200, you savage.

Delivery:

Once your customers come back, congratulate them and take them out to their new car.

The rest of the delivery process is self-explanatory. Simply show them how their car works and send them on their way.

Quick Reference Guide:

Overview:

• Get and remember your customer’s name.

• Identify Pressure Points.

• Hammer Pressure Points into their thick skulls and make them walk lopsided with all of the value you show them.

• Build trust.

• Assume the sale from the beginning and talk past it throughout (Trial close and benefits presented).

• Rationalize their decision to buy so that they don’t have to.

Sales Terms Glossary:

Spiff = Sales bonus on a specific type of sale or vehicle

Skate = To steal a customer from another salesman who has either been in contact with that person within the last 72 hrs, OR has been asked for

Front = Gross profit from MSRP value

Back = Gross profit from Finance

Up = Any customer from the lot that is looking for sales

Term = Amount of months a car is loaned for

Down = Downpayment

APR = Interest rate

Pencil = Deal-closing paper containing price and payment information