“When you wish upon a star...”

Wouldn’t it be great if that were possible? If we just had a test we could give people up front, we’d get rich.

Oops – if that were possible, you wouldn’t actually get rich. Your dealer would either put you on hourly wages or replace you with a walking-talking product knowledge expert who couldn’t sell. If everybody was a lay-down, your selling skills wouldn’t matter.

Pre-qualifying people to see if you have a live one is the single biggest mistake you make and it costs you a ton. If you earn $30,000 a year now, you could easily double that with just one big change:

Give everyone a chance to buy!

Stop thinking you’ve got this game figured out. Stop betting against these odds and you’ll sell more right away:

• 78% of the people who go look at a vehicle will buy (that’s 78 of 100)

• 85% of the 78 (66) left home with the specific intention to buy a vehicle

• 90% of 78 (70) will buy within a week

• 71% buy because they like you

• 99% want to drive before they’ll buy

• 50% will buy on the spot when they get a good presentation and demonstration

Do you think those stats are wrong?

I don’t mean it the way this is going to sound, but it doesn’t really matter what you think about these stats.

Why? Because if you don’t track accurately, you have no idea about what you’re really doing in sales, because you can’t know exactly how many people you talk to, you can’t know exactly how many good demos you actually give and you can’t know exactly how many write ups you do (committed versus not committed).

If you don’t know exactly how many people you actually talk to each month, that means you don’t know your real closing ratio. So whatever you think, is practically guaranteed to be a highball. Plus, if you don’t get everyone’s number so you can contact them later, that means you’ll never know the number of real buyers you talk to.

Why not be bold and track things for just 90 days? If you have the guts for a commission-only sales career, surely you have the guts to track everything you do to actually find out about your selling skills and your closing ratios!

If you do track accurately, and find you’re doing better than the average stats, that’s great. Now you’ll know exactly what your facts are and can use your own stats to improve your sales.

How about service customers? Is it really worth my time to ‘work the drive’?

Did you know that you have as many ‘ups’ in service as you do on the lot?

No really – did you ever do the math and notice that in a 100-unit dealership with an overall 20 percent closing ratio, you have 500 prospects on the lot?

In that same 100-unit dealership, service also has about 25 people each day on the drive. That’s another 500 prospects out there, too.

Yeah, but are service customers ready for another vehicle? Let’s look at some odds out in service, and you decide...

• 30% of all people have a family member who will buy a vehicle within 90 days. 30% of 500 means there are 150 buyers in service this month

• 78% of the 150 (117) buyers would consider buying at your dealership

• Repeat and dealership customers in parts or service pay 40% more in gross when they buy than a walk-in does

A salesperson told me she came to class and started talking to customers in service. She said she talked to a woman who had a two-year-old car and didn’t need a new one. In fact, she said the woman kept repeating that until about four in the afternoon – when she drove off the lot in her brand new SUV.

Tip:

Wander out to service two or three times a day, just strike up a conversation and work in the easy five-question referral script.

Results?

• 3 people a day x 5 days = 15 per week and 60 per month

• 30% (18) will be buying within 90 days

• Get 75% of the buyers (13.5) to look at a vehicle and you’ll deliver an extra five to seven units each month at 40% higher gross

How about ‘kids’ who can’t buy?

Wrong! Here again, I was talking to a salesperson who told me about an 18-year-old ‘kid’ who wandered onto the lot. Nobody helped him, and as he was leaving, since Gus wasn’t busy anyway, he figured he’d at least talk to him.

The guy was excited that someone finally talked to him. Gus found out he was an E-1 in the Marines and after a few minutes, he pulled $10,000 cash out of his pocket and said he wanted to get a new car. You can guess the rest!

Stop fighting the system!

Selling cars is that ‘gold mine’ everybody wishes they could find. The ‘gold’ is definitely there, but you’re going to have to dig for it. Keep digging every day and you’ll hit pay-dirt soon and often!