Following up with an Internet Inquiry

One of the most essential elements of a successful internet department is to have a well defined follow up process.  How you handle and respond to leads when they come in to the dealership is crucial to the success of not only the department but also the dealership.

There are statistics out there that will say people spend on average 12+ hours shopping online for a vehicle prior to visiting the store.  Once they customer makes the transition from shopping online to going to the dealership, they visit, on average, less than 2 dealerships before making a purchase.  Drilling it down even more, most people will submit an internet inquiry prior to going to the dealership to either confirm availability or get a question answered prior to showing up to the dealership.

Even though the majority of the traffic for a store comes in through the internet very few stores actually put any thought into their internet process.  Recently I conducted a mystery shop on an auto group with 20 stores.  I submitted the leads at night so that I could fully test their follow up process (to see if they had auto responders set up).  I also tested all 20 stores to see if their process was uniform across the auto group.

Of the 20 stores, I got a response from only 19 of them.  I will note that I have seen instances where more than one store will share CRM access and two of the stores within the group are located at the same address.

Only 6 of the stores had an auto responder set up.  Only 1 store sent me a text message asking me to opt in to text.

With every lead that I submitted, I asked a question.  Only 11 of the 20 stores answered my question.

Only 2 of the stores provided a link back to the car that I actually inquired about.

The initial responses from the auto group were a failure.  Put yourself in the shoes of a shopper.  You’re looking online at vehicles.  Between dealership websites and 3rd party sites (such as cars.com, TrueCar, AutoTrader….) you have looked an hundreds of cars.  You selected a few to inquire about.  Within 10 minutes of leaving the site, you have already forgotten which car you were interested in. Forget about remembering the next morning. Failing to include something as simple as a picture or a link back to the actual car they inquired about sets the whole internet process up for failure.

The next biggest failure after that is not answering the question and instead trying to get me in the store.  Again, think in the mind of the consumer.  If they are willing to answer my questions when I submitted the lead then why would I have confidence that they will answer my questions when I show up at the store?

Less than half of the stores continued to try and attempt to follow up with me after the first day.  In fact, 5 of the stores didn’t even attempt any contact after day 1.

One store never called but instead only sent emails.  Another store only called me on day 2 and sent emails on all other days.

Only 12 of the stores attempted to call me during the next business day.  That’s 12 out of 20 stores that attempted to call; that’s 60%.  All of the leads included a phone number that enabled me to track who called.

As stated before, the problem with most dealerships is that they put very little thought into their process.  Yet, the internet is where the majority of the traffic to the store comes from.  The majority of the dealerships will use the standard follow up process that is set up in the CRM by the CRM company. Most of the people at the CRM companies have spent very little time actually handling internet leads.

There are 2 main parts to the internet follow up process.  The most important part is the phone call campaign; how many times and on what days are your internet reps supposed to attempt contact via phone.  The dealership has some level of control that they can exhibit over this part of the process.  They can schedule the phone calls all that they want, but if their people don’t actually make the calls, then scheduling them is worthless.

It’s the other part of the process, the email campaign, that the dealership has control over.  Not only can the dealership set the email tasks, but they can also set up templates that they want the reps to use.  Taking it one step further is the use of automation when it comes to email follow up. This relieves the dealership of having to rely on the rep to actually type up and or simply hit send on the email task.  The only part of the email campaign that shouldn’t be automated is the initial inquiry.  After that, the email campaign should be put on autopilot until there is a response.  After there has been a response, the automation should stop and a different follow up process should take over.

The goal of the follow up process should be to take the lead from submitting the inquiry, to setting an appointment, showing up to the dealership and then buying a vehicle.

I can tell you from the mystery shop of the auto group with 20 stores and mystery shopping numerous other stores, that most reps do not call or email after the first couple of days.  Over time this lack of follow up with cost thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of dollars in potential loss profit. Not to mention the thousands of dollars that the dealerships are spending per month in advertising expense.

To help mitigate these losses, the dealership needs to:

1. Establish their follow up processes
   1. Phone campaign
   2. Email campaign
2. With the exception of the first response, automate their email campaign
   1. Once a response is received, change to a different process
   2. Establish follow up processes for:
      1. Inquiry responses
      2. Appointments
      3. Appointments Missed
      4. Post Showroom
      5. Sold

Below is an outline for a sample follow up process that lasts for 60 days, with another 60 days of a drip campaign that is designed to convert the online shopper into a show room customer.

SAMPLE FOLLOW UP PROCESS

Internet Lead – No Contacted

1. 60 days of automated email follow up until contact made
2. Separate follow process for:
   1. Trade-In inquiries
   2. Finance Applications
   3. Standard Process
3. Salesperson reviews the lead and sends the appropriate initial response
   1. Insert pic that is hyperlinked on vehicle inquiries
4. Salesperson calls the lead until contact made
5. Text to have customer opt in for text messaging
6. Built in tasks for sales manager to verify that follow up is being done

Internet Lead – Contact Made

1. Salesperson required to email and call until appointment set
2. Tasks set up to have manager verify follow up being done

Appointment Set

1. Salesperson enters the appointment into the CRM
2. Email/Call tasks to confirm appointment

Appointment Missed

1. Missed appointment email when appointment missed
2. Email from manager when appointment missed
3. Phone tasks for 10 days to call customer and reschedule

Showroom Unsold

1. 10 days of post showroom follow up scheduled for salesperson to follow up
2. Email sent from sales manager find out what we need to do to put deal together

Long Term Follow Up

1. Email drip campaign and phone calls set up for days 60 – 120
2. Calls/Emails set up every 15 days

Links in emails – Provided dealership uses Google Analytics

1. Setup UTF codes on all links to track click thru to website from emails
2. Provide links to:
   1. New Cars
   2. Used Cars
   3. Trade Evaluation
   4. Credit Application

The Biggest Thief in Your Organization

This article was posted on LinkedIn Pulse by Jack Welch.  It talks about the biggest drains on an organization.  It touches one of the biggest problems that exists within companies; what do to with the superstars of “the good ‘ol days.”

The problem is, these people have gone way past their prime and are no longer in a position to do anything to move the needle of the organization.  The company, for whatever reason, feels bad about the need to let these people go.  So instead of letting them go, they continue to let these people stay at the company.  They take up valuable real estate within the organization and become the source of being a barrier of entry to the up and coming new employees with different ideas on how to help move the company forward.

They are a barrier of entry because over the years they have created ways to insulate themselves and become a “sacred cow.”  They have developed relationships with upper management and use those relationships to their advantage to run out the new superstars that become a threat to their (easy) way of life.

These sacred cows need to be slaughtered in order for the company to move forward and allow for the ushering in of the need regime that will push the company forward.

Below are the words of Jack Welch

————————————————————-

By Jack and Suzy Welch

Some employees literally steal from your organization, but they’re rare, and managing them is straightforward. A big, loud, public kick out the door.

By contrast, employees who steal your time and energy are much more typical, but for some reason – guilt, maybe? – they’re some of the hardest to deal with.

Let’s start with underperformers, team members whose work consistently puts them in the bottom 10 percent. By definition, differentiation would tell you that managers should spend very little time and energy on these folks except to ease their transition to other work; after all, the vast majority of a manager’s efforts should be devoted to hugging, supporting, and otherwise cheering on the company’s stars, its top 20-percenters, and advising and coaching its valuable middle 70.

Why does it almost never go that way? Instead, most managers find themselves in countless productivity-sucking meetings and sidebar conversations about underperformers. “Rick didn’t finish the spreadsheet again, and Sally had to stay up all night so we could have it for the clients. What are we going to do?” “Clare missed another deadline, but I don’t want to push her on it because she said she had a migraine.” “Ralph is killing everyone’s morale with his constant jokes about bankruptcy. Who’s going to shut him down?”  And it’s not just the conversations, either. The biggest energy drain with thieves can often be the effort it takes to push past their caveats and excuses, and goad them into doing the work in the first place.

Stepping back from almost any situation with an underperformer, it’s always easy to see the solution. They need to move on — sooner rather than later. Up close, however, organizations tend to draw out departures, as people fret about the employee’s emotional reaction to being let go. Often times, managers feel guilty about putting a friend out of work, or remorseful they didn’t give candid enough feedback along the way, or both. And so, they dawdle and delay. They meet with HR. They toss and turn at night.

We have a friend who’s the CEO of a family real estate development firm with about 300 employees. He told us he spent an entire summer trying to work up the nerve to fire a man we’ll call Harry, who had been with the company for 40 years, and was ensconced as head of special projects. Many considered this individual to be “the soul” of the company; he’d just been around for so long, and he loved to regale his colleagues with heroic stories about the early days, when it was just he and the CEO’s dad working out of a basement apartment. But the CEO and his top team knew the man hadn’t really done his job well for a decade.

“I cannot tell you how many meetings we had in the board room to discuss Harry,” our friend told us. “We worried what would happen to him when we told him. We worried how the organization would react. We talked and talked and talked, and no one could face into what we had to do. It was paralysis.”

Finally, after a summer of stalling, the CEO called Harry in and asked him to retire by Christmas. There would be a grand party and a generous severance. The door would always be open.

Much to the CEO’s surprise, Harry wasn’t surprised himself. He was grateful for the graceful exit. Even more surprising to the CEO was the organization’s response. Nothing short of jubilation. Yes, people liked Harry. They appreciated his contributions to the firm’s history. But everyone had done the calculus. His departure was long overdue.

“I cannot believe how much I was distracted and weighted down by Harry’s situation,” our friend told us. “As soon as he was gone, it was as if I suddenly had swaths of free time to pay attention to the business. I wish I’d done it five years ago.”

That’s our advice to you too, if this story sounds even vaguely familiar.

The most valuable resource you have as a manager is your attention. Invest it in top people and those with the potential to join their ranks.

The same recommendation goes for inveterate conflict-creators. You know the type we mean. The people who consider it part of their job – or their persona — to disagree with just about everything and everyone. Now, sometimes these individuals are very useful. They challenge the status quo; they hinder group-think. And oftentimes, they’re pretty good performers to boot. Indeed, they consider their results their shield. You can’t let me go. I’m too valuable.

Again, such employees tend to steal time and energy, and not just from their managers, from everyone, as meetings devolve into discussions of their objections or opinions. As a manager, you just cannot let this happen. Some conflict is good, but pushback should be coming from every member of the team. When it’s coming from just one to the point of distraction, it’s time to say goodbye. Keeping an inveterate conflict-creator on the team doesn’t make you a good, balanced manager. It makes you a robbery victim.

Jack Welch is Executive Chairman of the Jack Welch Management Institute. Through its online MBA program, the Jack Welch Management Institute transforms the lives of its students by providing them with the tools to become better leaders, build great teams, and help their organizations win.

Suzy Welch is co-author, with Jack Welch, of the Wall Street Journal and Washington Post best-seller The Real-Life MBA, from which this article is excerpted, and of the international best-seller Winning. 

Lessons Learned From a 2 Year Old

How to Get What you Want in Life

One of the many things that I love about Facebook is the Facebook Memories.  It always brings up some of the best things from the past that I posted.  In particular this little gem from when my daughter was 2 years old and we were out shopping…

…I picked up a t-shirt and said “Do you want a Mini Mouse shirt?”
With a big smile she stuck her arms out and said “Aubrey hold it.”
She took off running. When I caught up to her, she handed the shirt back to me.
She pointed and said “Aubrey sandals?”
I replied “No Mini-Me, you don’t need sandals.”
She pointed again, this time at my feet. She said “Daddy sandals” and smiled…

Posted by Scott Sarjeant on Thursday, March 13, 2014

Here’s the text from the post…

Yesterday after we got done eating lunch, I asked Mini-Me “What do you want yo do today? Do you want to go to the beach and see the ocean and play in the sand? Do you want to go to the park and go on the swings?”

She smiled and answered with just two words: “Aubrey shopping.”

She grabbed a hold of my finger and we walked across the parking lot to Old Navy.

Made our way to the kids section. Looked at a bunch of stuff.  I picked up a t-shirt and said “Do you want a Mini Mouse shirt?”

With a big smile she stuck her arms out and said “Aubrey hold it.”

She took off running. When I caught up to her, she handed the shirt back to me.

She pointed and said “Aubrey sandals?”

I replied “No Mini-Me, you don’t need sandals.”

She pointed again, this time at my feet. She said “Daddy sandals” and smiled.

How could I argue that one? I make a living in life from overcoming objections. When I objected to her having sandals, instead of giving up, she asked again.  But instead of directly asking, she justified her demand with logic: by saying “Daddy sandals” and pointing at my feet, she was saying “if Daddy has sandals, then Aubrey should have sandals too.”

The lesson here is: If you want something, then ask for it.  If you want it bad enough and they say no, ask again but justify your claim.

Everybody is somehow involved in selling.  It doesn’t matter if you’re a professional salesman or not.

You want someone to own your product… you have to sell them on the idea that you have the best product or service.

You want a raise… you have to sell your boss on the idea that you deserve one.

You want a pair of sandals… you have to sell dad on the fact that you deserve them.

I love this kid right to death. She’s gonna be a chip off the old block.

Follow me on Snapchat

Road to the Sale

Step 1: Qualifying the Customer

So many people try to short cut this step. It’s not just the new people to the business but also the “veterans.”  Shortcutting this step will either end up in no sale or very little gross.  Take your time here and it will save you time in the long run.  Most dealership management want to push some sort of cookie cutter Guest Sheet.  These are nice for people that are first starting out in the business as it helps to ensure that you ask all the right questions to help find the car that will best suit their needs.  That is, provided that you actually sit the customer down and do this part.  Personally, I like to take a fresh piece of paper and start taking notes about the customer’s must have options as well as like to have.  What are their hot buttons?  What is it that they are looking to get out of this new vehicle that would be different than the one they are currently driving?  This is important because you want to be able to put the customer on the least expensive vehicle that fits their needs, which comes in handy when it comes time to close the deal.  I always like to start with what they want first and then move to what they are trading in.  The key with the trade is to find out why they want to get rid of it.  Doing so will reveal their dominate buying motive and will direct you where to go with closing them on your product.

Step 2: Selecting the Vehicle

This is where you take control.  Using your expertise and knowledge of your product you select the vehicle that best suits what they have told you.  This was a hard thing for me at first.  I use to be hesitant about this. My biggest fear that I had to overcome was that I may select the wrong vehicle for them.  It wasn’t until I was able to get past this that I was able to truly start selling cars.  I had a sales manager name Scott Wilkinson that used to tell me that his favorite line was “let me show you what I would buy if I was you.”  It always seemed cheesy to me, but then I started using something similar.  Treat the customer like a million dollars.  Go get the car and bring it up to the door for them.

Step 3: Present

I will be the first to say that I am not a fan of a traditional walk around.  To me it is a waste of time.  You can give a killer traditional walk around that takes 20 minutes and you will bore the customer to death because the majority of the time they are only interested in a few features.  It was during the qualifying part where you should have figured out what the customers hot buttons were.  Use this time of presenting the vehicle to talk about and point out their hot buttons in regards to the car.  If the customer is interested in the technology of the vehicle, there really is no reason to show them the trunk and how much space they have.  If they are going to primarily be the only person in the car, there is no point in showing them the back seat; unless they had mentioned needing space for hauling stuff.

Step 4: Demo

Go drive the car.  Some people say that you need to drive off the lot so that you can maintain control.  To me this is garbage.  Have the customer do the driving.  It is going to be their car.  Help them to make adjustments to the mirrors, the seat, climate control….   get them comfortable and then have them drive.  Find a test drive route that will get them driving the car for at least 20 minutes.  I would never spend $40,000 or even $5,000 on a vehicle if I didn’t have a chance to actually drive the car like I normally would.  As you are pulling off the lot ask the customer “Do you do mostly highway or city driving?”  Whatever their answer is, then tailor the test drive to their driving habits.  It is also during the test drive that I build rapport.  Up to this point it is all business.  I don’t believe in having idle talk previous to the point as you haven’t earned that right.  The car sales process takes way too long and it is something that most people hate.  Cut the time down by getting to business up to this point.  While on the test drive, engage the customer about anything that is completely unrelated to the test drive.  Treat them like you friend.

As you come back from the test drive ask the customer a couple of trial closes.  Ask questions that you know you will get a yes to.  When you take into consideration the POS that they customer rode up in, then driving this new car is a huge difference.  So when you ask “you like the way the car drove, didn’t you?”  you know that you are going to get a “yes” answer.  Ask a couple more questions that you know you will get a yes to.  Then, instead of asking if they want to work out numbers, direct the customer to pull up in front of the door to the dealership.

“Mr/Mrs customer, pull up in front of the door.  I’m going to let you out there, park the car on the side and then meet you inside.”  Assume the sale.  People are sheep and they want to be led, so direct them on what to do.

Step 5: Trade Appraisal

Whatever form your company uses for a trade appraisal, make sure you COMPLETELY fill it out.  Other than qualifying the prospect, this is biggest builder of gross to your deal.  Fill everything out and then some.  Don’t ask when was the last time they replaced their tires, rather, how many miles.  People’s driving habits are a lot different. Some may drive 8,000 miles per year.  Or you may have a traveling salesman or a business owner that does 60,000 miles per year.  Ask about accidents.  Ask about any damage. Whatever it is that could possibly cause them to think that their vehicle isn’t worth what they think it is.

Step 6: CLOSE THE DEAL

Look, nothing happens until you close the deal.  You do not get paid to sell cars.  You do not get paid to hang out and make friends.  You do not get paid to show cars. You get paid to close.

No value has been brought to your customer until you are able to get them to ownership of your product.  Close them on your proposition and close them now.  Not tomorrow.  Not in a couple days. Close them now.

Have confidence in the close.  Be straight forward with the numbers.  If your store uses an ePencil “Mr/Mrs Customer, here’s some choices for initial investment and term.  Which options works best for you?”  Then wait for them to respond. Do not fidget.  Learn to remain calm and sit in silence.

Overcome their objections and close the deal. Just keep moving forward.  Have conviction.  Believe in yourself, your product and your offer.  Have the mindset that every time they say no, that you are going to ask one more time.

 

 

 

The Production Close

This is a little thing called the Production Close that I picked up from the man himself, Grant Cardone.  It’s used on a business owner, someone that is self employed or works in an environment when they are on commission for their pay.

So let’s say that you have a customer and they start complaining about the price of a product or the payment.  Remember, until we validate what the customer says, treat what they say as a complaint and not an objection.

So the customer says to me “Man, Scott.  That’s too much money.  I can’t afford that.”

I replied “Sir, let’s admit something.  It’s not about the money, it’s about your production.  At the end of the day it all comes down to your production and whether or not you can product enough to afford another $10,000.  That’s what, another $150 to $225 more in a payment.”

He immediately got defensive.  “What are you talking about.  I make more than enough money to afford that kind of payment.  $225 is nothing…”

At that moment I knew that I had him.  He went from telling me that it was too much money to telling me that he could afford it and that the payment wouldn’t be an issue.

“Exactly Sir.  So what are you complaining for?  Besides, you’re gonna write this off anyways.  So let’s just get this done so that you can get on to more important things in life such as what is going on at the job site so that you can earn the money to afford it.”

“I’m not worried about the payments”

“Sir, then what are we waiting for?  Let’s roll.”

—————–

You see, this guy wasn’t objecting to the price or the payment.  He was just simply trying to stall his buying decision.  He came in to spend a certain amount of money and had that number set in his mind.  Once I called him out on the price complaint he started justifying it to me about how he could afford it. Really, he wasn’t justifying it to me, but verbally out loud to himself.

Think about things in your own life.  How many times have you looked at the price of something and either said to yourself or out loud “that’s too much…” and then you end up buying it anyways?

Quit playing into the stories that people tell you.

 

Scott Sarjeant
c. 503-473-6361

I Want You To Buy From Scott Sarjeant

 

You want me to be successful….

 

I was watching the above clip from Grant Cardone on his Facebook with him doing some cold calling.  I decided to implement what he was saying into a phone call.

Had a customer that lived 3 hours away. He had been grinding me about his trade.  Telling me that he wanted $17,000 for it but the best anybody would offer him was $13,500.

I got my boss to give me a sight unseen number on his trade and then I made the call…

“John, it’s Scott.  How is your day going?”

“Good”

“John, do you want me to be successful?”

“Oh yeah.  I’ve dreamed my whole life of making sure you would be succeasful” he said jokingly.

“Good.  And you want to buy this truck, don’t you?”

“Well yeah.  It’s a real nice truck.  Looking at the CarFax you can tell the previous owner was real analysis about it.  He rotated the tires every time he changed the oil, which was done every 3,000 miles.”  (Who’s closing who here on the truck?!?)

“Ok.  So our price is $31,995.  We’re giving you $15,000 for your truck.  After taxes and fees, you write me a check for $18,500 and it’s all yours.  What time can you get here?”

“Ok. I’ll tell my wife.  We’re 3 hours away.  It will be at least 4 hours before we can get there.”

“Perfect.  I’ll have the truck ready for you when you get here.”
When I asked if he wanted to buy the truck, he started selling me on the truck.  It’s at this point that you have to recognize that the buyer has taken mental ownership of the truck.  Deliver the figures with confidence and then ask for the appointment to come in and wrap things up.  Same line of questions can be asked in person.

 

Scott Sarjeant
c. 503-473-6361

A Day in the Life of a Car Salesman

“Top salespeople tend to be loaners… it simply means they are selective about the people with whom they spend time… they either spend time by themselves or with those people whose company is valuable and worthwhile to them.”

-Brian Tracy

The Art of Closing the Sale pg 40

I’ve seen and heard this multiple times in my life from numerous people.  In their book, ‘The Challenger,’ by Dixon and Adamson, they talk about their concept of “The Lone Wolf.” (pg 28 and 171).  I’ve also heard numerous sales managers talk about this when they mention to “stay away from the crap out crowd.”  I’ve heard Grant Cardone and Tony Robbins touch on it.  Grant Cardone has his “No Negativity Allowed” mentality.

Essentially what they are getting at is that no matter where you go or what you do, there will always be that group of people who are talking about how bad life is and how much business sucks. These people, with their negative mentality, will ultimately put someone else in a negative state of mind; sometimes they will be intentional in their actions simply to throw another sales rep off of their game.  The idea being that, say in the car business, if I crap you out and get you all negative, then you won’t be aggressive and try to take the next up.  Your lack of action when that customer pulls up, even the slightest amount of hesitation, no matter how slight it is, opens up that opportunity to give me a crack at that customer, enabling me the opportunity to make money.  I’ve seen it before with my own actions and I’m sure that anybody who has been in the car business for more than a week has as well. 

You just had a bad experience with a customer; you just faced rejection three times in a row; you just walked out to the farthest region of the lot to go greet a customer and once you get close they jump in their car and speed off; you just spent three hours with a set of customers on a busy Saturday when everybody else is selling cars and you are left in the dust watching the wrong set of taillights drive off from the lot.  AND NOW YOU FEEL LIKE CRAP!  All you can think of is finding a place to hide so that you can avoid the next customer and who may bring about yet another rejection.  You’re all negative and crapped out because you didn’t make the sale.

 The same principle applies when you allow the other salespeople to have free rent in your head.  Maybe you didn’t get all crapped out by the fact that you didn’t make the sale.  Instead of going to hide in the corner, you internally pump yourself up with the thinking of Thomas Edison who said “I didn’t fail, I was successful at finding another way not to close a deal,” or something along those lines.  You put a positive spin on things and get back out front to get the next one only to be confronted by the crap out crowd.  Ya know, that crowd standing around talking about how bad life is and how bad business sucks…

They start hurling questions at you “what happened? Where did your people go?  I thought you were gonna close them.  How far off were you?  Man, you were only off by $80 a month in a payment?  That’s an easy bump, I could have done that.  Did you say this or that?  Why didn’t you show them this instead…..”  The barrage is nonstop and what little amount of confidence you had after your customers took off is now gone. 

The people who ask these questions are the ones who are at the bottom of the totem pole on the sales force of your organization.  Your top performers don’t ask these questions because they are too busy selling and getting clients happily involved with the product to waste their time paying attention to what everybody else is doing.  What is typical to see from the top performers is them talking at the end of the day about some objection that they encountered during the day and how they overcome that objection or asking others how they have closed a deal in a similar situation.  This huddle that you see from the top performers is completely different than the one you see from the crap out crowd.  Whereas the top performers are trying to build each other up, the crap out crowd is trying to tear each other down. 

The crap out crowd is a cancerous group that needs to be removed from the organization or at the very least you need to remove yourself from this group in order to succeed.  The herd mentality of the crap out crowd is to bring everybody else down to their level.  They live in fear of top performers because aggressive salespeople make their paycheck/livelihood an endangered species.  This is just a distorted sense of reality as any top performer who is worth their weight will raise up everyone else’s level of output as the top performers create healthy competition.  Their desire, dedication and discipline to be the best is contagious.   It rubs off on everyone else.  Salespeople are A-Type personalities by nature and are extremely competitive.  All top performers seek to dominate everyone else on the sales force.  The synergy of their competitiveness pushes and moves everyone else forward as they are all putting forward maximal effort to be the very best.  If by some chance you are able to beat them, then you best be on your toes the following sales cycle because they are coming at you even stronger.

Salespeople are like a group of pigeons.  For the majority of the time they will live amongst each other in harmony until it is feeding time and then watch out.  They will scratch at, claw and peck each other to death to get that next customer.  Protect your neck and watch your back.  Become mentally tough and have thick skin.  Forget about the bills you have to pay and the lack of money you have yet to make this month.  Forget about the people who tell you that you’ll never make it and the ones who tell you that you should get a real job.  Forget about the craziness that is going on in your personal life.  Forget about the past 3 customers who have given you the cold shoulder. Forget about the past 2 customers who drove off when you walked out to their car on the lot to greet them.  Forget about the sales managers that are on your case about your lack of production for the month.  For about the sales manager who just asked you if “you’re still on vacation” or calling you “part-time” because you haven’t sold anything in a couple days.  Forget about the crap out crowd telling you how bad life is and how much business sucks.  Forget about the fact that it is 14:00, you’re starving because you got up late, didn’t eat breakfast and all you have had to eat all day was half a pop-tart out of the vending machine because earlier when you had a free second to eat you’re appointment decided to show up 2hrs early. 

Forget about it all because another customer just pulled onto the lot.  The majority of the sales force is hiding, a few are attempting to sell and you’re the only one out there. 

Put on a warm, plastic smile. 

Muster up what confidence you can and put your blinders on. 

It’s showtime.

These people just strolled into your house and they want to talk about how they are just looking. 

Yeah right. 

You’re just looking and I’m a fucking tour guide at Disneyland. 

Here, lemme show you what I would buy if I was you…