The Only UPS on the Lot is Big Brown

Too often you hear the most misused statement in the car biz: “We don’t have enough traffic coming in.” You can bet on that one. Why are the customers not coming in like they used to? Yes, that credit criminal who has stolen about 100-150 points off of most customers FICO score is nasty, isn’t it? Banks are scared to loan money, and the rest of why ups don’t come in is easy to figure out. They aren’t coming in because most dealers have a progressive ongoing follow up and marketing program in place.

Most dealerships have their head in the sand. SAND means Stand Around Not Doing. If dealerships did more doing than more talking, then more would get done. It’s pretty simple when you get down to it as the car business is not a scientific project that only NASA can figure out. Oh, NASA stands for No Action Standing Around. People are still buying cars, but the old way of standing around and killing time has gone. I once heard a speaker say that if you are standing around killing time, you should be arrested for murder.

Yet most dealerships wait and wait for the UPS bus to come by. It does but its Big Brown that stops by. It gets really funny now, the FNG, which stands for Fabulous New Guy or Gal says, look, look, the ups bus is here!, then the old guy speaks up, slow down FNG, that’s not the ups bus dropping off customers to buy today! That old guy should be called FOG, Friggin Old Guy. In a world where attitude is everything today, we can’t allow the “negaholics” to steal away our enthusiasm or our positive mental attitude.

Why don’t you or your dealership quit your day job and become a bus driver and get behind the wheel and drive the ups bus to your dealership? You simply can’t wait for times or things to get better. You have to make them better and do what nobody else wants to really do. WORK. If you have been in the auto biz for years, then I know when I ask you this question you will answer yes.

Question: Is there a problem getting salespeople to do follow up?

Answer: ______ .

As a dealer or manager, how long can you wait it out for your team to do follow up? I can assure you that you are losing sales by the day because they won’t, can’t, ain’t and never do it.

I don’t understand this at all. You can’t let your salespeople sell you on not doing their job. I bet there are 10-15 sales a month sitting in your database right now waiting for a friendly salesperson or CRM person to call them. Strange that salespeople think that follow up is like going to the woodshed to get punished. You have to understand that when a sale is made, that is the beginning of the next sale. It’s a cycle that can’t be stopped and when the cycle stops, that’s when you become a victim of the market.

Solutions to bringing the UPS Bus back to our dealership.

1. Get your database printed out.

2. Assign sold customers to each salesperson respectively.

3. Have salespeople call at least 10 sold customers a day.

4. Do the same for service customers if applicable.

5. When you have service customers in, do a pre-appraisal for them and show them on a worksheet how they can

buy a new car today.

6. Assign a salesperson to work your service drive during drop off or pick up times.

7. Buyers seemingly go to the mall so why not figure out how to set up a small kiosk at the mall. Dress your team up, print a brochure, bring business cards, have a small contest, collect as many names and numbers as you can and follow up accordingly.

8. Use my easy to get referral script when calling sold or unsold prospects — email me at george@georgedans.com and I will send it to you. I guarantee you, that you will get more referrals by using my script

9. Know that the ups bus sometimes is out of gas, so that means that your customer is staying home and using the power of the click. The Google monster is dominating the world when people need answers. Please go to Google and type in-house dealership sales training. You will see George Dans at the top of Google search results. If you aren’t near or at the top of Google, then you are missing the bus big time. I can show you how to get there and yes its affordable.

10. Become a TEAM oriented dealership - The word TEAM means, Target Every Available Market.

That means, move your boat, or change bus stops, get a transfer and target where your prospects are. Businesses still need trucks — carpenters, plumbers, service businesses, trades, insurance companies, body shops, turned down loans from new car dealership, credit unions, auto trader magazines, newspaper used cars for sale. Call them and find out why they are selling their vehicle.

The auto business is inconsistently consistent. The old way of doing business is as dead as the Wicked Witch of the West. The world is forcing everyone to change, those that react the fastest will be those that achieve the greatest rewards.