16 Really Good Ways To Sell More Cars Today!

The perfect storm rages on and it has wreaked havoc in the auto industry. By that I mean there are dealers going out of business because they couldn’t withstand the storm’s destructive behavior.

This perfect storm is nasty and doesn’t care who is in its path. The storm is huge and encompasses the globe. It was created by the morons of the mortgage industry; OPEC and speculators trying to control the world’s fuel prices; subprime becoming “subcrime;” the election and how the candidates focus on beating up each other instead of beating up the issues; the Big Three now down to Mini Me and my Two Buddies; banks that won’t lend money; and the list goes on. Yawn! After a while, don’t you just get fed up hearing negative news?

What about you? What’s happening at your dealership? Are your sales going down like the Titanic? Do you need a lifeline or a bailout yet? Do you need to call a friend? Well the good news is that you have this magazine and its great experts to help you navigate the storm.

Don’t worry, because worry won’t make you live longer. As a matter of fact, I used to worry a lot. I then found somebody to worry for me. I pay this person $10,000 a month to worry for me. I told my friend about it and he and thought I was crazy. He almost blew his top. He said how can you afford to pay somebody $10K a month to worry for you. I said that’s not my problem. The guy I hired has to worry about that! Life is really about attitude isn’t it? It’s how you look at it. It’s like the half full, half empty glass. I say the glass is full, half water and half air.

If you’ve read this magazine, you are aware of how cutting expenses, trimming fat, firing people, downsizing our staff and inventory is to your survival. Those are a no brainer.

What you cannot afford to do is to lose sight of your objectives. Sure, business is unpredictable, but people still need to buy cars, people still expect great service, people still need to be treated with respect, people still need to rebuild their credit, people are still looking for a good deal. You just can’t sit back and way for the Up Bus to come buy anymore. You might need to go fishing for new business. If the fish aren’t biting, move.

If you’ve focused on cutting expenses and have overhead in place, here’s list of great ideas to boost sales. Have at ’em!

1. Have a dedicated salesperson work your service drive at the busiest times of the day.

2. Call all broken or dead deals to find out if their situation has changed or improved.

3. Pump up the entire team everyday by having a five-minute get fired up meeting.

4. Turn off the TV at work and get rid of any negative news.

5. Review all department’s goals and objectives

6. Get out of the dealership and go fishing. Where are the fish? They are at the mall, shopping places, car washes, insurance agencies, body shops, credit unions, banks, large companies or factories by you, fairs, games, local hangouts, friends, places you spend money, your service drive, any parts customers, your data base, places you live, community events, local colleges, sports complexes, apartments, gas stations. If you don’t go looking, they won’t come looking either.

7. Have salespeople make 10 calls a day, just to update records and most likely they will fall into a deal or two.

8. Why not have a youth-oriented car wash at your dealership. Call the local high school and set it up, and then have your salespeople call your sold customers to have them come by for a free wash. So it costs you about $500.00, what a cheap way to bring in Ups.

9. Have a customer appreciation day, get the ’ol barbeque out, free hot dogs, Bumble the clown and so on. No one gets a hot dog without filling out the contact card!

10. Call every customer that wouldn’t buy a gas guzzler 14 weeks ago, when gas was about $4 a gallon, since in many places it’s much closer to $2. Get ready to sell more SUV’s and trucks. Don’t load up the lot, but keep some clean, great value units on the frontline.

11. Call all your banks and credit unions and send them a pizza or two and keep that relationship open and nurture it.

12. Don’t forget to keep training your sales team. If you fail to train, you train to fail.

13. Don’t be afraid to ask for help. Bringing in an outside consultant or trainer won’t kill your bottom line. Pick up the phone, move your pride and ego aside.

14. Do 100 percent write up and demo, no matter what the customer says or does! Today, a dumb offer is better then no offer.

15. Make dumb deals only because you need to. I was in-house last week at a mega dealer. The desk manager walked a $2,000 front and back deal on a $10,000 used iron, glass and rubber vehicle. I asked them why they walked it. They told me they weren’t making enough gross, yet when I checked their front and back gross, it was right in line with their numbers.

16. Beat the word “worry” with activities, effort, attitude and energy. Understand closing ratios are heading down, only because lenders are tightening it up. Most successful dealers would tell you, to put your head down and keep driving forward. Not a bad suggestion.

I could go on and on, but the editor tells me I have to keep it pithy. I just did a Chrysler new car Twenty Group in October and let me tell you, these guys were focused, concerned and worried, but had the optimism of winners not whiners. Yes numbers were down but not their attitudes. I was more than surprised at how many people were in attendance. The room was full of dealers looking for solid action plans. If you aren’t in a Twenty Group, get in one. If you are in a Twenty Group and are going to quit because money’s tight, quit something else. If you are in a Twenty Group and think business is so tough I cant afford to go to my meeting, go anyway. You will never “grow” wrong in a Twenty. You will never “grow” wrong by improving your people. Let me rack it with a Winston Churchill quote from ol days, “Winning is maintaining our enthusiasm while we are losing.” And, Never give up, let up, shut up, until you go up! — George Dans