You have to love car salespersons. They try very hard at a very hard job. What's unfortunate is many of them get little, no, or even worse bad direction from their sales managers. A very good friend of mine is general manager at a luxury car dealership. He doesn't hire salespeople from other car dealerships because of all the bad habits they learn selling Fords, GMs, Toyotas, Nissans and Kias.
This has nothing to do with the caliber of the person selling those cars, their social status, intelligence or education. So don't go off on the "this guy is an elitist" line of crap with me. That isn't it. My friend has successful salespeople from all walks of life working for him. The reason he doesn't hire people who sell other cars is because sales "managers" ruin most of them.
The term "manager" should be used loosely. Most of them shouldn't be managing anyone. If you want some evidence, sit through a few cold calls from car salesmen. Because I have an older car that will need replacing soon, I get quite a few calls from the dealership that services it. Apparently none of the new salespeople know that the last guy who got horrible sales advice and didn't make it called me a few weeks prior.
There are two basic call shams: The "we're looking for older cars for trade just like yours" and the "I just wanted to call to answer any questions." Who thinks up this crap? Sales managers! So when the salesman told me they were looking for cars just like mine, I replied: "Come on, dude! Like people are dying to buy eight-year old Expeditions with dings and soda stains. Your sales manager needs to come up with a better script. The guy agreed his script sucked.
So did the next guy who called wanting to "answer any questions." Questions? About what? Meaning of Life?
If you're a salesperson, throw away any scripts your sales managers have created for you. Chances are they suck. Why not try something revolutionary instead like...HONESTY! What if a salesperson said this:
"Hi, I'm calling because your car is old. As you know we have lots of new cars. And since you've had a Ford for forever, I figure you are broke or really like Ford products. If you aren't broke maybe you would like to check out some of the cool new models. Heck, we even have some kick butt pre-owned Navigators if you want to step up. All you'll get from me is a smile and your favorite Starbucks. How does tomorrow morning look?"
Once I picked myself up off the floor for hearing a bull shit free cold call, I'd tell the salesperson, "Grande Americano no room, see you tomorrow." What about you?
Really great article!
Posted by: Olirh | 06/24/2010 at 03:19 PM
Thanks so much, man! I appreciate you reading it.
Posted by: You Sell Like a Second Grader | 06/27/2010 at 07:57 PM
I was a saleswoman at our local Chevy dealership and the Manager used to pull me out to the lot and role-play like he was a customer and would make me practice the script over and over. It was awful!! I hated using and almost never did but did occassionally found it coming up and working. But 99.8% of the time it was totally useless. Great article! Wish this would be put in the Sales Manager's handbook!
Posted by: Cara Barnes | 06/22/2012 at 10:28 AM
Yeah, that is a clueless sales manager. Rather than teach you applicable skills, he thinks making you memorize will work. It really doesn't. Research proves it! My book is just about done and there's a chapter all about this. If you would like a copy just email me your address at [email protected]
Posted by: You Sell Like a Second Grader | 06/22/2012 at 03:03 PM