Stories from the Sales Frontlines

greanpea68

There's very few that I've worked with that were actually people persons and could talk and motivate anyone.

I had to laugh at that because I know exactly what you are talking about. It is amazing some of the sales managers I have seen. I have had some that got in management because they were friends with the right person. But they couldn't close a screen door. They would be doing a "TO" and even I would be sitting there listening and cringing wondering what they were talking about :sick:

The policy here at my group is you first go to JM&A than you substitute at any of our 15 dealers here when a F&I person is off. Once you do that for awhile and permanent position opens at a store you work there. Once you have done F&I for a while you can than move up to sales manager.

I have to say I am having a real good day today sold two new cars. Both loses had to steal them from competing dealers. And a $3000 front end on a used car.

GP

"Buying, Selling .... Selling, Buying"

mackabee

Great job! I sold three on Saturday but haven't delivered one yet. A limited Hybrid Highlander that I have to get from Wva which is about 500 miles away. The store doesn't want anything back so we are sending a couple of drivers to go up there and back. The guy we normally use to flat bed a car has his rig down. So we are sending two guys out there. Hopefully tomorrow so I can deliver it this week. I called the customer and told him about the mileage and he was ok with it. I would have hated to ask him for $800.00 to have the thing flat bedded in.
I got a two car deal going with the parents of one of our employees so these will be mini deals but that's ok. One is a Prius which I'll deliver tomorrow and the other one won't be here until April Couldn't get the color combo she wants as no one has it. Luckily for me we have the exact same car allocated to us but won't be built until 31 march.
Mack :shades:

mackabee

Back to the management thing, I knew you would know exactly what I was talking about. I hate to TO any of my customers as our manager's way of closing a customer is to drop their shorts (drop the price of the car) LOL! :lemon:
My mentor Marshall Upright was the best manager I've worked for. He would come in on a TO and justify to the customer the price we were asking for the car. He would do it in a way that he would put the customer at ease and talk about everything but the car, then when the time was right he would ask for the sale all without giving up the gross. Once in a while it was 50-100 that was holding up the deal but we would do it. I learned a lot from him. My first real month in the car biz was due to him. The first three months I was struggling, I got the old "go out there and sell a car" training and was just about to quit when Marshall came to work for us.
He sat down with me and asked about my family, how I liked the job, how many cars I had sold, etc.,etc, Then he did what no one else has done, he put a blank piece of paper in front of me and made a calendar. He then showed me how many working days in the month, off days and store closed days. Then he asked me how many cars did I want to sell a month. Of course I responded with "as many as I can!" to which he replied: "the average car salesman in the US sells 8 cars a month." so I responded "I don't consider myself average, everything I do is 110%" then he asked me "Give me a number." so I told him 12-15 I thought would be good. So he proceeded to tell me and show me what I had to do to sell 12-15 cars per month. I had to talk to at least 4 people per day. He's also the one that told me never to be ashamed of what I did. "As long as you treat customers with dignity and respect, don't lie, cheat or steal, you will be fine and have a loyal following." then he put me on the money. "Now this is what I want you to do. Any customer you demo a car to and write up, don't let them go until I talk to them. And when I'm talking to them don't say a word just take mental notes." So that was the plan of attack.
The next month every thing I touched turned to gold! I sold 21 cars, was salesman of the month and I was on cloud nine. After that month he asked me if I had the hang of it. "Yeah, I think I got it." and as they say, the rest is history.!
Mack :shades:

greanpea68

This was a great story Mack... Sometimes all we talk about is the story with the customers but it is good to hear about our experience with in the business

TO any of my customers as our manager's way of closing a customer is to drop their shorts (drop the price of the car) LOL!

And sometimes that is the only thing you can do to get a sale :sick:

I can't stand that either but you know what really burns me is when you get a manager who comes in on a TO and is weak as Puppy sh%t. After a couple of pencils with no commitments and the TO guy has come over and justs sits there and instead of trying to get a commitment or try and bump the guy from a low offer just says " OK.. I understand you need to think it over" I think the point I am trying to make is I always expect my TO mangrs to be better than me. Real closers.

Another thing I believe about TO managers is that customers expect to talk to a manager. Like the customer see's the manager as a "authority figure" and just because he says that is the best deal the customer believes it. Ya know what I mean?

My mentor Marshall Upright was the best manager I've worked for. He would come in on a TO and justify to the customer the price we were asking for the car. He would do it in a way that he would put the customer at ease and talk about everything but the car, then when the time was right he would ask for the sale all without giving up the gross.

Don't you just love managers that can "put people together"...

I had to talk to at least 4 people per day.

So true !!! When ever I am in rut. I go back to that same mentality. It is just bound to happen on a matter of averages. Also helps to work in a store that gets that many ups !!!

the rest is history.!

My first car deal was on a used car. It was a 3 pounder. The next day when the guys explained that I made $600 on that one deal. I was hooked. I couldn't believe that kind of money was possible :surprise:

" keep taking ups !!! "

GP

cotmc

Sounds like white folks trying to keep up with the Joneses.

That is essentially correct, but I think they were attempting to go beyond "the Joneses" to set a brand new standard for the neighborhood!

From my perspective, it's a simple case of financial immaturity. They earned some financial windfall by selling a small California condo near the peak of the housing boom, but they quickly turned around and spent it on fancy vehicles and some fancy home upgrades. That windfall might have led them to believe they could live the life of someone earning >$200K/year, while they actually earned ~$50K/year. Reality hit them pretty hard soon after they moved in and started paying all the bills.

kiawah

What is "TO"

joel0622

"TO"= Turn Over. As in turn your customer over to another person to try to close the sale..

Not to be confused with the "Flying TO" which is when a sales person snags you up as you walk across the show room or dumps a customer in your office to try to close them when you have no idea what is going on or what has been said.

Or the "Flushing TO" which is when you have to go in a very polite way tell a customer that refuses to leave that we are unable to help them.

jescue

TO + Turn Over. When you cannot close someone yourself you may ask for someone else to take a "turn" for you. Sometimes they will uncover an obstacle you have missed. Sometimes it is the impression of a manager who can get something done that a salesperson cannot. It can also be that you just did not click with that person and a different face can help. In some stores a TO is mandatory, in others it is up to the salespersons judgement.

jescue

You beat me to it Forgot about the flying TO. I hate them and they never work.

british_rover

We used to have this guy who would do flying TOs all the time. He would talk to the guy for 45 minutes or so not fill anyone else into what was happening then just walk into a managers office with the guy in tow.

jescue

Thats always a big hit with the finance / sales manager. :mad:

cotmc

I thought a "flying TO" was another self-appointed nickname for a certain receiver who now plays for the Dallas Cowboys.

carhag2000

Or the "Flushing TO" which is when you have to go in a very polite way tell a customer that refuses to leave that we are unable to help them.

I live/work in Southeast Ohio, and to say that this area is " economically depressed" is an under statement. I have never heard of a flushing TO. Hilarious!

greanpea68

That is funny i have never heard or used those terms but they make sense.

The best "TO" guy I had ever had would like to go into a TO not knowing anything except that they were there to buy a car. When ever I would try and give information about the deal and why they weren't buying today. He would tell me he did not want to know anything because all it would do is "Rat" him out ( Rat means to put negative thoughts in ones head ).

It made sense to me and even today when I do a TO for another sales person I don't want to know anything either. All I want to know is if the customer drove the vehicle !!!

If you want to see a manager get mad at a sales person. Go to dealership have the sales person show you the vehicle. Spend some time doing this. Go in to work numbers. Tell the sales person you are not ready to buy. He will go get his manager. After the manager has worked some numbers with you, watch his face and tell him " well I don't know if I want to buy this car... I haven't even driven it yet !? " The sales person should be a little uncomfortable because he knows he is going to hear it when you leave and the manager will be :mad:

I am cracking myself up just thinking about that situation :P

Anyway hope everyone has a great day! :shades:

GP

greanpea68

For starters Nissan doesn't do spins anymore. Maybe 1 or 2 vehicles a year if they need to move those vehicles. Ones that come to mind is Quests and v8 pathfinders They ussualy did flats like $150.

Joel...

Correct me if i am wrong but from whtaI understand Ford does a lot of spins on there cars that can be any where from 50 -$500... And from i what i hear Ford seems to do spins every month?

Isell...

Honda I believe give a salesperson a credit card and when they win spin money it gets added to the credit card. I had a friend that works for Honda for 15 years and 2 years ago he said he had a balance of about $40,000... He was also the kind of person would really butter up his toast if you know what I mean.

Mack...

I have 4 toyota stores in my group and i have no idea what they do.

Moo...

Does Porsche do anything...

Now I know this could be a lttle funny answering these questions with so many consumers reading these boards. I know the next thing they say when they are buying a car is " Well I heard you are going to get another $200 in spin money and I want that discounted from the price of the car too!"

I would have to assume that Jaguar does something.

I know Kia pays unit money every month.

Jsut curious...

When I started 5 years ago Nissan used to have a lot spins. But now all they do is if the dealer hits objective they give retro money to the dealer. But the individual sales person.

GP

oldfarmer50

When I purchased my latest car I was TO'ed to the owner who proceeded to try to close me buy lying about at least one piece of information. I decided to overlook this because it was not a critical point.

I have to wonder, have you guys ever turned a customer over to a manager who then proceeded to totally blow a deal which was almost done?

mackabee

Spins have gone from slim to none with Toyota. I guess they figure they don't need incentives for the sales folks to move the product. I think they are getting a bit too arrogant. We used to get checks in the mail but they went to a debit/credit card type and any spins you earn are deposited in the card. You can withdraw cash or use it like a credit card. I miss the good old days. In 1997 December, I sold 17 Camrys and there were $100.00 dollar spins on Camrys. When I got my checks I went to JC Penneys and bought me a black suit. I used to call it my Camry suit.!
:shades:

greanpea68

I used to call it my Camry suit.!

Thsnks Mack. Ididn't think Toyo did anything. But they do the crditit card thing.

gP

british_rover

Land Rover used to do lots of spins. Back in 2006 I had a couple of months were I was getting 500-1500 spins on every new car I sold and in years before that they would have spins at the end of the year of a few hundred a car for LR3s/Discos.

In 2007 they hardly did any spins at all and they were small only a 150 bucks or so. In 2008 they haven't done any spins yet at all.

jescue

My father was a Jeep salesperson in 1998. There were spin checks on every Jeep then and he did not tell my mother about the money. All of this was great until she went to the mailbox in January and got his 1099 from Chrysler. :surprise:

greanpea68

All of this was great until she went to the mailbox in January and got his 1099 from Chrysler.

Now that is funny :P

gP

madmanmoo

When I first started at Porsche, they had a "spin" program going. Sell a specific vehicle and get points towards purchases of ANYTHING on an online site. (That site turned out to be a cloaked Amazon.)

You got 40,000 points for every sale. 40,000 points equalled roughly $200. It was a 3 month running contest and then they doubled the point reward for December sales.

That was definitely one of the coolest spin programs I've ever been involved in. I got all kinds of gifts for the family and for myself. Speaking of which, I've still got about 76,000 points to spend!

-moo

peetert

I had this happen to me about 5 years ago. I was looking at an Audi A4 Avant at Toyota dealership they had for decent price. I test drove it on a Thursday night, but at the time I was still looking at other makes as well and told the salesman this upfront so we really didn't go into neogotiations. Come Saturday morning, I see the car listed at a blow out price in the paper. I called the dealership as soon as the opened and told my salesman I saw the ad and was coming w/ my wife to close the deal as soon as I could get a sitter here. Aftger a final test drive, we wrote up the paperwork for the ad price. I had them appraise my trade and they TO'd me to the mgr who told me they could not sell me the car for that price. I showed him the ad and told him I asked the salesman about the ad price. As I left I told the salesman his boss just cost him the sale. We went to a Volvo dealer a few days later and bought the S70 I still drive. The same Ad ran fro 3 more weeks.

Looking back, they probably didn't want my trade, but neither did the Volvo dealership. At leas there, the salesman suggested I sell it myself. I did for about 2k more than they offered.

micosilver

Audi does spins on some cars every now and then, but VW is actually better - now there is a spin on every model, $50 minimum, plus after one year with the same dealer you get loyalty rewards - I just got $500 loaded on my card for not blowing up one more month...

micosilver

The old school tactic with ad cars: if you sell one - you are leaving the dealership with it, meaning they are not for sale, and you are supposed to put a customer on another car and "bump" him to get profit.

greanpea68

That was definitely one of the coolest spin programs I've ever been involved in. I got all kinds of gifts for the family and for myself. Speaking of which, I've still got about 76,000 points to spend!

Wow that is pretty cool. How many points would you need for a Porsche polo shirt?

GP

joel0622

We run hot and cold on the spins. Right now we have $75 to $500 on the Focus and double spins $150-$1000 on E150 vans.

Back in the day we would have spins on it seemed like every thing except F-Series trucks. Some months I would pocket $1500 + just on spin checks. But like some one said earlier they are great until the 1099 comes.

The 1099's are even worse (as Moo will soon find out ) on merchandise. Your 1099's are based off of full retail value not the reduced price you are buying it for. So if you buy a $400 item that retails for $800 your 1099 is for $800.

I bought about $600 worth of merchandise off of site I earn points on through a bank and got a 1099 for $1350

greanpea68

I bought about $600 worth of merchandise off of site I earn points on through a bank and got a 1099 for $1350

Ouch :sick:

I assume that is just for you ( meaning F&I ) since it is through a bank. Sales people don't recieve that. They just get spins.

We run hot and cold on the spins

Back in 2003 Nissan had some spins $50 -$500. I never once hit $500. Ussualy $75 and $100. The most I ever recieved was a $300 spin.

GP

greanpea68

I wonder what Deskman gets for Spins. I would wager he recieves more spiffs than spins !

Just messing with you DMan. I thought you would be able to add some more to the domestic side of spins. :surprise:

GP

danf1

We must have the same bank. I got hit for over $1500 last year for much less than $1000 in "free" stuff.

dhamilton

Audi's doing $200.00 spins on any A4, A6, Q7 for the month of March. I made a lot of money on spins in December.

I haven't sold a thing yet this month. My spin Visa may be my meal ticket this month :sick: :sick:

jescue

I did not know that...I sold a Q7 so I get a spin?

snakeweasel

You can go to White Castle and each can get their own hamburger.

mackabee

Don't feel bad, no one is really burning up the board here either.
Mack

explorerx4

got my internet quote on the car i am interested in. going in to test drive, talk tradein and financing tomorrow.
there are 3 of the exact same new 07's on this lot.
btw, i have bought 'my' cars from the same dealership for the last 20 years.
the last one, 4 years ago, left a bad impression, so i did not feel bad shopping elsewhere.

mackabee

What is it? an Exploder?

Mack

stickguy

dumb layman's question. Is "spin" just a nickname for a bonus for selling a particular car? Or is it literlly you get to spin a prize wheel? I swear I remember hearing about that someplace...

joel0622

Years ago Ford had a phone number you would call and they would tell you what your spin was, some sort of random generator, now the sales manager does it on line.

We have always guessed that the amount is predetermined based off the VIN.

snakeweasel

Maybe its this

explorerx4

no way i am giving up the exploder! last week it saved me over $1000 in damage with my newly permitted driver at the wheel. all four wheels over the curb off the road. i had to reach over and shut it off.
looking at a fusion sel awd. i bought the focus 4 years ago with the idea that the kids would drive it, but they won't get near it. we walked away from a collision with a wrong way driver on I-95 back when i had my expedition, so i understand their reluctance to drive a small car. i'm still ok with it, but the kids have gotten a lot bigger and i need more passenger room. not only that, since i can't drive the explorer in the winter anymore, i still want at least awd and some gadgets.

explorerx4

if the beer keg on the top is full and front tires have some tread on them, i think we can talk.

joel0622

Let me know if you need any info. All I need is your zip code and I can pull programs up for your area

explorerx4

joel, if you were closer, i would definitely talk with you. if you are in the ballpark, i don't argue the doc fee,and don't mind some markup on the loan rate. i do have a specific number i won't go below on my trade, but i think in is reasonable. x-plan is 21141. their offer is just under 20k. i specifically wrote in my quote request that their price could not be on a demo vehicle.

joel0622

Good Luck, I am off tomorrow so I emailed my cell # to your carspace address in case you have any questions. Not that you will need it though, you seem to have the whole process under control.

explorerx4

when it comes to buying a car, i never think i have it 'under control', sales always seem to a step or two ahead of me. not :surprise:
joel: thanks for offering to help, because i don't see me buying anything other than another ford. i will see how the numbers work out. i told my daughter, in the next 18 months the focus only needs a couple tire rotations and oil changes, plus a gas filter replacement. it is not like i don't like the car, but it has not a virgin history. it is a question of what types of repairs affect the value.

deskman

My 2007 1099 from Chrysler was 158,xxx.xx.

deskman

The old school tactic with ad cars: if you sell one - you are leaving the dealership with it, meaning they are not for sale, and you are supposed to put a customer on another car and "bump" him to get profit.

it is the difference between being a salesman or a ordertaker.

mackabee

Fusion is a good choice. One thing I've noticed lately is the resale value of the Focus is not very high, not that that's a bad thing. On the contrary, you can pick one up for a song and a dance and they are very reliable. We have an 07 SES with about 11 or 14k on the clock and it's going for $10,400.00 which looks like a steal to me. I have a customer whom I sold an 05 Focus SE last summer with moonroof and all and the car was for their son who was going away to college. The car had not gone through the shop but the next day when we got it through and waxed and shined it looked practically new. Now they are looking for another car for the other son and I just called them last night and left a message about the 07. I hope they don't pass it up. They passed on an 02 Contour with 66k miles on it that we were selling cheap and one of our salesman bought it for his daughter. I do like that Fusion.
Mack

trousermouse

I’m in the process of buying a new Silverado 1500 LTZ. The dealer has a few 07’s on the lot and I’m thinking about making an offer. The one I want, MSRP is $41,505. It was built in November of 2006 and has 143 miles on it. It looks like it was transferred to the dealership from another dealership because the invoice and sticker lists another dealer about 50 miles away. They tell me there are no Factory to Dealer incentives but I think that is BS on the 2007 year models. Edmunds says they are up to $3000. Add that to the Factory to Consumer rebates and I should be looking at $6000 in rebates providing the dealer is willing to give me all of their incentive. This dealer (Austin, TX) is the only one who still has 07’s on the lot. I guess that should tell me a lot on how they won’t make any good deals on the older models. Anyway, anyone know what a good price on a 1 ½ year old new truck would be?

mackabee

I would offer them invoice minus the 3k rebate and the other rebates. So 6k under invoice or less since it's already a 1 1/2 year old truck.
Mack