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On this week's Think Tank Tuesday:

• Find out what tool your website is missing
• Learn how to engage and reengage shoppers
• Determine shopper behavior
  

http://www.internetsales20group.com 856-546-2440

Make Money Mondays with Sean V. Bradley - Special Edition with Robert Wiesman

Did you know that last year, women purchased an estimated 27 million vehicles? That is the equivalent of 75,000 cars a day at new and used car dealerships. Women are now the fastest growing segment of vehicle buyers and car dealerships are taking notice. To that end, there is much more flexibility when buying a car more than ever!

It seems that women are still more reluctant than men when it comes to the advantages of leasing a car. With the car industry back on its feet after the recession, leasing is at a high of 28% of all new car purchases.

This educational article from Women-Drivers.com offers insights into some “traditional” objections as well as provides a more updated, informed perspective on leasing and its benefits for anyone considering going to the dealership soon. (And, for those that believe ‘buying a car outright’ is the only way to go, consider that over one-third of car purchases today are leased for 72 months. Just because you buy a car does not mean you own your car. You only “own” your car, when the title is in your hand, i.e. the loan is paid off.)

Marlena McCoy, Sales Manager at Moon Honda, a Women-Drivers.com Certified Women-Friendly Dealer, shares her thoughts about leasing “Leasing is just another way to pay for a car, a less expensive way. With little or no money down, you can have an affordable payment, a warranty, free inspections, free car washes, and so much more! Why not pay less and get more.”

Below are the most common objections:

1) “The idea of ownership is important to me.”
Cars depreciate and then have service repairs and costs. Most women who lease don’t pay for brakes or tires because they don’t keep the car long enough to wear them out. If you finance a car for five years or more, it will most certainly need tires and brakes plus other repairs; budget $1,000 a year on maintenance.

2) “I have little or no ownership equity in the leased car.”
The trade-off for a lower or manageable monthly lease payment is that there is no trade-in value. It is fairly common that the market value of a vehicle at lease-end is higher than the purchase option price specified in the lease contract — which means there is some equity trade value there.

3)”I don’t understand how leases work, and I’m afraid of getting ripped off.”
Dealerships – and their sales advisors – are conscientious and will take the time and effort to help you understand the leasing process and the intricacies of the contract.

These contracts can be complex and difficult to understand, so a dealership’s F&I manager should encourage customers to take their time and read the fine print. Leasing is not as complicated as it was years ago nor is it limited to just luxury brands.

4) “I don’t understand the leasing lingo. I don’t know what cap cost is or what comparison pricing means.”
Again, dealers will explain exactly what these terms mean – and in ways you will understand. Dealers who skim over these terms do a real disservice to a buyer and compromise any future dealings they may have with the dealership.

5) “I don’t want to be making car payments forever. I’d rather pay the car off early and have several years without a car payment.”
While you may not have a payment anymore, you will still be spending more in repairs to keep an older car on the road, with fewer safety features than newer cars, and more likely to break down. Your dealer can show how a lease provides a safe, more reliable car at all times, not just when the car is new, and a car protected by manufacturer warranty and with few repair bills.

6) “My car payments will be higher.”
Not true. Depending on a number of factors, monthly lease payments are considerably lower than a purchase loan for the same car and same term today.

7) “I’m worried about any early termination costs. What if I lose my job?”
To break a car lease means breaking a contract, can result in tremendous fees, as well as negatively impact one’s credit rating. Dealers can help customers find other buyers to assume the remainder of their lease, which would take them off the hook, while gaining a powerfully loyal customer. Such transfers are now made possible by companies like Swapalease.com or Leasetrader.com who help car lease owners find people interested in taking over the payments. The fees for both buyer and seller are reasonable, and save the seller from the early termination costs which could amount to thousands of dollars.

8) “I am concerned with excessive mileage charges.”
If a car buyer exceeds the mileage allowance in her lease contract, she will be charged for the extra miles at a specified per-mile rate, usually $0.20 per mile. Your dealer can help you reduce your exposure if you “buy” the extra miles you expect to drive at the time of lease signing. If you choose this option, you will be refunded for any unused miles.

9) “I am worried about excessive wear-and-tear charges, especially with the children and multiple drivers.”
If a buyer returns a leased vehicle at lease-end with dents or scratches, she will be charged. Dealers can explain what is “excessive” so that she knows to get the car repaired before she returns and avoid being charged. Also, it is best to clean the car or have it detailed for the best evaluation.

McCoy further explains,” You may have never leased before, you may not understand leasing, or you might just say that you would never lease a car. No one likes to go car shopping. No one likes to deal with the “typical car salesman”. I am not that “typical salesman”. I treat customers the way I would want to be treated — really. It’s important to be completely informed on all aspects of the car transaction – and that most definitely includes leasing!”

The following Blog post is in addition to this Video by Sean V. Bradley, I hope you enjoy it!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qxHltQCOlz4

Everyone is an up part 2/ How and where to prospect via the telephone.

    If you've been in sales for any length of time you have probably been told at some point to "get on the phone and make some appointments" by a sales manager. You know you have to do it, you want to do it, but you might not know where to start, you might be scared to do it, or you might work really hard at it but you haven't had any success at it. It doesn't matter if you are selling cars, houses or furniture- the phone sales process I am going to tell you about is the same for any business, use it effectively daily and watch your sales go up.

    First off you need to know a little bit about why the phone is so important to your sales. People that you contact off the phone, manage to bring in to your store on an appointment and show up are more than twice as likely to buy from you compared to walk in traffic*. So how do you get started? You are going to need to be organized, work effectively and stick to it no matter what, every day.

    1: Build a database of clients. All businesses keep a database of their sold clients (you should too by the way). Every morning before you start your day come in a bit early and start researching clients. A CRM** system can be searched just like Google. Refine your search by state/province, city, new/used clients. Use key words to further refine the search. For example " Jeep Wrangler", when the wranglers go on sale  type " Wrangler" into the search field and get a list hundreds of names long, call the people on the list and tell them that the wranglers they were interested in are now on sale and get them to come in. CRM tells me a clients name, contact information and what type of vehicle they are interested in. It tells me their current vehicle, current payment, interest rate etc. CRM is a gold mine and it is the best place to look for prospects. This is where you start!

     2: Have a hook for every call. What is a hook? A hook is the reason why you are calling that particular client. It is what entices them to come in and see you, so it needs to be clearly defined, it needs to be advantageous for your client and it needs to be real. Here are some hooks you can use, remember these are all straight out of CRM and they are real, strong reasons for clients to come in to see you:

A.) You are paying too much interest right now, what if I could get you a newer vehicle than you have now and lower your interest payment, could you make it in today (tomorrow, Saturday)? This is a super strong hook and you can use it on anyone who is paying non-prime interest rates. For example, CRM says client is paying 18% and owns a truck, Chrysler has a program on new trucks with subsidized financing for non-prime buyers at 6.49%. Boom! Strong reason to come in and buy.

B.) Are you still in the market for a new "blank"? Great! The owner is offering invoice pricing on the vehicle till the end of this month or until we sell out of stock, are you free today? Great hook to use on a client who walked without buying because of price. Now the vehicle they want is cheaper! I wouldn't tell them how much or they won't come in. Just tell them it will be on the invoice for them to see when they arrive.

C.) Are you still driving a 2010 "blank"? Is it in good shape? Perfect! I have a young client that wants a new one of those but can't get financed on it. Would you consider trading yours in for a new one if I could keep you in a similar payment? Can you bring the vehicle in tomorrow morning so we can get it inspected?   Every owner would trade in a vehicle they love for a newer version if the conditions were right, so this call is super easy to make. Make sure you have a similar vehicle to the one they own before you make this call.

D.) How are you liking your 2010 " blank "? Did you know the 2014 has more horsepower, better fuel economy and tows more? Would you be willing to trade in your 2010 if I could get you a similar payment? I use this one on service clients. I can look in CRM and see which clients are coming in for service the next day, and why. If they are in a good position to trade in and keep their payment the same I give them a call the night before they come in for service and let them know they can upgrade for less this month because of; manufacturer loyalty programs, finance pull ahead, etc. Everyone wants a newer better version of their car/truck you just have to present a deal in the right way so they see advantage in upgrading.

    3.) Keep track of all your calls: Create a notebook, excel spreadsheet, etc. that you can use and fill in everyday. You need to call clients at different hours and sometimes as much as 5 times before you get a hold of them on the phone, so be prepared to leave a strong voicemail message or send a text that will entice them to call you back! Call the client over and over, nicely and professionally until you get them on the phone. Remember, you are saving them money and getting them the vehicle they really want, so it's okay to call them repeatedly.

     4.) Sell the appointment not the car: Don't talk price, payments or trade value on the phone unless you absolutely have to! Be truthful but say as little as possible. Your only goal is to sell the client on coming in using one of the hooks above. That's it!

     5.) Confirm the appointment using your managers: Everyone likes to feel that they're important to your business. Coach your clients that a sales manager will call them a day before their appointment. This accomplishes two things: It flushes out people that may waste your time; it sets the tone for a serious business discussion to take place in the client's mind, the sales manager himself called me, so it must be good!

       Finally, keep at it! Nothing great and worth having is easily done, but once you get the ball rolling and you are booking 3-4 appointments for yourself a day I will guarantee that your sales will increase. Keep taking ups, keep answering the phone, but book yourself 4 appointments per day no matter what and get your money right!

Sincerely,

Eduardo Aragon, Sales Consultant, Okanagan Dodge, Kelowna, B.C., Canada

* Check out the Mind Map here and see the stats on selling cars by appointment prospecting   https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/yourphotos?pid=5992537944900930466&oid=115827040417935774939

Why Work Harder For Less?

On this week's Think Tank Tuesday:
  ✓ Learn how to identify your clients
  ✓ Find out what you need to be spending time on
  ✓ Determine key mistakes in your sales process

Apple’s recent announcement of CarPlay which will integrate the iPhone, Apple maps and Siri into the car dashboard, is a move meant to compete directly with Google’s Open Automotive Alliance (OAA), and Microsoft’s Sync platform. This means big changes are in store for how shoppers driving, commuting and traveling by car will find and learn about your business.

The fast moving map space plus local-search is attractive areas for innovation for software developers. One of the more interesting innovators taking advantage of the mobile trend is YILLIO which takes maps and local search to the next step by offering a patented ‘route-based’ search.

Launched in January, users using YILLIO are able to search for businesses, information and value along their entire route, may it be 10 miles ahead or 150 miles ahead. See our article: Don’t Just Go…… YiLLiO!

What’s cool for your biz is it aims to give users the right information; at the right time, by looking at signals such as where the user is located, their daily habits, their preferences, where they’re going (via their routes), and what they want to do when they get there.

See YILLIO’s user experience video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2igf9WOazo

For brick-and-mortar businesses, YILLIO’s innovation improves marketing relevancy and efficiency. See the short video which explains YILLIO’s route-based search and marketing platform: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=noJ4UE7b7AM

Take a few minutes to add your dealership on the YILLIO map to reach mobile shoppers, everyday commuters, and travelers – for Free!

Is route-based marketing and advertising the next mobile innovation? We think there is value in this for you.

http://www.automotivedigitaltraining.com 856-546-2440
Make Money Mondays with Sean V. Bradley - "Everyone's an Up" - Automotive Sales - Car Sales

Welcome to Women’s Wednesday!
Dealers who “get it” know that the key distinction in optimizing sales to women is having exceptional sales advisors who offer exceptional service. But what does that really look like?

Women tell us directly through our car dealer review platform what works for them when interacting with a sales agent.  Below are their top 5 reasons for buying a car from them: 

1. Trust  52.3%
2. Being Respectful  52.1%
3. Likeable  47.8%
4. Knowledgeable  45.6%
5. Understanding  40.6%

These percentages add up to more than 100% because reviewers can submit multiple answers.

NOTE: Coming in at 34% was the ‘price of the vehicle’. It is important, but ranks 6th overall. Clearly, connection and relationship are pivotal, outranking price.

Want more information on this all important topic, Click here to read. 

Want to Sell More Cars and Distinguish your Dealership to Women?  Click here to learn more.
 
Did you receive a Free copy of the 2014 Women’s Car Buying Report? Click here to download

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I haven't always been a positive person, but I have learned that a positive mental attitude is the single most important tool I can bring with me to work in the morning. Selling cars requires an exceptional amount of positivity. How do we cultivate positivity in a world that is desperate to depress us and keep us down, and why is it that positive people attract positive outcomes in their business and personal life? I want to share a few tactics you can use to get positive and stay that way, as well as explain to you why being positive is so important.

If you've been selling cars for a while you've probably noticed that when you are on a roll you tend to stay that way. Selling cars is easy when you're selling cars. It's sounds ridiculous but it's true. Why is that though? Is it because we are working any harder or better than when we are in a slump, or is it something else?

People are attracted to happy, positive people. We have a deep rooted urge to get happy and stay that way. It's why we buy cars and houses, it's why we get married, have kids, go on vacation and buy new clothes. We like to have fun and enjoy life, it's practically genetic!

By capitalizing on this urge a sales person can make a lot of money in a short amount of time. With practice, dedication and hard work they can make a career out of making and keeping their clients happy. But before you can make someone happy, you have to be happy!

Here are some things I picked up in the course of my life that I want to share with you. I hope they help you and that you can one day share them with someone else.

1.) Find Faith/Get Spiritual: It can be tiring grinding it out sometimes and it is good to see past the material things in the world and seek out a Faith or a spiritual Belief that helps you rationalize and accept the inevitable negative things that will happen to you over the course of your life. Going to Church, Temple or hanging out with like minded people is a great way to revitalize yourself and get in touch with your spiritual side. It's also a great way to meet future clients!

2.) Get a good nights sleep/ Eat right/ Work out: I put these things together because they all go hand in hand. Your brain produces endorphins which make you feel good. It's the same chemical the brain produces when a person uses drugs or alcohol, but it's healthy, relatively cheap and definitely legal! Plus when you look good you feel good and a lot of clients judge you by your physical appearance so looking good in that suit or dress is only going to help you sell and enjoy a long stress free career.

3.) Listen to music while you work: If you can, listen to music while you get ready for work. The right playlist in the morning can get you pumped up and feeling great. Currently I am listening to Tupac, the ballad of a dead soldier, Aloe Blacc, I'm the man, and some techno music. It doesn't matter what you listen to, what matters is that you like the music, it gets you motivated and get's you going.

4.) Surround yourself with positive people: This is easy. Find the happiest guy/girl in the office every day and strike up a conversation with them. Happiness is contagious!

5.) Call a sold client that rally loves there car and likes you too! Whenever you have a bad experience with a prospect and they put you in a bad mood, call up the first guy you ever sold a car to and tell him/her that you were thinking about them. They will be happy you called and will talk your ear off for 5 minutes telling you all about how great the car is and how awesome you are as a salesperson. I do this all the time, I call my sold clients once a day and chat them up. It's awesome!

6.) Finally, pick the thing you love most about your job and do it right now! For me it's a particular car on the lot, whenever I feel down I jump into the most macked-out car on the lot and drive it around with the music cranked and pretend I own it. Then I park it where I can see ups hitting the lot while I make phone calls to prospects. Just don't forget to turn down the radio and change the music to something the owner would like, just in case the dealer principal has the same idea later on in the day!

Being positive is easy once you make it a habit, it will take work sometimes just like anything else worth doing will from time to time. But if you follow these steps and have some fun with it, you will notice that clients will loosen up and start having fun with you. Once you get a client laughing in your office and having fun with the sale you have a client for life, and that's what gets you paid time and time again.

Feel free to add to this list and use it in your day to day. Another great day is just around the corner for you!

Sincerely,

Eduardo Aragon

Vehicle Sales Consultant 

http://www.automotivedigitaltraining.com 856-546-2440
Make Money Mondays with Sean V. Bradley - Special Edition - Anthony Alagona - "Accountability"

Using a third-party provider for leads sounds like a great idea in theory. However you need to make sure that these leads you are getting are worth the money you are spending. Learn how to make the most out of using these other providers to ensure you are maximizing your possible leads.

Get the Hard Facts from Samantha Cunningham at POTRATZ, and learn how to provide more opportunities to convert on your website.

http://www.automotivedigitaltraining.com - 856-546-2440

Welcome to Women Wednesdays!

Have you ever walked into a store or visited their website and seen an award that says “Voted #1 in 2010”?

Doesn’t that beg the question and make you wonder what happened since then; who has won it this year?

This situation can be likened to when car dealers have a lapse in (getting) consumers reviews on dealer review sites

– like Google, Yelp, Dealer Rater, Women-Drivers.com etc.  On our site, we have some dealers with great overall scores, but they haven’t had a single review in months. That sends mixed signals and red flags to customers.

Why?

Think about it...having an exceptional score has a lot less credibility to your prospects if there is a huge gap in time with the reviews last posted. It certainly is an indicator that something has changed and could even be detrimental to your business!

Did You Know?

67% of women say they are less likely to purchase a product they were considering after reading negative online reviews – and old reviews can have the same effect.

Here are 15 Best Practices to put in place with Women and Your Reputation, Click here to read.

Want to Sell More Cars and Distinguish your Dealership to Women?  Click here to learn more.

Did you receive a Free copy of the 2014 Women’s Car Buying Report? Click here to download.

Good selling!

You can't have a successful business unless everyone is on board with the process. Learn how to spot the gaps in your company's strategy on this week's Think Tank Tuesday. 

Does your website make shoppers feel good about their purchase? What is the advantage of buying from your brand instead of one with a better price? Learn how your website can help shoppers justify a purchase on this week’s Think Tank Tuesday.

http://www.automotivedigitaltraining.com 856-546-2440

Make Money Mondays with Sean V. Bradley - "Change" - Automotive Sales - Car Sales

http://www.internetsales20group.com 856-546-2440 

How to ACTUALLY Make Money in Car Sales (Webinar) - Sean V. Bradley 

Welcome to Women’s Wednesday. When women perceive they are not treated the way they expect at car dealerships, 65% leave and do not return. That’s a lot of business walking out the door and buying down the street. What can your dealership do to turn more browsers into buyers? We compile a lot of data from dealer reviews, and below are the top three reasons women buy from the dealership they do.

1.Treatment by Sales Person

How well women are treated is the single most influential factor when it comes to buying from a dealership. Women typically evaluate cars on the same grounds as men like price, mileage, design and safety features. However, the deciding factor of whether to close a car deal is greatly dependent on her interaction with the sales advisor.

Treating her with respect is paramount. Show her that you are glad she’s come into your store, acknowledge her presence, put the smart phone away, and listening to her questions are all part of a winning formula. All this may not matter quite as much to men, but it is highly effective in selling to women car buyers. These little things go the distance in winning a customer for a long-time, maybe even a life-time.

2.Best Price or Deal

The second reason women buy from a dealership is the price of the car. Women prefer to buy from dealerships that understand their needs and budget and don’t try to push them into buying cars that exceed their budget.

3.Car Dealer’s Reputation

The car dealership’s reputation really matters – especially to women – as they are more apt to research and use car dealer review sites than men. They want to make an informed decision where they shop so they don’t waste time and have no regrets.

Did You Know?  

Women are 3 times more likely to leave a review – and, a higher scoring review – than men. So, be sure to ask for reviews from your female customers! If you want to be the go-to-dealer in town, deliver the ultimate car buying experience to every woman who walks in your store.

For more on this topic, click here.

Women are the fastest growing segment of buyers. Market to them before they walk into your store by showing your transparency with your Certified Women Friendly logo.

Sign up and learn more here.

Ps - Did you get your free copy of the 2014 Women’s Car Buying Report? Click here.