There is a very sad car salesman fact that practically everyone in the automobile industry knows, but it still goes on. Many sales managers have tried changing this statistic, but few if any have actually succeeded. The reason for this is because it’s really up to the individual car salesman. The cold hard fact is that MOST car salesmen don’t follow up. I am talking about overall car sales follow up process that includes all aspects of following up with car buyers and potential car buyers. That’s right, MOST car salesmen SUCK when it comes to follow up!
I am sure you have heard of the 80/20 rule, well this is a place where that rule usually applies. Because 80% of car salesmen suck at follow up and 20% do a good job of following up with customers. When you think about that car salesman fact its embarrassing to our profession. It makes it hard to hold my head high and proclaim I am a car salesman knowing that fact. I didn’t say following up was fun or exciting, but it’s a requirement if you are going to be a successful car salesman.
Recently I was sitting and talking with some people from a major automaker about current car sales processes and the subject came up in our conversation. This sad car salesman fact is common knowledge in the car business and it’s not at any individual dealership, it’s at all of them. Granted it’s better at some and worse at other dealerships, but on a whole car salesmen suck at follow up and that is why I felt I had to write this post. I am embarrassed and disgusted, and something needs to be done.
It’s Time to Change This Sad Car Salesman Fact
I can’t stress enough about car salesman follow up because I know firsthand how important it is to being a successful car sales professional. To help you understand the other side of the 80/20 rule and this embarrassing car salesman fact you should know that approximately 20% do a good job of following up. Plus and more importantly these 20% are consistently the top producers at the dealership and earning the most commission. That alone should be a huge kick in the pants to make you realize that good follow up is critical to your success.
I will be the first to admit that follow up was not my favorite task, but I quickly realized that the results were well worth the effort. Once I created a personal schedule based on my work schedule for following up with sold and unsold customers with a little prospecting my income increased by roughly 35%. This brought me more customers back (be-backs) that didn’t sell on their first visit to the dealership and referrals from sold customers than I could believe. What was even nicer was that I could bring them back or schedule referral customers to come in on slow days so I could make better use of the busy days. Now that’s a good car salesman fact that helped me sell more cars and make more commission.
On the bright side of this discouraging car salesman fact is that your competitor also sucks. That means that there is a great opportunity for you before your competitor catches on. I have talked to more customers than I can count after they bought cars and heard how they returned to the dealership and bought cars that followed up with them after their fist visit. They also told me that most dealers didn’t follow up with them. Potential customers couldn’t believe that most dealerships didn’t even bother to call them to find out if they bought a car after their visit. A great example of why car salesmen have a less than stellar reputation. However this is a great opportunity for you, the professional car salesman.
If you are selling cars for fun and making money is not a concern of yours then this car salesman fact doesn’t matter. However, if you are in the car business to make big money and have fun at the same time you need to change. You need to plan your work and work your plan for effective, thorough and complete car sales follow up.
Later, Fresh Up on the Lot
KB
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