How to Set Yourself Apart from the Competition: Part 1 of a 3 Part Series

I’ve been thinking….

Part 1: This session today is about how to get a total stranger to like you and give you money for your product. I have many thousands of automotive sales pros reading my stuff, and I have basically sell something. You see, selling is selling, no matter what shape it takes. In any line of ’sales’, the very first thing any of us must “sell” to someone is ourselves. If they don’t “buy” us, they probably won’t buy our product. Hold on… I can prove this statement:

Have you ever sold a car or some item, to someone, for MORE MONEY that you know (for a fact) they could have bought somewhere else for LESS MONEY???

Think about it, they didn’t buy the car or that product, did they? They bought YOU, and the fact they liked you more than someone else. Most people will not give you their signature, until there is a level of Trust and Respect. THAT’S A FACT!

Early in W.C. (his real name was William Claude Dukenfield) Field’s career, he would go to the beach in Atlantic City and he became a professional drowner. He would swim out a short distance, fake a “drowning scene”, the beach vendors and portable hot dog stands would and sell their hot dogs, sodas, peanuts and popcorn, etc to the curious crowds that gathered. W.C. Fields later collected a percentage of the profits from those vendors. During the day, he would repeat this scene several times. The vendors often found they could raise their prices during these times, and make just little more profit. Work smarter, not harder.

You really do not have that much competition out there. If you think I say that lightly… just hop in your car and go shop the competition. Don’t shop near your home or your hometown, but go out a little bit and see what the sales ranks offer out there. It always amazes me, when I go into a dealership and offer my training services to a dealer, after walking through their showroom, and seeing the range of “Pros” sitting and standing around the showroom, in various stages of work levels. I usually let someone “Up” me , just to see what that is like. I always ask them, “Why should I buy a Your Product from YOU, here at This Dealership? The majority of the time, I hear the same answers… “I am the best salesperson, I have the best product and we are the best dealership around!” That is good, but if I went to another store, guess what I am going to hear? I heard the same exact thing, which further adds fuel to th customer’s credo that “Car people… they are all alike!” If you want someone to actually believe you are different and better, you’d better have some good words to say and some good actions to take with that next up, otherwise you’ll get automatically dumped over there in that “You’re all just alike” barrel, and that is not where you want to be.

First step is to find out where you are.

• What does your greeting look like? Get someone to video you doing your greeting.
• Do you know what you look like to other people?
• How is your posture… your handshake… your eye contact… your entire body language?
• And I know you cannot see it on a video camera, but how is Your Breath?

If you are a smoker and you toss your cigarette down and try to shake hands with me, with your smoking hand… I am walking back to my car and leaving. I watched my Mother die from many years of smoking and I’ll be darned if I will give you my money, if you are rude enough to try to offer me more of the nicotine on your hand. (Guess you now know how I feel about that subject, don’t you?)

Are you genuinely Happy to go out and greet someone walking into your store, or onto your lot? This person potentially could be someone who will take care of you and your family, for the rest of your life…. Are you happy to see them? Does it show? If they walked into your store and handed you a $50 or a $100 bill, would you like them? That’s what it is basically what it is. Your closing ratio with a stone cold lot up is about 20 – 25%. Your average commission is about $175 – $350. You have to talk to about 4 or 5 people before you earn that commission, so potentially – everyone you speak to is worth about $50 to $150 to you. Be honest with yourself… does it show?

Now, go back in this article, and pick out one idea, thought or technique from each paragraph. Write it down and do it… today… right now!

Check out my 2nd part of this series in a few days.

Thank you for your time. See you later on down the road.

Sam Milton – The King of Auto Sales