Hi Folks! I have been extremely remiss (that’s fancy talk for “I have just plain ignored”) my site here as of late. I guess it’s just like selling cars:
Really Useless Attitude v Really Useful Attitude
I was in Houston early this week doing a couple workshops for some new hires. As I was standing in front of this group of generally energetic “Newbie’s’, I could not help but notice a smell of negativity. I try to surround myself with M.P.T. (Mostly Positive Things) and I couldn’t help but feel the negative stuff that was oozing out of this particular group. I say ‘generally’, because we had some of the folks there that either didn’t want to be there, didn’t care about the information we were going to deliver, had no interest in improving their lives/income or had a “really useless attitude”* that was showing, or all the above. Now think about this: I am smelling negativity and bad attitudes from a few of the people just getting into the business, and they are sitting in with a person who cares deeply about them being absolutely super stars and huge successes, and is there to help them start down this career path!!!
You know….it’s funny, but the majority of us can tell almost immediately whether someone enjoys/likes/is interested in what they are doing. We can also tell if that person enjoys helping people or not. I remember in Lee Iacocca’s first book, he talks about going to a restaurant (not an upscale dining establishment-but certainly far from one of the lower branches) with his wife, I believe, to enjoy a pleasant meal and some casual, stress-free conversation. They are almost immediately served up a dose of “I don’t like my job, I don’t like being here and I am going to try to make your visit here as unpleasant/miserable as I can”, from the young lady who was introduced as their “server”. After a couple verbal exchanges with the young lady, Mr. Iacocca finally calls her, on her attitude, and overall demeanor. He basically asked her if she was having a particularly bad evening or if she was “serving up” her usual dose of poor service and attitude. She quickly came back with a verbal barrage and instructed Mr. Iacocca and his wife that they were getting her regular fare. He offered her the suggestion to: ‘Find another job, if she was that unhappy at this location, and that he and his wife were out for the evening, attempting to have a pleasant evening, and they felt she was attempting to dole out a big batch of “really useless attitude”, to he and his wife’, and he didn’t particularly care for it.
I asked a question of my young group in the Houston setting…..”If you walk out of the front door of your dealership, and your head is not screwed on straight, can the customer pick up on that in about 30-90 seconds or so?” I followed that with a second question: “Do people tend to part with (or sign the papers for fairly large sums of money) when they are in a good, positive, happy mood, or when they are in a negative, downbeat, uncaring atmosphere?” The amazing thing in my Houston setting was the fact that they all knew the correct answers, and most of them truly voiced (muttered in a few cases) their response. I mean, c’mon, we all pretty much know how the majority of the U.S. population feels about “A Car Salesman” don’t we? Most of us have read about the surveys that ‘someone’ takes, that has us, in general, firmly entrenched down at, or close to the bottom of the ‘likeability scale (whatever in the world that is!)-right there with lawyers and politicians-etc. etc. etc……
So-my challenge to you is: When you walk out on the lot, go forth with all the pleasantness and happiness that your heart and body can produce. Develop and exhibit and show that you are indeed happy to see that person(s) walking up to you or standing in front of you, and that you appreciate the fact this is someone who is going to take care of you and your family for the next few years or more!!! You have to work, you have to make money, why not give yourself every advantage possible and leverage the fact you are just almost elated to see this person come onto your property and maybe into your store!!! We are, after all, not in the car business, we are, after all, in the People Business, we just happen to sell cars along the way!!!
Stay tuned- – -and don’t worry……I will share with you, soon, a pretty much sure-fire method on how to anchor and solidify a “Really Useful Attitude” every time you venture out the door or onto the lot, to greet a total stranger who holds you in very high esteem, before you even meet them, one that will help you immensely show you would like to possibly do some business with that person. It’s good and good for you!
Thanx!
Sam Milton,
King of Auto Sales!
