ADN Jill Nicolini Paul Sansone Jr Mario Lee John J Grillo Richie Bello

Hello how’s it goin, auto dealers, sales, personnel and automotive groups.

I’m your host Jill Nicolini here again to welcome you back for another great episode of auto dealer news, which is your best source for everything happening in the world of automotive groups and dealerships, we’ll be bringing in some industry leaders and experts to get you all caught Up on speed here on all the latest sales, marketing and technology, that will push your sales to be the best they can be, and you know it would it be auto dealer news without our resident, auto dealer and sales expert, CEO of dealer, source group and Universal Marketing solutions there he is automotive sales, trainer and business entrepreneur with over 15 years of producing outstanding results in the automotive retail industry, the automotive sales master himself, Richey Bello.
How are you doing today? How are you Jill how’s? It going doing all right excited to be here and especially excited for what we have in store, because you all don’t know this yet, but we have an expert panel today for the first time in studio right rich.
Yes, absolutely I’m so happy! Happy Friday, everybody happy Friday, TGIF, happy Good Friday, Happy Holidays, Passover Easter to everyone as well.

But let’s get right to the show right now and we want to bring in in person this time.
John J Grillo, CEO of pure auto price and precise, auto price, helping consumers and dealerships alike, save money with his expertise in the automotive field.
John, thank you for joining us today was great, seeing you last week.

I guess at home, but now we have a year in person which is even better.
Thank you Joe.
Thank you so much thanks for having me all right now.

I see that you brought someone else along with you.
Is that Paul sandstone jr.
I see you next to you all the way from New Jersey all right commute this morning.

That’s good! Well Paul! Let me just say hello and introduce you you’re, an auto dealer with over 30 years, who specializes in dealership structure, expense, controls and financial analysis.
Paul Sansom jr.
is the owner of sandstone juniors, 66, Auto Mall and PMB group.

A lot of you are saying yeah.
I know that guy and he’s teaching his salespeople how to market themselves by using low-cost tools, technology and social media reallocating, is advertising budget to bring in the best ROI.
Now we are very excited to have him join us here in the studio Paul.

Thank you for coming Gil, a pleasure to be here.
Thank you now.
You all may think it’s just you know the three of you up there, I’m sitting here, but guess what we have another exciting surprise right now, we’re gon na bring in one more person to our expert panel, and we have Mary o Lee and he’s gon na Round it all out for us, Mario started as a lot attendant and worked his way into sales.

After only three months, he had been a top salesman in every month for the past four years and get this.
Average is 50 to 60 deals a month with a personal best of 78 cars in one month.
So bad, Mario, all right here, to share his knowledge and perspective for his fellow sales associates.

Mario joins us via Skype, thanks so much.
How are you doing today? Korea? I have to start by bringing this up now.
Mario, you may not know, but Paul just recently.

Actually visited Massachusetts and came to the your used car sales.
Are you doing today? Yes, and I could see Mario, I didn’t know he was that good, but you could tell he was good.
Thank you.

Thank you.
I’m some pleasure to have me on the show.
Today.

Everybody all right, Richie you take it over who do you want to start with? Let’s get out that first question and of course you’re gon na speak to you about.
I wanted to speak to you about your sales process.

They’re doing that kind of volume.

I wanted a 12 to you.
Do you do a lot of repeat business walking traffic? What is what is it like? What kind of customers do you do mainly focus on repeats and referrals and a lot of walking traffic, but mostly it comes down to training and staying on top of the referral process and dedicating time every day to follow up with each and every customer that you’re Dealing with regardless every day and just staying on top of your training stay in shop, because every day is a new situation.

Everything’s are coming about and it’s bad to practice.

Training on the customer, when you can practice training and what your salespeople every day for a couple of minutes before you stop just to stay, shot and a lot of people, don’t what you know, 48 % of the people don’t follow up with the customer.
I follow up all the time and I’m always asking for referrals and the referrals that give me to repeat business and it just snowball effect, and it just all adds up at the end of the day, because your dealership have a referral program in place.
Oh yes, we do.

We have a nice referral program.
Well, you refer, somebody will definitely send you something out in the mail and we keep track of everybody all the leads and thank everybody for the referrals and just staying on top of what we have a great CRM and a nice process in place to keep us Intact and staying up-to-date with the latest technology and the way things are changing everyday in the automotive industry.
The reason I’m asking because I’ve never heard of one salesman selling that kind so many cause I’ve heard of fleet people started, but you saw pre-owned automobiles.

Is that correct, correct, that’s very, very impressive! I’ve told so many people about you and I’m so impressed and the reason I invited Paul because I’ve been to Paul’s, dealership and Paul has a great program.
Would referrals that I’m impressed with I’ve been in the car business? A long time and I sold a lot of cars a long time ago to my referrals and I had a referral program and nothing beats this referral program.
That Paul has – and I learned a lot from Paul Paul.

I want to give you your program.
He said I’ve been in the business 30 years and I actually my father.
I remember him telling me build your business on repeats and referrals from satisfied, customers and and how this all evolved was.

My son, everything my kids did was all on a smart phone, but everything I knew in my DNA was networking and marketing and relationship selling.
So, along the line I said somewhere somewhere along the line, you got to connect smart phone with the process of relationship selling and that’s really how a referral came about and program.
I mean these numbers are staggering.

We have over almost 11,000, I call them referral agents, not bird dogs, 11,000.
Referral agents that have delivered sent 50 500 leads and we’ve delivered 2,200 cars in the last six years and generates seven million dollars of gross a half a million dollar investment.
So it sounds like a pretty good, pretty good investment.

Well, would you mind explaining to me off-camera before you did tell me a story about this amazing woman who came into the dealership and how she’s using the easi referral network and how much had helped her and my goodness she made a lot of money.
Well, you know the part of the relationship selling is fun and I wish more dealers would get into into thinking that way, relationship selling and relationships all people with people, but one of my salesmen Mark was fortunate enough to sell a car to a woman and obviously His normal asked her to refer her friends and neighbors.
Well, this woman sent him in less than two months.

33 leads like six weeks sent him 33 leads and he delivered over 10 cars in the two months and true story: she’s texting him on a Saturday saying, don’t take lunch, you have people coming in today and he actually had two people at different deaths and it Was so funny, but he actually brought her in and all of her people that bought cars in and bought them lunch and had a little party for, but a $ 2,000 year in two thousand dollars.
So networking is great, but then it’s nice income to for some people.
If you want to look at it that way, that’s amazing and Paul.

The other thing when I went to your dealership, you show me one time that you develop websites for your salespeople yeah.
Well, in my in the auto industry, everyone knows: what’s your one two and three is a national, regional and dealership advertising and I’ve created and I’ve created the term tear for advertising and that’s the what I call the Forgotten level to me.
Our salespeople have been marginalized in the industry and I and I hold great value in my salespeople and I look at them as an asset, not a liability and I’m willing to invest in them.

And if you think about it, I have 18 salespeople and I’m gon na deliver over 300 cars this month.
So my average salesman produces at a much higher level and earns at a much higher level than average, which you know is to me is what it’s all about.
That’s how I’m growing my business through my salesmen, their relationships and but the websites.

The easy referral is all of all the way to get them connecting directly to an audience social media using their energies to drive their own business versus me, pushing business down to them so you’re, using their energy and their social media to bring my infrastructure.
You know it’s my infrastructure that allows this to happen, which I think what most salesmen would salespeople would need my infrastructure, but their motivation, their energy, their creativity.
I have guys that brand themselves.

I have marked the pie guy.
I have Clint the car coach every complaint, the car coach isn’t either newbie and he’s sold like a serious amount of cars within this first month.
First month, 15 cars don’t hit 15 this month, and but I have a pretty specific process on how to create that culture.

At my dealership I have the ng a queen of cars.
I also have seven female salespeople out of my sales group.
So it’s it’s a creating an environment, that’s fun, encouraging and motivating so, but giving them the tools to succeed.

You know this is not rocket scientist where I tell people just be nice, guys that sell cars, don’t worry about being a car salesman, so Mario are talking about that.
It seems, like you, have a really good process.
What do you think about this process? And I see what you do on social media also, I think it’s really really good and I see a lot of people out there on social media.

What are your thoughts on that? All social media is a great way I mean I’m contacting customers every angle.
I could in Instagram Facebook snapchat email, I’m gon na, follow up to one way and know that I’m Way and we going to hold you and that’s the way we got to be in so many different outlets, and so many different plugs is not a favorite one.
I use them all.

I mean all my customers have my cell phone number and text email, I’m always in touch with them every day.
Yeah.
I see that you are social media you’re a lot and the other I was gon na.

Ask you a question is what do you think about Paul’s our referral program as just an opinion large, because this is about learning and it’s about learning from me.
You know and it’s all about learning.
What do you think about that process? It sounds like a great process, I mean he must didn’t working it for a while.

I mean I would definitely love to use it.
You know it’s obviously working for him.
I mean it’s a great process.

I think it’s a great process, so I think it’s really really good.
He he he’s got the problem set up with a debit card and all that it’s really organized it’s got a dashboard.
I want to talk a little bit about your process when the customer comes into the dealership right.

You have, of course, to meet and greet.
Could you explain that whole process to us first is the meet and greet and we sit down and I collect as much information as possible and send them on the attest, drive and crunch the numbers and prepare a nice worksheet and a plan for them.
So when they get back everything’s all laid out in paper, there’s nothing to hide and honesty is the best policy, and then they want you to tell the truth and they, like a guy, a great energy.

You know it it rubs off on the customer when you have a great energy rubs off on the customer, when you stop put about the devil right there, you go on to them all right with them.

Excuse me, when you put them on the demo right there.
You demo with them, but no I let him we let him go by themselves.

There’s no pressure at all.
I’m you know, I don’t want to go up in upsell, upsell everything I let them see it for what it is and we talk when we get back such more of a soft approach, I’ll correct it just likely you know a lot of customers.

I noticed they.

Don’t want somebody on the test-drive with him because on the test-drive they’re talking amongst their significant others, or they partner with them and they’re going over things and they get back, then we’re going over all the questions and answers.
Okay, okay and what’s the whole sales process, is it like negotiations or how is it? How does it work so they have no no hassle policy on the pricing I mean so the price you see is the price you pay.
We we do all the research and marketing to make sure we have the lowest price around.

So we know we already have the competition beat, and now we just got ta put the numbers together seafood to make it sense, make sensible for them believe it pull back and forth they’re going back to club with the price we give them the best price off.

The door first, so you must turn your inventory every 35 or 40 days.
Oh yeah, correct! We have about like 600 vehicles in inventory and we turn that about like 300 300 350 a month.

So it’s consistently changing right.
So your inventory turns to 60 days so you’re managing your inventory right.
So really, when you haven’t no hassle price, you got ta turn your inventory and that’s what you’re doing correct right.

I see that yeah, because I’ve looked at single price stores before and different parts of the country, and the most important thing is turning the inventory.
So do you guys have inventory managers there? Yes, we do the sales manager.
The inventory shake, take care of all that.

What I noticed is, I noticed the customers loved in no hassle policy because they already know the price when they walk in.
They don’t have to sit there and play the back-and-forth game for about an hour, or so they get right to the point and it expedites.
The whole process and has the customer in and out and I’m seeing from what I’m seeing it they love it.

Richie I got yeah, I got ta give this store a testament to their ability, because first off finding the dealership, I think they have more cars and there are people in the area.
So it’s not like it’s on a busy highway.
That’s for sure, and logistically I have no idea how they move that many cars I’m driving up the lot with my son, and I I heard about the volume they’re doing up there, so I actually wanted to try to steal a few ideas myself and I pull In I’m like how do these guys sell 400 cars a month, and so it’s a logistical, it’s a machine.

I’ll be honest.
They do a phenomenal job of pricing, marketing and obviously the process and having salesmen like this, make it work.
But if you go there, you’ve met you, you.

What you have in your head is not what you’re gon na find they do a phenomenal job up.
There yeah I’m just trying to get an idea about the process.
So I learned you know, because it’s all about learning, I really enjoy learning the process and I think it’s all has to do what inventory nice brief time with the general manager.

Pricing is very important for him.
They spend a lot of time on inventory management reconditioning.
Getting the cars in and out, I’m not going to talk for the sales process, but as a manager and talking to their dealer or their general manager.

There a lot of time on pricing a lot of time right, car right price.
You know so people.
It was a Monday that I was there and there were people there all over the place, so they do a phenomenal job, marketing and obviously salary.

I’m talking about price and I know John – maybe you can elaborate with what you do as far as saving consumers and dealerships and money as well.

Well, what we basically do is, you know we have pure auto price as well, and that’s a consumer based site where we actually have members they join and it’s free.

It’s free to join and what we do is we have a pre negotiated price with partner dealers and whoever’s closest to that home.

That’s on the program we’re going to actually send the the member to that facility and have a seamless handoff from us to the dealership, to the partnering dealerships and again their price protected.
So it’s a simple process: they they’re gon na get the best deal upfront.
There’s no hidden fees or what have you and they treat all our members with respect and dignity and and and it’s a great process, it’s easy, its seamless, that’s what we do on pure.

You know.
Obviously we have precise auto price, which is a dealer dealer tool and that’s our other business, and that one actually is what we work with.
Dealers recapturing lost opportunities, for instance, if they have a customer, that’s been their customer for a long long time.

Long period of time and all of a sudden in 500 days, they haven’t been to the facility something changed and we’re gon na regenerate regenerate that relationship with that consumer, bring them back and reintroduce them to the dealership and get them back in good standings.
With the dealer – and you know, everybody wins well, one of the things as a dealer that I like is that you realize the dealers got to make a few dollars.

All of these third-party buying services are great, but unless that win-win for everyone, a win for the consumer, that it’s a seamless process and they’re getting a very good price, but also the dealers got to make a few dollars a process.

You know where else you can’t stay in business and that’s one of the things that differentiates what you promote with your business versus what others do.
Thank you.
That’s very true.

We do realize that uh, you know.
Profit is not a dirty word as long as it’s reasonable for both parties.
You know you have to keep the lights on, pay your staff and you know make sure that the customers gon na get a winning experience and you delivery time and time again I mean I’m always at your facility.

I’ve been there multiple times and you you are correct.
You know if they’re gon na lose money dealers for a service, a third party service, it really doesn’t make sense, because the only one that wins is the service, the consumer doesn’t win and you don’t.
We all have to look.

I tried to get my people to work for free, it’s true.
I tried it doesn’t work, so I have to pay them, so I have to make a few dollars absolutely absolutely.
There has to be revenue coming in you know, and it allows you to give that experience to the to the consumer, but also keep your employee up at your employees.

Happy and that’s what it’s all about.
You know we make a little money on a lot of people.
That’s the philosophy when we come back real shortly.

We’re gon na talk to mr.
Grillo about how you can sell 35 cars 25 cars using this program very interested.
I know him a very long time and I’ve seen it happen.

We’re gon na take a break and be right back.
Thank you, , [ Applause, ], , , [ Applause, ].
All right! Welcome back to auto dealer news.

I’m your host Jill Nicolini and we are joined here by a panel of experts for the first time ever, Ricci Bello has everybody lined up.
I got to in-studio, we got John grill.
We got Mary o Lee he’s still here with us in Massachusetts.

Right.
I don’t see I here, you go awesome, awesome and thank you so much and we also have a Paul Sam.
So now listen, we’re talking about you said selling more than 25 cars now Ritchie explained this process.

To me, I know, John, has a technique and one of his training courses and he’s gon na make you all experts out there and to sell a lot of cars.
How you doing this all John? Well, we.
Basically, we have a software that drives traffic into the showroom.

We kind of look for patterns people that again, that you know have been to the facility in the left.
There’s a big opportunity that dealerships missed 70 % of the service customers actually don’t buy from the facility.
They go away, they’re comfortable every three to five years and because they live in that area, they use the service department because it’s convenient well.

We actually turned that around we introduced into the sales side.
We we send out these very inviting calls and we actually staff it.
It’s a month-long program.

It’s twice a week were there two hours each time and every time we’re there.
We draw between a hundred and three hundred incoming phone calls and these are all interested buyers.
They have an option to either opt in or opt out, and we have a team that comes in the facility and we handle those calls for those enormous amount that come in in a very short period of time.

These people are trained to handle those those calls and we bring those people back to the facility a lot of times.
You know for one reason or another customer not used to come to your facility left you.
Maybe they had a bad time.

Your service, there’s certainly good guys, have bad days.
Maybe the service, writer or the service tech didn’t have a good day and the customer felt that and they went elsewhere.

Well, we actually rejuvenate that relationship.

We bring them back to the facility and we hand them off.
It’s seamless and it’s very, very entice.
It’s intense for one month straight we’re going to constantly drive customers into the showroom we like to do it on all times when you don’t have business like, for instance, everybody’s busy on a Saturday but Monday through Friday.

That’s the the light of time in the business and we’re gon na drive people into the showroom on that time.
You know Monday, through Friday, when, when people wouldn’t come to the showroom, they’d probably wait for the weekend.
Well, we moved their timeframe up.

We also invite people in there just bought cars, for instance, your customer just purchased the vehicle from you.
You can’t upgrade them, but they do have family members.
They have spouses that need cars and we invite them in with a participation from the dealership.

We might give them an extra thousand dollars towards the purchase and they might be driving a Kia and the Nissan facilities running the program and they might want to switch them into a Nissan well.
This is a way to help facilitate that to happen.
Now.

Let me ask you a question: you know in today’s market there’s something called Big Data.
That’s key right! So, there’s a lot of data going into a dealership right with their own data and all that, what are you could you get that data and just go out there and try to get those customers back into the door? That is the data we use and believe it or not we’re using a dealerships data.
We actually take that data.

We go five years back in service five years back in sales and that’s how we develop the patterns to see, for instance, these customers using the dealership for service, but he’s never patronized the sales.
And why is that? We have great team, and it’s not because the people at the facility can’t handle it.
It’s just that they, the consumer, is conditioned to go to every three to five years to their their dealership, that they were comfortable buying the car.

But they live right in the area.
Why not use the facility that you’re comfortable use in the service department on the sales end as well? We all use the dealerships data.
We actually don’t go out and get other data.

So here’s what my thought was when I put this panel together mm-hmm, what having you a product having a dealer like Paul, would his referral program.
I maximizing these two process having a dealer and a salesperson as good and if not one of the best salesperson, probably heard and seen, which is burial based on the numbers now putting these processes in place, you’ll minimize minimize what dealers are spending on Google now everybody Knows that I’m we’re clickable, yes right, which is an automated PPC platform, and we have analytics that your average dealer is spending sixty to seventy thousand dollars a month and what they do.
Is they get it from co-op yeah, but they’re still spending twenty five thousand dollars and then, at the end of the year, oh they’re out of budget, because at the end they’ve spent all the money so come to how these are done.

Right, hey so now the holidays is a disaster for them.
So I’m thinking in my head, when I started talking to Grillo and with you a product by the way, your youtubes on my sites, everybody can go to all my sites and his youtubes on there right, because I know Paul and we’ve been working on this for A while saying, with these two processes, you bring the customer in you’re out there reaching out to the customer all the time Paul is retaining the customer and making them into referrals right.

It’s a win-win situation.

What’s happening is it all starts with Marriott B honestly, my winning strategy is, if my Mary, if my handshake, is better than your handshake, I’m gon na win, regardless of process right, listen or anything else, regardless of what got you to the dealership.
Very simply if the person that you meet at my dealership is better than my competitors, I’m gon na win more often than not that’s truly the way I feel so Mario exemplifies that in spades right the reluctance for dealers to do what I do is that it’s More of a long-term process, relationship selling networking doesn’t happen overnight.
You know, I think I said I didn’t snap my fingers and have 11,000 referral agents.

I you know it took six years to build it.

Most dealerships are looking for now solution, but it really should be a combination of both.
I need now sales.

I don’t want to sound some.
You know so nicely.
You know melancholy that you know I need now sales also.

So that’s the calm nation of what John is presenting you know.
John’s is very much of a now cell process.
I need now sales, but I also need to build for the future.

It’s taken me a few years to fully you know.
You know encapsulate that, but to grow you need now cell.
So it’s really a combination of both.

I agree with you, but if you don’t have the now sales, you can build that referral business yeah you can so so having the now having Mario having the now sells its gon na make you that referral business, because you need that that traffic, the thing with Mario’s businesses – they already are doing that kind of business already so they’re a perfect, perfect store to just build their referral business and I don’t know what they’re spending in marketing, but obviously they must be spending a few dollars to drive people there according to if the Stories like what you’re saying it is if it’s not a major highway.
Well again, I know a little bit of their strategy, I’m not their dealer, but you know they are very sharp on their pricing and I don’t mean inexpensive.
I mean that to market.

They are very sharp to market it, which is his marketing strategy to get people to drive by much bigger facilities to get to them again.
I’m not the dealer there, so just in a brief conversation with them, but you know so that’s their strategy, but it still comes down to a guy like Mario, because not everyone, so it doesn’t and not everyone’s selling eighty-five cars a month or fifty cars a month.
Okay, you know I keep saying you can’t train nice, you can’t train desire.

Obviously Mario’s got both of those, or else he wouldn’t be selling that many number of cars.
That’s why I’m asking Mary on what the process is, because a lot of the people when I put that Mario was coming on Instagram, I got a lot of messages that they wanted to learn.

There’s a lot of guys are selling 1415 cars.

You know – and I say what’s it learned from Mario, because if you can learn from Mary and sell 30 or 40 cars a month, you know 30 cars is, is a good number.
Absolutely and Mary are selling 6070 cars a month.
So Mary is obviously doing something.

Real real good Mario’s got the skill and the talent there’s no smile.
Mario, come on smile he’s, oh he’s got Mario’s got bolt, so I got a lot of messages about that and you know I’m really interested Mario and the whole thing with your process and maybe I’ll go up and visit your store and just so really marry.
What is it that makes you cut above the rest, I mean I mean not even a cut above five cuts above what is it that really, you feel separate you? I think it’s just training every day, you’ve got a got a training.

No, you don’t buzz, and it’s being nice and following up the customer hold it’s time and answering all the questions.
Don’t avoid the art ones, and I mean there’s always going to be some tension in some situations, but you got a stick through it.
I think yeah.

You brought up something before and I hate when it happens at my dealership or my manager is trying to train the salesman through the process.

I’m late.
Look.

I don’t want my customers to go through our training process.
You know go out there and you do handle it yourself, and you brought that up before that.
You do your training not in front of the customer.

You do you train you basically you’re putting the work in so that when you’re on, when you’re on the stage and when you’re ready to sell you’re ready to go – and I thought that was – I thought that was a great comment because I said I do say.
Thank you, the princess is the bare minimum.
I mean the process should be.

You know that should be debated.
Enema everybody should know the process.
Customers should never even question if you know the process, so that should be the walkthrough and then you know everything else is.

What puts you above I mean set you above.
It looks to me like you’re doing it all right.
You know we could probably learn a lot from you and your commitment must be very, very high and that’s commendable yes, and I’m still learning every day.

Man, I’m learning every day.
Oh we’re all learning every day with the change of the technology.
Have you found the customers to be different? How long you’ve been selling cars about four years now, all right so you’re relatively new on the as a change that all since you’ve been in your four years on the floor? Yes, what it is.

I noticed a lot of customers they’re doing a lot of research before they even walk into your dealership, they’re spending about five to ten hours, researching online price, and you about you, your company, and what you represent before they even step foot in this.
So a lot of the times its customers that come in and with their guards up until they actually sit down and give them the truth and explain the whole process to them, then it relaxes and relaxes them.
You know you break the ice in then you’re on smooth grounds.

Another thing he brought up is you know you don’t avoid the hard questions.
So when they ask you a question, you’re direct and you answer their questions, which is what people want so again, you’re bringing up great points, whether you realize it or not, the customer hasn’t changed the the way their company shop has changed, they’re, more educated and you Got you got to be more on top of your game and and understand that you’re dealing with somebody that knows, and if you don’t know the answer to a question, go find out the information, don’t just wing it.
We talked about this before the show I mean those of us have been around.

You know an 85 1985, or so I mean when you were when you were a consumer and you saw a dealers head.
You really only had one method of getting information because if you called the dealership, basically you were fired.
If you ever gave do any of us older guys out, there know that that’s true! So, basically, if you called the dealership, you never got a price, so you physically had to go to the dealership.

In the average consumer was shopping, six to eight dealerships and a dealership had twenty salesmen out front, because that’s the method they were communicating.
That was the method of connecting with the customer.
Today, it’s obvious a lot different.

That’s what I’m trying to do is get my salesmen equipped to handle today’s customer or how they’re shopping they’re getting information online.
That’s why I don’t have a big BDC.
I do have a bid.

I have a BDC, but I have my salesmen, where the customers are shopping: fish, where the fish are there in the electronic world, they’re on social media they’re gathering their information.
So I have to train and equip my salespeople to communicate with today’s with today’s buyer, and so customers are only shopping.
One point to the one point: five dealer.

So if you still have that same twenty guys out on the they’re starving and that’s why we have a 75 % sales turnover, because literally the salesmen are starving, because there’s five times left people walking in the door physically, but the ones that are walking in the Door, this is what I try to press.
The ones that are walking in the door have already done the research and they’ve already pre-selected you, so every customer that walks into the door.
You really should be closing at almost a 50 % rate today, where the action happens is in the virtual world and that’s where that’s, where I’m trying to do.

I’m trying to get my salesmen comfortable being there being present and knowing how to handle those customers knowing how to handle the internet leads, and then we had to handle the phone ups providing information and still allowing me to make a few dollars along the way.
So you know boy when I met you.
What I liked about your program was one thing, the most important thing as a general manager as a dealer, and you go to NATO and they teach you.

You know the Academy and what’s the most important thing identifying.
What’s an expense and what’s an investment, I stay in your financial state.
So when I looked at your program that day in the office with Dominic right off the top of my head, I saw one thing.

I saw an investment to a dealership right, but I saw managing the financial statement, lowering your expense in the showroom floor in advertising and indifferently, safe and in different departments.
Btc is very expensive to run.
Internet departments are very expensive to run right yeah.

I don’t believe again, I’m not an advocate of eliminating no, but just thought you minimize.
What it is is you’re.
You have an expense of 20 grand you minimize that alert right, because what happens is when a referral program you get referral customers well, they’re.

All three big expenses, personnel advertising and floor plan, so I do try to.
I did eliminate a significant portion of that BDC expense.
I shared some of it into the sales expense, because that’s where I that’s, where I want to invest in I’ve, also eliminated or have not increased.

My advertise I haven’t my business is up over 50 % in the last few years, but I have not spent a dime more in advertising, so all of those dollars are going to the bottom line.
It’s being itself generated.
Business itself generated leads through my salesmen.

That’s what again, that’s the strategy that I’ve taken is I’m still spending money, I’m just not spending more money, I’m investing in my salesmen, which is what you’re really talking about.
I do pay for training for my salesmen.
You know, I think, that’s short-sighted.

On many dealers, part is not investing in the training.
So, even though I have a pretty good sales staff, I still have somebody come in and you know everybody can use a little dusting up every now and then so I do look at my sales staff as an asset and as an as an investment and unfortunately I think a lot of dealers don’t and I do care if my salesmen make earn a living.
I mean yeah.

My guys do pretty well, but I do well because they’re doing well, I don’t know if you realize it, but your program what you did like the clickable technology, like that’s automated mm-hmm.

What you’ve done right is with this program.
When I looked at it and I left there, I went right to Manhattan and I explained it to clickable what you’ve done with your program is.

You’ve made it automated right in a way that it’s automated in the car business.
Why is it automated? Because you got your sales staff with the referral business and you got people out there working and sending you customers.
Humans are creatures of habit.

Absolutely so now you have your sales department that that’s the habit already right, it’s a process when they come now.
The consumers is also developing a habit with that debit card.

Why don’t you tell us a little bit about how you somebody actually clicked in a question? What do I pay as ever? Yeah yeah, you know interject you, but there’s people asking and to be exact.

Let’s see we have Robert Moy his question, for you was: do you have a selling platform using tablets for consultants to be efficient and to provide better purchasing experience for customers and also what is a reasonable referral — payout? Well, my dealership.
I started at $ 100.
I went to 150, I had an increase in the number of referrals I went to 200.

Had an increase in the number of referrals, went to 250 had no increase.
So to me, then I’m backed it down to 200, the the defining line for me every.
If you’re a good salesman, you’re going to get people that will refer people to you, I call them passive referrals they because they liked you.

You were a nice person.
You may not even have to pay that person.
You probably don’t even have to pay that person.

Any money to do so, first off with my program, you can actually donate the money to charity or you can get it paid on a debit card, but but that aside the what I look for, I look for the not the passive referrals are great, but I’m Looking for the ones that want to earn a few dollars as a side job, just like this woman is doing, I mean everyone can use a few extra bucks in their pocket, and I have several referral agents that earned over seven eight thousand dollars last year.
Those are people that are making a car payment, you know maybe helping they pay the rent, putting food on the table, so those are people that are active referrals that are not only friends of the dealership, but also doing it as a way to make their lives A little bit easier, so those are the ones that you have to hunt a little bit for and the tablets I don’t provide.
I do I am trying new software to speed up the process, I’m not there with full tablets yet, but probably soon.

Yeah Robert wants out all the information.
Also we have a Ralph Paglia who’s watching and he’s just chiming in to let us know his thoughts that situational selling, he says is the best process for today, since you adapt to each customer.
Do you agree with that? Situational selling, obviously that yeah I mean you’d have to adapt to what the customer wants.

You know, I’m.
I guess that I think buyers are relational buyers, transactional buyers.
I think, because of our help, high sales turnover, we turn relationship buyers into transactional buyers because I may have like Jill, but when I go back to buy a car from Jill and Jill’s, not there anymore.

Now, all of a sudden, I’m back to being a transactional.
Buyer, so for me, every dealer wants relationally relationship selling.
Fortunately you have to make an effort to get there and the efforts and the people great and right now actually we’re down to our last few seconds of the show.

So before I wrap everyone rate, you just want to get your final thoughts.

Any other questions you want to ask some of our guests here on the panel god, I’m really glad that people joined us today, especially Paul Grillo and Mario.
It’s a pleasure Mary.

I wish you join us again real soon.
I want to meet you in person.
I unbelievable how many cars you sell, I’m so impressed great job you guys in person at anytime.

You want to come in.
Just let me know, I sure, will man.
Thank you all right, take care.

Thank you, Mario.
Well, thank you, everyone and Paul.
Since you said you have over what seven sales women on the F horse over there, I have to come on by and maybe I’ll start like our Z queen of cars.

They have a problem with that.
Unfortunately, that’s all the time we have here for this special expert panel edition of auto dealer news, but a big thanks once again to all of our guest, John Paul, Mario and, of course, thank you so much for to bring us all together.

Stay tuned because we’ll see you back right here next time on Ritchie Bello TV for auto dealer news, I’m your host Jill Nicolini! Thank you for watching happy Good Friday! Happy Passover, Happy Easter! Whatever you celebrate have a great weekend with your family, bye-bye

About Richie Bello

Richie Bello has a vast knowledge of the automotive industry, so most of his services are faced towards automotive dealerships. He couples all his skills with the power of the internet to render even remote services to clients in need of a little brushing

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