David Lowe: 0:00

Can prosperity be the enemy of excellence? Stay tuned to find out.

Grace Lupoi: 0:14

Hi guys, Grace Lupoi and I'm here with David Lowe, the Automotive Sales Coach, and today, like he said, we're talking about prosperity being the enemy of excellence. Right? This is a big thing that we've seen all the time, right?

David Lowe: 0:25

Right. It's funny how a lot of times success creates failure, right? So I think that a lot of times we work really hard to get somewhere and sometimes, when we get there, we take how we got there for granted. So it's often in prosperity, when things are really good, that people focus less on their personal excellence, isn't that?

Grace Lupoi: 0:49

weird, that's right, yeah, absolutely.

David Lowe: 0:51

So people like I see people all the time, like I'm so proud of myself, I'm going to the gym all the time and what's happening? Well, I've lost 16 pounds, right, and I don't run into them for a couple of months and I'm like, hey, how's your workouts going? I'm like, oh, I'm kind of not going anymore. I said, well, it works so well, you stopped right. So I think it's pretty easy. It's pretty easy to let that happen to you. In fact, we have some. In history we've had populations that lived well and became complacent and entitled, apathetic, almost enslaved, and repented and restored. In fact, we see it in the Old Testament six times right, and I see it in my own life. I think probably all of us have seen where we've taken, where we are for granted. Sometimes you don't appreciate what you have until it's gone right.

David Lowe: 1:49

So you're working hard to get somewhere, and it's often when you get there that the made it. And what you really have to really focus is on what got me here and how do I keep that going? Right, so you're either getting better or you're probably getting worse. Right, staying at top may be harder than getting to the top, I don't know. Right, right, so, prosperity being the enemy of excellence, there's an old saying in the car business selling cars fixes all the problems in the dealership, and selling cars fixes all the problems in the dealership. In other words, when the traffic is down and the market is down, every crack shows All the problems are so evident to everybody, but when the market picks up and sales increase, nobody is paying any attention to all of that.

David Lowe: 2:44

Everything's great again, even though they're not, and the slowdown, you see those things, but when the pockets are full, nobody's worried about fixing the cracks the only time we focus on it. So I think that's what we mean by prosperity being the enemy of excellence. When you have $10, you watch how you spend it. When you have 100, you may not, and so this episode is really dedicated. I know you've been doing a lot of work going to dealerships and in our Automotive Sales Coach, the dealership playbook our industry of. By the way, this is not car business specific, not this Ross.

David Lowe: 3:26

Berry being the enemy of excellence. I remember, oh, great baseball player from the Cubs. I remember when he got his huge contract that was all he wrote, everything after Ryan Sanford and I thought, yeah, he did a great job. He got that huge contract and then it's kind of disappeared from there a little bit in my mind and so you kind of see that in other things. You know, that's why outliers like Tom Brady and Michael Jordan that get to the top and stay at the top are so impressive, right, but anyway. So we're going back to selling cars and you're going into dealerships and one of the big things with you is not just what are we doing, but why. What is the result? Right, right. So as people are selling a lot of cars, what happens? So walk through what you do and let's talk about how sometimes selling a lot of cars end up working against people.

Grace Lupoi: 4:23

So I mean, the same thing I think we've been talking about is when we're doing really well, sometimes we forget about how we got there and then we say, oh, I'm done, I did it Right. And we're going through in the dealerships and talking through the sales process steps and, as you know, of course, if you're on the dealership playbook, you know this that our sales process we don't just have the steps, right Next to it, we have the goal or the why behind it, the motivation. Here's why I'm going to do this step. And when I was selling cars I struggled with the same thing is sometimes I would look at it I said, oh my gosh, I have all these steps to do and I forgot what the real goal is, especially when you're seeing success oh, I'm just really great, because I'm really great, I have all the skill. And sometimes we forget to look back and say, well, it's because each of these steps has a purpose and serves me in doing so.

Grace Lupoi: 5:13

And so typically in the winter months sometimes it's maybe a little slower traffic we might see, and so those cracks are very visible and talking with different sales consultants and managers at different stores, it's all the same thing. Well, I don't want to do that step. Why do I have to do that? And we forget there's the goal and there's a reason behind it, and so when we're seeking the prize money and we were doing really well in the summer and fall, I'm really good and I forget how great I am. And how great I am is because I've been working through these steps and the reason behind it.

David Lowe: 5:48

Isn't that true? So we have we're selling a lot of cars, business is good, I'm making money, and now I start hurrying to make more money and in the process I skip doing it right so many dealerships. When the market heats up, it becomes about product and price.

Grace Lupoi: 6:07

Absolutely.

David Lowe: 6:08

And I think what people forget is people are buying cars and they buy a car regardless of what we do have the right car at the right price and it's sold. I'm sorry, but our training isn't about selling cars. Because people want cars, they're going to buy cars, no matter what. Our training is about selling cars with excellence, right how to close a higher percentage of customers, hold that fair profit and do both, and so well that the customer leaves. Thank you, I'm sending all my friends and family here and I'm never going anywhere else and doing it so well that we have that healthy pride. However, when the market heats up and more leads are coming in and you make an easy sale hey, I found this car on your website. Is it still available? I want it, and you didn't have to do those steps to make it.

David Lowe: 6:56

Now the value of those steps in your mind starts diminishing. And then we hear things like this oh, I had a customer. Yeah, we just couldn't get to the payment, they just couldn't afford it. And now, all of a sudden, the deals that are being lost are somehow the customer's problem, the customer's fault, the customer wouldn't pay, or maybe it's the manufacturer's prices are too high, or maybe the dealership won't pay enough for their trade. It's funny how all the reasons we don't sell the car don't go back to the true reason is value is not exceeding price.

Grace Lupoi: 7:30

That's exactly right.

David Lowe: 7:31

Whose job is it to build value?

Grace Lupoi: 7:33

Consultants.

David Lowe: 7:34

Whose job is it to build desire that nobody wants to pay what it takes to buy Right? So the sales process steps are designed To guide your guests or your buyer step by step through the this is the right product, this is the right price, this is the right place, today's the right day, everything that's right. So if you start shortcutting that because you're making money pretty soon you have the cycle.

Grace Lupoi: 8:01

And it snowballs. So we said I'm doing really good, I'm skipping the steps because I don't need those at that time to sell the car or whatever you're selling.

David Lowe: 8:09

I'm selling cars without it.

Grace Lupoi: 8:10

Right. And then we forget the value behind it. And then when those cracks start showing, when business slows down a little bit, we're hurting for a car deal or a sale and so we speed up. That's right. And when we speed up we lose the value in the step. We forget that it's not just the step we're doing, it's really the why behind it. And what does that step help me as a consultant accomplish? Or what does it do for the customer and help them understand or see or accomplish? And when we speed up we skip those steps and then it just snowballs right.

David Lowe: 8:40

That's right.

Grace Lupoi: 8:41

And sometimes it might take that reassurance or something in the dealership or teammate or something to re-energize them and remind them Maybe watching one of our daily videos.

David Lowe: 8:51

That's a good idea.

Grace Lupoi: 8:52

So that's what Daily Train is about, isn't it Right?

David Lowe: 8:55

The Daily Training is all about reminding us what we know. We need a partner, we need accountability. So our daily emails from our playbook or, of course, just logging onto our Facebook page at Arm of a Sales Coach or watching one of the episodes or doing something daily to learn, could help you from falling into a batting slump. It's funny the batters fall into a batter slump in baseball. I just need to get a hit, and the more they focus on the hit, the deeper they go. That's what you're saying. So the coach will take them back to the mechanics of the hit. Right, so prosperity can be the enemy of excellence, because when we're selling a lot of cars, we don't notice problems. Now I'm going to tell you this is freaky and a freak out, but I will have GMs or dealers come to me and say I'm so blessed to have the team I have. They're so great, I'm so lucky, we're killing it. They're killing it right. See, the market's hot. They're selling a lot of cars and make a lot of money. Two months later, two months later, it's January, the market has fallen off a little bit and they're calling me. Do you know any managers? My managers can't do their job. It's amazing to me how fickle leadership is that we're not looking beyond the market effect on our business what we should be looking at.

David Lowe: 10:16

I said to a sales team in dealership yesterday. I said what impact are you having on the buyer's decision? We know that the dealership stocking the car and marketing the car drives the traffic in. What are you adding? Are you just riding the dealership's coattails? Are you making yourself value by what you do? And unfortunately, if you're selling cars without doing the steps, it may lead you to believe you don't need to do it. And when things get tough, you're going to lose deals. You're not going to maybe even lose your job, but certainly when things are good, you're still not going to maximize your potential. You're going to be working deals and the deals you lose you're going to think it's over money, but I'm telling you it's over desire and value. Shortcutting costs your buyer the experience they're looking for. But in prosperity we're making money. We're less focused on it. So why do we have this episode today? We want to remind everybody that what we do matters. I mean, doesn't it?

Grace Lupoi: 11:23

It does.

David Lowe: 11:24

How you feel about yourself. I think that's one of the biggest things that matter. How do I feel about myself and am I working with character and integrity? Do I feel good about what I'm doing and how I'm doing it? Am I self-examining? I know we did an episode on self-examination and trying to improve myself, being better today than yesterday.

David Lowe: 11:50

I think somebody who's questioning what they can do to be better lives with more joy. We know that. And also, if you're doing those things during good times, not bad times Everybody does it during bad times but if you do those things while you're on top, that's how champions are made. So, instead of prosperity becoming the enemy of excellence, why don't we, instead of waiting to fall, to regroup, why don't we rise while we're at the top? So the message of today's episode is what? Don't wait for things to get tough, to get back to the basics, to doing what you do. Don't let prosperity hide the fact that we need to be better today than yesterday. Let prosperity be a reminder that you know what being on top is a gift, and I have a stewardship of that gift. To remain on top means I need to do what I need to do to keep that going.

Grace Lupoi: 12:48

That's right, right, absolutely.

David Lowe: 12:50

Everything we do in this podcast. The episodes are dedicated to helping you live and work better, and we thank you for joining us. Grace is always reminding you to like us and we'd love to hear what your opinion is. Share it with us, right? Make a comment? We'd love that. If any of the episodes have an impact on you and they think they would impact a friend, share it. That's a great way to get a conversation going with a friend and iron sharpens iron. It's a great way to start that and we hope that these episodes will do that for you. So thank you so much and good selling.