Speaker 1: 0:00

One of the four biggest mistakes closing negotiating mistakes salesmen are making today. That's costing them a fortune. Stay tuned and we'll fill you in. Hi guys, I'm Grace LaPloy and I'm here with David Lowe, the automotive sales coach, and today we're talking through the four biggest mistakes we make when we're negotiating. That's right. You did a lot of them and you taught me how to not do them right. So there are four common mistakes and we're going to tell you what each one of these are so that you can avoid them. And, by the way, identifying them is the first step to becoming better, isn't it Right? I'm going to tell you something I is the first step to becoming better, isn't it right? I'm going to tell you something I didn't know. They were mistakes.

Speaker 1: 0:46

I started selling cars when I was 20, and I didn't know what I was doing. I didn't get any training and I just listened to what other people were doing, and I was selling cars and I was making money. So I must be doing it right. Oh, my God, that cost me so much money not knowing what I didn't know. And so in this episode, we want to go over these four mistakes. Now, listen, don't be upset if you're doing them because most salesmen are. Until you're trained, how would you know, right? So don't be upset. As we go through them, you might identify with some of those, and that's cool because that lets you know that's an area of opportunity. You have to be even better than you are. Most salesmen are selling cars and making money regardless. What we want to do is sell more cars in a way we can make more money that also creates an exciting, long lifetime customer and we can go home feeling good about what we did. That means we need to stay away from the sleazy promises of the sales trainers. I'll teach you how to overcome every objection and close every sale. If you just send me money, right, it's not possible. You need to really learn what's happening, why is it happening and what do you do in those situations. Yes, you've got to have a word track, you've got to practice your presentations, and master salesmanship is really more not memorization, it's more about transformation. Right, all right. So I want to walk you through these four.

Speaker 1: 2:19

And so, grace, you and I go to a lot of dealerships. We had a lot of meetings with dealers and sales managers and of course, we always say all right, let's go through the scenario. Tell me what your sales people do, as we're pointing out the need for training, right, and the first one is, uh, we'll say something like this Um, hey, I want 4,000 more for my trade. Every single dealer, not some, every single dealer I've asked that to general manager salesman said the same thing. What do they do? They get up. They get up and go see the manager, true or false, every man.

Speaker 1: 2:56

And so here's the funny thing. So I say to the dealer is that what you want him to do? You say no, I don't want him to do that. And I say, why not? Well, it destroys relationship, it sets the wrong expectations, it costs his money. They've got the list of why not.

Speaker 1: 3:11

So then I say to him, how long has this been going on? Oh, ever since I've been set right. And then he's now to me that's insanity. You know what's happening, you know what it's costing you and you just keep letting it go. It doesn't make sense. Now, listen, we've all been insane. We have the right to be better today than yesterday. Would you guys agree? If we know this is going on, let's solve it. And it's simple to solve.

Speaker 1: 3:40

The pop-up and go comes from the lack of confidence and lack of a game plan. Right, the cool thing is our dealership playbook. Here's the win-win closing, which has to deal with closing, right, great course. And if you're a subscriber, you have 24-7 access to it. Role-play, videos, game, film, this is how you do it. When the buyer says I want more for my trade, you're not thrown. We actually expect it and we have a plan to overcome it. So you don't get up and run to your manager.

Speaker 1: 4:09

Okay, number two and we hear this all the time, and this might come out even before they get up and see, but we hear this all the time I want four grand more for my car. What do they say? I could do that. You do it right. Yeah, boom, if I could, would you Write it? Don't fight. It was the language from the 70s and the 80s. And, by the way, in the 70s and the 80s, cars were marked up a zillion dollars. They had the push, pull or drag. Everything was different. We now have internet pricing, right, right, we don't have thousands to negotiate like we did before. I don't think that was right then, but still it works because of all that room.

Speaker 1: 4:51

The fight it or write it. Don't fight it thing. Here's what the dealership says when they say, write it, don't fight it, they're saying we have no confidence that you will be able to solicit and influence a better offer. Why? Because we're not training you. That's why we have no confidence. All right.

Speaker 1: 5:09

So, number two if I could, would you? Now? Why is this so damaging? It breaks the trust that we have, right? I basically told you well, the deal sheet that I just gave you, it's not the real deal sheet, it's a worksheet. Yeah, a starting point, a starting point, yeah. So you didn't fall for it. So let me go get you the real numbers, right? If I could, would you? Terrible, okay. Number three Now. This is when a salesman starts thinking I'm pretty smart, I'm not going to do four grand, right? So, number three the difference I can't get you four grand, but I could maybe get you two. Now they go up to the. I hear this all the time at the hey, but they wanted four grand. I got them down to two as if they won something. So I always said to my salesman if they wanted a million, would you offer them half a million? It's the same difference In today's market, the way that we price our cars using internet-driven pricing.

Speaker 1: 6:02

We don't have that kind of fluxation, right, and we use the internet to value the car. And even if we're holding back four grand, we don't want to give up that profit. We've got to be better. And so splitting the difference gives away half of it immediately, and now you're going to give away part or all the rest of it too right, you're too willing to make a concession. By the way, our win-win closing includes those 10 rules of negotiating. They're key. Once you have those in your mind, you will make more money, period.

Speaker 1: 6:38

I'm going to tell you something I didn't know I sold cars and I made money and I did all. To tell you something I didn't know I sold cars and I made money and I did all four of these things. The last one very heinous. I didn't know it was heinous at the time. But I would say to people what? Where'd you come up with that? Where'd you come up with that, right? In other words, lie to me some more. How'd you come up with that? You didn't. Did you look it up, right? You know all these Boss they are. They are yeah, okay. So this is justification. I'm going to tell you this is terrible.

Speaker 1: 7:05

So in Seinfeld, jerry wants to know how to beat the lie detector. And he goes to George Costanza. And George Costanza is the king. Liar Says Jerry, remember, it's not a lie if you believe it. Of course it's still a lie. But here's what's happening the more you repeat a lie, the more it becomes true to you. And if we ask our buyer lie to me better, they're just going to cement themselves in their story. I mean, how do they save face now, right? Okay, so we have four problems. Right, let me go talk to my boss. If I could, would you what if we split the difference? How did you come up with that? As I said, I sold cars and I made money without it. Once I learned a better way to do it, right, holy cow, my income went through the roof.

Speaker 1: 7:55

Now, listen, I want to tell you something, so I don't forget, there's so much information we want to give you in these short episodes. We try to give you the tip of the spear to change your thinking, so you can go and inspire you to get the knowledge and the practice you need to do better to be better. Right, and that's what the playbook is designed. By the way, if you're not subscribed, your dealership's not get in touch with your manager, call us, and we do have individual memberships. If you want to get on right, nothing's stopping you the information's out there that you need. But here's the thing I want you to remember Whenever you're negotiating you want to build a golden bridge for your buyer to retreat on.

Speaker 1: 8:37

So Sun Tzu taught us that right the art of war. Here's what he said your army is twice as big as their army and you're going to win. It's still going to cost you money and men to fight. Wouldn't it be better if the other army gave up and left? So what he said was if you want the other army to retreat, they won't do it with their tail tied behind their legs. You can't humiliate them into retreat. You have to build a golden bridge, make it a win for them to retreat.

Speaker 1: 9:12

So everything we teach in here we've removed all the high pressure and the negative reinforcement. Some of these guys are out there screaming at you to do. It's really horrible, and I think it's meant for the lowest common denominator of you know, bullying people. You just we want to be masters. We always said we've got a scalpel, not a sledgehammer, and so we want to find a way to overcome this fear of paying too much and not getting enough for the trade, in this case in a way that the buyer goes. That makes sense, I'll take it. We want a relationship for life and we want to feel good about what we're doing. Can I tell you, if you're a master with a scalpel, you're going to make a lot more money than the guy with the sledgehammer. Not only do you feel better about yourself, you're going to. This ain't just about feeling better. You will sell more cars and make more money and you will withstand the market variations that come All right.

Speaker 1: 10:14

So I sold cars for a year at that Ford place and left at the top feeling pretty good about myself. And I went up the East Coast to get a job at this Honda store and I sold myself into this job. I'm so good and everybody had was in their 40s right, all the salesmen and I talked my way in the job. My confidence must have been contagious, but it only lasted one day, because I got there and I sat at my desk and this guy, dj Lolly, was behind me and I listened to him. I was going through the Honda brochures, trying to learn the product.

Speaker 1: 10:49

I'm listening to him negotiate and close these deals and I thought, holy crap, I can't do any of that. I'm not just true story. I cannot do any of that. I don't know what he's doing. I've never heard anything like that. Cause, this is what I did. Oh, I'm going to go talk to my boss. If I could, would you? Yeah, that's what I. Those were my tools. Those were crappy tools, but that's what I had. And so I was listening to a whole different level of tools, to a whole different level of tools. It's just like going. It's just so different.

Speaker 1: 11:23

So the next day I went back there and I took a notepad and I wrote down everything he said to negotiate. His customers were right behind me. There was no divider. If I went back, I'd hit his customers in the head, you know. So I was able to listen closely. I just wrote it down as fast as I could. I did it for two days. Dj sold three cars during those two days and I realized he didn't use the same words, but he took the same path to both. So I got home, I took these notepads out. I still use a legal pad for everything.

Speaker 1: 11:55

I love taking notes and learning that way, and you'll see when I'm going to make a new training course. I'll do that and then I'll line them up all over to get the storyline down, to make sure I can present information in a way that flows. So I took his closing and I laid them out and I realized all three closes were identical and so all I did was I numbered them. I figured out there's basically five parts to this and I numbered them. I wrote down what he said and then I reworded it in my own language and then I began to practice it.

Speaker 1: 12:27

And, true story, that was my first month there. I was there about three weeks. My next month was my first full month. I outsold him for salesman of the month, using his words, right. So here's what I'm trying to tell you. Here I am 21, whatever, no formal training, and I'm outselling a master. How? I had a game plan. Right Now, lucky enough, I was exposed to that game plan, but I wrote it down. Here's the map, here's how he does it. That's not such a mystery when you see it right, it's like watching them make a movie. When you see behind the scenes, oh, that's not such a mystery. And so, once I wrote it down, that's not such a mystery as a matter of fact, I think anybody can do it.

Speaker 1: 13:14

So what we did with the dealership playbook is we broke these things down for you in a one, two, three, four. We made them super easy. You can be like DJ. You can be better than me. That's. What we're hoping is that you can use the same outline, customize it to your personal presentation style.

Speaker 1: 13:34

I really saw that in DJ Presentation style. I really saw that in DJ. He really taught me that he said the same things, three different sales, but the words weren't identical, right. They weren't memorized routines, they didn't go into the script, right. He talked and had a great conversation and led the buyer through the thought process that delivered the clothes Different words, same exact process. You see, memorization only gets you so far. It's transformation that'll change your life. You can transform by practicing what we teach you. You practice it over and over until your action and reactions become automatic. And guess what's going to happen? Your words become your own. If you're willing to do that, you can stop making these four mistakes. And I'm going to tell you something.

Speaker 1: 14:26

After I learned that and became that top salesman, I look back at my first year selling cars and, by the way, I went from playing in a band on the weekends for $200 a night. I basically made $1,200 to $1,600 a month. And at the Ford store I went to making $5,000 and $6,600 a month. And at the Ford store I went to making $5 and $6 grand a month and at the Honda store, $10 and $12 grand a month. Now that's 1986. People Think about the money. How much it was. I made so much more money, right, I thought I was rich when I was working at the Ford store. I was doing it all right and now I was doing it right and making so much.

Speaker 1: 15:00

I looked at my first year and thought how much money did my ignorance cost me? Right? None of us know what we don't know. I got lucky. I got sat right next to I just wonder if I got a chair on the other side of the room, if I'd be where I am today. I got lucky. Sometimes we got to take lucky situations and turn them into gold. Got lucky, he's got to take lucky situations and turn them into gold. Got lucky, he's there Now. I had to make it happen though. I listened to it, I heard it. I'm like, oh my God, this is great. And I wrote it down. I took action and then I practiced it over and over until it was mine, and then I beat him like it was with a bat and outsold him his own way of doing things right and made it better. And so we're encouraging you guys quit making these four mistakes.

Speaker 1: 15:47

I know you're selling cars. I know you're making money Everybody is. If you're in the car business and you have a job, you're selling cars and making money. Is that really enough for you? Is it just making money, or do you want to become something better and sell more cars? You want to become someone better and hold more profit. Do things in such a way that the buyer's like thank you so much and you go home knowing you didn't push or pressure them. You're a master sales professional, you're worth your pay, you earn your pay and you're the highest paid person on that floor. If that's what you want, then you have to make it. So the dealership playbook it's your assistance, it's your tool in that.

Speaker 1: 16:32

Now, by the way, we have a ton of free videos on our Facebook page, automotivesalescoachcom. A partnership in here for an individual is so inexpensive it's almost ridiculous, but you can do that. A team membership for your whole dealership is so inexpensive. You can do that, but you don't have to subscribe. We have a lot of things on our Facebook page, a ton of videos on YouTube. Get out there, search for the information you need and turn the information into skill through transformation. Transformation I want it and I'm going to do what it takes, time and energy to master it right. All right, thank you so much for joining us this episode. We really appreciate it. If you'd like to talk about something in particular, hit us up. You can hit us up through Facebook. There's a million ways to talk to us. Let us know. You can go to our prepare2win's. A million ways to talk to us. Let us know. You can go to our prepare to wincom site. Talk to us on salescoachcom and talk to us. We'd love to hear from you. Keep watching and keep listening. Good selling.