WoW! Soon after the article mentioned below hit the ole Internet the folks from Car Biz today contacted me to see if I wouldn't mind speaking with them for a segment on their daily CBTNews show. Needless to say I was floored and jumped at the chance to be interviewed by the site that regularly features such powerful people in the automotive industry, and huge personal inspirations, like Mark Tewart and Renee Stuart! I was pretty stoked to get on the line with Russel Brown who co-anchors the show I watch and recommend to my staff so enthusiastically and it went great, I felt honored that the things we are doing here at Raceway Ford have got the attention of others and are looked at as 'how to do it right'. I feel like I am tooting my own horn a bit much lately so I will try to taper it off however the interview is HERE of you'd like to check it out!
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During my 25+ years of working for car dealerships I have been asked MANY times for advice on how to best research, negotiate for and ultimately buy a car. Quite often after I offer my opinion I hear the reply, “is that what the ‘car salesman part of you says or is that legit good advice?” The truth is, there doesn’t have to be a difference! Although some might assume that any advise I would have to offer wouldn’t necessarily be the best for the customer I will point out that there is already quite enough negative stereotyping about car salesman and yes, there is probably plenty to validate some of that negative I have always worked with the idea that if my efforts aren’t best for my customers they won’t be for my own long term success either. Each deal I make is in the spirit of it being the first in a long relationship I strive to build with my customers, something that has contributed not only to my achievements in the car business but also created quite a large following of customers that will pretty much only buy their next cars from me! I believe that a good deal is more than simply a number, yes price IS important but the experience and ease of purchase is equally important. Many sources of so called car buying expertise are free to give tips about how to find the lowest price but when it comes to actually working with a dealership and walking in to make the purchase they often fall short on real world, usable guidance. That is where I can help, I am hoping that shifting the direction of my blog to also include car buying help, tips and answers to many of the questions that arise during the car shopping experience can help people with real advice that will save them money and also time and stress when researching and buying their next car. There are many aspects to car buying that we will look at including; trading in or selling your car, now that I have an Internet price quote now what (?) and the benefits and draw backs of leasing in addition to answering any questions you may have. Keep an eye out for my future posts if you are looking to buy a car and if you have a specific question please feel free to send it in and I will answer it here. For the best research and product info check back to this site often for the latest in what’s new and what’s news in the automotive world! Until next time, I’m Mike theCarGuy and I want to help you ‘Buy Happy’! Recently I had the privilege of sitting in on an awesome discussion with the incredible Rebecca Chernek and Patrick Antrim of Careersinauto.com about Rebecca's awesome Finance Training and mastering menu sales. Rebecca is training todays leaders to become tomorrows legends and she is someone I follow closely and admire greatly! Whether you are working in the F&I Office or not its a great watch for all Car Pros! On the evening of April 9th, 2014 over 300 classic, high performance and specialty Mustangs gathered at the Saleen Speedlab in Corona, CA to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of America's Pony and set out on a cross country Pony Express of fun! I was lucky enough be invited to the party and snapped a few pics of some of my fav Pony's! For the last year and a half or so I have been chomping at the bit waiting for the arrival of the next generation of America's favorite Pony, the 2015 Ford Mustang! To commemorate the Fiftieth Anniversary of the Mustang Ford held a huge premier event here on the west coast at the world famous TLC Chinese Theater and I was incredibly lucky enough to get an invite and be there! There were hundreds of celebrities and members of the world auto press, and just like a famous star it is the new Mustang even left its 'foot print' in the wet cement out in front of the theater to be displayed next to stars like Steve McQueen! After starring in over 3,000 movies and TV shows the new Mustang had a LOT to live up to and it does NOT disappoint! From the outside its obvious that the new Mustang is breath taking and the performance is too! As I checked out each of the drawings, renderings and concepts that popped up online I found many features I liked about many of them and the magicians at Ford seem to have read my mind and pulled together the things I liked about many different versions of the new Pony into one simply stunning package. The new GT is powered by a freshened up Coyote 5.0l V8 that develops 420hp and will also be available with the Launch Control feature previously only available on the Shelby Cobra's! At the other end of the spectrum is an all new 4 cyl, DOHC Turbo Charged EcoBoost engine that makes 305hp while also returning class leading exceptional fuel mileage! Out back the rear suspension is all new and fully independent, which means the new Pony will change the way you feel about the letters IRS forever! Quite simply the only thing the designers kept from the current platform is the way they spell Mustang! The 2015 wasn't styled, it was engineered with an intent to stir the soul, provide an intense yet incredibly satisfying driving experience and be the center of attention wherever it goes for a long, long time! The first 1000 editions of this gorgeous new Mustang will be 2014.5 models to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the first Mustangs and there is already much anticipation, contact us at Raceway Ford for more information on how to get your name on the waiting list and stay tuned here for more info on this amazing new addition to Ford's history of amazing cars! As many Internet Sales Professionals would agree, the new popularity of videos as follow up does not ensure car deals by themselves however as an integral step in a strong follow up process they can be highly effective. Above is a video message I made for my team as a 'Managers Message' and it it attached to an email that goes out on the third day after an Internet request has been received. Although the views don't reflect the real reach the response the email gets in reply's and in texts is great. Just like when working with a customer in the showroom sometimes having a Manager to speak to can be the assistance needed to assure the customer that they aren't making a mistake and doing business with the right folks. In the video I offer our guests the ability to reach out to me direct by calling, texting or replying to the email and it works, by allowing our customers the options that best work for their communication comfort we show that we are indeed here for them. Its not the best quality or produced but its gets the point across and was easy to make, as a manager could your process benefit from more of your direct involvement? Let me know your thoughts in the comment section, I look forward to your point of view!
These days it seems like every vender that sits in front of me has the same catch phrase; “content is king”. Now I’m sure this is a valid point but this is not about venders or even anything online, I wanted to talk about the other king today. Here at the dealership I have a similar saying that I have spoken many thousands of times over the years; “accountability is king” which is a para phrase of a saying I'm sure you have heard many times yourself, “inspect what you expect”. There's a difference though between repeating it and doing it! Many times we look only at the results of an employee and mistakenly assume the activities that led to them, both positively and negatively. Sometimes we may assume that our 20 car a month salesperson does a fairly good job of his daily work-plan, or that he in fact does have one! Conversely looking at a low performing staff member and making the assumption that he isn't working his daily plan. The real problem is an overwhelming lack of accountability that prevails in the car business. Now if your dealership has it figured out to a tee then forgive the implication however after 25 plus years in showrooms I do speak from real experience! We all get busy, believe me I know and I get busy too! Its all to easy to lose track of the day and simply nod as my sales people check out at the end of their shift with a casual, ‘good night boss’…. If this type of check out is left unchecked it suddenly is the last weekend of the month and the scramble is on to find those precious few more deals that we hope will make up for a slow month. The reality is simple. There are no slow months, there is only the lack or preparation followed up with implementation and inspected by management so as to hold our people accountable for their own production. Lets face it our people rely on us to keep them on track and earning their living so its our responsibility to make sure they; have clear and easily understood goals, they have reviewed their goals with us as managers and are being inspected daily to ensure they are working toward those goals. Before the end of a month the following months activities should be clearly planned out. For a retail person on the floor they should be able to project how many up, demos and write ups they will need to reach their goal and most importantly what they need to do to acquire those opportunities. Internet people have similar steps to manage with how many leads, phone call, appointments , demos, write ups etc. Its imperative to look through our CRM daily to see what our people are, and aren't doing and then consult with them to offer praise or guidance when needed. If wee look up at the sales board and see someone selling a bunch don’t assume he or she is doing a bang up job of follow up and leave it at that, look into it and if they are well then praise them however, if they aren't ask them how amazing their numbers would be if they were! If you have a low performer drill down and find out where the breakdown is, if a guy has taken a ton of ups but can't get to the demo work on that. If hes had a great demo ratio but isn't asking for the business there is your next training session etc. I’m not breaking any revolutionary new ground here, but it is advise that needs to be repeated often! Fire up your computer, log into that CRM and find more deals by holding your team to a higher level of accountability! Until next time, Sell Something! I am very excited to announce that I have joined the team at Raceway Ford, located at 5900 Sycamore Canyon Blvd. in Riverside, CA 92507! I will be working with the Internet Sales Team and also assisting with our digital marketing efforts and look forward to being a part of something absolutely amazing here! This energy of this store is electric and everything is set for this ship to take off, watch as we change the game, make many smiles and "Rebuild the Inland Empire one new Ford at a time"! Woo Hoo! :) Some time ago I wrote about how I had managed to sell a car from my activity on Instgram, I was fairly proud of myself and the post helped me land an interview with the folks at CareersInAuto.com. As cool as it was I will admit that I considered myself lucky and did not anticipate being able to sell more vehicles from simply posting my awesome pics on a phone app, and yes they are indeed awesome! None he less I continue to post my pics taken from around the lot here at work fairly regularly and last week I got a comment asking about the availability of a 4X4 F-150. I replied with my email address and we worked out the details of the truck she was looking for over the course of the next few days and, low and behold last night we delivered Danny the F-150 of his dreams... the one his wife Daisy reached out to me on Instagram looking for! Many thanks Danny and Daisy, I am thrilled that I was able to help you with your search for a new truck and even more excited that it was a result of our connecting on Instagram! Although my wife may not be be happy to hear it, this guy will be posting more awesome pics for a long, long time! |
Mike theCarGuy
Hey there, I'm Mike theCarGuy and here are some of my thoughts about cars, the car business and sales! Take a look around, maybe you will learn something or at the very least find your self smiling, and if you do... leave me a comment so I know I at least did something right! Thanks for stoppin by...
Need to reach me? Call or Text: (909) 206-4377 mikethecarguy@outlook.com Mike theCarGuy: 22400 Barton Rd Suite 21-451 Grand Terrace, CA 92313 Twitter: @MiketheCarGuy1 Instagram: MiketheCarGuy Follow Mike Correra on Quora
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February 2024
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