As September comes to a close, some dealerships are still plagued with the salesmen who refuse to quit standing out front of the showroom smoking cigarettes and talking about how much money they made in August due to the “Cash for Clunkers” chaos.
Strong felt a vital need to provide encouragement and lead the way into the fighting through a tough post clunker market. We have reminded dealers and managers to continue ‘smiling and dialing’. A phrase that we did not invent – but believe will help managers get sales people back into the BDC’s and get them on the phones. There is enormous opportunity with follow-up from ‘clunker shoppers’ who did not buy.
The script goes something like this:
“No there isn’t a government program anymore, but guess what Mrs. Smith… The government program actually caused the values of used vehicles such as yours to increase… Why your old Tahoe maybe worth than it was before the Clunker program ever began. Is there a time when you can bring it to the dealership so our used car inventory manager can give you a written equity analysis on it? Great, see you tomorrow at 3pm and remember – my name is John Paul – be sure and ask for me.”
It is very easy – all you have to do is get people who are eager to pick up the phones and do the work. Let the money and the phrase ‘smiling and dialing’ motivate them.
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John Paul Strong
John Paul Strong combines his two decades of automotive marketing experience with a team of more than 150 professionals as owner and CEO of Strong Automotive.
