In almost every sales seminar I ask the participants in the audience a question… “What was the greatest sale you ever made?”

The responses vary. Sometimes someone will describe a car deal they closed with a difficult customer while, on other occasions someone will describe a management turn they took for one of the sales people. Very seldom do I get the response I am looking for.

The greatest sale I ever made personally took place in the back seat of a 1957 Chevrolet sometime just after midnight on a Saturday night back in 1964.  My prospect and I were parked on the bank at a secluded lake on the Westside of Jacksonville. The memory is as clear as if it happened just last night. You see this was the first time I had ever closed this type of deal. Now, as I recall, I was selling and my client was objecting. Since I am not Mike Tyson, I elected to use salesmanship. And man was I selling!

Let me ask you this? Do you think I was in the mood for a “Be-Back”? I assure you I was thinking about a first-visit close here.

Let me ask you another question? Do you think my prospect could offer any arguments that I couldn’t think up an immediate answer to try to overcome the objection?

Yes, I was sixteen and I was focused on closing this deal. There was a lot of intensity in that sale and I had rehearsed and role-played my sales presentation for days in advance. If for any reason we had not able to put the deal together that night, do you suppose I had a follow-up strategy?

Not only did I close the deal that evening but I am told my product presentation and attention to detail was world-class. As a matter of fact I made repeat sales with that same account for eight months after the initial deal.

Most of us can relate to my story here. We’ve all sold…or been sold…in a similar situation at some time or another in our lives. The point is…What if your sales department was that focused and that determined to make the deal? Are your sales people and managers playing at the top of their game? Do they want the deal badly enough…as badly as I wanted to close that deal? Do they show up every day with a mission, prepared to do business? You see folks Automobile Sales and Management is a science. I have often said that average people with great procedures can do incredible things. Are your people doing business with desire, passion and intensity? Are they excited about being there?

In recent months, retail automobile sales have been on a wild roller-coaster ride. Most of the dealers I work with are reporting great months and terrible months back-to-back. There doesn’t seem to be a predictable pattern.

My advice to the dealers I work with is “Get Focused”. You have to have your sales processes defined and enforced. This is a time when you can’t afford to waste a single opportunity to do business. Your managers have to be hyper-aware of every opportunity to do business, as it happens, in every stage of the sale. Remember this, most deals that are blown are blown because of the inappropriate behavior of a sales representative on the parking lot. If we do see a prolonged slowdown in retail sales, which I am not yet certain is the case, then you will see weak dealers dropping like flies. On the other hand, Great Dealers with Great Processes and Disciplined Management will always do Great Business. No dealer has to lose business or go backwards…BUT…most of us are going to have to get more focused just to stay where we were. I tell my dealers, if you want to increase sales, you’re going to have to take that business away from someone who now has it.

Hey, did you see where General Motors has teamed up with AutoByTel to launch a 90-day pilot test to retail cars on the Internet? Let’s take a moment and analyze what we have here. On one hand we have AutoByTel a company that has never realized a profit and has seen it’s stock value dive from 9 ¾ a share to around 1 ½ a share in one year. On the other hand we have General Motors, a company whose market share continues a downward spiral under the allegedly goofy, ill-advised and otherwise inept strategies of clue-impaired marketing wizardry. Now these dynamic masters of disaster have teamed up to, once again, show us how it’s done.

Answering the Forddirect.com challenge. Last month, GM announced the formation of a joint venture with their dealers called AutoCentric. The stated purpose of AutoCentric is to sell General Motor’s products as well as competing brands. The idea according to General Motors is to give consumers more choices. Of course they picked Washington D.C. and surrounding area for the alleged test. I am assuming they felt there was a large density of Geeks, Nerds, and other types of assorted “Propeller Heads” inhabiting that market. Of course, you can count on the folks at the factory…they plan to post the dealer’s invoice on the website and to have dealers post a competitive “e-price” on the site.

Once again the factory has set up a situation where the dealer is forced into deep discounting. They have already reduced your markup to unconscionable low profitability. I have a great idea…Let’s start posting on every website exactly how much money the factory marks up each unit over production costs! Heck, let’s post their profits on every car next to the Monroney sticker. The public always blames the dealer and accuses us of ripping them off when it’s always been the factories who was ripping them off. Let’s face it…just how does General Motors and Ford keep posting record profitability in the face of declining market share? They must be laying the consumers in the weeds here. Let’s start posting the factories costs and markups and making the public aware of just who is really ripping them off. They get such a moral kick out of posting our meager markups.

Just what in the Hell makes General Motors believe they can build built-to-order cars when they have never been able to produce cars and trucks that are hot sellers and deliver them to the destinations where they are selling? The joke of the industry for twenty years or more has always been that General Motors runs heavy ad campaigns on cars and trucks they can’t build and dealers can’t get. They are a world-class contender when it comes to pissing off retail customers by advertsing heavily what isn’t available. Doesn’t it occur to anyone at General Motors that the reason they are diving deeper and deeper into the toilet is because they have built so much alleged crap for so long and because they have allowed all of these new-age, egocentric, megalomaniacal marketing czars to interfere with their dealers.  The dealers could sell more cars if they didn’t have to deal with so many goofy distractions.

As a logical, thinking human being with average common sense, it always embarrasses me when we are forced to come behind and repair the consequential damage to the industry caused by extreme fools in denial. These people actually think they’re brilliant.

Believe it or not, I have actually heard from reliable sources that Zarella believes he’s a superstar. Talk about delusion (negative illusion) I honestly believe that Ron Zarella thinks he’s doing a great job. Evidently he’s oblivious to his own documented track record for continuing to lose market share under his leadership and management.

As for selling other makes of cars...that’s got to be one of the biggest, stupidest double-crosses since Ford tried buying and operating dealerships…maybe even one of the stupidest ideas since the “Hide the Ray Bans” fiasco. What kind of message are they sending the public here? Of course, maybe they’d just rather try retailing some Toyotas for a change rather than sitting around looking for ways to rebadge Opels and pass them off as American cars.

Adventures with OnStar…well sports fans, as you may remember I just bought a 2002 Cadillac Escalade with every bell and whistle available. What an incredible truck. I have had seven new Lincolns, an Eddie Bauer Explorer and an Eddie Bauer Expedition. My wife drives BMWs and we have an older model Corvette. I will tell you without reservation, I love this truck. General Motors has a winner here…until…you push that damn OnStar button. They are pushing this service hard and banking on it as an integral part of their future. Well, Excuse Me! The Escalade is superb…the dealer, John Lund, in phoenix is exceptional…as a customer let me squeak out a humble opinion here …”OnStar Sucks”! They need to get their act together.

Here’s the latest. I received a mailer inviting me to register for the new “OnStar” hands-free telephone personal calling service that is already built into my car. Okay, I’ll check it out. I called the number they supplied which was 1-800-OnStar7. It took multiple tries before I finally got a person to answer. I kept getting a recorded prompt that all of their advisors were busy assisting other customers…on several occasions.

When I finally did manage to get an OnStar representative on the line she was very helpful and courteous and knowledgeable, her name was Andrea. She informed me that OnStar personal calling was not yet available in my neighborhood but was coming soon. I asked if the rates were competitive and she explained them clearly. Truthfully, I am a high-usage mobile customer and the rates sounded a little high to me but she was pleasant and professional.

Got some strong personal opinions coming at ya here. (Pausing to sip at my Remy Martin Cognac swirling the snifter in the light here) As you are probably aware, I don’t like J.D. Power and Associates…not the people…not the company. I don’t trust them and I personally don’t think their research is valid or reliable. Of course opinions are like certain isolated parts of your physiology, everyone has one. If ever I were crowned undisputed king of the world one of my first sovereign decrees would be to have these people declared criminals and incarcerated for alleged perceived crimes. I have started doing some research and I can use all of the help I can get. Send me everything you can find on old J.D. Power alleged research.

What I am doing is going back over the last dozen years or so and I am documenting all of J.D. Powers alleged research and predictions about the industry that company has made and published. For instance, five years ago when they definitively proclaimed that SUV sales were dead. Then, I am comparing what actually happened in contrast to what J.D. Power and Associates said was going to happen. In other words, if the results turn out the way I think they will…I think my research will, once and for all, prove what I already believe about Power and Associates? I am going to make a time-line of J.D. Power predictions that I think might conceivably make the mainstream press.

Now, let’s be fair here…I never actually said Power and Associates were paid henchmen (henchwomen) pushing the factories’ covert agendas with questionable or rigged alleged research, BUT…I admit, there is a strong possibility that I may have been thinking it.

Whoa Silver! Steady there Big Fellow!

Did you guys (Gals) read where Chris Denove said, “Darwin would say that when a species environment has changed to the point that it is no longer able to adapt, it is time for it to die.”

Wait a second here Big Boy! Chris Denove is a partner with J.D. Power and Associates…He is an officer…a big shot, maybe even a decision-maker in that company. Denove was talking about you. That was a statement he was making about franchised retail automobile dealers.

 Help me out here. Did good ole J.D. Power and Associates just say, “it is time for the automobile dealers to die”? That’s the way I read that statement, how do you see it?

 Of course, much of my research into what I perceive to be allegedly tainted faux research conducted and released by J.D. Power and Associates revolves around the numerous switches and reverses I am documenting that are allegedly attributed to this guy, Chris Denove. Of course this is not the first time I have felt Denove said something overtly anti-dealer in still another fit of I perceived to be verbal flatulence. This guy’s predictions seem to fluctuate with the wind…or, at least, they seem to be tilted toward whom he’s talking to at the moment. In other words, I believe the guy shoots from the hip and pulls random statistics out of the depths of his anatomy. Denove is their alleged Internet Marketing expert who made all of those wild claims over the last few years about the future of Internet sales and the fate of dealers. He’s gone all over the country at virtually every conference on the subject, speakin’ and geekin’. Check some of Denove’s statements that he made just two and three years ago versus what he’s saying today. Remember, all of those Internet predictions he was making were released as official J.D. Power and Associates stuff. Let’s talk about Denove’s credibility and accuracy here. NOT!  I must say however, this boy’s got some fancy moves and I don’t believe he likes dealers or car people even a little. There’s an aura of undeserved haughty arrogance at play here in my opinion.

Well shoot…don’t that beat all. My secretary just plopped the March 26^th edition of Automotive News on my desk and, low and behold, there’s a letter to the editor from none other than ole Chris Denove, Mr. J.D. Power and Associates big shot hisself. Scanning over the letter it appears Denove is back peddling saying something to the effect that although he did say that he also said some other good stuff about dealers too…or something like that. ‘Scuse me Big Boy…stop making all of these dubious conciliatory noises. We just ain’t buying it. We’ve got your number. We know exactly who you are…what you are…and where you’re coming from. I say Ford needs to fire J.D. Power and Associates immediately just to remain credible with their dealers.

Did I say Volkswagen? You betcha’ I did. You know folks, don’t ask me why but I’ve got this feeling that these guys are going to make some major moves on market share, taking a lot of it from other German and Japanese contenders. This is going to be a more prestigious premier franchise in the very near future. Rumor has it they have a new full size sedan coming out that will price point around $40,000 that will compete strongly with the low-end luxury market.

Of course, as I have repeatedly pointed out, these people have blown it before and sunk their ships on reefs in sight of shore. If they are cool and allow their dealers to sell cars, I predict they will dominate their category. The real danger is they are already starting to dick around with the selling process ala Ford and General Motors. One thing they are definitely doing right is the new building and facility requirements…as long as they don’t pull a “Blue Oval Certification” style ambush on their dealers, this will be great.

My other big concern with Volkswagen’s strategic marketing plan is the fact they are looking at certifying sales people. A word of caution to Volkswagen, “Stay Out of the Selling Process!” Let your dealers sell cars without interference. This is one of the main reasons that Ford, Daimler-Chrysler, and General Motors are struggling to keep dwindling market share against the imports. They can’t help themselves; something in their nature forces them to keep interfering with their dealers when they should be concentrating on building great product and keeping these dealers supplied.

 By the way…forget about all of these Internet Car Sales initiatives, it’s just a niche market…it’s never going to be the vast mainstream public. The Internet has never sold one additional unit for anyone, anywhere. It’s only turned some of our retail customers into chiselers and grinders. Right now Volkswagen has great product and they should be on a roll unless they choose to be distracted.

Big mistake! All of the import manufacturers need to (my opinion) back off and stop strong-arming your dealers over these Cobalt Websites. Do the words “Cookie-Cutter” ring a bell? I hate to say it but it has crossed my mind here. Some of these factory people seem so adamant about Cobalt Websites. I just gotta’ wonder, who’s doin’ who about what and where and how much? You think maybe those Honda executives would be very careful.

Say it ain’t so! I heard (unverified but believable) that Ford has reduced its technical training staff to 100, down from 150 on staff just last year. Is this going to be another one of Jac the Knife’s cost cuts, or is it still another more sinister plot?  Maybe they are looking to expand their stake in “JoeAuto.com” after they no longer can train technicians to properly fix new high-tech cars?  Seriously though, my concern is that they are pulling back training for the techs when they are building more sophisticated cars and they are holding the dealer responsible for Blue Oval Certification.

Let’s create a program where the dealers withhold part of their payment for inventory from the factories and then rebate the factories later if the quality is good. Truth of the matter is that Nasser’s Ford could not stand inspection if product quality was the issue.

You know there are those of us who truly love Ford Motor Company. Every day we keep waiting for the Ford Family to ride in and throw these people out. It’s sort of like in Robin Hood when the evil the Prince John and the Sheriff of Nottingham were ruling England. You just knew that Good King Richard was going to come home from the Crusades one day and kick their ass.

 Well, I returned home to Jacksonville last month. I was doing a little private training with my old friend Ron Batten at the Garber Automotive Group. While I was home I thought, just for the heck of it I’d drive by and take a look at Moon Lake. Well, they say you can never really go home. The lake has been filled in and someone’s built new homes where it used to be. I was standing there at the side of the road at sunset, just shaking my head. For just a moment I found myself remembering a sale I closed thirty-five years ago.

Hey has anyone other than me noticed that some General Motors advertising is targeting Toyota Trucks in comparison ads? You know I have repeatedly said that Toyota was a sleeper in the big truck market and I think General Motors, Ford and Daimler-Chrysler better take this threat seriously.

Most recently I saw a television spot comparing a GMC Truck with Toyota Tundra proclaiming the GM Truck was a better value. With Toyota, Honda and the Korean Imports coming on strong…in light of quality problems at Ford and weak leadership at General Motors as well as gross documentable buffoonery at Daimler-Chrysler…I can foresee some major coups in market share swinging to the Asian Imports at the expense of the former Big Three.

Opie in Wonderland…My Gawd…say this can’t be happening! Many dealers nationwide seemed to be doing a little “Happy Dance” when Bob Rewey suddenly retired. After all Rewey had a distinguished career with many memorable and profitable achievements credited to him. Many of us knew Bob Rewey as “The Father of the Auto Collections”. Bob was often referred to as the man who introduced Ford Motor Company to their highly profitable short-term leasing programs. (Excuse me; I just accidentally snorted some cognac through my nose chuckling at myself at what I’m writing here) Some of us simply thought of ole Bob as the mastermind behind Blue Oval Certification. That Bob! The man sure had a knack for profitable ideas huh? What a track record for great ideas that worked. Regardless of how you saw Bob Rewey, I have met very few dealers who were crying that he was leaving.

BUT…don’t be singing in the streets just yet. Gimme’ a break! Enter Brian Kelley. Remember Brian; he’s the guy that has no background at all in the car business. He’s been with Ford for two years and they hand him the keys to the kingdom. We’re talkin’ Brian Kelley here…the guy who has been heading up Ford’s e-commerce initative and the caretaker of the famous Auto-Collections…and you thought he didn’t know retail! (Still laughing)  Kelley was the one who insisted that the dealers put e-pricing on the Forddirect.com website. Remember Kelley describes himself as a strong supporter of Ford’s Blue Oval Certification Initiative. After all, wouldn’t it be sort of like suicide to say anything else. I suspect these people are not allowed to have independent thoughts outside of the official party lines.

Kelley comes to us from the Electric Appliance Division of General Electric, before that he was formerly with Proctor and Gamble. There you have it. I’ll bet you probably thought this guy wasn’t qualified to hold the key marketing position at Ford. Dare I say it? Are we now poised to start selling Fords like they were toasters? His title, vice president of Global Consumer Services, inspires awe. Looking at Kelley’s picture…maybe if you blur your eyes and use a little imagination here, you could almost picture Opie and Paw headin’ for the fishing hole.

I predict we will see Kelley’s Internet expertise influence every aspect of Ford’s future marketing plans until the Japanese finally conclusively conquer every market segment demographic while Ford’s still farting around throwing stupid money at online sales. I can foresee a time in the not-too-distant future when the New Blue Oval Propeller Beanie will become a smart new accessory as the uniform of the day for Ford executives, field representatives, and J.D. Power and Associates inspection teams. This will identify who your friends are.

Has anyone noticed that Ford is now trying to say that the 1% hike in dealer cost without raise in MSRP was just an independent "pricing action" that has nothing to do with Blue Oval?

Well, many dealer friends of mine recorded the original broadcast from Ford's Fordstar video system where Jim O' Connor presented Blue Oval to the dealers for the first time.

Does anyone remember him saying something like this? "We could have lied to you, and told you, the dealers that this was an unrelated pricing action, but we decided to tell the truth, that the 1% hike is to pay for the 1 1/4 % refund."

Do me a big favor and send me every piece of videotape and literature you have on this subject!

Professional Automobile Dealership Consultants

This Man Will Change The Way You Do Business!