One of the biggest lessons I learned when working at the dealership was that you can't do the same things on the phone or in chat that you would do when you're talking to a person face-to-face. We often discuss controlling the transaction and leading our customers down the right path, but if they're not in front of you, the control-factor is often…

As website communication tools go, chat has grown at the fastest rate of adoption on car dealer websites for years. It’s not new, but more dealers are embracing what chat can do for them to engage with people visiting their website.

There are two primary reasons that it wasn’t a fad that died away like so many other website addons over the years. First, it is…

When we look at texting as it pertains to the car business, it's easy to see that the mobile revolution has people letting their fingers do the talking. It's a method of communication that is becoming the primary way for millions of people in North America. How does a dealership translate this trend into lead generation on their website?

We're already seeing…

It's the quiet time. Just about everyone has it. Whether it's late at night when everyone's in bed or early in the morning before everyone wakes up, a good chunk of people do much of their important website surfing when there are fewer distractions of life to prevent them from their task at hand.

Buying a car or getting it serviced are two of those important…

The internet has changed our world. The concept of "business hours" has been turned on its head. People are buying things online at 2 in the morning. They're researching vehicles after the kids are in bed. They're planning out how to drop off their vehicle in your service department and still get to work on time at 4am.

When they have questions, are you there…

Website chat is viewed by many dealers to be an alternative method of communication, as it should be. There are some who view it as a lead generation tool and they can look at numbers to show that they're getting more leads, but to truly test their results that must take a closer look.



Properly positioned and managed chat on dealer websites can definitely be…

One of the most disturbing trends we're seeing on dealer websites is when they use chat areas as another contact form. It's true that chat is a way to generate leads, but when collecting contact information is the primary goal, the whole point of chat is missed.

Here are some things that we have found to be true with chat that dealers should keep in mind when…

It’s amazing. And I’ve seen it a hundred times. They don’t realize they’re doing it but they still do it. That’s for sure. I heard a salesman with his chest puffed out (as it should be) reliving the story of a terrific job done with the happy new owner of a car. The salesman DID do a great job. These people were cold to begin with and initially he could barely get…

“Ah, to come to the end of one’s life and realize one has never lived.” — Henry David Thoreau

Is life just happening to you or are you living it on purpose? Does your life and income depend upon the direction of the wind? Is it fate? Or will you pull it? You can decide what you want, add some character (doing something you committed to long…

Now, sometimes during a class or seminar I’m conducting I’ll get asked “Jeff, can’t you just share the secrets to selling? The tricks, shortcuts, or just some really good closes?” The answer is, “Sure.” I’ve done it thousands of times. I’ve even trained competing dealers while I was employed by one of them! I’ve trained literally hundreds of competitors (at factory…

“You have to decide to love it first. Then the reasons to love it will appear.”

— Jeff Sterns

Let me open with this: you have every reason to feel proud of yourself. First, you are open to looking at yourself and this shows accountability. Second, when you get really good at this and make terrific money and tons of…

Do it on Purpose!!

Another part of relatedness and trust is the signals you send out about your

similarities (trustworthiness). This is real documented stuff. Pick up any book on

NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming). You can get even better relatedness

through matching the clients’ breathing, posture and speech tempo. You can

listen for cues about how they get information, which will ensure that yours goes

“in.” For instance when they are a slow talker and use a…

Get Relatedness

Finding connected-ness through sameness.

This step overlaps Steps 1 through infinity. One thing that frustrates me more

than just about anything when coaching a salesperson is this: We’ll be into the

deal and something is going wrong. The customer all of the sudden wants to bolt

just before or a few minutes after we serve figures. I ask where the client is and

get, “Oh she left already.” The first thing I’ll do is to ask about how the…

STEP 1)

Generate a Client

When I started selling at a little mulch lot after school, I read everything I could get my

hands on. One of the first books I picked up was Joe Girard’s “How To Sell Anything To

Anybody.” Boy was I excited! I was 17 and I was going to somehow magically be able to

select any object, pick out a random person and sell it to them! Well, although there were

some good philosophical points in the book, unfortunately I didn’t ever get the…

Hi I'm a vendor....in the digital space. That's my job. And I love it. I love it because I'm a 27 year retail car guy who's Father was a dealer, Grandfather was a designer for Ford and Step Father designed assembly line equipment. Yes I'm from Detroit...  and I love dealing with car guys and gals. Sure I like it when they buy my product. I like making a difference and I like making sure my company is healthy and our staff can take care of their families. But what I love about the job, really…