Dealership Relationship Game For Newbies
There are new people looking to get into car sales all the time and they come here looking for advice as well. Everyone does a good job of giving sales advice but I think we sometimes leave out a part that actually makes a big difference. That aspect of this car game is the political game you have to play and the relationships you MUST create if you're going to really crush it at a dealership. I'll list a few and feel free to add to the list so that newbies are best prepared.
- Internet/BDC Manager. This relationship is big because dealerships receive literally thousands of internet leads each month. The Internet manager has a hand on each one because of the CRM access they have. They are able to sift through the good leads and the crap and pass out the serious inquires to whoever they want. The dealership also runs email campaigns in the CRM to previous customers who have purchased and those who haven't and whoever responds back alerts the CRM and again the BDC/internet manager does whatever they want.
1A would be getting in good with a BDC rep. I've seen guys and ladies bring coffee, food, even sleep with BDC reps who work in the BDC Department and they get fed nice deals but that's a whole other aspect to the dealership life right? lmao
The better your relationship with the Sales Managers and GM the better off you'll be. They pass out leads that are solid. If you're cool with them you'll have a better shot at doing well. If you try to avoid them and "do your own thing" just because you may not "click" or "vibe" with them you'll have a much tougher time.
Service Advisors. They are gonna be a great source for leads because if a customer gets a huge service bill they may just choose to come look at a new or pre owned vehicle instead of dumping money into their current one. You want to be cool with the Service Advisors so they come grab you when that service customer wants to speak to a sales person about their options. Now, some may say well the customer may only want to speak to a manager, you're right. That's when you refer back to #2 and the relationship you need to have with the managers.
*BONUS* Have a great relationship with the head person of the detail department for your dealership. If you're selling for a dealership there are going to be surveys that customers receive and they will be asked about the condition of their vehicle when they received it and you want them to answer 10/Perfect so you need the Detail department to like you and actually give a shit about the condition of the cars that they send up when they know it's one you've sold. Also, on busy days like Fri and Sat detail departments can get backed up if lots of cars are being sold and you're gonna want to get your car cleaned up and out of there so you can get it delivered and on to the next customer making money, right? They may even slide your car in front of some other sales people that they don't know or like and that sales person ends up waiting another 45min to an hr for their sold car to come up. Again, dealership life, right?
What do y'all think about the relationships within a dealership and their effect on the ease of your overall success?