The Red Pill in Car Sales

Why Car Sales Professionals Fail

“You take the blue pill, the story ends. You wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill, you stay in Wonderland, and I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes.”

Why people quit the “traditional” car business, as apposed to one price stores? I had a discussion with my team the other day over a recent hire who quit. He came to us because he wasn’t making money working for the “One Price Store.” I told my team the problem was he wasn’t trained properly. He wasn’t given a base line to hold the value of a car. I gave them an example of what I meant as a “base line.” My example was, per CarMax Reports Second Quarter Results September 22, 2017, CarMax averages $2,181 per vehicle sold, plus what they sell on warranties and Finance.

If we educate our staff and show them the appropriate way to negotiate and build value in themselves, the product they’re selling and the dealership, they shouldn’t be afraid to ask for the sale. When 90 percent of the entire population negotiates.

All of Asia the 4.436 billion people negotiate

All of Africa the 1.216 billion people negotiate

All of Europe the 743.1 million people negotiate

Not all of the North American people – the 579 million do.

We have been put together and have been used to just paying the price. I myself had been drinking the blue pill my entire life before I was educated.

I work for a high volume store and we make sure our prices are extremely fair to continue to maintain our status as the number one store. On average, compared to the “One Price” model we save our clients $1500. Our sales staff should feel confident that they are giving our customers great quality vehicles at great prices. Instead, this sales person wasn’t trained properly and kept thinking to himself, “why oh why didn’t I take the blue pill.” I told my management staff that when hiring they need to be clear and tell the people, “You take the blue pill, the story ends. You wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill, you stay in Wonderland, and I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes.”

I came from the “One Price Model” and it’s very efficient. People pay a premium on that model because they don’t want to “haggle” or “waste time.” With companies like TrueCar that have made it simple for car-buyers, sales people and managers, it doesn’t have to feel like haggling anymore. So, if you’re looking to move into the “traditional” car business then need no fear the whole world haggles and it can usually take 1-2 minutes to make a decision on price “haggling.” The hard part, no matter what model, is helping the consumer decide on which vehicle to buy. With so many choices today that’s the real tough part, but with the right training you can ensure you and the customer can make it through the process unscathed 🙂