New ideas for prospecting in Car Sales

I've had a couple of people email me because car sales are slow. It's no secret, the economy is bad. The foot traffic that we had 6 months ago is gone. So for you lot lizards like myself, who had a good 60% of their sales come from fresh lot ups, it may be a little harder for you to find potential prospects. So you have two options.

Option 1: Keep doing what you are doing and wait it out. Hopefully you will be able to make enough money to support you and the family till the economy rebounds.

Option 2: Think outside the box.
Lets list the ways an average car sales man prospects:
-Lot ups
-Phone
-Referrals
These are the basic 3. Well due to the economy, the people coming up to your lot has dropped. The incoming phone calls have dropped, and your left with cold-calling and referrals. Now no one likes cold calling. Its the hardest thing to do in sales. So why not maximize your cold calling? Instead of calling individual people why not call large organizations such as hospitals, grocery stores, school districts etc. Of course get your managers permission to do this, but let them know that your dealership is starting a community outreach program to support the prodominant businesses in your area. We are offering "Special prices" to individuals that work here. Now the special prices may not be much but it will get enough interest to develop some leads. By spending one hour presenting this to a hospital director, you have the potential to get your name and business card to all 1000 employees that work there. Just get permission to put a flyer in the break room or by the time clock. Just an idea.. -jrboyd

That's a good idea. I have a friend who sells insurance and his strategy is to sell to what he calls a "nest". An example of a "nest" is a social group. Once he sells the first person he makes his way via referral through the entire group. It seems to work well. -Liberty

I disagree about cold calling. "Now no one likes cold calling. Its the hardest thing to do in sales."

It might be for you, but its part of our everyday here.

I think that your idea of "outreach" or whatever gives you a reason to call is positive impact selling and my advise is "go fer it". The only one who suffers is YOU if you don't.

Aloha... :cool: -rattus58

Something I used to do in the car industry, maybe will help for you

I used to buy the auto trader, & get whatever publication there was available that had to do with car sales

I would go through it page by page & look for cars that were similar to what I was selling & circle the ads.

Then I would call, call, and call some more until I got somebody on the lot.

Across the board, We are in a difficult environment. I would be very cautious communicating with these folks, they may be trying to get rid of their auto because they no-longer can afford it. Dependent on your Dealership, if this is the case, maybe these clients are available to re-finance. Worse case scenario is you can pick up on the back end.

On the positive side, if they have a truck that is out of warranty, what do they have to lose by checking out a new truck. What are they going to do. Drive around major metropolitan areas with their telephone numbers written in white shoe polish across their rear window.

j.p.o -DIAMONDSTAR