Soliciting Car Dealers

[screenman]

No need to kiss up, just get control. Fleets can take a lot more work to get than dealers, 10+ calls to get a good one open is not unknown over here plus you have to get past a lot of doors first before you get the the main man. Maybe a tent in a car park might be the answer for you guys who are not happy selling I have given this advice to a few guys and it works well for them.

Best of luck in whatever you do, and let us all know the outcome.

[just chippen away]

If you are not great with dealers, what makes you think you are going to be good with fleet...? They are the same.... lowest price mostly gets the job unless you have already proved your self...
With the adidude I am reading you may even have a hard time with retail. You need to try to put on a kiss @ss face for a lot of people to get any work.... If you can't sell your self, this line of work my not be for you.... Find a strong spine and a thick coat. This is a hard job just doing the selling, the work is the easy part.

Now get the chapstick out and pucker up... That is your new selling tool.

Keep the change.

[screenman]

At least I was trying to be tactful, must say I agree with your every word though.

[TGD]

If you are not great with dealers, what makes you think you are going to be good with fleet...? They are the same.... lowest price mostly gets the job unless you have already proved your self...
With the adidude I am reading you may even have a hard time with retail. You need to try to put on a kiss @ss face for a lot of people to get any work.... If you can't sell your self, this line of work my not be for you.... Find a strong spine and a thick coat. This is a hard job just doing the selling, the work is the easy part.

Now get the chapstick out and pucker up... That is your new selling tool.

Keep the change.

Like I said before, it takes a special kind of person to do that, I guess you are one, If that's what it takes to be a successful wr person then I have a delta wr kit for sale if someone is interested.

[screenman]

TGD, just a couple of very experienced guys answering your questions honestly. I win the minute I take the money off the customer, kissing up or not I win. Yes Mr Customer you are a nice guy, I really like your shoes, how I wish I was as successful as you, by the way here is my invoice for $150 for the 60 minutes I have been fixing your windshields, easy.

[TGD]

TGD, just a couple of very experienced guys answering your questions honestly. I win the minute I take the money off the customer, kissing up or not I win. Yes Mr Customer you are a nice guy, I really like your shoes, how I wish I was as successful as you, by the way here is my invoice for $150 for the 60 minutes I have been fixing your windshields, easy.

You probably misunderstood what I was trying to say, yes Iagree with you 100% when you have to be nice to the customer and give them what they want and what they want to hear. I know you are a very experienced guy because I have learned a thing or two from your posts. The thing that I have a problem with is sucking up to a car dealer who blows you off and gives you an attitude when you are trying to give him a businesscard, just because he is pissed that you are not there to buy a car from him (otherwise he would treat you nice). Maybe that is the way some "special kind of guys" around here do when they are treated like trash, but I would rather sell my kit before I lower myself to someone who just blew me off rudely. Very hard to accept from a military man. If Ihappen to come across the wrong way, please excuse, much respect to you and the others who give great advice. But for some milky licker to tell me to grow a spine and put on lipstick, tells me that I should be like him and kiss up, he must be sniffing too much resin, I dont care how many posts he has, he must not have too much work because he spends his entire day on the forum. just wanted to know how you guys deal with the car dealers that tell you they have been using the same guy for a long time. thank You

[screenman]

Put yourself in the dealers shoes, how do you feel when you get unsolicited sales calls, yep hardly make your day do they, multiply that 10 or 20 times and that is your dealers day. I deal with the long term, tech bit by not even hearing what they say, I hand over my card and my parting words are I will pop in next week to see if you have anything needs fixing, and I make sure I pop in and keep repeating till I get the work. Now obviously I pick the customers I want to work for, by this I mean the high volume guys not the 1 or 2 deal per week companies.

I think the other poster was just trying to give you a wake up call, many guys think buying the tools will get them work, Don was showing the real picture.

[t4k]

You are exactly right Screenman. I was a purchasing agent in a totally unrelated business for 25 years prior to get into W/S repair. Salesman would come by to try to sell or promote their products and we would have the receptionist stop them at her desk and tell them we were tied up or in a meeting so would not have to hear their sales pitch on how their product was better and cheaper. The ones we wanted to see were allowed past the front desk.

There is always two sides to every story or sales call.

[t4k]

To add a bit to the previous post.....the salesman who had good products and were polite and respected our time were given the chance to introduce their product.

[ghost rider]

TGD,
I service quite a few car lots, maybe I can help. First, lose any kind of attitude you may have for dealers. Don't go in thinking you are better or worse than them. If you get their business you will become friends, so go in looking for a friend. Next, look professional and act professional, they will treat you the same. Find a time of the day when they are not too busy. NEVER go in talking price. Offer a free demo(this only works if you do quality repairs) If they ask for a price, tell them they need to see what your repairs look like first(why hire me if I can't do good repairs?) After they see that you can give them quality work, talk about your other benefits like warranty and free weekly damage assessment (walking the lot) then you can talk price. When I moved my business to this area ten years ago, I started from scratch with at least six other repair only guys working this area. Now I am the only one left with all of the business and I did it being the highest priced of them all. I quoted the dealers my list price of $60, but if I could do repeat business with them, I would discount 30%. All of my dealers and fleets pay the same price $40 for the first repair and $15 for each additional repair on the same vehicle. You will need to research your area to see what kind of prices you can charge. If you are doing better work, charge more money.

Good luck!