When did that car come in?

Have you ever had a prospect leave because you didn’t think you had the vehicle they wanted, and then an hour later you bumped into that exact vehicle out in the back lot?

Sure, who hasn’t? At least until they learned that not knowing their own inventory was costing them a ton of $$$.

Walk your inventory several times a day!

When I started selling cars the 2nd time, I did most of my business with repeat and referrals. But I still took an up, especially on a weekend if I didn’t have enough appointments.

If you’re always with a prospect or on the phone, it’s easy to miss that load of cars they just dropped off, and easy to miss those used cars the manager just picked up at the auction, and easy to miss those trades that came in this morning. On top of that, the inventory moves around throughout the day. That truck you needed wasn’t there in the morning, but suddenly appears at 4 pm, because it came back from the tire shop.

Here’s how to stay on top of your inventory and get a customer
just about anytime you need one…

Just hanging around and getting an ‘up’ at that dealership was tough, especially on a weekend with 15 or 20 other salespeople standing in huddles throughout the lot, waiting to jump the next prospect who pulled into the dealership.

I didn’t want to waste my time waiting for an up, so my ‘inventory walk’ allowed me to do two things at the same time: learn my inventory inside out, and get a walk-in immediately without having to win the race to get there first.

Cheat – walk your inventory!

When I wasn’t with a customer or ran out of calls to make and wanted a fresh up … instead of competing with the huddle, I’d simply grab a pen and paper, walk past all of them and start walking the inventory.

I’d start on the back rows closest to the building and walk the row from behind each vehicle. Why behind? Because from the back, besides knowing which model it is, you can see whether it has cloth or leather, manual or automatic, navigation, an entertainment system, and you can see most of the other options that it has or it doesn’t have.

Walking the front rows a couple of times every day will definitely keep you up on what’s out front, and I’ll guarantee that before long, if you have any amount of drive-in traffic, a prospect will show up and you’ll just happen to be the one closest to them as they pull onto the lot.

As soon as I saw a customer, I’d look back so the other salespeople knew I’d win the race even if they tried, then I’d look at the customer, acknowledge them, and say, “I’ll be right there, I just have to get some information for a customer.”

That got me a prospect and I always knew about every vehicle out front. But how about all the vehicles out back? That was easy, too, I just made it a part of my daily routine.

The first thing I did each day was head to the farthest corner of the back lot. I’d work my way through Service looking at every vehicle there, including customers’ cars to see which of my customers were in that day. I’d say hello to everybody along the way, talk to a Service Customer or two, say ‘hi’ to the cashier, people in Parts and the receptionist, grab my coffee, and then hit my planner to review who I needed to contact.

Quit relying on your iPad search or printout of your inventory, and just make walking your lot your priority every day, at least 2 or 3 times each day, and you’ll sell more and earn more.

Know your inventory so you can sell a car today!

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Sell more cars with Joe Verde’s book “Earn Over $100,000 Selling Cars – Every Year.” Go to JoeVerde.com to get a free PDF or order a free soft cover book