The question more appropriately phrased should be “how is your week going to be?” but asking that of most dealership staff today will likely result in the same: “ask me at the end of the week”.  Why is that?  I’ve never met a successful person who answered that way and definitely not consistently.  Fact is the week you are going to have has already been set.

Moreover, it’s not the week your customers make for you nor the week that your inventory will allow you to have.  The week you will have (and everyone else will have) starts by the time you head to the dealership Monday morning and unfortunately not after you get to check how many fresh ups you get to work on.

Many of the customers you’ll have this week will come from your September leads or referrals (and quite possibly August).  The beauty of the Internet is a double-edged sword.  You get the customers that may be ready to buy…and a whole lot that may not be.  Take a minute and check how many June through August leads that told you “I’m not ready to buy” you’ve contacted in the last twelve days.  Not by eNewsletter or mass email or an automated fill-in-the-blank.  An honest-to-goodness, live-in-your-face personal email or call.

It is such a great opportunity to use technology to its complete ability.  It’s not a crutch and should never take away from the great skills we have. Sometime between our cars being average (at best) in the 1970s-1980s and now, when cars are quite simply better than ever, we forgot that people buy cars from people they like and that it takes great people to do a great job.

As long as you’re sending one-sentence responses (with spelling and grammar errors), not asking questions, forgetting to qualify customers, neglecting to confirm appointments and have no clue how to extend a brand and experience properly and, ahem, waiting for the next person you can tackle on the lot, you already know how your week is going to be…and did about a year ago.  Do a great job, please.

Best practices: Professional Insight, Powerful Results