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You can still win BIG in the, ... "AUTO SALES BUSINESS"! Dear
Auto Sales Professional,
My name is Carlton Dowdy, (US Army, (Ret.). My friends call me, "the Colonel"!
Several years ago I worked as the Fleet Manager at Buick Mart in the Cerritos Auto Square and later as one of the two Fleet
Managers at Tustin Buick, Pontiac GMC in Tustin, Ca! I also help set up the Fleet Department at S & J Chevrolet
in the Cerritos Auto Square. I set sales records at both of the two Buick dealerships.
At Buick Mart I set the largest one weekend sales gross on RECORD and also held the RECORD for the largest number of vehicles
sold in a weekend. I also had the RECORD for the most vehicles sold by any previous FLEET manager. Most of my
Sales were not Fleet Sales, they were what I called FLEE-TAIL Sales, in other words I
had the TOP gross for the week end, (I sold 6 cars and made over $14,000 in commissions)! At Tustin I concentrated
on lease returns and became known as the king of Lease Return Gross! My commissions averaged
any where between $800 and $1200 each! This may be more difficult in today's culture but the key was getting
and staying in touch with potential and real customers.WHY AM I
TELLING YOU THIS!
Reason
#1. To let you know that I know how to sell cars. No, I am not any smarter than you are. However, once I got in touch with a customer or even a potential customer, I stayed in touch with him/her until he/she
died. In other words I worked my ass off. I did all that I could do to make sure that my potential customer
knew when I was at work and when I would be at home with my family, etc. Reason #2.
The Internet. If I had had excess to the internet when I was in the car business,
(another idea I tried to sell to the Management at Buick Mart, but was told: "Colonel, you were, "the Colonel"
then ... I am in charge here and ... "that internet thing will never work for the car business", if that, "Dumb Ass", had listened to me he would have been "the HERO" of the car business
... FOREVER! And I would have probably still been in the business. Back then the money was great but I became
burned out trying to stay in touch! Now, with the internet ... it's easy! ARE THINGS DIFFERENT NOW - YES & NO!
Things are very different now than back then. YES, you still
need to keep in touch! However, staying in touch now is ... Much EASIER ... all you need
is a WEB SITE. You let your web site keep you in touch with your customers ... as well as keeping them and your
potential customers informed about you, your schedule and what kind of deals that you can offer them ... all while you spend
all that time with your family, sleep or ... whatever!WHAT AM
I SAYING!
I can build
you a working web site that will provide your customers with any and all the information that they need about yourself and
the cars that you sell or the special deals that you have, (of course you always have a few special deals). I remember
one time I sent out a postcard to about 30 of my Rivera customers telling them that I had an awesome deal on a NEW Rivera.
One of them came in to check it out ... the bottom line, I sold that Rivera to him for at about $6700 over Invoice. My commission was over $1600.00! Man, what a deal!
Your web site It will also provide your customers with the normal hours that you work as well as your normal days off.
It will also provide them with a quick and easy way for them to contact you to set an appointment with you or just to be able
to contact you. You surely don't want then to call the dealership and talk to Pete, ... do you!
What ever the case, the bottom line is simple ... you are going to need to do things a little
different if you are going to survive in this day and age with-in the auto industry. Let me help you Win BIG!ANOTHER VERY IMPORTANT THING!
IF you own a WEB SITE and you, for whatever reason,
decide to move to a new dealership all you will need to do is contact me and have me make the necessary changes on your web
site for you. You WILL Not need to send out hundreds of letters and post cards as I once did when I left Buick Mart.
By the way, that mailing worked because the then GM at Buick Mart called me and threatened to
take me to court, (some bull shit about the store owning the customers)! I told him to go for it, as my lawyers
were standing by. He apparently change his mind, (I knew he was a dumb ass because if he was not he would have been
smart enough to not screw with me or my schedule and keep me there)! AT ANY RATE,
with your own web site when your customers and potential customers want to contact you, they
will go to your web site and once there they will not only know exactly where you are, they will also know why you
left the old dealership, (if that what you want them to know). FOLLOWING IS WHAT I SENT TO MY BUICK MART CUSTOMERS!
Dear Friend, Because of Management issues, (they informed me that I was selling
their cars for less MONEY than what they wanted me to sell them for ... (they wanted me to make more money on each deal),
I decided to quit! I am no longer at Buick Mart. However, I am aware that
I promised you that I would always take care of you and your family and friends car needs AND I still intend to do that.
I am as of this letter employed as the Fleet Manager of the Tustin Buick Pontiac GMC in Tustin California and they have informed
me that I can sell their cars at any price that I wanted to as long as they would make even the
smallest profit. I went on to say that: I know that for
many of you my move to Tustin Buick Pontiac GMC means that you will have to drive about 25 to 50 miles further.
Because of this my management has agreed to allow me to make you the following offer: For every mile that you have to drive past Buick Mart to see me I have been authorized to give you an additional
$5 in discounts off the price of the car that you purchase. All you will need to do is tell me exactly how many
extra miles you had to drive to get to me! My old customers jumped all over this!
I was amazed! I got from 60 to 75% of my old
Buick Mart customers to follow me to Tustin ... man was proud of myself and so was the management at Tustin Buick Pontiac
GMC!My letter, made Tustin Buick Pontiac GMC several hundred thousand dollars over the two
plus years that I served as their Fleet Manager. Of course I didn't do so bad
either! Once the management at Buick Mart found out about my letter, they were pissed! They call me several times offering me my old job back and agreed to
allow me to work my own schedule as well. After I declined their offer they even tried to threaten me with legal action,
stating that I had no right to contact ... "their customers that way". What Bull! I told them
to ... Talk to my Lawyer!. Well, you understand what I am saying here! You are
going to need to stay in touch with your customers/potential customers and the Internet is the Least
Time Consuming and Least Costly way of accomplishing this!OK COLONEL, HOW MUCH WILL THIS WEB SITE COST!
Well the average web site can cost anywhere from $1200 plus about $50 per month for web
hosting and required updates. Web Site Managers charge on average about $200 per hour, sometimes more; however, as you
may recall I was a Fleet Manager and I still have that, "Old Volume Feet Manager's Mentality"!
I am looking for numbers ... lots of numbers, therefore I will build you your personal Web Site as follows:<>
I will build you a one (1) page web site that will do all the things that you could possible need and more for ... Get This, a Fleet Price of: $169 per year! However, if you call me by 31 March 2009, I will build you that same web site for $125 per year, (2 year minimum & including up to
6 changes per year)! <.> If you need more than one page, (and I really cannot
imagine why, just call me and lets talk! It will probable take me about 7-10 days for us to get your web site up and
running!Well, that's it! Call me and lets get the ball
rolling! "the Colonel"Carlton L. Dowdy, (US Army, (Ret.)3337 WEST FAIRCREST DRIVE, ANAHEIM, CA 92804Ofc: 1-866-463-6939 ~ VM: 1-800-844-9639 x4543 ~ Email:
aacwcd@yahoo.comPS: With your own web site, even your your old customers will still be
contacting directly you, even if you have relocated to a new dealership)! At a minimum this will give you
the chance to switch them to your new location! What A "Hell-Of-An-Idea"!
- Dowdy! PPS: Don't wait! Be the first at your
dealership and get ahead of the pack!
Following are just a few of the types of things that you can have
installed on your web site:
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