Lenny Lawson shares insights on car sales training, emphasizing the importance of product knowledge and customer relationships for salespeople. He discusses the challenges new salespeople face, the need for effective training, and the impact of poor management on their success. Lenny also touches on the current automotive market, including General Motors' EV production cut and the rising issue of Americans falling behind on car payments. He advocates for educating young buyers about credit responsibility to break the cycle of financial mismanagement.
"...if you just start with the Nissan Versa and work your way all the way..."
The Nissan Versa is a small, affordable car that is great for people looking for something practical. It's known for being easy on gas and having enough room for passengers and cargo.
The Nissan Versa is a subcompact car known for its affordability and practicality, making it a popular choice for budget-conscious buyers. It offers a spacious interior and good fuel efficiency, which appeals to families and commuters alike.
"...the Nissan Armada, that's a lot of products. And there are common features between all of them..."
The Nissan Armada is a large SUV that can carry many passengers and has a strong engine. It's good for families and has a lot of space inside.
The Nissan Armada is a full-size SUV known for its spacious interior and powerful V8 engine. It's designed for family use and often features advanced technology and safety features.
"Only thing I have on it is liability. And so because the Comprehensive is, I mean, the Collision is so dad gum expensive for a 17-year-old."
Liability coverage helps pay for costs if you cause an accident and damage someone else's car or hurt someone. It won't help you if your own car gets damaged.
Liability coverage is a type of car insurance that pays for damages to other people or property if you're at fault in an accident. It does not cover your own vehicle's damages.
"And so because the Comprehensive is, I mean, the Collision is so dad gum expensive for a 17-year-old."
Comprehensive insurance helps pay for damage to your car from things that aren't accidents, like if someone steals it or if a tree falls on it. It's important for protecting your car from unexpected events.
Comprehensive insurance covers damages to your vehicle that are not caused by a collision, such as theft, vandalism, or natural disasters. It's often considered an essential part of full coverage insurance.
"And so because the Comprehensive is, I mean, the Collision is so dad gum expensive for a 17-year-old."
Collision insurance helps pay for fixing your car if you get into an accident, no matter who caused it. It's important if you want to make sure your car can be repaired after a crash.
Collision insurance covers the cost of repairs to your vehicle after an accident, regardless of who is at fault. This type of insurance is crucial for protecting your investment in your car.
"The reason I use a rabbit is because you know, rabbits are ruled, I don't know, they're just kind of an ..."
The Volkswagen Rabbit is a small car that people like because it's easy to drive and can fit a lot of stuff inside. It has been around since the 1970s and is known for being reliable and fun to drive. Many people talk about it because it's a classic choice for those who want a practical car.
The Volkswagen Rabbit, known as the Golf in many markets, is a compact car that gained popularity for its practicality and fun driving experience. Introduced in the mid-1970s, it has become a staple in the automotive world, known for its reliable performance and versatility. The Rabbit is often discussed for its role in shaping the hatchback segment and its enduring appeal among enthusiasts.
"we're doing away with these tax subsidies for people to buy electric vehicles. We're using taxpayer money."
Tax subsidies for electric vehicles are discounts or financial help from the government to make buying electric cars cheaper. They help more people afford electric cars.
Tax subsidies for electric vehicles are financial incentives provided by the government to encourage the purchase of EVs. These subsidies can significantly reduce the cost of buying an electric vehicle, making them more accessible to consumers.
"Now there are certain EV makers that aren't doing that."
EV means electric vehicle. It's a car that runs on electricity instead of gas, making it better for the environment.
EV stands for electric vehicle, which is a type of vehicle that is powered entirely by electricity rather than gasoline or diesel. EVs are known for being environmentally friendly and often have lower operating costs.
"For example, Hyundai has kicked in a $7,500 cash incentive because the other $7,500 went away."
A cash incentive is money offered by car companies to help sell cars. It makes the price lower for buyers.
A cash incentive is a financial offer provided by manufacturers or dealers to encourage customers to purchase a vehicle. This can come in the form of rebates or discounts.
"For example, Hyundai has kicked in a $7,500 cash incentive because the other $7,500 went away. On the 2025 Ionic 5, yeah, that's what their EV is called, or one of them."
Hyundai is a car company from South Korea that makes many different types of cars, including electric ones.
Hyundai is a South Korean automotive manufacturer known for producing a wide range of vehicles, including sedans, SUVs, and electric vehicles (EVs).
"On the 2025 Ionic 5, yeah, that's what their EV is called, or one of them."
The Ioniq 5 is an electric SUV made by Hyundai that has a cool design and lots of technology inside. It's part of their line of electric cars.
The Hyundai Ioniq 5 is an all-electric compact crossover SUV that features a modern design, advanced technology, and a spacious interior. It is part of Hyundai's Ioniq sub-brand focused on electric vehicles.
"You can buy that 2014 Nissan Frontier with 200,000 miles on it."
The Nissan Frontier is a medium-sized truck that is known for being tough and good for off-roading, especially the 2014 version.
The Nissan Frontier is a midsize pickup truck known for its ruggedness and off-road capabilities, with the 2014 model being part of a generation that has been praised for its reliability.
"And you're gonna have to show up here once a week with your weekly car payment."
Weekly car payments mean you pay for your car every week instead of once a month. This can help you manage your money better, but it might cost you more in the long run.
Weekly car payments refer to a financing arrangement where the buyer makes payments on their vehicle every week instead of monthly. This can be beneficial for budgeting but may lead to higher overall costs due to frequent payments.
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Hey, folks, Lenny Lawson here, the Car Guru, and it looks like this week, the Car Sales Training
Guru.
That's what I'm going to be doing.
We ran an ad in Indeed.com, and you do get a lot of applications.
I'll grant Indeed.com that, but you don't get a lot of people that you would hire,
but that's okay because that's just life.
It's just like when a salesperson is out there working the lot.
You don't sell everybody that you talk to.
I mean, if a car salesperson is successful, he's selling about, well, the most successful
ones sell about 25% of the lot traffic that they get.
These are people that they didn't know.
Now, if they nurtured their customer base, which means just staying in touch with them
and helping them when they come in for service and stuff like that, then they'll resell about
78% of those fine folks.
So the question is, would you rather have a success rate of 25% or 78%?
Well, the challenge in this business is to have a salesperson stay in the business
long enough to even get close to developing an owner base.
Most of them eject after, well, the vast majority eject before even one year has passed.
That's pretty sad.
Why do you think that is?
Why do you think that most car salespeople would fail as a consumer?
And I don't know what you would be thinking right now.
Well, they're just not good people.
Well, that could be some of them.
They weren't committed to it.
Yeah, that could be some of the reasons as well.
You can't get anybody to work these days.
Well, that's not true.
But that may be the case with some people.
No, the reason most car salespeople fail is because most managers and trainers
in car dealerships aren't very good at their jobs.
Well, they may be good at maybe structuring deals, ordering cars, you know,
that kind of stuff, just managing inventory.
But they're not good with the soft skills of dealing with people and training them
and making sure that they're ready to be out there on a lot.
So we've got these new people that are starting here at Gateway.
And when I have them in a classroom and I'm looking at all those eyes,
looking at me, I can't help but wonder what's going through those heads.
And so I ask them, you know, what are you excited about?
What are you afraid of?
What worries you about this career that you've chosen?
See, I want to understand what those fears are,
because if I don't overcome them with my knowledge and experience
and great attitude, then they're going to fail.
And that's what happens to most new salespeople,
is they just don't get those questions answered because they're never asked.
I ran into one of the new guys a little while ago and I was just talking to him.
I said, you've worked in a restaurant, right?
And he said, yeah.
I remember he actually served me at a restaurant one time.
And I was impressed with him back then.
And I said, well, what's the first thing that they want you to become aware of
or learn when you work in a restaurant?
He said the menu.
And I said, well, that makes total sense to me.
That's kind of what I want you to become familiar with here,
is you have to know our product.
You have to understand how that product meets the needs of the people
who are interested in it.
And you have to know how everything works.
You know, there's nothing worse than to have a salesperson showing you a car.
And he said, and the customer says, can I see the engine?
And he can't figure out how to get the hood up.
Or somebody that's interested in how it's going to work with their three kids
in the back.
And he doesn't know how to fold the seat up so that they can get to the back row.
There's so many things, you know, I think it's just such a daunting task
to learn all the product, you know, on the Nissan Cypher.
For example, we have two franchises, Nissan and Ford.
And if you just start with the Nissan Versa and work your way all the way
through the entire product line until you get to the Nissan Armada,
that's a lot of products.
And there are common features between all of them, but there's a lot of different
features as well.
And so what I told him to do, I said, right over there is the Nissan keyboard.
And right over there is the Ford keyboard.
And what you need to do is get at least one product in the morning
and one in the evening, go find, go get the keys, pull it out of its spot
and just open it up, open the doors, the rear hatch,
open the hood, make sure you know where everything is from the dipstick to the
spare tire.
And once you know that, you can study all the product online as well.
Now, we do specific training on individual products in our educational
process. We do walk-arounds and things like that for the salespeople,
even the veterans, because folks, it's a complicated business.
Now, most salespeople don't know squat about the products that they're selling.
There are a few.
Like if you have 20 salespeople, five of them will be product knowledge
specialists.
And the rest are rank amateurs.
And you will find that most of the customers that come in, once they've
been shopping extensively online, they'll know more than the salesperson
does.
They'll even know what the dealership has in stock that the salesperson
isn't familiar with because they went online.
And that's sad. Whose failure is that?
Again, it goes back to the managers.
You know, if you could go into a car dealership and just come straight
to the headman's office and sit down there first and just say,
Mr. Lawson, for example, if you came into my office, say, I want to buy a
car from you and I don't want to have to go back and forth and all
this rigmarole that you have to go through with a lot of salespeople.
I want the guy that has the most product knowledge that's the
friendliest that won't harass me to death if I leave the dealership
and decide not to buy today, but, you know, might give me a phone call.
I'm not opposed to that.
And then when I buy, actually get me my floor mats that he promised,
my full tank of gas and my spray-in bed liner without a fight
and gets me my tags.
That's what I want, Mr. Lawson.
Can you get that for me?
But the problem is most people won't do that.
Of course they do it sometimes here, especially people listening to my radio
program and the tri-cities, this area, they come in and say,
I speak to Lenny and they say, sure.
And so they come back in my office, we sit down and we talk and I get
them started and then I will turn them over to my best salespeople
because I'm not going to turn a radio show listener over to my worst
because my worst is probably that new guy that I just hired.
And he doesn't need to be waiting on customers, does he?
But that's exactly who's waiting on you when you go to a lot of dealerships
is the guy who doesn't even know where the keyboard is.
OK, I'll be back in just one minute.
Well, I got my grandson's car insurance canceled.
Well, his truck insurance.
Yeah, you know, once you get canceled for not paying a bill,
it's hard to get uncanceled.
And I feel so bad.
I get this letter in the mail to my house and it says,
your insurance is canceled.
I said, well, that's not good.
Now open it, look and see, it's on my grandson's truck.
Only thing I have on it is liability.
And so because the Comprehensive is, I mean,
the Collision is so dad gum expensive for a 17-year-old.
And plus it's a truck that, you know, if he totaled it.
I mean, it's a really nice truck, but it's a 2005 model.
And if he totaled it, God forbid, the insurance company
would probably pay $5,000 or $6,000, so it's not worth it.
But I do want liability coverage.
So I called the insurance company or the agent and I said,
listen, I need to put insurance on this now.
What did I do wrong?
I said, well, do you not remember getting a bill?
And I said, no, I really don't.
And she said, well, OK, give me your credit card information
and I'll just go ahead and pay it for you directly
once they get it reinstated and I'll get a receipt
and I'll make sure that we get a copy that it is covered.
I said, thank you.
You know, it's one of the advantages of actually dealing
with a local insurance agency as opposed to one
of these big monsters.
So anyway, I got that taken care of
and yeah, I was off yesterday.
Got to play in a golf tournament.
And then I came into the office this morning
and I have this little, I have a little rabbit.
It's a little brass rabbit that's on the corner of my desk.
Under that are bills and things like that
that need to get paid.
So I just happened to glance over at it
and I picked up the rabbit, looked under it.
Oh, there's that bill.
Seems as though I hadn't moved that rabbit
in about a month when that bill was due.
The reason I use a rabbit is because you know,
rabbits are ruled, I don't know,
they're just kind of an urgent kind of an animal, right?
I mean, they're just so reactionary
and things got to be done quick.
You got to do it now.
And so obviously I haven't followed that rule.
It's been more like a tortoise.
So I am reprioritizing the rabbit from now on.
Okay, in today's automotive news,
sometimes I will cover this.
General Motors is scaling back EV production.
They're taking a $1.6 billion charge
on their financial statement.
It's a big whoops.
You know, I guess they just didn't anticipate
Mr. Trump coming in and saying, okay,
we're doing away with these tax subsidies
for people to buy electric vehicles.
We're using taxpayer money.
You know, people who wouldn't even think
about buying an EV are paying their taxes
and $7,500 of that money is going to anyone who wanted,
well, not anymore, but wanted to buy an EV.
And there was a mad dash at there at the end
before the end of September for people to come in and buy,
but now General Motors is saying, okay,
the free market's taken over, so we need to scale back.
Now there are certain EV makers that aren't doing that.
For example, Hyundai has kicked in a $7,500 cash incentive
because the other $7,500 went away.
On the 2025 Ionic 5, yeah, that's what their EV is called,
or one of them.
And so they also cut the small crossover sticker price
by up to $9,800 for 2026.
So what's Hyundai doing?
They're stepping into the void
and they're rolling the dice, taking a chance.
They think that EVs are still gonna be a thing.
And they may well be, but not in the foreseeable future.
Now General Motors and Ford had decided
where they were just gonna go report a bunch of deliveries
to the federal government before the end of the month,
or the end of September,
and go ahead and capture that $7,500
so they could pass it on to people
who bought vehicles that are still in dealer inventories.
Well, a couple senators balked at that
and they said, that is not right.
They were Republican senators and they said, no,
we're not gonna bulk the taxpayers any more
than we already have, especially for vehicles
that are sold after the deadline.
That's kinda like cheating.
So they decided not to do that.
And also in the news, apparently Americans
are falling behind on their car payments,
especially lower income folks who were,
I guess they were stretching anyway
to be able to make the payments.
And in order to even get close,
they had to do longer term loans.
And now they're not even keeping up
with the payments that they negotiated.
You know, this is no surprise.
How can I say this nicely?
Okay, payment buyers tend to be driven more by emotion
than logic.
How's that?
I'm not saying that they are ignorant
or anything like that.
They just don't know.
Which is what ignorant means, I think.
But they just don't know how to buy a car
and not pay too much for it.
And so they stretch and they stretch
and they try to get that payment
to where they feel comfortable.
And they end up paying hundreds more many times
than what they came into the dealership vowing
not to spend more than such and such.
And then they just rationalize it.
Say, okay, we can cut back on trips to Wendy's
and things like that.
And that's exactly what's happening.
That's why these statistics are what they are
because of payment buyers.
It's not people who pay cash or a negotiated deal
based on the selling price, the trade value,
the terms, making sure they get the right terms.
And then the aftermarket items, they're smart buyers.
You know, they don't care what the payment is.
I mean, yeah, the payment matters eventually.
But it's the last thing, not the first thing.
Listen up, young car buyers and older car buyers
with bad habits.
You are the problem.
You allow many car salespeople
and many car dealerships to be crooks.
And lenders really aren't helping the matter any.
These are the banks and really not so much
credit unions, but a lot of banks and a lot of,
especially in the subprime category, what's that?
Those are people, well, your prime,
if you can walk into just about any place
and buy a car with, because you have outstanding credit,
because you have a beacon score in the 700 plus range.
Anything below that is subprime.
And there are different levels of subprime.
You get low enough in a beacon score
and your credit circumstances are not good.
Then you're not telling the car salesperson
what you're gonna buy.
The car salesperson is telling you what you're gonna buy.
Because I'm sorry, Mr. Customer,
I know you want that nice new Ford Maverick,
but you can't buy that.
You can buy that 2014 Nissan Frontier
with 200,000 miles on it.
And you're gonna have to show up here once a week
with your weekly car payment.
Can you believe that, folks,
that some people have to pay weekly car payments?
And the interest rate is,
it can be anywhere from 25 to 35%,
depending on the laws in the state,
as far as how much interest you can,
or how high of an interest rate
you can charge to a consumer.
I mean, this is how bad it gets for a lot of people.
And for a lot of those poor people,
they were never taught any better.
They were never taught any kind of responsibility
when they were younger.
They watched their parents and all of their bad habits
as far as not paying bills and collectors showing up
and cars getting repossessed out of the driveway
and they just kind of continue in that legacy.
Not all of them.
I mean, some of them see it for what it is,
irresponsibility and they move away from it.
They just can't run fast enough.
And they want to do better.
They want to be able to have things
that when they wanna go out and buy a car,
they wanna be able to go out and buy a car.
They don't wanna have to be subject to somebody
telling them what they have to buy.
It's sad, but that's just the way it is.
So what do you do about it?
Well, if somebody's been in those kind of circumstances
and they've seen that type of behavior,
you gotta break the cycle somehow.
And I think the time to do that is when
the kids are getting ready to graduate from high school
because that's the point where they're either gonna go
to college or they're gonna go to a trade school
or they're just gonna jump into the job market.
And as soon as they get some money,
they're gonna wanna start spending it.
And so you get them in the 11th grade,
at the latest, the 12th grade
and you just coach them and you talk about credit
and you teach them how the system works
so that when they get into the system,
they're not abused to buy it.
They're able to use it to their benefit.
I think kids that are getting ready to go to college
and they're borrowing money, student debt and stuff,
they need to know that their ability
to pay back that student debt
is gonna be dependent on the type of job
they're able to get.
And I'm sorry,
but a lot of these degrees that people get,
never gonna pay them enough to be able to pay off
a $150, $200,000 student debt loan.
I'm sorry.
And you cannot count on the government to say,
well, okay, you're not gonna have to pay it after all.
You need to assume that you will have to pay it.
But that's not the kind of loans that I'm worried about.
I'm worried about when all of a sudden
they get some money in their pocket
and they start, you know, they get an apartment
and then they wanna buy a stereo system
and big screen TV.
And then they said, let's go out and buy a car.
And they go out there and they get abused
because they don't really know how to negotiate
or to deal with a professional sales person
who sees them as just an opportunity to make a big lick.
And so that's what this show is about.
And that's what my services are.
I mean, if somebody reaches out to me
and says, would you come speak to our graduating seniors
about credit responsibility and not do it in a way
that will put them to sleep?
I said, I volunteer for that.
So let me know 423-552-2020
or send me an email to LennyLawson2020 at gmail.com
and we'll get together.
We'll do some education.
I'll be back in just one minute.
Okay, I am back, you know, for these new salespeople.
Wish for them, pray for them that they are able
to take a hold of this as a career to be proud of
and to be, you know, treat others with respect
and therefore be treated with respect.
That's what I've found is also difficult
for a lot of new salespeople is that
it's not as bad as it used to be
because most people that come in to the dealership
to buy a car are pretty far down the purchase funnel,
as they say, they're really close
to making a final decision.
They've either come to pick up their car
or they've come to maybe take it on a test drive
because they've done a lot of their research online.
But there are still others that shop the traditional way
where they just, let's go look at cars, you know,
and they go driving around and they see something they like.
A salesperson approaches them and they just go from there.
They end up leaving in a new car or a used car,
new used car.
So there's no difference in doing that
and selling copy and machines or airplanes or whatever.
It's just that the car business
has a little slightly negative reputation
that's well-deserved in many circles.
But my goal is to train these people to do it right
and to live up to the promise
that we made them when we hired them.
You know, and you need to do that same thing.
You hire new people.
Don't hang them out there to dry.
You know, in the car business, they used to say,
show them the lot, show them a desk
and show them the keyboard and wish them good luck.
And that has proven not to work.
Not very well at all.
So hopefully when you go to buy your next new car,
you know, one of the ways to make sure that you get
the best salesperson is go up to the receptionist
and say, hey, who's your best salesperson?
She knows.
She's the one that gets all the phone calls
and knows who's getting most of the phone calls,
knows who actually returns phone calls,
knows which people are the nicest
and deals with the people in the nicest way
in the showroom.
Yeah, she's a great resource.
That is, if you can't walk into the dealer
and do what I said earlier.
Well, thanks for listening to this edition
of My Car Guru.
If you need me, text me, 423-552-2020.
Also, I'll send you the My Car Guru guidebook,
which pretty much summarizes a lot
of what we talk about on this show.
And it is a guaranteed way to save money,
buying, selling, trading, servicing,
whatever you need to do with an automobile,
the guidebook will help do it.
I'll email it to you, or I'll send it to you,
a hard copy, just again, send me your email address
to 423-552-2020, or call the dealership here
at Gateway Ford, 423-639-5151,
and talk to our operator.
She will give me your address
and I'll make a copy of the guidebook
and send it to you.
How's that for a deal?
Okay, I'll see you on the next edition of My Car Guru.
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