One Thing Wednesday -  The Lot Walk March 13, 2019, with #TalkingCarBiz
Channel: Talking CarBiz
Date: 2019-03-03

This is One Thing Wednesday for March 13th, 2019. Today's one tip Wednesday is the Lot Walk, we've all heard about it, it's a simple idea, it's talked about, although not enough in Sales Meetings.

This One Thing Wednesday is directed at you Mr. Used Car Manager, my question to you is, are you taking a leadership role with a lot walk?

We talk about how important it is that our Salespeople know the inventory, we encourage, cajole and beg them to know and look at the inventory. But, then we printout an Inventory List, we have a website, and they lean very heavily on those as a crutch. Here's an idea for you Mr. Manager, you are the leader of the team, you are the person who directs the course, you are the one that sets the example.

I strongly recommend is that you schedule a regular weekly Lot Walk, it can be done more often if you'd like, but I would start out weekly until your team gets into the rhythm and the habit of doing it. Having a scheduled day that you're doing a lot walk, not you by yourself but what I suggest is you gather all of your Salespeople and you be the lead duck and you lead them out onto the lot.

That's right, get up off your conference room chair, get out of the conference room, put on your coat, get your boots, your gloves if you need them and go out onto the lot as your Sales Meeting once a week. Walk through the inventory, talk about the vehicles that are out there, have Salespeople talk about the vehicles that they took in on trade,
 "Hey John, you took it on trade this Camry, tell us about the previous owner, give us a little backstory on it, give us the history."

Really just take a half an hour to walk through the lot with the salespeople, maybe have a couple keys for cars so you can start them up. If you've got a really cool pickup truck that has an exhaust system that rumbles, fire it up so they can hear it and build some enthusiasm around the inventory.

The last thing you want to have happened is the salesperson hasn't even looked at the car, and now they've got a customer that they're going to show the car. And make it up on the fly, that's not a great experience, so to have your sales be bought on the lot knowing and telling the stories of the cars, that's really what sells used cars is the story behind the car not just the fact that it is a 2018 Toyota Camry but the back story to be able to share that.

Now, from a Sales Manager perspective it's huge because you know your inventory now as well, so that when you're working a deal with a salesperson. If you're looking for alternative vehicles, those vehicles are going to be top of mind, I'm not saying commit every vehicle to memory but certainly there's going to be things on cars that are going to really be top of mind and then when you're working the deal, it makes it very easy as a Sales Manager to say, "Hey, did you show them that 2017 Camry that we looked at the other day? That's a really nice car and I think that car is going to fit their needs more."

Being out on the lot, touching, feeling, smelling, starting up, listening to this inventory is a critical part of the success of not only the salespeople but you as a sales manager and it will make you money. I'll tell you a quick story of how it made me money one day, several years ago I used to do this with salespeople and we got up to do the lot walk and go out on the lot and it had been raining overnight, it was a spring day it was kind of cold and dreary and whatever, but we were walking the lot and I was talking about how knowing your inventory of walking the lot will make money.

As God as my witness, I actually found money on the lot, we're walking along and I happen to look down in a puddle that I didn't want to step in and laying in that puddle was a soggy saturated five-dollar bill, I reached over, I picked it up, I shook it off and I showed it to them and I said, "See, it'll make you money." Of course, they all thought it was a plant and they thought it was a gimmick but it wasn't, it actually happened.

The point is, knowing your inventory will make you money and it will help you serve your customer better because you can show them alternative vehicles that maybe they hadn't considered then you can get them the vehicle that really meets their needs. That's my One Thing Wednesday, if you're able to have a weekly lot walk with your Salespeople, I strongly recommend it, it won't cost you any money I can guarantee that.

Wednesday, March 13th, 2019.