The very first sales job I ever had was actually a fairly successful car dealership (at the time… it’s closed now and you’ll probably figure out why). My sales training was with a guy named Ray (I’ve changed the actual name, of coarse). Ray was your typical go-get-’em car sales dude; as soon as someone drove even in the direction of the dealership, he was up and out of his chair, ready to pounce on this poor soul and “wheel-and-deal-’em!” if they even got out of their ride to look at these cars on the lot. My sales manager told me to shadow Ray for a few days and to “take lots of notes, because Ray just does it right!”
Two days into my “shadowing” Ray, I noticed Gary (no- his name really wasn’t Gary. Just roll with me here). Gary had been in the car business over 20 years, having spent a majority of his early life selling door-to-door vacuums before finding his niche in selling cars. He was such a “people person”; you know the type: happy, personable, would approach any stranger and become best friends with them; THAT guy. The one who everyone seemed to know and wanted to do business with. Gary never got up to pounce like Ray. Instead, he’d be at his desk, doing the daily crossword puzzles in that day’s local newspaper. He’d frequently have folks come in an ask for him by name. And it was on that second day of shadowing Ray that I actually learned a term that stuck with me forever: “Referral Business”. I bailed on Ray and went right to Gary with my pen and paper!
Gary had been in the game an awful long time, yes, but he did it right. He pulled out a very thick, old loose-leaf binder filled with every name, address and notes, phone numbers and more notes (yeah he took a lot of them) he ever sold to! He told me every car he sold in his first 5 years, he’d send a personal note to them every 6 months, just to say hello, check on the new car, see how the kids were doing, asked about their uncle Charlie, call them on their birthday- (hence the notes!). He would send them gift certificates to a local steak house if they sent him someone who bought a vehicle from him. Gary would drop anything he was doing to escort any of his customers to the service department that came in to get the vehicle he sold them looked at!
This was his process, replicated over 20 years, all while still keeping in touch with EVERY person he met and sold to. He’d been invited to weddings and funerals, to speak at the local Chamber of Commerce; I mean this dude just did it right: meaning, he took care of the people he did business with. I knew after talking with him that was the kind of businessman I wanted to be one day.
What I learned from Gary I’ve taken mostly through my 20’s and early 30’s. I’ve gone out of my way, in restaurants, retail, and sales, to make my customers feel valued…special…important. Now, I begin this new era of my life, where I can see my entrepreneurial spirit blossom into something tangible, armed with this simple yet so effective strategy that Gary gave me what seems like not so long ago anymore- What I now call one of my core values- “My clients and brand partners will come first in my company. I will shake each hand and thank each one for their business; for trusting me with their wants and needs an allowing me to serve them the best way I know how.”
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