In the early days of dent repair fifteen years ago, getting dealer accounts was easy.
Our toughest obstacle then was getting them to spend money for a service they never had before.
“We been selling cars with dents all these years…”
Once their competitors started fixing dents, they quickly fell in line and started giving us money for adding value to their units.
For you starting out the challenge is different. Rarely will you find a used car account that has never had any dents done at all. And it’s likely you will hear this:
“We already got a guy.”
This could be discouraging, but stay with me for you’re about to learn how to use the power of two.
When I first picked up the Lexus dealer, I had never called on them. It came to me through a referral from another used car dealer I worked for at the time. They were already using a dent guy but they had a few hail cars to fix and he wasn’t able to get to them. My company did those hail cars and we met the recondition manager. This is when I learned the power of two.
The recon manager asked us to start coming by and doing their door dings for them. “OK, but I thought you already had a dent guy?” I asked.
“Management wants us to have two vendors for everything. Says it keeps everyone in line.”
I always preferred to work only for dealers who were “loyal” to me as their dent company. In return I gave them VIP service. But more and more I noticed that cars were being done on these lots and not by me.
Because of this perverted sense of loyalty, I felt betrayed.
Now this Lexus dealer wanted me to come on board as their second team, their backup?
“No, no.” the recon manager stopped me. “Kurt comes on Thursdays, why don’t you come on Tuesdays?”
Well I liked the thought of being there first in the week, so I gave it a try.
Goes without saying Kurt didn’t like it and he was none too friendly towards us, but it got us some business. The best part was we found out he charged more so we raised our prices to meet him.
So, where’s the power of two? It is this: every dealer with more than fifty used cars on the ground needs two dent guys. If they don’t have you need to sell yourself as that second guy.
Don’t get me wrong. At first I hated it. Being second guy at this dealer wasn’t as good as being their only dent guy, but it was better than not having the account at all.
I suppose it bothered me more then because I didn’t know the power of two.
I only know it now because a newly acquired mentor shared it with me. Now I’ll share it with you.
The worst number in anything in business is one. One employee, one vendor, etc. Why?
Cause when you just got one, they can and will hold you hostage. That’s what was happening with this Lexus dealer. First guy had been doing their dents for eight years. He only came one day a week and most of the time he spent socializing with the mechanics and others. I’m not saying it’s wrong to be friendly, just make sure you do your job. He wasn’t, cause there were cars with dings left undone.
To his credit, making friends with everyone, probably saved him from losing the account altogether. But now he was holding these guys hostage. Since he only came one day a week, the cars weren’t getting fixed and the used car manager was not happy. So they brought in another vendor and that was OK with me.
Here is the lesson for you in this: When you go to a dealer and they say they’ve already got a guy, you just need to politely educate them to the power of two.
Later, I’ll share with you the flip side of this and how to make yourself indispensable to your accounts.
Happy Pushing,
Tim
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