Quotable Quotes From Chris Collins Top Dog Advisor Event 2013

On selling service

• People don’t come to us because they want to. They come to us because they need to. And they expect us to advise them and to provide them service – the top-notch service. Also, they want to be able to know “hey I got a car doctor that I can bring my car to and I can leave it for the day and they’re going to take care of us.
• A lot of times what I do is really, really soft sell this. I don’t know if it’s going to be the most important thing in your car. I see that you’re due for a different couple of things – fuel injection service might be a good idea – but let’s hold off on doing anything until I see what the technician thinks.
• When I call them and I tell them the car needs this and I can get it done for them to drive home with, to me, I feel like they have no choice but to say ‘go ahead and do it.’ Their car is already there. When they’re sitting in front of me and I’m trying to sell it to them they have more of a chance of saying no, no, no, no, no.
• These clients see you once every six months, maybe. Just tell them ‘Mr. Smith, I just want to remind you Mr. Smith last time we recommended the power steering flush in your car. You’re here again, you’re a little past due now but we can get you back up to speed. Do you want to do it?’ 9 out of 10 times they say yes. Trust me, by the third time I bring it up, it’s sold because they will not turn you down.
• I always make sure I present very clearly what they need and why they need it. Then I stop talking; just shut up and let them think, let them process. I see a lot of advisors in my shop, they’ll sell hard on the drive and they lose the customer before they’re done doing the walk-around.

On sales

• Forget about money for a second. If you have high cp sales but your CSI isn’t good you’re chasing people (customers) away.
• Really it’s a matter of making yourself memorable; big difference enough to make yourself memorable.

On work and self-motivation

• If you put your goal somewhere where you see it every single day you will never stop. It just keeps on coming.
• You got to motivate yourself. When you have downtime, role play. I think practice makes perfect.
• That’s kind of my whole take on the whole thing. So you come in today and you’ve got 15 2012 cars. That doesn’t determine what your days are going to be like. That doesn’t mean anything to me. I come in one day and sure I’ve got a bunch of services and repairs and stuff that are pre-sold; I come in the next day and I have 15 2012 and 2013s – my outlook for the day is going to be the same no matter what. I come to work to have fun and do the best that I can do. Be consistent – I don’t pre-judge a customer. That doesn’t mean that somebody’s going to pull in on a flatbed or walk in with a black hat. There are opportunities out there. I just try not to sell myself short.

On communication

• Communication is the most important word in the world. It’s astounding how much isn’t right in our world because of bad communication. It’s beautiful to see things that are right because of great communication.
• We all like to talk; we like to share a certain amount of ourselves. I like to ask questions and really engage an individual into what’s it about.
• At the end of the day, I am well aware that I’m selling a luxury product, as most of you are also. We’re selling wants not needs. Clients will say that “I need” and I’m like ‘you don’t need.’ Nothing in these four walls anyone ever needs.

Last word from Chris Collins

 “Nobody trains in our industry. There’s no training; there’s nowhere they can go. It’s kind of like they learn from the shitty guy before them. It’s basically what we have in our industry so I’d really like to change the industry. I think as lofty as that is that’s my goal.”