May 19, 2024 • 23 mins
Those closest to David Lowe know bits and pieces of his story. On this episode of 'Prepare to Win', David Lowe and Grace Lupoi discuss David's story through his life, his mountains and valleys, and ultimately the journey to becoming Automotive Sales Coach.
Connect with us at https://preparetowin.com
Call or Text David @ 765-560-7338
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Okay, so we know how Batman became Batman.
Right, Right.
How did Automotive Sales Coachbecome Automotive Sales Coach?
Stay tuned.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
Hi guys, I'm Grace LaPoi and I'm here with David
Lowe, the Automotive Sales Coachand you mentioned.
We want to get to knowAutomotive Sales Coach and who.
You are right, and I've had theprivilege to get to know you
over the last few years and hearparts of your story.
So I want to take you back tomaybe the beginning of your
story and kind of walk usthrough.
How did you become AutomotiveSales Coach?
Speaker 1 (00:38):
Okay, so first, that's a great thing.
I tell these stories a lot.
I love it.
Thank you for asking about it,and I'm making a joke about
Batman.
Right, we're not Batman, butthere is an origin story to just
about everything isn't there,how did we get to where we are?
And so, yeah, it'd be cool tokind of walk through, kind of
(00:59):
how it came.
I do want to tell you that it'snot David Lowe training, right,
it's automotive sales coachtraining.
So there's a purpose behindthat, because we're not Batman
and I know that most trainersit's their name right, and we
never wanted it to be that.
I always thought that thistraining should be much bigger
than me, not me.
(01:20):
Does that make sense?
So there are principles andtechniques out there and really
my skill set has been gatheringthe best of the best and
combining them and improvingthem to come up with strategies
that help us sell more cars formore money the right way.
Customers leave happy and we'rehappy, right, and that's where
(01:41):
our expertise comes in.
But, grace, what we really wantto do is create our own
replacements.
I expect you to be better thanme and we're hoping that
everybody out there can becomebetter than the both of us.
Does that make sense?
So little disclaimer there onthe automotive sales coach
versus David Lowe.
So you know, I bet you, likemost people, I started selling
(02:02):
cars out of desperation.
I think 1985, 86, I played in aband for a living.
The band broke up.
I was going to college, Ididn't have any money to eat or
to do anything and there was anad for a car dealership.
So I went in and did a discprofile, right, and I didn't
have a car, and so they promisedme if I made it through 30 days
I'd get a car after 30.
(02:23):
That was kind of all about it,right?
So funny because I had permedhair down to here.
It was the 80s, I was playingin heavy metal bands and bands
in the bars on the weekend, andanyway.
So my girlfriend worked atChristopher D's, a bar downtown
Moline, and she worked thedaytime hours.
(02:44):
All the bankers came and dranktheir lunch, right, and so she
started collecting clothes forme, that's awesome.
And so I was kind of ahodgepodge.
I took the bus my first day,anyway, I didn't have lunch
money with me.
So I got in the car businessjust to survive.
I never thought that here, 38years later, I'd still be in it.
It was like if I save enough, Ican finish my college and be
(03:05):
that accountant.
I was studying to be All right.
So one thing I got sometraining.
I got a black and white moviefrom the Spitzer brothers from
the 50s, really high pressurestuff, not great stuff, but I
did at least get the version ofa sales process.
There's some things in therethat will last forever, some
things that were horribletechniques.
(03:27):
Why the car business got itsname, I think.
Like one thing they'd say doyou trade in a car, grace?
Do you have the title?
Can I see that?
And they'd put it in theirpocket.
You know what I mean, that kindof stuff.
But anyway, at least we got, Ithink, about an hour of that
movie before things got busy.
We got called out and that wasthe end of that training, right?
So I started selling cars.
I became a top salesman therereally, really quickly.
(03:50):
As a matter of fact, in thefirst three months I was already
out selling to people who'dbeen there for 10 years and
whatever, and I think that's oneof the things that kept me in
the car business.
I realized this is not abouttime served.
The better you are and the moreyou do, the more you make, the
more you get and the moreadvancement opportunities that
you have.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
Right.
Speaker 1 (04:09):
Does that make sense?
So I was kind of reallyfiguring this out.
What a great business.
And I became a top salesman.
I thought I knew everything.
I was God's gift to salespeople.
I was there for about a yearand my mom was out east selling
houses and was out east sellinghouses and she said come out
here and sell houses with me.
And so I moved out east east inPennsylvania.
She was in Bethlehem,pennsylvania, and I got a car
(04:30):
job right away.
I like selling cars and it wasa Pontiac place I'll never
forget.
In Bethlehem.
I went in my first Saturday.
I sold two cars for askingprice and on Monday the manager
and everybody made fun of me forhaving lay downs.
In other words, I realized thatI was the best person in that
store and I was 21,.
Right, I'm not getting anybetter.
You know, always buy.
(04:51):
Don't buy the biggest house onthe street, right, and never be
the best where you're at.
You need something to drive togo towards, right.
So anyway, I started askingaround where should you work in
this area?
What's the best place to work?
They said Phillips, startasking around where should you
(05:11):
work in this uh area?
What's the best place to work?
They said phillipsburg east andhonda.
But you won't get a job there,kid, it's only for experienced
managers.
I was so full of myself I wentin there.
I'm god's gift to salesmen, youshould hire me.
And they did.
I don't know why, but they did.
And this is the humblingexperience that really kind of
changed.
Everything is that I sat thereand I was reading through my
Honda brochures, trying to learnthe product, and behind me, dj
Lawley, the salesman, waspresenting deals and closing
(05:32):
deals, and I went home thatfirst day and told my wife I
can't make it here.
There's no way to make it.
These guys, I don't even knowwhat they're doing.
I can't do what they can do.
In other words, I found out Ihad climbed to the top of that
dealership, but it'd be likebeing number one in Little
League and now I was playing inthe pros.
That's what it felt like to me.
She sent me back, and so what Idid was I went back and I sat
(05:58):
at that desk for two days and Ilistened to everything that DJ
Lolly said.
He sold three cars and I wroteit out on my paper.
You know, I still take notes.
Speaker 2 (06:07):
Oh yes.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
Everything I write down.
I can remember.
So when I take notes it'sreally about me learning.
But I wrote down everything hesaid.
For two days he sold three cars.
He was really awesome.
Anyway, I got home and I laidout those pieces of paper and I
realized something.
He did the same thing everytime.
(06:29):
Now the words weren't identical,but he said the same story.
Does that make sense?
And from that I thought I canlearn that, and so I organized
those things in a kind of afive-step closing plan, which,
by the way, our Riso Rias todaythat we teach, that we train on
a dealership playbook, which isthe most comfortable and
powerful negotiating tool thereis right, actually started there
(06:50):
.
That was a rudimentary thingNow in those days.
Remember it was you and me, mrCustomer, against the manager.
Horrible, right.
It was that game right.
Now ours is always.
Of course it's me, the manager,and it's you, mr Customer.
The market is what we'refighting.
Does that make sense?
So it's really advanced andprinciples don't change, but
(07:11):
techniques and technology doright, all right.
So anyway, what I'm getting atis I think one of the things
that made me really good atselling cars wasn't natural
skill, it wasn't natural ability.
I think what made me reallygood was the fact that I knew I
sucked.
Does that make sense?
So some might call thathumility, but I think that
(07:33):
started way back in seventhgrade, when I was a skinny
little kid and I wanted musclesand I said to my dad I got to
have muscles and he bought me aweight set and Arnold
Schwarzenegger's book, and Ilifted weights and I changed
everything about myself.
I wanted to play football.
I'm not fast, I'm not, you know, I'm that B minus athlete, I'm
not going to stand out.
So I ran five miles an hour andI worked out and I, you know, I
(07:56):
, made the team and contributeda lot because of my effort, not
because of what I was born with,but because I created.
I flunked the music test, youknow, in grade school, so they
didn't give me an instrument toplay and I wanted to play bass
guitar.
So I bought one and I bought aMel Bay book and of course, I
think in high school we playedthe Trees by Rush, which is a
(08:18):
great bass part.
I taught myself that.
So what I'm trying to say is Iknew my deficiencies and I knew
if I wanted something I had topay a price for it.
So if there's anything that Icould say made me a success, I
would say it's that my abilityto want to be better today than
yesterday, and I think that'swhy we have this whole training
(08:40):
program, isn't it?
That's awesome.
So it's funny.
About a year later I was calledby the guy who hired me in
Moline.
He bought a dealership inWisconsin and called me to come
out there to run it at 23 yearsold and I went out there.
I don't know how to do anything.
I'm a great closer and a greatdealmaker, not a great manager
leader.
Now we bought his partners outin two years instead of five
years.
We had all the success made,all this money.
(09:02):
I really thought I was God'sgift to sales manager.
I wasn't.
I was a closer and a deal maker.
I was really good at that, notgood.
Well, nobody trained me tocoach and manage and lead other
people.
You know what I mean.
And so I did kind of what I.
I kind of did what I saw donein the industry which wasn't
right.
And when I lost my opportunityto buy in that dealership and
(09:25):
that's a sore subject with me at29 years old, I left and
traveled the country in a motorhome.
What am I going to do next?
I knew I could go anywhere andwork.
There's so much power in havinga skill set isn't there?
Because when you have a skillset, you're not even worried
about it.
You do the job you have becauseyou want to, not because you're
forced to, and once I didn'twant to do it anymore.
(09:47):
Once he said no, I'm not goingto make you a partner.
I didn't want to do it anymore.
No worries, I could do thissomewhere else.
It was about my skill set, notabout the place I worked.
I have the freedom to stay hereor have the freedom to do this
somewhere else.
So that's what we're alwaystalking to people Don't ride the
wave of the dealership.
(10:08):
Make your own way and become amaster sales consultant.
Anyway, best thing that happenedto me, I was in San Diego and I
called.
We had a company called Half aCar came in and taught forward
leasing.
I called my half-car rep, danPeretti, and I said Dan, I'm
going to move to San Diego,that's where I want to live.
I want to get in the carbusiness.
I want to have breakfast withyou so you can tell me who to
(10:30):
stay away from and who to go to.
Right, I was so confidentwherever I walked in, they'd
give me a job, whatever.
You don't know what you don'tknow Anyway.
So I get the breakfast and herecruits me into his company,
half a Car.
Next thing, you know, I findmyself driving my motor home
across country all the way toPennsylvania to interview and
get hired by this company calledHalf a Car.
Now, by the way, I went inthere interviewing like God's
(10:51):
gift to sales management andthey saw through that and hired
me anyway.
That was really thoughtful ofthem.
And those next two years becamethe most formative years really
of my life Because as a studentit was easy for me to recognize
I had climbed quickly and had alot of success, but all I could
(11:12):
see was my deficiency.
Their training was so good.
And then it was so cool.
As I went out on the road andwent to these dealerships all
across the country to teach themhow to use the red carpet lease
, I would just sit back andwatch people operate.
I wasn't involved emotionallyanymore and be like, well,
that's stupid.
That's what I did.
I didn't know until I got tostep away.
(11:34):
So I started studying them and Istarted sitting with the best
salespeople and the bestmanagers and the dealers and GMs
all wanted to offer me a job.
So I picked a brain how did youget here?
What do you do differently?
And it started to formulate inmy mind there's a way to do this
from coast to coast that peoplehaven't mapped yet.
(11:55):
In other words, mastersalespeople are doing the same
thing, but they don't have aname for it and they're not
mapping it.
What if I mapped it?
So, during those two years, Ibegan mapping what we call
today's excellence roadmap, oursales process, what we teach in
the dealership playbook.
I began mapping it.
Oh, this is going to work.
I took the best of the best.
(12:16):
I took what they did and Icombined them and I created
these success models that werepowerful, customer-centric.
Before anybody was talkingcustomer-centric in the 90s,
this was all about the customerexperience.
To me, it was also all aboutthe customer experience.
To me, it was also all aboutthe team member experience.
In other words, I wanted thecustomers to like what we did
and how we did it, but, mostimportantly, as a salesperson, I
(12:38):
wanted to feel good about whatI did.
And I needed big results.
Too many times we see, you knowa manufacturer sales training
creates no results.
Oh, just let them decidewhenever they want to decide.
There's no actually buildingvalue and asking for commitment
in those processes.
(12:59):
So I wanted a way to build thatgoodwill and close a higher
percentage of deals for moremoney.
Right, and I had found it.
So after a couple of years onthe road it became too much for
my wife and I and so we decidedI'd get off the road and I
started a thing called BudgetCar Sales in Appleton, wisconsin
, oshkosh and Appleton, and wetook this tiny little dealership
(13:22):
that barely sold 13, usedlittle dealership that sold 13,
14 cars a month and sold 60, 65cars a month out of there.
I trained three people thatbasically never sold cars before
, using the same playbook weteach now.
Right now it's constantlyupdated, don't get me wrong, but
the principles were the same.
It's where we came up with thecompetitively low and the value
(13:42):
story and all the things that weteach.
I created that for them, but Ibrought them in their blank room
and put up a screen and a basicprojector and I walked them
through and we practiced it.
We trained every week in a verysuccessful place.
We made good money andunfortunately, the damage that
was done to my marriage while Iwas on the road ended up in
(14:03):
divorce and ended up having tosell out of that.
And that's how I got to Indyright.
And when I came to IndianapolisI wanted to get back to training
.
As a matter of fact, when I hadbudget, the guy that I rented
my building from saw my numbersand said we've never sold more
than 15 cars out of thisbuilding.
How are you selling 65?
(14:24):
You can't only fit 40 cars on alot.
And I said people have a plan,they know the plan, they execute
the plan.
That's what it is.
I'm never even here.
They just carry it out.
And he goes can you teach myteam?
That's really when Audemarssales coach kind of kicked off.
Speaker 2 (14:39):
That's awesome.
Speaker 1 (14:40):
But after the divorce I just kind of let it go.
And then, all of a sudden, Ifind myself in a new city and I
had to prove myself again andthat was.
It was a rocky start, right,but anyway.
So I ended up and I finallyfound a great job with a great
leader that gave me theopportunity and I put the tools
of the automotive sales coachthat we have today the things
I've been working on my wholelife to work.
(15:01):
And the last dealership I ran,tomwood Volkswagen.
We became one of the top fiveVW dealerships in the country.
There was only like five of usthat won this Diamond Pin Award
in 2013, award for Excellence.
It's just, it's really hard towin.
It's a four-year, basicallyaward anyway.
And you know, vw is big in theworld and we're the top ones in
the world for profitability,market share, customer
(15:23):
satisfaction, all those kinds ofgreat things, and I use that to
catapult and start almost salescoach.
So how we got here was reallythat isn't amazing.
So I I want to say that I stillbelieve, as I'm training you,
my replacement, and we haveright, our team, and we're out
(15:43):
in the dealerships, I still Ireally have a trump time
marketing David Lowe, becauseDavid Lowe is really nothing
special, right?
He's somebody who recognizedhe's been created with unlimited
potential and what I've beengiven I'm expected to make use
of that's right.
So some people we always talkabout the story of the talents
(16:04):
in the Bible, right, one personwas given four talents and
somebody given two and somebodygiven one.
And really the story is aboutwhat are you doing with what
you've been given?
Right, and I wasn't given four.
I probably wasn't given one.
Let's say I was given two and Itook those and multiplied them.
Too many people out theresaying but I only gave them one,
I was only given two.
(16:25):
What can I do with that?
I don't have.
And they start going back towhy they can't do what they need
to do.
I'm just going to tell you I'mgoing to go back.
I hit that showroom floor.
I didn't have money for lunch.
I was 20 years old, didn't knowwhere I was going to make my
rent payment.
I took the bus.
All I did was go there and workWhile other people sat in their
(16:48):
circle, jerks, smoking andtalking about what's wrong with
the business and what's wrongwith customer, what's wrong with
their dealership.
I walked right past them.
I worked really hard my firstcouple of months there, when we
did a walk-around competition.
I took home, studied everynight.
The difference maker in my lifewas my willing, my desire and
drive, and my willingness todevelop my know-how.
Speaker 2 (17:10):
That's special.
Speaker 1 (17:11):
And take action.
Well, it is because not manypeople do it, but it's not
because everybody has thepotential.
And so we started reallyautomotive sales coach and has
grown.
And we've never really said wewant to own the world, we want
to train.
If we did, we'd be talking toegos and we'd be doing a lot
(17:32):
different messaging People justlike to grab on that brute force
message we're not doing it.
And to have everything messagewe're not doing it.
We're not about materialism,we're about becoming more and
becoming more, you get more.
But we were never about beingthe biggest and being the only
trainer.
What we wanted to do wasdevelop a company that said
listen, you could be bettertoday than yesterday.
(17:54):
And since we happen to choose,well, I'm not a car salesman,
that's not who I am Right, butit's what I do.
And because it's what I do, Ihave to do it with excellence.
Speaker 2 (18:03):
Isn't that true?
It is.
Speaker 1 (18:05):
And so this company is all designed to inspire other
people to become students.
I think a lot of people arewalking through life waiting for
things to come to them.
It doesn't work that way.
Although you might see it outthere right now, everybody wants
something for nothing.
In the end, it doesn't workthat way, and I think that, no
(18:25):
matter where you grew up or whatyou're starting with, you have
you.
What are you going to do withwhat you have?
Automotive sales coach wasdesigned to inspire that, to
light that flame.
Og Mandino said we all have aflame inside, and I think a lot
of people's flame is flickeringand going out past mistakes,
other people's, whatever, andall we want to do is turn that
(18:46):
flame back up, because webelieve in the power of people.
In order for you to maximizeyour life, though, you're going
to have to make some decisions.
What do you want and why do youwant it, and are you willing to
do what it takes to get it?
Most aren't.
Can you discipline yourself inthe daily actions?
(19:07):
Now, that's true at Cathy fromChick-fil-A Strategy Desire and
Drive.
Develop the know-how, takeaction.
It's also Lombardi's andWooden's and Lincoln's, all the
way back to Solomon's.
It's the same.
Success looks the same and webelieve.
Ultimately, like I said, I'mnot a car salesman, it's what I
(19:28):
do and ultimately my joy and mypeace and satisfaction depends
on how I feel about what I do.
Am I a benefit to others?
And so we're success to melooks like joy, peace and
satisfaction.
And how can I have joy, peaceand satisfaction if I don't like
what I do, how I do it or who Iam?
It's difficult, probably notgoing to work.
(19:52):
So we created this companyreally to inspire you.
So, listen, if you're out thereand you're thinking, hey, I
can't, I've had some people sayto me well, I can't do what you
do, well, neither can I.
It didn't start that way.
And listen, grace, look at youraccomplishments and a couple of
years you've been with.
Well, you know the summers yousold with us and trained with us
and then, while you were goingto school, you were working with
(20:12):
us part-time and now being withus almost two years full-time
how far?
23 years old.
So you don't have to look at anold man like me and say it's
going to take me 38 years to bethat good.
People look at you and they cansee the impact of our training,
but the training is like anexercise bike it doesn't get you
(20:36):
in shape.
Speaker 2 (20:36):
Right.
Speaker 1 (20:37):
So our training has been the tool.
But you got to get on that bikeand ride.
You got to discipline yourselfto do what you know you should
do, whether you feel like it ornot.
That's what you've done, true,true, and that's why you are
where you are.
And everybody has thatopportunity.
That's right.
You have the opportunity tomake the most of every
opportunity that's in front ofyou.
That's your decision.
Some people would rather talkabout things they don't control
(21:00):
than take actions on the thingsthey do control.
I don't think this podcast andany of the episodes are really
going to work for you.
I'll be honest with you.
Yeah, if you want the freelunch thing, go on Facebook.
It's plenty of there.
You can definitely lose weightwithout dieting.
You can gain muscles withoutworking out and become rich
without working.
Go to Facebook.
They'll tell you how to do that.
I believe.
(21:21):
If you want reality in life, ifyou want to say what I do, how I
do, it matters, I matter Thenyou have to make a decision what
do you want to be, why do youwant to be it and how are you
going to get it Right?
That's right.
Then you have to disciplineyourself.
So thanks for asking about.
That's a really a Reader'sDigest version, isn't it?
(21:43):
I've got a lot of stories inthat 38 years and, if you want
to, I told people before.
If you want to say, oh, I'm sostupid blank, I'll take you on
because I can tell you I've madeevery mistake.
There is to make some many moretimes than one right?
So this is not like.
Be like Dave Lowe, you knowwhat I'm saying.
(22:03):
Be your best self.
We can learn from each other.
We can learn from each other'ssuccesses.
We can learn from each other'ssuccesses.
We can learn from each other'sfailures.
We want to say we're not incompetition with each other, but
we can use other people as abenchmark to get us to where we
are, and then we can blow bythem.
Speaker 2 (22:20):
I tell people all the time that's why I took this job
, because your story and thetraining is so much more than
yeah, what are those steps thatyou take?
How does it help transform you?
It's about the potential thatyou have and, ultimately, what
do you do with that potential?
what you do that has beensomething that we've been
talking about so much recentlyis you see this potential in
(22:41):
somebody or in yourself?
And what really matters is whatwill you do with it?
What?
What responsibilities will youtake to go to that next level?
This is an inspiring story, andI I could not tell it more when
I when I'm training and talkingto people about how much this
training has impacted me in mylife, because it's not even just
the job, right, it's that joy,peace, satisfaction that we get
to live with every day.
Speaker 1 (23:00):
Yeah, it's funny, the search for excellence doesn't
end at work, does it?
No, it continues at home.
Hey, thanks for being with usand listening to my story.
I hope it didn't bore you toomuch.
Hopefully, maybe it inspiresyou to say hey, I know where I'm
at right now and you know what.
To be honest with you, Ihaven't been a student.
Today, I decide I'm going tobecome a student again.
Ben Franklin, one of my heroes,was a student until he died.
(23:26):
Every day he woke up.
What good will I do today andwhat will I learn today?
We're hoping to inspire you todo the same.
All right, good selling, we'llsee you next episode.
If you like this, please likeus, and if you want to hear a
particular discussion, let usknow that too.
We'd love to respond to that.
Okay, good selling.
Okay, so we know how Batman became Batman.
Right, Right.
How did Automotive Sales Coachbecome Automotive Sales Coach?
Stay tuned.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
Hi guys, I'm Grace LaPoi and I'm here with David
Lowe, the Automotive Sales Coachand you mentioned.
We want to get to knowAutomotive Sales Coach and who.
You are right, and I've had theprivilege to get to know you
over the last few years and hearparts of your story.
So I want to take you back tomaybe the beginning of your
story and kind of walk usthrough.
How did you become AutomotiveSales Coach?
Speaker 1 (00:38):
Okay, so first, that's a great thing.
I tell these stories a lot.
I love it.
Thank you for asking about it,and I'm making a joke about
Batman.
Right, we're not Batman, butthere is an origin story to just
about everything isn't there,how did we get to where we are?
And so, yeah, it'd be cool tokind of walk through, kind of
(00:59):
how it came.
I do want to tell you that it'snot David Lowe training, right,
it's automotive sales coachtraining.
So there's a purpose behindthat, because we're not Batman
and I know that most trainersit's their name right, and we
never wanted it to be that.
I always thought that thistraining should be much bigger
than me, not me.
(01:20):
Does that make sense?
So there are principles andtechniques out there and really
my skill set has been gatheringthe best of the best and
combining them and improvingthem to come up with strategies
that help us sell more cars formore money the right way.
Customers leave happy and we'rehappy, right, and that's where
(01:41):
our expertise comes in.
But, grace, what we really wantto do is create our own
replacements.
I expect you to be better thanme and we're hoping that
everybody out there can becomebetter than the both of us.
Does that make sense?
So little disclaimer there onthe automotive sales coach
versus David Lowe.
So you know, I bet you, likemost people, I started selling
(02:02):
cars out of desperation.
I think 1985, 86, I played in aband for a living.
The band broke up.
I was going to college, Ididn't have any money to eat or
to do anything and there was anad for a car dealership.
So I went in and did a discprofile, right, and I didn't
have a car, and so they promisedme if I made it through 30 days
I'd get a car after 30.
(02:23):
That was kind of all about it,right?
So funny because I had permedhair down to here.
It was the 80s, I was playingin heavy metal bands and bands
in the bars on the weekend, andanyway.
So my girlfriend worked atChristopher D's, a bar downtown
Moline, and she worked thedaytime hours.
(02:44):
All the bankers came and dranktheir lunch, right, and so she
started collecting clothes forme, that's awesome.
And so I was kind of ahodgepodge.
I took the bus my first day,anyway, I didn't have lunch
money with me.
So I got in the car businessjust to survive.
I never thought that here, 38years later, I'd still be in it.
It was like if I save enough, Ican finish my college and be
(03:05):
that accountant.
I was studying to be All right.
So one thing I got sometraining.
I got a black and white moviefrom the Spitzer brothers from
the 50s, really high pressurestuff, not great stuff, but I
did at least get the version ofa sales process.
There's some things in therethat will last forever, some
things that were horribletechniques.
(03:27):
Why the car business got itsname, I think.
Like one thing they'd say doyou trade in a car, grace?
Do you have the title?
Can I see that?
And they'd put it in theirpocket.
You know what I mean, that kindof stuff.
But anyway, at least we got, Ithink, about an hour of that
movie before things got busy.
We got called out and that wasthe end of that training, right?
So I started selling cars.
I became a top salesman therereally, really quickly.
(03:50):
As a matter of fact, in thefirst three months I was already
out selling to people who'dbeen there for 10 years and
whatever, and I think that's oneof the things that kept me in
the car business.
I realized this is not abouttime served.
The better you are and the moreyou do, the more you make, the
more you get and the moreadvancement opportunities that
you have.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
Right.
Speaker 1 (04:09):
Does that make sense?
So I was kind of reallyfiguring this out.
What a great business.
And I became a top salesman.
I thought I knew everything.
I was God's gift to salespeople.
I was there for about a yearand my mom was out east selling
houses and was out east sellinghouses and she said come out
here and sell houses with me.
And so I moved out east east inPennsylvania.
She was in Bethlehem,pennsylvania, and I got a car
(04:30):
job right away.
I like selling cars and it wasa Pontiac place I'll never
forget.
In Bethlehem.
I went in my first Saturday.
I sold two cars for askingprice and on Monday the manager
and everybody made fun of me forhaving lay downs.
In other words, I realized thatI was the best person in that
store and I was 21,.
Right, I'm not getting anybetter.
You know, always buy.
(04:51):
Don't buy the biggest house onthe street, right, and never be
the best where you're at.
You need something to drive togo towards, right.
So anyway, I started askingaround where should you work in
this area?
What's the best place to work?
They said Phillips, startasking around where should you
(05:11):
work in this uh area?
What's the best place to work?
They said phillipsburg east andhonda.
But you won't get a job there,kid, it's only for experienced
managers.
I was so full of myself I wentin there.
I'm god's gift to salesmen, youshould hire me.
And they did.
I don't know why, but they did.
And this is the humblingexperience that really kind of
changed.
Everything is that I sat thereand I was reading through my
Honda brochures, trying to learnthe product, and behind me, dj
Lawley, the salesman, waspresenting deals and closing
(05:32):
deals, and I went home thatfirst day and told my wife I
can't make it here.
There's no way to make it.
These guys, I don't even knowwhat they're doing.
I can't do what they can do.
In other words, I found out Ihad climbed to the top of that
dealership, but it'd be likebeing number one in Little
League and now I was playing inthe pros.
That's what it felt like to me.
She sent me back, and so what Idid was I went back and I sat
(05:58):
at that desk for two days and Ilistened to everything that DJ
Lolly said.
He sold three cars and I wroteit out on my paper.
You know, I still take notes.
Speaker 2 (06:07):
Oh yes.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
Everything I write down.
I can remember.
So when I take notes it'sreally about me learning.
But I wrote down everything hesaid.
For two days he sold three cars.
He was really awesome.
Anyway, I got home and I laidout those pieces of paper and I
realized something.
He did the same thing everytime.
(06:29):
Now the words weren't identical,but he said the same story.
Does that make sense?
And from that I thought I canlearn that, and so I organized
those things in a kind of afive-step closing plan, which,
by the way, our Riso Rias todaythat we teach, that we train on
a dealership playbook, which isthe most comfortable and
powerful negotiating tool thereis right, actually started there
(06:50):
.
That was a rudimentary thingNow in those days.
Remember it was you and me, mrCustomer, against the manager.
Horrible, right.
It was that game right.
Now ours is always.
Of course it's me, the manager,and it's you, mr Customer.
The market is what we'refighting.
Does that make sense?
So it's really advanced andprinciples don't change, but
(07:11):
techniques and technology doright, all right.
So anyway, what I'm getting atis I think one of the things
that made me really good atselling cars wasn't natural
skill, it wasn't natural ability.
I think what made me reallygood was the fact that I knew I
sucked.
Does that make sense?
So some might call thathumility, but I think that
(07:33):
started way back in seventhgrade, when I was a skinny
little kid and I wanted musclesand I said to my dad I got to
have muscles and he bought me aweight set and Arnold
Schwarzenegger's book, and Ilifted weights and I changed
everything about myself.
I wanted to play football.
I'm not fast, I'm not, you know, I'm that B minus athlete, I'm
not going to stand out.
So I ran five miles an hour andI worked out and I, you know, I
(07:56):
, made the team and contributeda lot because of my effort, not
because of what I was born with,but because I created.
I flunked the music test, youknow, in grade school, so they
didn't give me an instrument toplay and I wanted to play bass
guitar.
So I bought one and I bought aMel Bay book and of course, I
think in high school we playedthe Trees by Rush, which is a
(08:18):
great bass part.
I taught myself that.
So what I'm trying to say is Iknew my deficiencies and I knew
if I wanted something I had topay a price for it.
So if there's anything that Icould say made me a success, I
would say it's that my abilityto want to be better today than
yesterday, and I think that'swhy we have this whole training
(08:40):
program, isn't it?
That's awesome.
So it's funny.
About a year later I was calledby the guy who hired me in
Moline.
He bought a dealership inWisconsin and called me to come
out there to run it at 23 yearsold and I went out there.
I don't know how to do anything.
I'm a great closer and a greatdealmaker, not a great manager
leader.
Now we bought his partners outin two years instead of five
years.
We had all the success made,all this money.
(09:02):
I really thought I was God'sgift to sales manager.
I wasn't.
I was a closer and a deal maker.
I was really good at that, notgood.
Well, nobody trained me tocoach and manage and lead other
people.
You know what I mean.
And so I did kind of what I.
I kind of did what I saw donein the industry which wasn't
right.
And when I lost my opportunityto buy in that dealership and
(09:25):
that's a sore subject with me at29 years old, I left and
traveled the country in a motorhome.
What am I going to do next?
I knew I could go anywhere andwork.
There's so much power in havinga skill set isn't there?
Because when you have a skillset, you're not even worried
about it.
You do the job you have becauseyou want to, not because you're
forced to, and once I didn'twant to do it anymore.
(09:47):
Once he said no, I'm not goingto make you a partner.
I didn't want to do it anymore.
No worries, I could do thissomewhere else.
It was about my skill set, notabout the place I worked.
I have the freedom to stay hereor have the freedom to do this
somewhere else.
So that's what we're alwaystalking to people Don't ride the
wave of the dealership.
(10:08):
Make your own way and become amaster sales consultant.
Anyway, best thing that happenedto me, I was in San Diego and I
called.
We had a company called Half aCar came in and taught forward
leasing.
I called my half-car rep, danPeretti, and I said Dan, I'm
going to move to San Diego,that's where I want to live.
I want to get in the carbusiness.
I want to have breakfast withyou so you can tell me who to
(10:30):
stay away from and who to go to.
Right, I was so confidentwherever I walked in, they'd
give me a job, whatever.
You don't know what you don'tknow Anyway.
So I get the breakfast and herecruits me into his company,
half a Car.
Next thing, you know, I findmyself driving my motor home
across country all the way toPennsylvania to interview and
get hired by this company calledHalf a Car.
Now, by the way, I went inthere interviewing like God's
(10:51):
gift to sales management andthey saw through that and hired
me anyway.
That was really thoughtful ofthem.
And those next two years becamethe most formative years really
of my life Because as a studentit was easy for me to recognize
I had climbed quickly and had alot of success, but all I could
(11:12):
see was my deficiency.
Their training was so good.
And then it was so cool.
As I went out on the road andwent to these dealerships all
across the country to teach themhow to use the red carpet lease
, I would just sit back andwatch people operate.
I wasn't involved emotionallyanymore and be like, well,
that's stupid.
That's what I did.
I didn't know until I got tostep away.
(11:34):
So I started studying them and Istarted sitting with the best
salespeople and the bestmanagers and the dealers and GMs
all wanted to offer me a job.
So I picked a brain how did youget here?
What do you do differently?
And it started to formulate inmy mind there's a way to do this
from coast to coast that peoplehaven't mapped yet.
(11:55):
In other words, mastersalespeople are doing the same
thing, but they don't have aname for it and they're not
mapping it.
What if I mapped it?
So, during those two years, Ibegan mapping what we call
today's excellence roadmap, oursales process, what we teach in
the dealership playbook.
I began mapping it.
Oh, this is going to work.
I took the best of the best.
(12:16):
I took what they did and Icombined them and I created
these success models that werepowerful, customer-centric.
Before anybody was talkingcustomer-centric in the 90s,
this was all about the customerexperience.
To me, it was also all aboutthe customer experience.
To me, it was also all aboutthe team member experience.
In other words, I wanted thecustomers to like what we did
and how we did it, but, mostimportantly, as a salesperson, I
(12:38):
wanted to feel good about whatI did.
And I needed big results.
Too many times we see, you knowa manufacturer sales training
creates no results.
Oh, just let them decidewhenever they want to decide.
There's no actually buildingvalue and asking for commitment
in those processes.
(12:59):
So I wanted a way to build thatgoodwill and close a higher
percentage of deals for moremoney.
Right, and I had found it.
So after a couple of years onthe road it became too much for
my wife and I and so we decidedI'd get off the road and I
started a thing called BudgetCar Sales in Appleton, wisconsin
, oshkosh and Appleton, and wetook this tiny little dealership
(13:22):
that barely sold 13, usedlittle dealership that sold 13,
14 cars a month and sold 60, 65cars a month out of there.
I trained three people thatbasically never sold cars before
, using the same playbook weteach now.
Right now it's constantlyupdated, don't get me wrong, but
the principles were the same.
It's where we came up with thecompetitively low and the value
(13:42):
story and all the things that weteach.
I created that for them, but Ibrought them in their blank room
and put up a screen and a basicprojector and I walked them
through and we practiced it.
We trained every week in a verysuccessful place.
We made good money andunfortunately, the damage that
was done to my marriage while Iwas on the road ended up in
(14:03):
divorce and ended up having tosell out of that.
And that's how I got to Indyright.
And when I came to IndianapolisI wanted to get back to training
.
As a matter of fact, when I hadbudget, the guy that I rented
my building from saw my numbersand said we've never sold more
than 15 cars out of thisbuilding.
How are you selling 65?
(14:24):
You can't only fit 40 cars on alot.
And I said people have a plan,they know the plan, they execute
the plan.
That's what it is.
I'm never even here.
They just carry it out.
And he goes can you teach myteam?
That's really when Audemarssales coach kind of kicked off.
Speaker 2 (14:39):
That's awesome.
Speaker 1 (14:40):
But after the divorce I just kind of let it go.
And then, all of a sudden, Ifind myself in a new city and I
had to prove myself again andthat was.
It was a rocky start, right,but anyway.
So I ended up and I finallyfound a great job with a great
leader that gave me theopportunity and I put the tools
of the automotive sales coachthat we have today the things
I've been working on my wholelife to work.
(15:01):
And the last dealership I ran,tomwood Volkswagen.
We became one of the top fiveVW dealerships in the country.
There was only like five of usthat won this Diamond Pin Award
in 2013, award for Excellence.
It's just, it's really hard towin.
It's a four-year, basicallyaward anyway.
And you know, vw is big in theworld and we're the top ones in
the world for profitability,market share, customer
(15:23):
satisfaction, all those kinds ofgreat things, and I use that to
catapult and start almost salescoach.
So how we got here was reallythat isn't amazing.
So I I want to say that I stillbelieve, as I'm training you,
my replacement, and we haveright, our team, and we're out
(15:43):
in the dealerships, I still Ireally have a trump time
marketing David Lowe, becauseDavid Lowe is really nothing
special, right?
He's somebody who recognizedhe's been created with unlimited
potential and what I've beengiven I'm expected to make use
of that's right.
So some people we always talkabout the story of the talents
(16:04):
in the Bible, right, one personwas given four talents and
somebody given two and somebodygiven one.
And really the story is aboutwhat are you doing with what
you've been given?
Right, and I wasn't given four.
I probably wasn't given one.
Let's say I was given two and Itook those and multiplied them.
Too many people out theresaying but I only gave them one,
I was only given two.
(16:25):
What can I do with that?
I don't have.
And they start going back towhy they can't do what they need
to do.
I'm just going to tell you I'mgoing to go back.
I hit that showroom floor.
I didn't have money for lunch.
I was 20 years old, didn't knowwhere I was going to make my
rent payment.
I took the bus.
All I did was go there and workWhile other people sat in their
(16:48):
circle, jerks, smoking andtalking about what's wrong with
the business and what's wrongwith customer, what's wrong with
their dealership.
I walked right past them.
I worked really hard my firstcouple of months there, when we
did a walk-around competition.
I took home, studied everynight.
The difference maker in my lifewas my willing, my desire and
drive, and my willingness todevelop my know-how.
Speaker 2 (17:10):
That's special.
Speaker 1 (17:11):
And take action.
Well, it is because not manypeople do it, but it's not
because everybody has thepotential.
And so we started reallyautomotive sales coach and has
grown.
And we've never really said wewant to own the world, we want
to train.
If we did, we'd be talking toegos and we'd be doing a lot
(17:32):
different messaging People justlike to grab on that brute force
message we're not doing it.
And to have everything messagewe're not doing it.
We're not about materialism,we're about becoming more and
becoming more, you get more.
But we were never about beingthe biggest and being the only
trainer.
What we wanted to do wasdevelop a company that said
listen, you could be bettertoday than yesterday.
(17:54):
And since we happen to choose,well, I'm not a car salesman,
that's not who I am Right, butit's what I do.
And because it's what I do, Ihave to do it with excellence.
Speaker 2 (18:03):
Isn't that true?
It is.
Speaker 1 (18:05):
And so this company is all designed to inspire other
people to become students.
I think a lot of people arewalking through life waiting for
things to come to them.
It doesn't work that way.
Although you might see it outthere right now, everybody wants
something for nothing.
In the end, it doesn't workthat way, and I think that, no
(18:25):
matter where you grew up or whatyou're starting with, you have
you.
What are you going to do withwhat you have?
Automotive sales coach wasdesigned to inspire that, to
light that flame.
Og Mandino said we all have aflame inside, and I think a lot
of people's flame is flickeringand going out past mistakes,
other people's, whatever, andall we want to do is turn that
(18:46):
flame back up, because webelieve in the power of people.
In order for you to maximizeyour life, though, you're going
to have to make some decisions.
What do you want and why do youwant it, and are you willing to
do what it takes to get it?
Most aren't.
Can you discipline yourself inthe daily actions?
(19:07):
Now, that's true at Cathy fromChick-fil-A Strategy Desire and
Drive.
Develop the know-how, takeaction.
It's also Lombardi's andWooden's and Lincoln's, all the
way back to Solomon's.
It's the same.
Success looks the same and webelieve.
Ultimately, like I said, I'mnot a car salesman, it's what I
(19:28):
do and ultimately my joy and mypeace and satisfaction depends
on how I feel about what I do.
Am I a benefit to others?
And so we're success to melooks like joy, peace and
satisfaction.
And how can I have joy, peaceand satisfaction if I don't like
what I do, how I do it or who Iam?
It's difficult, probably notgoing to work.
(19:52):
So we created this companyreally to inspire you.
So, listen, if you're out thereand you're thinking, hey, I
can't, I've had some people sayto me well, I can't do what you
do, well, neither can I.
It didn't start that way.
And listen, grace, look at youraccomplishments and a couple of
years you've been with.
Well, you know the summers yousold with us and trained with us
and then, while you were goingto school, you were working with
(20:12):
us part-time and now being withus almost two years full-time
how far?
23 years old.
So you don't have to look at anold man like me and say it's
going to take me 38 years to bethat good.
People look at you and they cansee the impact of our training,
but the training is like anexercise bike it doesn't get you
(20:36):
in shape.
Speaker 2 (20:36):
Right.
Speaker 1 (20:37):
So our training has been the tool.
But you got to get on that bikeand ride.
You got to discipline yourselfto do what you know you should
do, whether you feel like it ornot.
That's what you've done, true,true, and that's why you are
where you are.
And everybody has thatopportunity.
That's right.
You have the opportunity tomake the most of every
opportunity that's in front ofyou.
That's your decision.
Some people would rather talkabout things they don't control
(21:00):
than take actions on the thingsthey do control.
I don't think this podcast andany of the episodes are really
going to work for you.
I'll be honest with you.
Yeah, if you want the freelunch thing, go on Facebook.
It's plenty of there.
You can definitely lose weightwithout dieting.
You can gain muscles withoutworking out and become rich
without working.
Go to Facebook.
They'll tell you how to do that.
I believe.
(21:21):
If you want reality in life, ifyou want to say what I do, how I
do, it matters, I matter Thenyou have to make a decision what
do you want to be, why do youwant to be it and how are you
going to get it Right?
That's right.
Then you have to disciplineyourself.
So thanks for asking about.
That's a really a Reader'sDigest version, isn't it?
(21:43):
I've got a lot of stories inthat 38 years and, if you want
to, I told people before.
If you want to say, oh, I'm sostupid blank, I'll take you on
because I can tell you I've madeevery mistake.
There is to make some many moretimes than one right?
So this is not like.
Be like Dave Lowe, you knowwhat I'm saying.
(22:03):
Be your best self.
We can learn from each other.
We can learn from each other'ssuccesses.
We can learn from each other'ssuccesses.
We can learn from each other'sfailures.
We want to say we're not incompetition with each other, but
we can use other people as abenchmark to get us to where we
are, and then we can blow bythem.
Speaker 2 (22:20):
I tell people all the time that's why I took this job
, because your story and thetraining is so much more than
yeah, what are those steps thatyou take?
How does it help transform you?
It's about the potential thatyou have and, ultimately, what
do you do with that potential?
what you do that has beensomething that we've been
talking about so much recentlyis you see this potential in
(22:41):
somebody or in yourself?
And what really matters is whatwill you do with it?
What?
What responsibilities will youtake to go to that next level?
This is an inspiring story, andI I could not tell it more when
I when I'm training and talkingto people about how much this
training has impacted me in mylife, because it's not even just
the job, right, it's that joy,peace, satisfaction that we get
to live with every day.
Speaker 1 (23:00):
Yeah, it's funny, the search for excellence doesn't
end at work, does it?
No, it continues at home.
Hey, thanks for being with usand listening to my story.
I hope it didn't bore you toomuch.
Hopefully, maybe it inspiresyou to say hey, I know where I'm
at right now and you know what.
To be honest with you, Ihaven't been a student.
Today, I decide I'm going tobecome a student again.
Ben Franklin, one of my heroes,was a student until he died.
(23:26):
Every day he woke up.
What good will I do today andwhat will I learn today?
We're hoping to inspire you todo the same.
All right, good selling, we'llsee you next episode.
If you like this, please likeus, and if you want to hear a
particular discussion, let usknow that too.
We'd love to respond to that.
Okay, good selling.
Popular Podcasts
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Therapy Gecko
An unlicensed lizard psychologist travels the universe talking to strangers about absolutely nothing. TO CALL THE GECKO: follow me on https://www.twitch.tv/lyleforever to get a notification for when I am taking calls. I am usually live Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays but lately a lot of other times too. I am a gecko.