April 21, 2024 • 21 mins
In today's episode of 'Prepare to Win' we have special guest Brandon Long to chat alongside David Lowe about his journey into the car industry, and more importantly, the success he has had through commitment, persistence, and dedication. Tune in to listen for a conversation over what true commitment can do for your results and success!
Connect with us at https://preparetowin.com
Call or Text David @ 765-560-7338
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
David Lowe (00:00):
Are you thinking about starting a new career in
sales, or maybe you startedselling cars and you're not
getting what you want right?
This is the episode for you.
Hi, I'm David Lowe, theAutomotive Sales Coach.
(00:21):
Welcome to Prepare to Winpodcast.
Today's episode is going to be agreat one, focused on maybe
people out there thinking aboutchanging careers, or maybe
people just started selling carsand are not seeing the success
they thought.
So I've asked a new salesman,brandon Long, to be with us
today.
He's at the Academy Jeepdealership in Tipton, indiana,
(00:44):
and, for those of you who don'tknow, tipton is a very small
town and we're going to talkabout what you've seen so far
and how you've come along andwhat you think of the car
business.
Does that make sense?
So remember, every episode thatwe do is focused on giving you
tips on how to live and workwith excellence, and sometimes
that means, hey, where am I atin my career and is this going
(01:07):
to take me where I want to go?
Sometimes, living withexcellence is self-examination
Am I in the right road to get towhere I want to go Now?
Obviously you thought your lastcareer wasn't the road you
wanted to be on and you made adecision to change right.
Is that?
Brandon Long (01:21):
true, yep, and you had a good career, pretty good
career.
David Lowe (01:30):
Absolutely, man, I had it made.
So let's talk.
Let's kind of talk to.
Let's start with you're in ajob now.
Is it the right job for you?
Should you make a move, andshould it be car sales?
So let's just talk about thejob you had?
Brandon Long (01:37):
Yeah for sure.
So I was at FedEx for sevenyears, worked my way up from the
bottom all the way to the top,was in a management position.
I found out the hard way that Iwould either have to wait 10 to
15 years to get anotherpromotion or just get lucky one
day right, and I wanted to beable to put my own effort into
what I was going to make out ofa job and it just wasn't it.
So I wanted to get into salesand I wanted to do it for
somebody that was ethical.
(01:57):
Chariot Automotive Group isreally good in that sense and
I'm able to get win-win salesand really make a change in
people's lives and do it in away that I like doing it.
David Lowe (02:07):
So you went from a pretty good salary to a
commissioned job.
Yep, because the pretty goodsalary was capped Time and time
served, exactly Right.
So we talk about selling carsas being one of the best kept
career secrets.
One of the things we talk about, of course, is the fact that
you're not capped by time served.
(02:28):
Exactly that's how I became amanager at 23.
What you do and how you do itmatters.
Brandon Long (02:35):
So you had a secure job making good money and
, just to let you know, 20 hoursa week on a salary yeah, 20
hours a week, wow.
Because I managed a team, I wasable to get it down pat.
Everybody did the work and didwhat they were supposed to do,
so I showed up whenever I wantedand left whenever I wanted Wow.
David Lowe (02:53):
Rock and roll.
So that sounds like a cushy job.
It was Okay.
It's not going to get me towhere I want to go Exactly, sell
cars, right, yep?
And so you've been selling what?
Two and a half months.
My first day on the floor wasFebruary 1st.
February 1st, okay.
And in February, how did you do?
Brandon Long (03:12):
I got 11 cars out, okay.
David Lowe (03:14):
Yep, and let's talk about your income for a minute.
Yeah for sure.
If we would annualize yourFebruary income, what would it
turn into?
So, your february income times12 yeah, yeah, 132, 000 okay
your first month selling carsmade 11, 000.
Okay.
Now march, oh my god.
First first month was lucky,right.
What'd you do in the secondmonth, 15.
(03:36):
In the second month, my man,yep and income a little 11, 000
again.
Yeah, okay so here's the thingthat we've tell everybody that
this is the best kept careersecret.
We tell everybody that what youdo and how you do it matters.
So many people start sellingcars and they're not seeing
those type of results.
(03:57):
As a matter of fact, we havepeople that were at this
dealership already, that weren'tgetting those results, have
been working here for a while.
So I want to talk about whatdoes it take to get those type
of results?
And, by the way, I believe canI tell you something.
That's what I found in the carbusiness.
I believe it's.
(04:17):
I didn't know about it.
I mean, did you get told aboutit in high school?
Absolutely, absolutely.
What a great current show andmost people don't know.
And then, when you think aboutcar sales and you think, yeah,
those guys right, and so we'vegot that stereotypical cultural
thing, I found, though, when Istarted selling cars that, wow,
these people selling cars five,six, seven years, I'm already
(04:40):
selling more of them and makingmore.
How can that be?
So that kind of turned me onthinking that I was in control
of my own future and the factthat I could control my income
based on how good I was and howmuch I was willing to do.
You're finding that outAbsolutely.
So a lot of people that get inthe car business, they get in it
(05:01):
and they kind of show up andthey kind of wait for things to
happen.
Brandon Long (05:05):
That hasn't been you sitting around the coffee
pot, yeah, in a conversation,doing their normal thing, like
they're, like they have thatsafety net.
But that's the thing about thejob is you have no safety net,
yeah, so you got to bet onyourself every day yeah, so you
know.
David Lowe (05:18):
so those people who want somebody else to be
responsible for exactly that'snot the job for them, nope.
Brandon Long (05:23):
Nope.
David Lowe (05:23):
Because you're your own entity.
Yes, right At the end of theday.
Brandon Long (05:25):
You make your own schedule, you make whatever you,
you get whatever you put intoit, yeah Right.
So if you need constantguidance and assistance every
minute of your day, not the job,not the job for you.
David Lowe (05:38):
I agree with that.
So let's talk about you then.
What made you different?
What made you a success?
Talk about what you did to gethere.
Brandon Long (05:48):
Yeah, I'll tell you, if I started in this
business right out of highschool, I would have been one of
those guys, so I had a littlebit of experience under my belt
under a Fortune 500 company.
It gave me a lot of justexperience in general.
Life experience working forbusinesses and then, not to
mention, I have a five-year-old,so that's an easy one to come
(06:08):
to work for.
David Lowe (06:09):
You know what I mean .
Brandon Long (06:11):
Knowing that down the road, if I want her to go to
IU or wherever she wants to go,that's really easy.
And that's a huge thing is thatyou see a lot of guys,
especially in a business likethis, that they don't have a why
yeah, and they just come towork and they sit around the
coffee pot and they don't careabout that safety net.
You got to have a reason why,and a huge thing that I learned
is you have to ask really,really high level questions.
(06:32):
That's how you learn, yeah.
And just to be honest, I wentthrough your sales training
three times total.
Yeah.
David Lowe (06:39):
Wow, so yeah, three times.
Brandon Long (06:40):
In the first month .
That's all I did.
When I went home, I watched it.
I watched it the first time,did all the videos and then
watched it two more times.
David Lowe (06:46):
Isn't that cool, so yeah.
Brandon Long (06:48):
But once you have a resource like that, you have't
know how to utilize them.
Wow.
So that's.
That's a huge one too.
You know what I mean.
David Lowe (06:58):
So so let's just talk about that.
So, yeah, we have training allover.
We have so many rooftops and somany salespeople, yep, and I
hear managers all the time.
How do I get them to train?
Exactly, right, and you know.
So.
There's different things there,where this is not a management
or leadership course we haveplans for that, by the way
(07:21):
setting expectations and helpingpeople become better right,
absolutely.
A manager's job is to help liftpeople up, maybe people without
your life experience thathaven't taken personal
responsibility yet.
But you said it.
That's how I got in thebusiness.
Nobody told me I didn't gettraining, so I walked around
with a three by five card andwhen I heard something I liked,
(07:42):
I wrote it down and then I wouldpractice it.
And I remember we had a walkaround contest.
I mean, I just started sellingcars and it was to present a car
in 10 minutes.
Right, I don't know cars, I'mnot mechanically inclined,
especially 20, yeah, um.
But I took home the books and Ipracticed and I wrote my walk
(08:03):
around out word for word.
I did it over and over, and outof this big group of salesmen I
got second and that kind ofsolidified uh the career for me,
thinking that.
Right, if I could just startand prepare myself, I'm already
better than all these other guys.
Right?
What can't I do?
(08:23):
Exactly, but it takes personalresponsibility.
So I had that, you had that.
What do you think you think thewhy is why people aren't taking
personal responsibilities orsomething else?
Brandon Long (08:35):
Yeah, absolutely.
You know, I heard I heard thisabout a month ago I'm not going
to say who it was A guy made areally really good commission
check off a car deal North ofthree grand, right off one car.
It's really good Take home.
And I said, how'd that car dealgo?
And he goes well, I don't haveto work the rest of the month,
which is funny.
You probably hear that a lot,but in my eyes I want eight more
(08:56):
of those for the month.
David Lowe (08:57):
You know what I mean .
So it's.
Brandon Long (08:59):
It's it's a why, and you have to have that fire
lit under you.
You know, and I coulddefinitely see I've only been
doing it for a couple of monthsI could definitely see getting a
couple of years down the road,kind of declining, falling into
that slump, you know, not beingas motivated, just like with
every other job you never haveright.
So it's, you got to keep thatfire burning.
You got to find a way and a whyand a motivation every day to
(09:21):
come to work.
And the biggest thing is youdon't have a safety net.
So you have to have that orelse you won't be able to pay
your bills.
You won't be able to do this.
But you know, some of theseguys don't have bills lucky them
, right.
So it's a little bit differentfor some people.
David Lowe (09:33):
Well, Well, but see, I feel like your why it starts
with your five-year-old.
You're thinking about theirfuture, but I think it's bigger
than that.
Do you want to come here andsuck, can you?
Brandon Long (09:44):
live with that?
Absolutely not.
Yeah, it's about that, do youwant?
David Lowe (09:46):
to come here and coast.
Can you live with yourself forthat?
Heck, no, heck, no.
So I like I don't need thatmuch money.
By the way, greed is terribleand wanting money for money's
sake to get things is not reallygoing to make anybody satisfied
.
But money's not a bad thing anda lot in sales.
(10:09):
Money is a representation ofhow good you are and what you do
, how consistent you are.
That's what it becomes right.
There's no reason you can't.
This is gold.
He's right, there's no reasonyou can't make money Exactly,
and it's not greed, and it's notwhatever, it's just simply
wanting to do your best at thegiven job.
You have so many people show upand coast, or just when they
(10:33):
get enough, they stop.
That's really character andintegrity issue, right, yep?
So this is funny, so you maynot know this.
Well, actually, some of ourclasses you've been to training
three times, which wasimpressive.
I love that and it worksdoesn't?
it works like a charm yeah,we'll talk more about because so
real quick, just just interrupt.
Brandon Long (10:51):
I had I had made this decision to come sell cars
back in june of last year, but Iwas going to give fedex the
rest of the year because theywere down bad and I had just
gotten into a new team, whateverlong story short.
So I had six months to prepare.
So I'm watching, you know alldifferent sales trainers all
over the world and then as soonas I get to the dealership
playbook, I'm like this is legitman if I learn this, I can make
(11:15):
11 grand, my first month, yeahthat's awesome.
David Lowe (11:17):
I mean thanks for that once once you find the
resources.
Brandon Long (11:20):
That's what's talking about earlier you got to
capitalize on yeah.
So yeah, it's huge very smart.
David Lowe (11:23):
So, um, so we talk about Truett, cathy, right, and
I started Chick-fil-A and hesaid you only really need three
things to be a success.
That's it.
And the first one is desire anddrive.
You talked about it.
What drives you, the why, right, the motivation, he said.
Then you have to develop theknow-how what to do, why to do
(11:44):
it, how to do it, practice ituntil you can do it.
And then he said number threeyou got to do it.
He says everywhere I go, peoplesay they want to be a success,
but most people won't do what ittakes.
Is that true, absolutely true.
So I think what sets you apartwas your willingness to those
three things.
You had the desire and drive,you took the time to develop the
(12:08):
know-how.
You knew how important that was, exactly.
And then every day you come andtake action, yep, yep.
So it's interesting to me thatwhen I walked through the
showroom, or yesterday, we had aphone call right and you're
like, hey, I ran into this dudeExactly.
Brandon Long (12:24):
This is what happened and it happens every
day.
Right, you want to capitalize.
You said you want it to be 100%, but when you're in the people
business, it's hard to be 100%.
Yeah and yeah.
So you got to take thosescenarios and ask questions.
But yeah, go on.
Yeah, that's great.
David Lowe (12:38):
But that means you're a student, yeah, so
you're still looking for ways toimprove.
Absolutely.
So, when we talk in adealership playbook and we talk
to people about becoming asuccess, that's what it is the
best always want to becomebetter.
That's why we call it studentsof excellence.
(12:59):
Right, that's why we say youneed to be personally
responsible for your attitude,your knowledge, your skills,
your actions and, ultimately,results, right?
Yeah, so we have a lot of, Ibet, salespeople that aren't
living like you are right now inthat success, maybe even
(13:19):
struggling, right?
So if you were to talk to themand they came to you and Brent,
what do I do?
What would be?
Brandon Long (13:25):
your advice.
The main thing is ask questions.
The second thing is have you,have you went through the day
low process?
What do you know?
I would ask them questionsabout the actual process itself.
But but the biggest thing is wehave so many resources
available to us Whereas, likeyou said when you started, I
mean, I'm sure, a lot of peoplein the car business if you're
watching this, you've been inthe car business.
(13:47):
If you're watching this, you'vebeen in the car business for 10
plus years.
David Lowe (13:48):
They just took you like a crane machine and told
you to go sell a car, right no?
Brandon Long (13:50):
training at all, right.
So when you have thoseresources, make sure you're
asking good questions.
And the huge thing I did, man,is I keep a notepad in my phone,
the notes, and I remember myfirst month I had.
I still have it just as areference, but I had a hundred
questions on there, At leastwhen I would go home at night I
would just type in there andthen the next day I would come
in.
I wouldn't exhaust it all onone person.
David Lowe (14:10):
I would kill them all in one day.
Brandon Long (14:12):
Right, but I would have everybody I needed there
to ask and go that route.
So make sure you're asking goodquestions and just staying on
top of everything, and that's a.
You talked about always gettingbetter right, even when you're
the best.
There was a video on StephCurry the other day I watched.
He takes 500 shots a day.
(14:32):
You do the math.
Over his X amount of years inhis career he's shot over 2
million practice shots right andhe's only made 3,000 shots
3,000 three-pointers on thecourt.
So less than 1% of a 10th ofhis shots that he's taken in his
career are actually put intoplace in the game.
David Lowe (14:47):
Yeah, so yeah, Steph Curry, he practices over and
over for that opportunity, so Idon't have the ability to be a
pro athlete.
Brandon Long (14:56):
Yeah.
David Lowe (14:57):
In fact I don't really have a hole to make a
great income.
I wasn't really gifted I'm nota doctor level intellect,
whatever but I do know this Insales if you commit to becoming
better, there is the resourcesout there, and if you're a
(15:18):
dealership playbook subscriber,you definitely have the
resources.
You want to be careful whatcoach you hire.
Having a coach is one thing,Having a bad coach is something
else.
So a lot of these guys youprobably watched for six months
before were the negativereinforced trainers.
Right, it's kind of pressure.
It's like 160-pound10-year-olds.
Brandon Long (15:39):
Kill them, get all their money.
David Lowe (15:40):
And you can sell cars that just feel bad and
eventually that's ending.
We'd rather be a skilledsurgeon, absolutely right, yeah,
so, um.
So your first advice would beask a lot of questions and do
the training.
Now here's a big one for you.
What if they lack the why orthe motivation?
What if they just took a job?
(16:01):
What would you say?
Brandon Long (16:04):
um, that's a tough one, isn't it?
You might be in the wrongbusiness.
Your vocation in this place?
Something else exactly, yeah,or you can answer the phones,
you can just be a receptionist Ilove that answer.
David Lowe (16:15):
So, yeah, can I tell you something?
I think that a lot of peoplehave never developed that inner
flame, yeah, so I think so manypeople that are living below the
potential right now, right,they're not doing the training
like you did, they're not askingthe questions.
It's not because they don'treally know they should do it,
(16:35):
but there's not a driving forcemoving them forward.
Right, and it's hard to explainmore of that driving force
comes from Everything, comesfrom vision.
Where there's no vision topeople.
Paris Solomon said your vision,vision, the why is your family,
right, your child?
Um, you're what you woulddefine success at right.
So the person out there, who'swho's struggling to get
(17:00):
motivated?
They got to make a decision,don't they?
Yeah, are they in or Exactly?
And you're saying if you're out, get out.
Yeah, go somewhere wheresomebody will tell you what to
do every minute.
Brandon Long (17:10):
Yeah, because somebody like me.
We're a manager that's done itfor a long time.
Think of how many hours they'veinvested in the people that
just end up leaving, so youdon't want to invest your time
in somebody that doesn'tactually want to be there.
Doesn't actually want to bethere.
If you want a 9-to-5, go toGeico.
David Lowe (17:26):
So this is not a job to come for a paycheck, no
absolutely not man.
Brandon Long (17:32):
And this has unlimited possibilities for the
people that take responsibility.
The best thing is anybody cando it.
Anybody can do it and they canbe really good at it if they
want to.
Yeah.
David Lowe (17:40):
I couldn't agree more with that.
I know some people are sellinghigh in the sky type aspirin hey
, sign up for this train.
You'll make a half a milliondollars.
A lot of people want to lie toyou about stuff, right, but what
we're talking about is realincome, income you will have
which is more than most airlinepilots make, more than a lot of
(18:02):
lawyers make.
It's a professional job withprofessional opportunities, and
when it comes to professionalresponsibility, that
responsibility is to constantlytrain and improve yourself,
isn't it?
Sharpen your blade, Sharpen theblade and do it every day.
So that's cool.
So, if you're out there andyou're struggling, take this.
(18:23):
I think that you're right.
I think that anybody that, um,you're right.
I think that anybody that saysI want this yep can do this.
Isn't that kind of crazy?
Absolutely, that's what Ireally kind of fell in love with
no other careers like that.
Brandon Long (18:36):
I don't know one.
David Lowe (18:37):
You know, I went to school to be an accountant, I
mean, and so I didn't have salesattributes, but I, wow, I could
look at this.
This is obtainable, but it'snot free, it's not automatic,
and I think so many people wantto show up and have success.
Come up Now.
Truett.
Cathy again started Chick-fil-A.
(18:58):
Before his death he went aroundand did not motivational
speaking, but educationalspeaking to young people that
didn't have guidance.
Yeah, and his main message iswhat you just said.
Everybody says they want to bea success, but are you willing
to do what it takes to get there?
I think it was Bobby Knight whosaid the will to succeed is
(19:23):
important, but what's moreimportant is the will to prepare
, and I think that's what somany people aren't doing and
that's what set you apart.
Brandon Long (19:33):
Everybody wants those results, but they don't
want to put the work in to getthem right.
David Lowe (19:35):
That's right, or they get some and stop In the
car business.
You sell cars, just answer thephone.
Be the person who answers thephone for the person calling
with the right car at the rightprice, exactly, so that could
fool you into thinking thatskills and process don't matter.
Yeah, because you can sell somecars with absolutely no.
Be a nice person and we'll callit.
(19:56):
Yeah, exactly.
But what we're talking abouthere is living with joy, peace
and satisfaction.
That can only come from ahealthy pride, absolutely.
That can only come from thepursuit of your best self, and
the rewards come right with it.
No doubt you can't improveyourself without improving your
results.
No doubt Very cool.
Is there anything you want toadd before we cut off?
Brandon Long (20:17):
No man.
It's a great career.
Dave Lowe's process is patented, it's foolproof, it works.
There's no gimmicks, there's nogames, there's no.
You know, I mean money's veryimportant, right.
I mean money runs the world,but it's not a course on how to
go from $200,000 to $400,000 or$300,000 to $500,000.
It's just how to live withexcellence, how to get better
every day and how to do it.
David Lowe (20:38):
The right way as well.
That's awesome.
Thank you for that endorse.
We appreciate it.
Listen, if you're not part ofthe Dealership Playbook, hit us
up and ask us how you can becomepart of it.
Or go see us on AutomotiveSales Coach's Facebook and hit
us up there.
If you're a Dealership Playbooksubscriber and you're not
engaged with training, hopefullyBrian's story can encourage you
and inspire you to get engagedtoday.
(21:02):
The level of your engagementyou said the level of your
success and we see it right here, all right.
Well, thank you so much forbeing with us.
If you like this podcast,please like it right and share
it with your friends.
We'd appreciate that and welook forward to seeing you next
time.
Good selling.
Are you thinking about starting a new career in
sales, or maybe you startedselling cars and you're not
getting what you want right?
This is the episode for you.
Hi, I'm David Lowe, theAutomotive Sales Coach.
(00:21):
Welcome to Prepare to Winpodcast.
Today's episode is going to be agreat one, focused on maybe
people out there thinking aboutchanging careers, or maybe
people just started selling carsand are not seeing the success
they thought.
So I've asked a new salesman,brandon Long, to be with us
today.
He's at the Academy Jeepdealership in Tipton, indiana,
(00:44):
and, for those of you who don'tknow, tipton is a very small
town and we're going to talkabout what you've seen so far
and how you've come along andwhat you think of the car
business.
Does that make sense?
So remember, every episode thatwe do is focused on giving you
tips on how to live and workwith excellence, and sometimes
that means, hey, where am I atin my career and is this going
(01:07):
to take me where I want to go?
Sometimes, living withexcellence is self-examination
Am I in the right road to get towhere I want to go Now?
Obviously you thought your lastcareer wasn't the road you
wanted to be on and you made adecision to change right.
Is that?
Brandon Long (01:21):
true, yep, and you had a good career, pretty good
career.
David Lowe (01:30):
Absolutely, man, I had it made.
So let's talk.
Let's kind of talk to.
Let's start with you're in ajob now.
Is it the right job for you?
Should you make a move, andshould it be car sales?
So let's just talk about thejob you had?
Brandon Long (01:37):
Yeah for sure.
So I was at FedEx for sevenyears, worked my way up from the
bottom all the way to the top,was in a management position.
I found out the hard way that Iwould either have to wait 10 to
15 years to get anotherpromotion or just get lucky one
day right, and I wanted to beable to put my own effort into
what I was going to make out ofa job and it just wasn't it.
So I wanted to get into salesand I wanted to do it for
somebody that was ethical.
(01:57):
Chariot Automotive Group isreally good in that sense and
I'm able to get win-win salesand really make a change in
people's lives and do it in away that I like doing it.
David Lowe (02:07):
So you went from a pretty good salary to a
commissioned job.
Yep, because the pretty goodsalary was capped Time and time
served, exactly Right.
So we talk about selling carsas being one of the best kept
career secrets.
One of the things we talk about, of course, is the fact that
you're not capped by time served.
(02:28):
Exactly that's how I became amanager at 23.
What you do and how you do itmatters.
Brandon Long (02:35):
So you had a secure job making good money and
, just to let you know, 20 hoursa week on a salary yeah, 20
hours a week, wow.
Because I managed a team, I wasable to get it down pat.
Everybody did the work and didwhat they were supposed to do,
so I showed up whenever I wantedand left whenever I wanted Wow.
David Lowe (02:53):
Rock and roll.
So that sounds like a cushy job.
It was Okay.
It's not going to get me towhere I want to go Exactly, sell
cars, right, yep?
And so you've been selling what?
Two and a half months.
My first day on the floor wasFebruary 1st.
February 1st, okay.
And in February, how did you do?
Brandon Long (03:12):
I got 11 cars out, okay.
David Lowe (03:14):
Yep, and let's talk about your income for a minute.
Yeah for sure.
If we would annualize yourFebruary income, what would it
turn into?
So, your february income times12 yeah, yeah, 132, 000 okay
your first month selling carsmade 11, 000.
Okay.
Now march, oh my god.
First first month was lucky,right.
What'd you do in the secondmonth, 15.
(03:36):
In the second month, my man,yep and income a little 11, 000
again.
Yeah, okay so here's the thingthat we've tell everybody that
this is the best kept careersecret.
We tell everybody that what youdo and how you do it matters.
So many people start sellingcars and they're not seeing
those type of results.
(03:57):
As a matter of fact, we havepeople that were at this
dealership already, that weren'tgetting those results, have
been working here for a while.
So I want to talk about whatdoes it take to get those type
of results?
And, by the way, I believe canI tell you something.
That's what I found in the carbusiness.
I believe it's.
(04:17):
I didn't know about it.
I mean, did you get told aboutit in high school?
Absolutely, absolutely.
What a great current show andmost people don't know.
And then, when you think aboutcar sales and you think, yeah,
those guys right, and so we'vegot that stereotypical cultural
thing, I found, though, when Istarted selling cars that, wow,
these people selling cars five,six, seven years, I'm already
(04:40):
selling more of them and makingmore.
How can that be?
So that kind of turned me onthinking that I was in control
of my own future and the factthat I could control my income
based on how good I was and howmuch I was willing to do.
You're finding that outAbsolutely.
So a lot of people that get inthe car business, they get in it
(05:01):
and they kind of show up andthey kind of wait for things to
happen.
Brandon Long (05:05):
That hasn't been you sitting around the coffee
pot, yeah, in a conversation,doing their normal thing, like
they're, like they have thatsafety net.
But that's the thing about thejob is you have no safety net,
yeah, so you got to bet onyourself every day yeah, so you
know.
David Lowe (05:18):
so those people who want somebody else to be
responsible for exactly that'snot the job for them, nope.
Brandon Long (05:23):
Nope.
David Lowe (05:23):
Because you're your own entity.
Yes, right At the end of theday.
Brandon Long (05:25):
You make your own schedule, you make whatever you,
you get whatever you put intoit, yeah Right.
So if you need constantguidance and assistance every
minute of your day, not the job,not the job for you.
David Lowe (05:38):
I agree with that.
So let's talk about you then.
What made you different?
What made you a success?
Talk about what you did to gethere.
Brandon Long (05:48):
Yeah, I'll tell you, if I started in this
business right out of highschool, I would have been one of
those guys, so I had a littlebit of experience under my belt
under a Fortune 500 company.
It gave me a lot of justexperience in general.
Life experience working forbusinesses and then, not to
mention, I have a five-year-old,so that's an easy one to come
(06:08):
to work for.
David Lowe (06:09):
You know what I mean .
Brandon Long (06:11):
Knowing that down the road, if I want her to go to
IU or wherever she wants to go,that's really easy.
And that's a huge thing is thatyou see a lot of guys,
especially in a business likethis, that they don't have a why
yeah, and they just come towork and they sit around the
coffee pot and they don't careabout that safety net.
You got to have a reason why,and a huge thing that I learned
is you have to ask really,really high level questions.
(06:32):
That's how you learn, yeah.
And just to be honest, I wentthrough your sales training
three times total.
Yeah.
David Lowe (06:39):
Wow, so yeah, three times.
Brandon Long (06:40):
In the first month .
That's all I did.
When I went home, I watched it.
I watched it the first time,did all the videos and then
watched it two more times.
David Lowe (06:46):
Isn't that cool, so yeah.
Brandon Long (06:48):
But once you have a resource like that, you have't
know how to utilize them.
Wow.
So that's.
That's a huge one too.
You know what I mean.
David Lowe (06:58):
So so let's just talk about that.
So, yeah, we have training allover.
We have so many rooftops and somany salespeople, yep, and I
hear managers all the time.
How do I get them to train?
Exactly, right, and you know.
So.
There's different things there,where this is not a management
or leadership course we haveplans for that, by the way
(07:21):
setting expectations and helpingpeople become better right,
absolutely.
A manager's job is to help liftpeople up, maybe people without
your life experience thathaven't taken personal
responsibility yet.
But you said it.
That's how I got in thebusiness.
Nobody told me I didn't gettraining, so I walked around
with a three by five card andwhen I heard something I liked,
(07:42):
I wrote it down and then I wouldpractice it.
And I remember we had a walkaround contest.
I mean, I just started sellingcars and it was to present a car
in 10 minutes.
Right, I don't know cars, I'mnot mechanically inclined,
especially 20, yeah, um.
But I took home the books and Ipracticed and I wrote my walk
(08:03):
around out word for word.
I did it over and over, and outof this big group of salesmen I
got second and that kind ofsolidified uh the career for me,
thinking that.
Right, if I could just startand prepare myself, I'm already
better than all these other guys.
Right?
What can't I do?
(08:23):
Exactly, but it takes personalresponsibility.
So I had that, you had that.
What do you think you think thewhy is why people aren't taking
personal responsibilities orsomething else?
Brandon Long (08:35):
Yeah, absolutely.
You know, I heard I heard thisabout a month ago I'm not going
to say who it was A guy made areally really good commission
check off a car deal North ofthree grand, right off one car.
It's really good Take home.
And I said, how'd that car dealgo?
And he goes well, I don't haveto work the rest of the month,
which is funny.
You probably hear that a lot,but in my eyes I want eight more
(08:56):
of those for the month.
David Lowe (08:57):
You know what I mean .
So it's.
Brandon Long (08:59):
It's it's a why, and you have to have that fire
lit under you.
You know, and I coulddefinitely see I've only been
doing it for a couple of monthsI could definitely see getting a
couple of years down the road,kind of declining, falling into
that slump, you know, not beingas motivated, just like with
every other job you never haveright.
So it's, you got to keep thatfire burning.
You got to find a way and a whyand a motivation every day to
(09:21):
come to work.
And the biggest thing is youdon't have a safety net.
So you have to have that orelse you won't be able to pay
your bills.
You won't be able to do this.
But you know, some of theseguys don't have bills lucky them
, right.
So it's a little bit differentfor some people.
David Lowe (09:33):
Well, Well, but see, I feel like your why it starts
with your five-year-old.
You're thinking about theirfuture, but I think it's bigger
than that.
Do you want to come here andsuck, can you?
Brandon Long (09:44):
live with that?
Absolutely not.
Yeah, it's about that, do youwant?
David Lowe (09:46):
to come here and coast.
Can you live with yourself forthat?
Heck, no, heck, no.
So I like I don't need thatmuch money.
By the way, greed is terribleand wanting money for money's
sake to get things is not reallygoing to make anybody satisfied
.
But money's not a bad thing anda lot in sales.
(10:09):
Money is a representation ofhow good you are and what you do
, how consistent you are.
That's what it becomes right.
There's no reason you can't.
This is gold.
He's right, there's no reasonyou can't make money Exactly,
and it's not greed, and it's notwhatever, it's just simply
wanting to do your best at thegiven job.
You have so many people show upand coast, or just when they
(10:33):
get enough, they stop.
That's really character andintegrity issue, right, yep?
So this is funny, so you maynot know this.
Well, actually, some of ourclasses you've been to training
three times, which wasimpressive.
I love that and it worksdoesn't?
it works like a charm yeah,we'll talk more about because so
real quick, just just interrupt.
Brandon Long (10:51):
I had I had made this decision to come sell cars
back in june of last year, but Iwas going to give fedex the
rest of the year because theywere down bad and I had just
gotten into a new team, whateverlong story short.
So I had six months to prepare.
So I'm watching, you know alldifferent sales trainers all
over the world and then as soonas I get to the dealership
playbook, I'm like this is legitman if I learn this, I can make
(11:15):
11 grand, my first month, yeahthat's awesome.
David Lowe (11:17):
I mean thanks for that once once you find the
resources.
Brandon Long (11:20):
That's what's talking about earlier you got to
capitalize on yeah.
So yeah, it's huge very smart.
David Lowe (11:23):
So, um, so we talk about Truett, cathy, right, and
I started Chick-fil-A and hesaid you only really need three
things to be a success.
That's it.
And the first one is desire anddrive.
You talked about it.
What drives you, the why, right, the motivation, he said.
Then you have to develop theknow-how what to do, why to do
(11:44):
it, how to do it, practice ituntil you can do it.
And then he said number threeyou got to do it.
He says everywhere I go, peoplesay they want to be a success,
but most people won't do what ittakes.
Is that true, absolutely true.
So I think what sets you apartwas your willingness to those
three things.
You had the desire and drive,you took the time to develop the
(12:08):
know-how.
You knew how important that was, exactly.
And then every day you come andtake action, yep, yep.
So it's interesting to me thatwhen I walked through the
showroom, or yesterday, we had aphone call right and you're
like, hey, I ran into this dudeExactly.
Brandon Long (12:24):
This is what happened and it happens every
day.
Right, you want to capitalize.
You said you want it to be 100%, but when you're in the people
business, it's hard to be 100%.
Yeah and yeah.
So you got to take thosescenarios and ask questions.
But yeah, go on.
Yeah, that's great.
David Lowe (12:38):
But that means you're a student, yeah, so
you're still looking for ways toimprove.
Absolutely.
So, when we talk in adealership playbook and we talk
to people about becoming asuccess, that's what it is the
best always want to becomebetter.
That's why we call it studentsof excellence.
(12:59):
Right, that's why we say youneed to be personally
responsible for your attitude,your knowledge, your skills,
your actions and, ultimately,results, right?
Yeah, so we have a lot of, Ibet, salespeople that aren't
living like you are right now inthat success, maybe even
(13:19):
struggling, right?
So if you were to talk to themand they came to you and Brent,
what do I do?
What would be?
Brandon Long (13:25):
your advice.
The main thing is ask questions.
The second thing is have you,have you went through the day
low process?
What do you know?
I would ask them questionsabout the actual process itself.
But but the biggest thing is wehave so many resources
available to us Whereas, likeyou said when you started, I
mean, I'm sure, a lot of peoplein the car business if you're
watching this, you've been inthe car business.
(13:47):
If you're watching this, you'vebeen in the car business for 10
plus years.
David Lowe (13:48):
They just took you like a crane machine and told
you to go sell a car, right no?
Brandon Long (13:50):
training at all, right.
So when you have thoseresources, make sure you're
asking good questions.
And the huge thing I did, man,is I keep a notepad in my phone,
the notes, and I remember myfirst month I had.
I still have it just as areference, but I had a hundred
questions on there, At leastwhen I would go home at night I
would just type in there andthen the next day I would come
in.
I wouldn't exhaust it all onone person.
David Lowe (14:10):
I would kill them all in one day.
Brandon Long (14:12):
Right, but I would have everybody I needed there
to ask and go that route.
So make sure you're asking goodquestions and just staying on
top of everything, and that's a.
You talked about always gettingbetter right, even when you're
the best.
There was a video on StephCurry the other day I watched.
He takes 500 shots a day.
(14:32):
You do the math.
Over his X amount of years inhis career he's shot over 2
million practice shots right andhe's only made 3,000 shots
3,000 three-pointers on thecourt.
So less than 1% of a 10th ofhis shots that he's taken in his
career are actually put intoplace in the game.
David Lowe (14:47):
Yeah, so yeah, Steph Curry, he practices over and
over for that opportunity, so Idon't have the ability to be a
pro athlete.
Brandon Long (14:56):
Yeah.
David Lowe (14:57):
In fact I don't really have a hole to make a
great income.
I wasn't really gifted I'm nota doctor level intellect,
whatever but I do know this Insales if you commit to becoming
better, there is the resourcesout there, and if you're a
(15:18):
dealership playbook subscriber,you definitely have the
resources.
You want to be careful whatcoach you hire.
Having a coach is one thing,Having a bad coach is something
else.
So a lot of these guys youprobably watched for six months
before were the negativereinforced trainers.
Right, it's kind of pressure.
It's like 160-pound10-year-olds.
Brandon Long (15:39):
Kill them, get all their money.
David Lowe (15:40):
And you can sell cars that just feel bad and
eventually that's ending.
We'd rather be a skilledsurgeon, absolutely right, yeah,
so, um.
So your first advice would beask a lot of questions and do
the training.
Now here's a big one for you.
What if they lack the why orthe motivation?
What if they just took a job?
(16:01):
What would you say?
Brandon Long (16:04):
um, that's a tough one, isn't it?
You might be in the wrongbusiness.
Your vocation in this place?
Something else exactly, yeah,or you can answer the phones,
you can just be a receptionist Ilove that answer.
David Lowe (16:15):
So, yeah, can I tell you something?
I think that a lot of peoplehave never developed that inner
flame, yeah, so I think so manypeople that are living below the
potential right now, right,they're not doing the training
like you did, they're not askingthe questions.
It's not because they don'treally know they should do it,
(16:35):
but there's not a driving forcemoving them forward.
Right, and it's hard to explainmore of that driving force
comes from Everything, comesfrom vision.
Where there's no vision topeople.
Paris Solomon said your vision,vision, the why is your family,
right, your child?
Um, you're what you woulddefine success at right.
So the person out there, who'swho's struggling to get
(17:00):
motivated?
They got to make a decision,don't they?
Yeah, are they in or Exactly?
And you're saying if you're out, get out.
Yeah, go somewhere wheresomebody will tell you what to
do every minute.
Brandon Long (17:10):
Yeah, because somebody like me.
We're a manager that's done itfor a long time.
Think of how many hours they'veinvested in the people that
just end up leaving, so youdon't want to invest your time
in somebody that doesn'tactually want to be there.
Doesn't actually want to bethere.
If you want a 9-to-5, go toGeico.
David Lowe (17:26):
So this is not a job to come for a paycheck, no
absolutely not man.
Brandon Long (17:32):
And this has unlimited possibilities for the
people that take responsibility.
The best thing is anybody cando it.
Anybody can do it and they canbe really good at it if they
want to.
Yeah.
David Lowe (17:40):
I couldn't agree more with that.
I know some people are sellinghigh in the sky type aspirin hey
, sign up for this train.
You'll make a half a milliondollars.
A lot of people want to lie toyou about stuff, right, but what
we're talking about is realincome, income you will have
which is more than most airlinepilots make, more than a lot of
(18:02):
lawyers make.
It's a professional job withprofessional opportunities, and
when it comes to professionalresponsibility, that
responsibility is to constantlytrain and improve yourself,
isn't it?
Sharpen your blade, Sharpen theblade and do it every day.
So that's cool.
So, if you're out there andyou're struggling, take this.
(18:23):
I think that you're right.
I think that anybody that, um,you're right.
I think that anybody that saysI want this yep can do this.
Isn't that kind of crazy?
Absolutely, that's what Ireally kind of fell in love with
no other careers like that.
Brandon Long (18:36):
I don't know one.
David Lowe (18:37):
You know, I went to school to be an accountant, I
mean, and so I didn't have salesattributes, but I, wow, I could
look at this.
This is obtainable, but it'snot free, it's not automatic,
and I think so many people wantto show up and have success.
Come up Now.
Truett.
Cathy again started Chick-fil-A.
(18:58):
Before his death he went aroundand did not motivational
speaking, but educationalspeaking to young people that
didn't have guidance.
Yeah, and his main message iswhat you just said.
Everybody says they want to bea success, but are you willing
to do what it takes to get there?
I think it was Bobby Knight whosaid the will to succeed is
(19:23):
important, but what's moreimportant is the will to prepare
, and I think that's what somany people aren't doing and
that's what set you apart.
Brandon Long (19:33):
Everybody wants those results, but they don't
want to put the work in to getthem right.
David Lowe (19:35):
That's right, or they get some and stop In the
car business.
You sell cars, just answer thephone.
Be the person who answers thephone for the person calling
with the right car at the rightprice, exactly, so that could
fool you into thinking thatskills and process don't matter.
Yeah, because you can sell somecars with absolutely no.
Be a nice person and we'll callit.
(19:56):
Yeah, exactly.
But what we're talking abouthere is living with joy, peace
and satisfaction.
That can only come from ahealthy pride, absolutely.
That can only come from thepursuit of your best self, and
the rewards come right with it.
No doubt you can't improveyourself without improving your
results.
No doubt Very cool.
Is there anything you want toadd before we cut off?
Brandon Long (20:17):
No man.
It's a great career.
Dave Lowe's process is patented, it's foolproof, it works.
There's no gimmicks, there's nogames, there's no.
You know, I mean money's veryimportant, right.
I mean money runs the world,but it's not a course on how to
go from $200,000 to $400,000 or$300,000 to $500,000.
It's just how to live withexcellence, how to get better
every day and how to do it.
David Lowe (20:38):
The right way as well.
That's awesome.
Thank you for that endorse.
We appreciate it.
Listen, if you're not part ofthe Dealership Playbook, hit us
up and ask us how you can becomepart of it.
Or go see us on AutomotiveSales Coach's Facebook and hit
us up there.
If you're a Dealership Playbooksubscriber and you're not
engaged with training, hopefullyBrian's story can encourage you
and inspire you to get engagedtoday.
(21:02):
The level of your engagementyou said the level of your
success and we see it right here, all right.
Well, thank you so much forbeing with us.
If you like this podcast,please like it right and share
it with your friends.
We'd appreciate that and welook forward to seeing you next
time.
Good selling.
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