A Conversation With The Wolf Of Wall Street – Jordan Belfort

I sat down with Jordan Belfort, the Wolf of Wall Street, to discuss all things automotive. We began addressing the myth of car salesperson. Although modern car dealers have drastically changed in look, feel, and overall strategic approach for dealing with customers, most people STILL dread setting foot on a dealership lot.

I think that this is well exemplified in the numbers. A DMEautomotive study finds that 68% of car buyers visit two dealerships or less — and only 15% visit four or more — before buying. On average, car buyers test-drive only 1.9 cars pre-purchase. Conventional wisdom might say that used-car buyers at dealerships take significantly more test-drives, but, in fact, 30% of used buyers test-drove only one vehicle (vs. 35% of new buyers). Women, who influence 85% of all car purchases, were bigger test-drive avoiders: 19% skipped it altogether, vs. 12% of men.

To sum that up you, the car dealer, must face that, as it stands, 68% of car buyers may never even visit your dealership in person. If they do make it, there is a very good chance that they will not test drive, especially for women, regardless of their interest in new or used vehicles. Why?

Well, let’s look at car salesperson trust. In this study “Car buyers rated dealer salespeople on a ‘trust scale,’ and a dealer image problem persists: a significant majority (56%) rated car salespeople untrustworthy — another 22% reported they ‘neither trusted/distrusted them’ — and only 1 in 5 placed them in the trustworthy column.”

That’s pathetic.

It’s also confusing because, as previously mentioned, car dealers have dramatically improved their approach for dealing with customers. They are more transparent (more than 7,000 dealers have partnered with TrueCar), and have even transformed their showrooms to be more friendly and receptive for a quality customer experience. Yet, the distrust remains. Can this lack of trust ever be dispelled, or at least reduced? If so, how?

Surely you’re familiar with the movie The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard, especially if you happen to be a sales professional. It gives a ridiculous, vulgar take on the common car salesperson stereotype. Everything from the cheesy inflatable gorilla, to the ubiquitous cheap polyester shirt worn by the salespeople in a somewhat disheveled fashion, is present in the film. The ragtag sales team at the failing car dealership recruits none other than Don Ready, who is a mercenary of sorts, to save their dealership.

In some ways, Don represents to epitome of the sleazy, smooth talking, exaggerated salesmen that will do ANYTHING to move a car off the lot. I’m looking at you, person who’s sweating while reading this. Stop. You’re the problem. Bad perceptions can be changed, and here is how it’s done:

There is no SINGULAR sales tactic, if that’s what you were hoping to see. There’s no secret script or list of responses to objections. It will take more than a press of the easy button to get out of this one. However, the Wolf does offer a few tips.

1. Be Passionate

      The sale begins the moment a customer lays eyes on you. How are you perceived in the first few seconds of a conversation? Be enthusiastic! Tonality and body language set the tone for the entire experience. If you’re having trouble finding your passion, perhaps it’s time to realize that anyone that has passion doesn’t necessarily have to be passionate about their tools or product. After all, a plumber may not be excited about plumbing supplies, but a good plumber does need to fervently believe in helping solve people’s problems by fixing their plumbing. It would certainly be helpful if you liked cars, but if not, learn to be passionate about helping people get what they want. In this case, it’s a new car! Even if you love cars, try changing perspective to be excited about helping people get what they want. You’ll find yourself able understand what your customer wants.

2. Be an expert

Look the part. A huge part of someone’s perception of an expert is associated with appearance. Experts tend to look clean, sharp, and well put together. Don’t expect people to value your expertise if their first impression of you screams amateur. Regardless of your years of experience, you must establish yourself as an expert. Doing so allows you take have control of the conversation. When people are in the presence of an expert they tend to defer control to the expert. However, that does not mean you should become a talking head. Use this as an opportunity to ask great questions! Gather intelligence in such a way that you develop a very tight rapport with the customer. Ultimately, you need to become an expert at asking questions.

3. Be Prepared

Plan and write down your questions ahead of time! An expert will ask a certain number of questions in a certain order. More importantly, after asking each question they will know how to listen when they person responds. Learn to truly understand what your customer’s beliefs, values, and needs are, and from there a transition to the sale can be made. Now a tailor made solution can be presented 100% based on what the customer actually wants!

4. Be Genuine

    Let me be clear, enthusiasm does NOT call for acting. If you aren’t really passionate, this isn’t a suggestion to “fake it to make it,” but rather a call to find your passion! It’s a soft spoken enthusiasm that is under the surface. It’s a certain tone of voice that has confidence and certainty in knowing that you have exactly what they need. Moreover if the customer refuses to open up about their needs after you’ve asked your pertinent questions, don’t just linger awkwardly and lose the sale! After all, YOU’RE the expert, so YOU need to take control by opening up about yourself. People love to hear about what belief causes you to have passion, what values you hold, etc… Once you’ve established a foundation of trust, the conversation, and therefore the road to the sale, can become a friendly conversation.

The point of each of these tips is to shatter the distrust the customer arrives with, which begins the straight line to the sale. Jordan personally uses this strategy (along with many more in depth strategies), which is what led him to codify it as the Straight Line Persuasion system that anyone could learn to use.

It is crucial to understand that to be passionate, to be an expert, and to be genuine involves what Jordan calls your Inner World. The Inner World being your emotional state, belief system, personal standards, and vision for the future. All of these things either set you up for success or failure in the Outer World. The Outer World is the actual strategy or plan of action to implement in your world. It’s how to be prepared.

Adopt the visage of success so you can generate the right emotional state to succeed. Negativity allows the fear of failure to lead a stagnant, “safe” life. The positive route involves being committed to becoming an expert, to doing the work, studying, and eventually making yourself an expert. But make yourself sound like an expert from the beginning. Give yourself the benefit of the doubt while being committed to doing the work. You’re walking your talk. Expertise is all about confidence.

To learn more about Jordan Belfort’s Straight Line Persuasion Training, please visit http://jordanbelfort.com. Jordan’s comprehensive training sessions can be structured to meet each of your specific needs. His engagements have ranged from introductory 3-hour talks, to 3-day, in-depth training programs, to ongoing consultation on how to actively and massively grow the marketing and sales results of your organization.