The used car dealer (Buyer beware)

For years I have had a goal to change the culture and perception of car salespeople. I have authored a book about sales and have conducted a number of sales training seminars. Last weekend I discovered that you cannot change everyone or every business. The fact remains that car salespeople and their managers will continue to lye to customers for a self serving purpose. Their whole goal is not customer service (although they say it is), it is not bring you good value (although they say it is), it is not about your happiness (although they say it is), it is about one thing and one thing only. Selling the next person that walks through the door a car no matter what you have to say. Make the customer feel like your giving them the world and then don't do anything you said you would do. Lying is the foundation of their business. The problem is that most people do speak up or voice their complaint. But the consumer has a very powerful weapon, the internet. Once you put something on the internet is remains there forever. The more people write about their experiences the more others will be able to avoid the trap of the bad car dealer. Now that doesn't mean there are not good dealerships out there. You just need to be careful, one I would avoid is called Pikes Peak Acura in Colorado Springs. The management of this dealership is one of little to no integrity and trust me when I say places no value on customer service. They exist not by their own reputation but by the brand name of Acura. Yes, I'm afraid it is true that in this day and age exist on the reputation of others. I think Acura needs to look at another option for selling and promoting their vehicles. But that's just my view. The reason people car shop on Sundays is to avoid getting scammed and ripped off by these predators. Voice your experience on line and help me change an industry.

What are your products or services worth

Far too often I see businesses reducing the price of their products or services because they feel that this is the only way they can compete with their competitors. Nothing could be farther from the truth then this way of thinking. I call this Wal-mart thinking. Price is not always the reason customers buy. Are there customers who buy from price alone? Yes, but the truth is there are far better reasons for customers to buy then price alone. The first is quality of goods. Better made products cost more and customers understand this, but if the customer is not made aware of the differences then one is just as good as the other and price will win. Second is strength of company. Customers want to buy from a company that has been in business for many years and will be around if something should happen to the goods they have purchased. Third is expertise. Customers want to purchase product or services from experts. People who know their business and can help them solve their problems. If you lower your prices to compete the only message you send to customers is that your prices were to high to begin with and that you offer nothing more than your competition. Stop thinking in terms of cheap and sell the quality the customers desire.

How Do You Win The Soccer World Cup?

I don't know how many of you have been watching the soccer world cup. The one thing that is very obvious to me, is the teams that are doing very well are the ones that are not relying on the star players to make every goal. In fact the star players are passing the ball for other to score. The way you win a world cup is to play as a team. One person cannot do it alone. Only by working as a team can you reach the ultimate goal, being world champions. When you are playing for personal glory you will always fall short. I believe that when it doesn't matter who gets the credit possibilities are endless. Selfishness will only lead to defeat. This is a lesson we can take and use in our personal and professional lives as well. Ask the questions; does it really matter who gets the credit if we reach our objective or are we controlled by our own personal needs and desires? If the objective is not reached are you then willing to take the responsibility for failure just as you would the glory for the success?

Crime and Punishment

Prisons are over crowed. Inmates file lawsuits that clog up our courts. We spend money educating and rehabilitating people that will ultimately return to the streets and commit more crimes. The system is broken. The system does not work. We extend more luxuries to inmates then we do the homeless in this country. Human rights activists say treat them with dignity and respect, something these people never gave their victims. Prison should be a place that you do not wish to go. Not a place to get educated on becoming a better criminal and enjoying things like food, shelter, clean cloths, TV, internet, heat and legal protection that hardworking people struggle to pay for. Isn’t it time that we make punishment for criminal acts something to fear. When you chose to take away other peoples rights you in turn give up yours and I’m not talking about the right to walk free in society. I believe that prison should be a painful experience that imprints the severity of criminal behavior on future generations. Criminal behavior increases when punishments are not punishments but rather rewards for bad decisions. We spend billions of dollars caring for people who simply don’t care about us. What is the motivation for a person to succeed in life when everything they need is given to them? Throughout history people have feared punishment. When you take away punishment you take away consequences and open the doors for people to do whatever they want to. That my friends is a very dangerous thing.

Why not simplify

All you ever hear about is how complicated this are. My question is why not simplify? Last night I heard the President address congress and the nation in the State of The Union speech. What wonderful ideas, thoughts, and goals. But nothing he said will ever come to fruition. Why is that? It will never come to fruition because we live in a world where everything is must be made far too complicated to work or to be achieved. Our thoughts have become clouded with the illusion that nothing can be or ever will be simple. So we make it complex. In fact we make it so complex and complicated that the solution becomes even more of a problem then original problem that we started with. Putting people back to work is simple. Quit importing more products then we export, but you see the answer is far more complicated then that. Health care has simple solutions. But the answers are complicated by greed. The national debt has a simple solution, but the answer yet again is complicated by greed. Everywhere you look in everything that must be done you have this thinking; If A then B. If B then C. Well if C then D. Well if A, B, C, and D then E, F, G, and H and so on and so on and so on. This will continue to happen until nothing is accomplished. Then we the people will be no better off then when we started. That’s politics. I believe that the easiest way to a solution is simplicity. It works like this; if you need to do A, then you do it. Wow, what a concept. Do what needs to be done. Imagine if the Founding Fathers of this great nation would have used our modern day ideology on getting anything done. Things would be so complicated that we would still be part of England today. How many pages is the Declaration of Independence? How many pages is the Constitution? If these documents were written today they would be 5,000 to 10,000 pages each and filled with earmarks. Please find solutions in the simplicity of the problems. You know what needs to be done, so just do it. Now is the time to get the country back on track and do the things that need to be done.

Competition and the Art of Winning

There is nothing wrong with wanting to win. What's wrong is accepting and being content with never winning. Competition is a wonderful thing. It keeps our spirit hungry and motivated to achieve that which we desire. Is it wrong to want to be good or great at something? Remember that we have the opportunity to either get involved in life or be a spectator; the choice is ours to make. If you chose to be a spectator then don’t complain about the success of others. I believe that there are three types of people in the world. Those who make things happen, those who wish things would happen and those who wonder about what just happened. So begin by asking yourself, which one of these three types am I? Once you have identified that you can make the necessary changes to be the person you wish to be. Again remember that if you remain on the sidelines and only observe then that is your choice. So don’t be critical of the success of others. We now seem to live in a world where winning is frowned upon. We have taken away our children’s will to do better by taking away any motivation they had to achieve. We do this by rewarding little or no effort. We even find excuses for failure rather than solutions to success. This then carries over into adulthood. Rather than working harder to get ahead we simple blame our failures on others or circumstance. Those who are successful in life never blame outside sources for failure but rather look internally for solutions to improve. Failure in anything is never failure if something is learned, improvements are made, and you continue on. Failure can only be claimed if you just give up. Understand that competition shows us weakness and lets us know where improvement is required and needed. Without failure or competition we never have the opportunity to reach our full potential, because we never have the opportunity see flaws and correct them. I know that losing is never fun or easy but it is essential for improvement. So the next time you are confronted with failure look within and ask what could I have done better and then tell yourself what you will do next time to achieve the outcome you desire. Embrace competition and learn from failure it will make your life better in more ways than you could imagine.

Creating Jobs in the United States

I wonder who the President is talking to and listening to when he believes that spending money on needless things will create jobs in this country. Recently the President proposed a tax break on making your home more energy efficient. People cannot spend money they do not have on making their homes more energy efficient. Would you spend hundreds of dollars to save a few dollars or spend it on things like food, clothing and shelter? The government is under the impression that spending money on these so called green jobs (who by the way employ very few people) and worthless projects will create jobs. The fact is these programs will only keep some people employed but will not create any new jobs. Here’s an idea bring back the jobs that have been lost to other countries. Bring manufacturing back to the United States. We keep losing jobs to countries that produce products or provide services at a lower cost. What’s wrong with this picture? Soon there will be less and less people in America who will be able to afford the products being imported. You cannot sell products or services to people who don’t have any money. I think it’s time to bring people to the white house who actually have their finger on the pulse of the American people, not just a bunch of multi millionaires who are out of touch with reality. It’s time to start encouraging companies to stay or come to the United States with their businesses rather than leave for higher profits. Through my program Corporation You I encourage people to eliminate needless spending in their lives in order to grow financial strength; the government needs to take a hard look at its needless spending and fix the problems this nation faces. Unemployment is the problem not people with excess money looking to spend it.