Lessons from a Car Salesman

Posted on June 2nd, 2009 by Keith Ferrazzi

Shervin Sheibani, General Manager of College Park VW and Nissan

Shervin Sheibani, General Manager of College Park VW & Nissan, told me today that the biggest mistake he sees new salesmen make is this:

"They forget to listen."

He chalked it up to fear of rejection, and I'm sure that's a part of it. But equally, people today are just out of practice. They've forgotten that it's their job to go out there in the world and care - to have someone's back.

Shervin makes his salesmen do practice exercises: ask questions, then be quiet. Listen. Then Shervin interviews the interviewer: How much did they retain?

Try this out with a coworker or friend - you might be surprised to find that you're less in the habit of listening than you think.

My old friend Ray worked on a used car lot the summer after he graduated from Yale. (He actually tried to get me a job but they wouldn't hire me!) He knew that there was no better to prepare himself for life than a summer on the lot - selling, interacting, learning.

One of the major lessons he learned: The beginning of any sale starts with you. Being grounded, confident, and caring enough to listen.

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Dianne moderator

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I believe that partnerships, joint ventures, lending others a hand up, listening to others and being real are so important! I also believe that the real "Guru" some of us seek is within us. Finding the place where you can trust your inner self and also learn and grow with others is "The Promised Land".

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Tom Bates moderator

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I ordered from Amazon where we have paid an annual fee for "free" two day shipping. I think we received the book on the day of its release. Candidly, I preferred Never Eat Alone, but I think that was simply that it was more relevant for me, particularly the first half and especially the third chapter.

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Love Streans moderator

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Peter, First, thank you for your advance purchase of Who's Got Your Back. Keep your fingers crossed; we are expecting news today about the New York Times Bestseller's list, and your pre-order will have helped us make it! All books were shipped on Friday, May 29th. We have had technical difficulties with the Google Checkout system. These ranged from trouble downloading complete buyer data to communicating with buyers about order status. [Some emails were getting bounced back.] Needless to say, this was our first time using Google Checkout; we’re not normally in the business of order fulfillment. Next book launch we will leave it to the online fulfillment professionals! I do apologize that this has delayed your receipt of the book and it should arrive any moment now. We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience. Please know that we have been working to manage it all along! Love Streams and FG Team

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Peter Edstrom moderator

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Keith, I hate to complain, but you need to have your own staff do some listening. I've now submitted 3 requests to find out the status of my order, and no one has responded. I pre-ordered your book. but now 10 business days after the release date, I haven't seen anything. Google Checkout says it was only going to take 5 days, which is actually a bit of a disappointment in and of itself. When the last Harry Potter book was released, my pre-order was shipped ahead of time so that the book arrived on my doorstep -- on the release date. Are there some technical problems going on?

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Weekend reading | Tim Bursch says:

June 6, 2009 at 8:26 am

[...] (get his new book) shares a lesson from a car [...]