Carl Sewell owns a bunch of car dealerships here in Dallas and some elsewhere, too. And the cars his salesmen sell at his car stores are the luxury lines - Cadillac, Lexus, Infiniti, Hummer, etc. You know the ones.
And year after year his dealerships set records, and often times they do it when their competition - dealers who are selling the very same brands - struggle to meet their expenses.
Let's make this even more complex: Mr. Sewell's sales people tell their prospects up front that if they are looking for the cheapest price, they should go to one of the Sewell competitors.
What's going on here? Well, by way of explanation through a supposed example we'll quickly reduce it to the absurd.
Let's put two Lincoln dealers next to each other, and let's give them identical inventories of new cars - same colors, same features. We'll even line the cars across their lots in the same configuration.
The dealer on the left follows the Carl Sewell format: All of the cars are sparkling clean; there's not a bunch of slogans lettered across their windshields. The lot is immaculate. There are no holes or water puddles. The sales building is clean and neat and comfortable. The salespeople are dressed conservatively. No multiple gold chains hanging around their necks with the nugget surrounded by chest hair showing through the half- unbuttoned Hawaiian shirt.
Now let's see the dealership next door. The lot is full of pot holes, the cars have not been detailed since they arrived from the factory, there's a salesman sitting in one of them with the door open, and he's smoking a cigarette. The sales office is a mobile home with a set of temporary steps going to the door.
Who's going to sell the most cars? Does price matter?
The lesson here is one that home sellers should consider. Your home needs to look like one Mr. Sewell would have for sale if he were your joint venture partner, and it needs to look like that until it sells. Detail it like the guy does who cleans-up and waxes your car.
I have a check list that you're welcome to have. It'll help you spiff your house up so that your Realtor will have the best opportunity to sell it. Email or call and I'll send you one. Unless you follow Mr. Sewell's selling logic, you can be sure you'll leave money on the table at closing.
DALLAS
Our 43rd Year Selling Texas
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Copyright 2008 - William S. Cherry
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KEVIN AND JASON:
Thanks for your comments and for confirming that my blog post is on the money. I've recommended this before, but perhaps it would be good to do it again. Every real estate broker and salesman would do themselves well by buying and reading Mr. Sewell's book Customers for Life. The last time I looked, you could buy it new or used on amazon.com. Used ones were going for about 7 bucks.
Bill
aggghhhhh, I see your point, but only to a certain degree.....you do have to look professional, but I don't think that means that you have to have your office space in the brand class "A" office center that just opened up in the highest rent district part of town.
There are real estate offices here in St. Louis (and I'm sure in every decent sized town) where you walk in and you would think that you were getting ready for a meeting with The Donald. "Would you care for a latte?" sort of places. I'm sure that this does sway a certain percentage of the population, but I think that the majority really don't care about how nicely your conference room is decorated.
I hate over-head and past a certain point you reach a point of diminishing returns.
Bob Mitchell
ValueList Real Estate Services, Inc.
Bill, "Showroom" clean is an old saying. It means something. Too many just don't get it. Better for you.
Bill Roberts