Where have I been?

To those of your that care and that have missed me you might notice that I have been somewhat absent over the last few days from social media. I have been posting some sold customer pics but no videos for a few days.

I wanted to let you know why...

I had an episode last Saturday after my video in where my heart went into AFib. I have had it for quite some time but really don’t have many serious episodes. That day was one of them. Thankfully my wife is a nurse and knew what to do! Not sure what caused it or might have triggered it but they seem to come when they want. I have been trying to treat it with a CPAP machine when I sleep since the Drs seem to believe that lack of oxygen when sleeping can have a serious effect on the heart and I believe that too. I snore terribly and often stop breathing in my sleep and am hoping this will eventually help as I go through this process.

Why has this caused me to stop doing videos recently and being myself?

I’m not sure really! I have never felt like this for so long of a time. I have been extremely short of breath and tight in the chest since that day. I have went and done test and all signs point to anxiety.. and I hope that’s all it is. I have been worried about my heart but I guess that the episode has sprung me, along with a couple of other things, into a severe anxiety issue. I am now taking meds for it, which I do not like taking, in order to see if that’s indeed what it is and to offer some relief but it takes about 2 weeks for them to fully take effect. 

Anyone that knows me surely knows that I don’t like to complain when something is wrong and that I surely don’t like to take meds for these kind of things but I am trying to find answers. 

My hope in letting you know what is going on is I don’t want people to worry too much, if you’re one of those, and to let you know that it’s okay to not feel well and to let people know what’s going on. If you know something is wrong or doesn’t feel right you need to tell someone. Don’t rely on webmd! It could end up being nothing but in the chance it is something serious maybe it can be caught in time to do something about it.

I’m not certain my issue is anxiety and I never want to rule out more heart issues but I wanted to let everyone know where I have been and what’s been going on. I decided to take a few days away from doing videos to try and get this under control. I’m hoping I can start back next week because I actually like doing my Lives daily. I truly appreciate all the thoughts and prayers! 

I love all of you!... even if you don’t love me!lol

Transparent....Not Invisible!

During a recent Facebook Live Jeff Parton and myself decided we would discuss why we are trying to be so transparent on social media and what we hope to accomplish by doing so. Now, when I am talking about being transparent I’m not talking about being invisible nor am I talking about making yourself unseen on social media. It’s really the opposite and it’s very important so let’s discuss a little bit of what we talked about.

In the business we are in, the car business, it is very important to continue to learn and adapt. The old school mentality and way of doing business is basically headed out the door. It’s getting both harder and easier to sell cars. What do I mean? Well, with the expansion of the internet it has created a new culture of buyers. The new buyer does much of their actual research online before they even go to the dealership and now, because of that, they are visiting far fewer dealerships. So why do I say this is a good and a bad thing? Well, the good is the fact that buyers are far more educated and knowledgeable about what they want but the bad is the fact that if they are indeed doing most of their research online then they are also shopping online which in turns causes less actual dealership visits. What this does is gives us fewer chances to physically be in front of customers on the lot but the good thing about that is, though you may have fewer customers on the lot, the ones that actually make it to the lot are probably buyers. 

So, that being said, being transparent online is important and could prove to be beneficial. Why? Well, if people are doing most shopping online then it would be important because if they do happen across your info or social media during their searching then they will be able to see who you really are and see what you’re all about. I’m not saying that you must expose all of your deepest darkest secrets but it’s about sharing your ups and downs. It’s about showing your good times and some of your struggles. It’s much easier to trust people that are open and transparent and that’s part of why it’s important to be so.

I know you’re probably thinking that you don’t want to share things online for everyone to see. I get that and I sometimes have issues giving everyone every single one of my struggles so I try to be selective but I still try to give the ones that I believe may help someone else. One thing I try to remember and that is the fact that here in the near future video is going to be the most rendered result during online searches and if that’s the case you have to be able to be found on video and video is the best way to show people who you really are. Now, I’m not suggesting that everyone needs to run out and start doing videos because not everyone is going to be good at video but there are other ways to be transparent and let people know who you are such as regular written post or maybe even a blog post.

So, I have touched a little about why I try to be transparent online but let me go a little further.

The fact is that people buy from who they like, know and trust. Just a few years ago customers would come to a business or dealership and that’s how they got to know you. Now, they can know about you and your business beforehand and decide if they want to even visit you or not while sitting behind a computer or phone. So, if that’s the case, you not only want to have online presence but you also want to be real. The more real you are then the more people can get to know you. Again, I’m not saying to expose all of your past transgressions necessarily but you must be real nonetheless. 

Having said all of that, there are basically 2 reasons why I want to be transparent to some extent online.

1) I do it so people can get to know me and possibly like and trust me. If most people are searching and shopping online and most people buy from people they like, know and trust then it only makes sense to help them during that process. First, if you have no online presence at all you will probably struggle in the future but second, if you aren’t open and transparent then people may think you’re fake. It doesn’t help that most people have a negative view of car salesmen anyway so why must we continue to confirm what they already believe and act like we have things to hide. Often times if they see you being upfront and transparent about possible struggles in your life then it may be a little easier for the customer to actually believe what you’re telling them during a buying transaction.

2) I try to be transparent in order to help others. Ultimately this is the one that I think of most of the time. I think about who I can help with what I say or do. If I am sharing a struggle or tough time in my life it is usually because I think there may be someone else out there with a similar struggle that might can relate and maybe what I have to say may help them. Also, if I have something positive or uplifting that I think may help someone then I share that as well. This could be anything from motivation, a certain way to do something or helping a customer buy a car. I try to have a wide range of videos and avenues in order to get information out that may can help others. 

Again, I am not saying that everyone needs to run out and do videos and to share all of your deepest darkest secrets. I am simply sharing the reasons I do it and how it may help. If you’re in sales then videos and online presence will be helpful but I totally understand that not everyone is comfortable doing them and posting them but you must find another way to get a presence online and let people know who you are and what you’re about and in doing so it is very important to let people see who you really are because no one likes a fake person. If they see you as fake they definitely won’t like, know or trust you. 

How much dirt is under your rug?

Saturdays at our dealership we are furnished lunch so that way we can make sure that we are here and available to assist customers. Well, this past Saturday we had fried chicken which is something we have about once a month or so. Each time we have it there is quite the mess left on the table. Well, everything was cleaned up before we left and all seemed to be in order. Today, as we prepared to have the morning meeting, I pulled out a chair and there were the remnants of the lunch from Saturday in the way of fried chicken skin in the seat. How gross and disgusting! I can’t imagine what some visitors may have thought had they seen that!

Finding these dirty chairs got me to thinking about how this is very similar to seeing someone sweep dirt under the rug on some of the old cartoons that I use to watch. Often times there would be a character that was responsible for cleaning the floor but instead of scooping up the trash and putting it in the can they simply lifted up the corner of the rug and swept it under there. 

It started me thinking to why someone might actually do that and how could I relate this to life.

First, why would someone sweep the dirt under the rug because if you did that enough the rug wouldn’t lay flat? Second, wouldn’t it be simpler to go ahead and scoop up the trash now instead of having to deal with it later on down the road? These should be obvious but what would make someone want to do this? 

1) Maybe they are lazy and they feel like this is the quickest and easiest way to get by.

2) Maybe they are in a huge hurry and that’s the fastest way to get it out of the way.

3) Maybe they just don’t want to deal with the dirt!

All of these could be a reason why but none are good enough reasons really because it would be more work down the road if you were to keep putting it off. 

So, how does this effect you and what could possibly happen if you continued to sweep your dirt under the rug and hide it?

1) It ultimately becomes a bigger mess than it would’ve been had you cleaned it up when you first were sweeping! If you had just taken a little extra time to scoop it up there wouldn’t be a huge lump on the rug where the trash has been accumulating! Instead of being able to get the dirt up with one small scoop with the dust pan now you may have to make multiple trips.

2) It usually becomes harder to deal with! With a bigger mess comes bigger problems. When you allow the dirt to pile up instead of dealing with it you will get to the point where it’s hard to deal with at all and you won’t want to. You may let it get to the point to where you feel there is no way out. 

3) Someone else will find it! Think about this as a kid cleaning their room. You ask them to clean it and they say they do but then you start wondering how they cleaned it so fast so you decide to check. You open up the closet door and an avalanche of stuff comes down on you. This is what happens when you consistently allow your dirt to pile up! It piles up until someone else finds it and now there is no way to hide it and more than likely you will be much more embarrassed than you would’ve had you cleaned the dirt up when you swept.

How does this apply to life?

Simple! We often times don’t want to deal with the dirt we have in our lives! Maybe it’s dirt we created or maybe it’s the result of someone else but either way we don’t deal with it. We keep letting it build and build until it becomes a bigger mess than it would’ve had we acknowledge it and dealt with it from the beginning! It is much harder to deal with as you sweep it under the rug or pile it in the closet and you get to the point where you think it’s gone or you forget about it until someone opens the closet or lifts the rug and sees all the dirt you didn’t want to deal with. Now you have a harder time and a longer road ahead of you to clean up the mess. 

The moral of this analogy is that it is much better to own up to and deal with the mess you make early on because you don’t want it to become too big of a mess to clean up. Though you seem to be hiding the dirt and it does seem to be hidden well in the beginning eventually the carpet won’t lay flat and the closet door won’t close and it will be visible to everyone at that point so doesn’t it make sense to deal with your dirt early on? Don’t wait until someone else finds it before you want to deal with it because then it may be too late!

Laying new floor! So what? What’s the difference?

My latest Facebook Live video had to do with laying new flooring in our house. We are about to put our house up for sale and build a house so we are starting to do some things to spruce it up a little. Now, there’s not much wrong with our house since it was built in 2011 or 2012 but sometimes you have to change some things in order to get the most out of it while possibly changing someone’s perception.

Now, laying down flooring can be somewhat expensive and labor intensive so why would we decide to do this particular upgrade before selling? Well, for starters our house had a lot of carpet and we all know that carpet doesn’t take long to get dirty especially if you have children or pets. So, if there is dirty carpet in the house that could immediately change what people perceive the house to be while walking through the house especially if they think that the first expense they will incur would be quite expensive. So, many times just putting out a little money in advance and investing it in replacing the flooring could make a huge difference in one’s buying discision. Painting could also help which we are doing as well.

What is my point you might ask? Well, much like changing the flooring in a house could change someone’s perception and possibly add value, changing someone’s perception of you could come by just changing something small about what you do or possibly change a characteristic about yourself through effort! It may take some time to change someone’s perception of you but you have to start somewhere. If you’re known as a liar then stop lying! If you are known as dishonest or a thief then stop stealing! It’s that simple! Many times you start doing things every once in a while because you get away with it then before you know it that becomes a habit and then you’re doing it all the time.

I know what you might be thinking! You’re thinking that you don’t care what people think about you! I think that in itself is a lie because most people want to be liked and respected but let’s say that’s not the case for you. If you’re in commission sales of any sort you must care about what people think about you because nowadays you are not the only game in town or in the area like you may have been 10 or 20 years ago. Today a customer can search, price and compare a few different business and sales people online without leaving their house and much of what they find online can determine where they do business! If they search and see that your place of business has a bunch of 1 star reviews doesn’t that affect you if you work there? Sometimes it might affect you directly or indirectly but you must do all you can to change their perception even if you’re not named in the review or source.

The moral of this short lesson is to make sure that what people think and say about you is mostly positive because that could make the difference in your future business! It may not 100% affect you right now but it could catch up with you down the road maybe with your current place of business or possibly a new place that you’re looking to apply. Remember that even business owners and managers may search you online before they make that final decision whether to hire you or not because ultimately your online presence is your new resume whether it’s good or bad!

Listen, Learn & Live

Listen, learn and live seem like three normal everyday terms. If you were to take each word individually I'm sure that many could come up with the definitions relatively easily. I want to take a look at them as a whole and how they apply and effect each other. Now, of coarse, I am in sales but what I'm about to say about these three words can apply in life in general.

Let's talk about the LISTENing. Last week I did some training about how to listen to your customers in order to get them what they want. Apparently, most people weren't Listening. I am not saying that listening will get you everywhere in life but it can help, especially when paired with my other 2 words. Listening can help you learn what to do and what not to do. If you see someone doing something that seems wrong or hear someone say something wrong then you can decide that whatever they are doing isn't beneficial to you and be able to figure out what the right way might be. But, on the other hand, you can apply what you hear from more experienced salespeople that have come before you and apply what has made them successful and use it for your benefit. I think the main danger in this point is that there are a lot of salespeople out there that don't want to listen at all. They think they know it all and that there is nothing that anyone else can offer to make them better. It really amazes me, especially with today's competition, that people don't want to get better by learning as much as they can learn. I try to learn something everyday.

Which brings me to my next point and that is to take what you LISTEN to and hear and LEARN from it. Whether it is something positive or negative you can always learn something. Learning, in this business, is crucial in order to grow and mature. I will admit, that when I first started in the car business, that it didn't take me long to think I knew it all and that I didn't need to learn or listen to anyone else but once I matured a little I figured out that if you are not learning and growing then you are dying. It's frustrating for me to see new sales people come in, sale a few cars and then they think they know it all. I can't stress it enough......Learning is an essential part of any successful sales person, no matter what type of sales you happen to be in. It's very hard to learn everything there is to know in almost any sales business there is out there though many think they know ALL.

Now, we can talk about LISTENING and LEARNING but if you don't LIVE what you've heard and learned then you haven't accomplished anything. Remember back when I mentioned listening to or seeing what people are doing right or wrong and applying it for the positive in your life? That's what I'm talking about here. If you say that there is something you need to change in your life or in your profession and not do something to change then you are doing nothing but talking. If you are not taking some kind of ACTION then you are standing still or moving backwards. Don't get caught up thinking that you don't have to move because if you want to continue to grow and improve then you must take those things that you LISTENED to and LEARNED and now you must LIVE what you have gained from them. 

Never take life for granted. Nothing is guaranteed except death and taxes and that includes tomorrow. You can plan for tomorrow but you may never see it so learn all you can and apply it so that you can if you do make it to tomorrow that you won't have any regrets. It's always easier to say "I wished I would've done this or that differently" so why not go ahead and do it differently now!

Hope I was rambling too much!

Thanks for reading!

Fist Pump Guy out!!

#thefistpumpguy #listenlearnlive

Questioning integrity

I want to talk about a situation that happened at work yesterday but first let me do a summary of my training from last week. If you read my last blog post then you will see that I trained a lot on how important one's Reputation can be, especially if you're in any kind of sales or if you own your own business. Basically, without going through every point, your Reputation is built through effort of your own to earn Respect and ultimately earns you Results/Rewards. Now, having said that, I am a big proponent of honesty in the workplace. I don't really care what kind of business you have but I believe that trust, honesty and integrity are some very important qualities that one can have. Granted, not all think like I do, especially in the car business, but that's who I am. So, when someone questions my integrity I get a little upset.

Now, to the event yesterday. I was confronted about a situation that happened with a customer I had just sold. Now, just a thought, if you assume something without having the facts it can lead to a serious situation so don't do that. Also, if you have an issue with someone then you need to find out the facts and then try and find out what happened instead of accusing someone. Because, though you might think they did something to deceive another doesn't always necessarily mean they did. What I mean is that things aren't always what they appear to be on the surface unless that's what you've already made up in your mind has happened. So, I guess where I am going with this is the fact that because my integrity was questioned in a public environment without allowing me time to explain what happened and when I do get somewhat of a chance to explain I then am basically called a liar and compared to those that do things purposely to deceive others when I didn't even do what I was being accused of. So, needless to say I got highly upset. Those that know me know that I don't get upset often especially to the point where I am actually angry. That happened yesterday. For that I am sorry. I apologize to any employee or customer that may have heard the commotion when I lost my cool. I am truly sorry that I let my emotions get the best of me. I really got too upset over an issue that, first of all didn't happen but second of all wasn't worth the time it took to get that mad. But had the person asked me about the situation instead of accusing me then I don't believe that it would have taken place at all. But instead of doing just a little bit of research this person jumped to conclusions and questioned my integrity which I take to heart. That's no excuse for me losing my temper like that and again I am sorry for that. 

So, now I am going to offer some helpful tips to anyone that suspects something dishonest is going on and the steps to handle it. First, take a look at the Reputation of the person you're about to accuse. See, what kind of example they have been and their track record. Are they someone that has done these things before multiple times? Are they someone that is always trying to deceive others or stealing from them? Has it been proven at other jobs that they are that type of person? Second, do your research. Look into the situation first and gather the facts. Give the benefit of the doubt if you have no proof. That's better than making yourself look like an idiot because you accused someone of doing something they didn't do. Third, gather those facts and make sure they are accurate. Sometimes, "taking a witness' word for it" may not be good enough since they may have their own agenda against that person too. Forth, after you have gathered all you think you need, or even if you have found no evidence, go to the person in private and try and talk it out. That would be much better that confronting someone in front of co-workers because they will definitely go on the defensive real quick. If you truly want to know the truth then you will actually listen. If you have already made up your mind then you won't hear a word they say and will probably either cut them off or not let them talk at all. Not doing these things to handle a situation correctly can and will ruin work relationships especially in the car business since we spend more time with they guys and girls at the dealership than we do with our own families. Now, I understand that we spend 10-12 hours a day with each other and we can act like brothers sometimes and fight but it doesn't need to be over something that isn't true and petty.

Just a side note, you notice I didn't mention going to a manager for help. The reason is, in the car business anyways, because they don't like handling these types of situations. A lot of times they have their own agenda against the same person and won't handle the situation correctly either. Besides, as long as the car gets sold they don't care who sells it even if it was done dishonestly....in most cases anyways. So, going to a manager isn't always they best way to handle a situation. My theory on this is that though a manager may have one or two they can count on to get a job done or get a customer served others may see that as favoritism and therefore develop and agenda that is obvious. So, just use common since when going to a manager even if it just for advice because, though many of them are knowledgeable in what they do many haven't been trained how to handle people and learn how to deal with situations nor do they want to. 

So, to make a long story short, do your research and give people the benefit of the doubt especially if you know them to be an honorable and respectful person instead of accusing and confronting them for something they might not have done. 

Hope this helps! Thanks for reading!

Fist Pump Guy Out!

#thefistpumpguy #findthefactsfirst #checkthereputation 

Buidling Reputation leads to Results!

This is the topic I trained on this morning during our sales meeting. Soak it in and allow it to help you no matter what type of sales you are in! Don't let anyone tell you that your reputation isn't important because everyone has one. You have to know if yours is negative or positive and how you can improve it in order to earn Respect and get Results!

Thanks for reading!

Fist Pump Guy out!
#thefistpumpguy #buildingyourreputation #getsresults #followthefistpumptoenterprise