Overheard: Be transparent, build trust and sales will follow

"I don't consider myself a salesperson. I'm in the sales industry. [But] when you really look at it, sales is all about taking care of people and just truly wanting to help and bring value to people. You can take the sales out of it, but as long as you bring value to somebody they'll make a purchase if you're helping them. You don't have to be a hard-nosed closer; you just do the right thing [and] you're transparent. [If] you build that trust, people will purchase. I think sales get a bad reputation — a lot of just selling things people don't need, especially in this automotive industry. With MPI — the multi-point inspections — if you follow the process on a multi-point inspection, you do the same inspection on every single car, every car needs something or is going to need something at some point. As long as you're transparent with the customer throughout the entire process, then you don't have to go out and be a hard-nosed salesperson. You automatically close your sales." — Darryl Terrell, service and parts director at Matt Bowers Ford in Metairie, La., on "The Multi-Point Inspection Podcast" hosted by Brandon Barnett.