As a manager, you have to lead. Chastising an employee is counterproductive and only increases the odds of them not wanting to follow. There are times, however, when a manager does lose their cool. You can’t “take it back,” but you can have a sincere conversation with that employee, admit that what you did was wrong and apologize. Oftentimes, by doing that, you may find that you’ve actually motivated the employee to follow you moreso than they would have if you not only hadn’t lose your cool but also if you had done nothing at all.

When a customer gets to the point where they are sitting in front of a salesperson at their desk, the typical scenario is that the salesperson disappears and comes back with some version of a foursquare – whether that’s old style with Sharpies or the new digital ones. Then the salesperson goes through each “box” asking questions.

What if it started with the customer? The salesperson hands the customer a blank “foursquare” and is instructed to fill in the boxes? Is it possible that the customer fills in numbers that benefit the deal?

Most customers know more when they step on the lot than the salesperson. What if the customer wrote down a trade value that was lower than the dealership would have given them? What if the sales price, interest rate, payment or down payment were?

It’s a novel thought. But just might work.

Buying a vehicle of any type is secondary to the consumer decision making process. Consumers want to know who you are before they choose whether they want to do business with you.

If you can’t convince a consumer that they should do business with you without using price as your lure, you’ll never catch them.

Find ways in which you can tell your story that consumers care about.