Episode 26: How Car Salesman John Hinkson Sold 1600 Cars in his First 3 Years

John Hinkson — Car Salesman Extraordinaire
It’s all about service

Read the full transcript & show notes →

John Hinkson is the top car salesman at Dan Cummins Chevrolet, a car dealership based in a small town in Kentucky with just under 10,000 residents. The amazing thing is that the dealership sold over 9,500 cars last year, and John personally sold over 40 cars every month (the national average is 12), despite only having started three years ago. Tune in to this episode to hear the incredible story of John’s success, and how he achieved it simply by putting people first, and focusing on serving their needs as best as he could. John’s story is an inspiration — if he could achieve such stellar results in just three years, so can you!

Shareable Clips & Quotes:
Doing the complete opposite in car sales – Providing a good experience
36 Cars Sold in Month 1, 501 Cars in Year 1
Goal: Sell 5 Cars Everyday
Daily Sales Training with Grant Cardone University
Working Hard “I’m a man of routine”
What are you going to do with today?
Closing Sales by Solving your Customer’s Problem
Car Sales Philosophy of Service and Creating a Fan
This Car Salesman is “Not About the Money”
The worst thing you could do is try to make a sale and lie to somebody
You Have to Believe in What You’re Selling
To Improve Car Sales Success – Cherish your Customers
Referrals are Key to Success
Take Responsibility for Your Sales Results
Build a Culture of Service to Drive Car Sales Success
Get a Routine, Write down Your Goals, Make Your Calls

Key Takeaways:
[:29] Scott introduces his guest for this episode — John Hinkson.
[1:27] What are the top three things that have allowed John to get to the top?
[2:44] How does John maintain a positive attitude in his approach?
[4:26] How did John get into sales?
[7:13] What was it that allowed John to get to the top so quickly?
[9:48] Scott gives a shout out to ViewedIt, the exclusive sponsor of this episode!
[10:22] John quantifies his results over the last three years that he’s been in sales.
[12:49] What pushed John into sales in the first place?
[14:19] What has been the biggest challenge for John in this process?
[15:56] How does John deal with all the competing demands that he is faced with, sometimes all at the same time?
[17:40] What is John’s daily routine, and how does he structure his day?
[20:55] John listens to and learns from different training pieces every single day.
[23:49] John describes how he wraps up his day.
[25:30] What does John do on the social media front, and what works best for him?
[29:10] What are some tools and apps that are core to John’s processes and routines?
[30:57] How much time does John actually spend talking to customers about cars in his sales process?
[34:02] What is John’s sales philosophy?
[35:07] What motivates John, or how does he think about motivating himself?
[37:59] What is something that John believes or does, that the typical car salesperson would think is crazy?
[40:15] On the flip side, what do typical car sellers do that John thinks is crazy?
[41:42] What advice does John have for someone starting on their sales career, to get off to a good start?
[43:45] What advice does John have for people further along in their sales journey and looking to improve their results?
[47:06] What does John want to learn from other top sellers?
[47:56] John is doing some unique and different things to help boost his sales. What is he actually doing, and which practice has been the most impactful?
[50:40] John’s formula for success is really simple — take care of people and their needs, and turn their experience with you into something memorable and positive.
[52:18] One of the biggest things when it comes to success is just taking responsibility — nobody else is responsible for your success.
[55:35] Do things that make you uncomfortable, because that will help you grow as a person.
[56:33] John has some final tips on the key ingredients that have contributed to his success, that you can use too!
[58:53] John challenges you to get a routine, write down your goals every day for what you hope to accomplish, and just get out there to overcome the problems that you face.
[1:01:08] Be a part of the Sales Success Community by signing up for the mailing list at top1sales.wpengine.com!

Mentioned in This Episode:
Top1.fm
ViewedIt
Influitive
John Hinkson on LinkedIn
John Hinkson on Facebook
Dan Cummins Chevrolet
Grant Cardone University
DSA app
Podium