Ex-Farmer-Turned-Dealer Mogul: From £450 Peugeot to 150-Car Empire
Selling In The Motor Trade
Malcolm Beatty was meant to auction cattle, not cars. But after his dad died and the family farm future vanished, the 16-year-old opened the Yellow Pages, circled “car salesman”, and never looked back. In this raw conversation, the MB Motors founder reveals: • How a £450 Peugeot 306 on his driveway became a 150-car forecourt – and why he still trusts auction sheets over glossy adverts. • The thieves who stole seven of his best cars and the brutal lessons that now keep his yard fortress secure. • Why farmers make the toughest negotiators and...
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5 Objection-Handling Scripts Every Service Advisor Needs.
Selling In The Motor Trade
Most service advisors freeze the moment a customer pushes back. This episode breaks down 5 objection-handling scripts that turn awkward “no thanks” moments into confident, ethical sales. Simon walks through: • (2:30) The tyre pitch that makes price comparisons irrelevant • (4:21) The brake fluid line that reframes the risk • (6:01) The HVAC analogy that changes minds in winter • (7:17) The old-school script that still works: Feel, Felt, Found • (8:29) A closing line so disarming it doesn’t feel like selling. If...
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Email Templates Are Costing You Sales
Selling In The Motor Trade
Speed matters. But when six dealers send back the same templated email, guess who the customer trusts? No one. In this episode, Simon breaks down: • Why quick replies aren’t the same as good ones (2:01) • The 7 digital questions every sales team should prepare for (8:10) • A smarter way to personalise replies using ChatGPT—without rewriting everything (9:04) • The exact format top salespeople at Leasing Options are using right now (12:01) This one’s for sales managers relying on automation but losing the human touch. If...
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Valuation Apps Don’t Sell Cars. You Do.
Selling In The Motor Trade
Too many salespeople think they’re being helpful by sending valuation app links upfront. They’re not. They’re handing the deal away. In this episode, Simon breaks down how lazy reliance on digital tools is losing you sales. He explains why quoting a part-ex price before building rapport is a dead-end, how to uncover hidden objections using the “1 to 10” condition scale (24:41), and why most customers rate their banged-up car as a 10/10 without blinking. Highlights include: • [10:50] Why sending the app link too soon ends the conversation • ...
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B2B Sales: Where Do You Start Prospecting?
Selling In The Motor Trade
In this episode we look at business to business sales. Obviously, you are still dealing with people but getting to speak to the right person first of all is key. With this in mind, where do you start? Simon discusses some approaches to help when cold calling: from canvassing your suppliers to competitors of your existing customers. If your hand feels heavy prospecting your business database, then these top tips will help. Here are the highlights: {01:14} Marketing isn’t selling {02:25} Bouncing off one customer to another {03:37} Suppliers {04:28} Competitors of your existing customers...
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The 3 Sales Mistakes That Kill Deals — And How to Fix Them
Selling In The Motor Trade
Every dealership loses deals, but do you actually know why? After 25 years of training thousands, I'm breaking down the 3 most common deal killers in the motor trade — and what top-performing salespeople do differently. In this episode: Why the trial close is make-or-break (and how most reps botch it) The subtle ways your team avoids asking for the sale How most demo drives are a mess — and what to do instead A smarter way to spot underperformance (hint: it's not a mystery shop) How to stop salespeople from reverting to bad habits under pressure If you manage a sales team or...
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Chris Wiseman: Why Success Starts With Daily Discipline, Data-Driven Meetings & Human Customer Service
Selling In The Motor Trade
As you know we often have so much to discuss with our guests, that it covers two episodes, and our recent interview with Chris Wiseman (Managing Director – Wessex Garages) is no different. In the first instalment we discussed the OEM partnership and this week we move onto the culture within Wessex, staff recruitment and their online navigation team. We also look the how the market may be structured in the future, the barriers to success and Chris’s top tips. Here are the highlights: {01:10} What does the week look like {08:15} Recruitment {13:25} Online Navigators {22:57} Team...
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Partnership with Your OEM
Selling In The Motor Trade
We welcome back Chris Wiseman (Managing Director – Wessex Garages), he first joined us on the podcast 219 episodes ago, and a lot has happened since then. Today we discuss the OEM/Dealer relationship, how that has changed and the key to its success going forward. How the new brands differ in their strategies and culture to the legacy brands and the benefits to that. We then dive into the new and used car markets, the current climate and the challenges ahead. Here are the highlights: {02:25} Growth {05:25} Relationship with your OEM {10:10} Broken Model {11:30} Hybrid Agency...
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Empower Your Sales People
Selling In The Motor Trade
We continue with Joe St John, Chief Customer Officer from AutoFi, in this episode. Joe is so passionate about his role, that he went on a journey round the states, in disguise taking sales jobs in order to understand the current process good and bad. What stood out to him, is that managers are exhausted and covering many roles. Customers are more sceptical than in the past and the trust gap with the trade has grown. We discuss empowering your sales team and giving them the tools to succeed. Here are the highlights: {00:52} Back to the floor {03.33} Transaction time is longer...
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Time Kills Deals
Selling In The Motor Trade
We are delighted to have Joe St John, Chief Customer Officer from AutoFi, with us for the next two episodes. His background is automotive, his parents worked in dealerships, and he has been a salesman, manager and trainer in the trade for a number of years. Joe was our favourite speaker from this year’s NADA conference in New Orleans. He is so passionate about the customer experience and how we transition from their digital research to the buying process on site. As he says time kills deals, so let’s focus on making it as smooth and efficient as possible. Here are the...
info_outlineUmesh Samani - Owner of Specialist Cars Stoke, and Chairman of the IMDA, joins us to chat about selling used EVs. We focus on used electric vehicles from an independent dealer’s point of view. The challenges buying and selling them initially creates and the opportunities afforded once mastered.
At the moment approximately 6% of vehicles on Auto Trader are EVs, but this is growing all the time and gaining knowledge and confidence to sell them early is the key to ensuring future success.
We discuss some best practices and pitfalls to avoid, that can help with the transition.
Here are the highlights:
{02:25} Biggest Opportunity
{06:12} Confidence
{07:22} Educate Consumers
{10:21} Frustrated Used EV Customers
{10:38} Charging
{16:59} Pricing
{22:34} Battery Degradation
{31.27} Servicing
{36:13} Sourcing
{40:00} Sell by Date
About Symco Training:
Symco Training was founded in 2000 by Simon Bowkett and it was his belief that the business had to offer its clients something different. That difference was clear to Simon from his days in the dealership when he experienced many sales trainers who had all the answers, but were unable, unwilling or both to actually show the delegate how they could be implemented. It remains the ethos of the business today. You see, Symco only employ trainers that are committed to delivering not only in spiring and insightful training, but are equally as happy to demonstrate these skills and techniques with real customers in your own showroom. We believe in order for sales training to be effective and in Simon’s words ‘real world’, it needs to be tried and tested in the only place it matters the showroom floor. There is no room for theory when your goals are for your team to sell more cars, hours or parts and retain more profit. In dealerships around the world the focus applied by many of the sales executives is to try and sell a deal. Symco specialise in getting your teams to focus on selling themselves, the product and then supporting this with the deal.
To find out more visit