Kindness and Empathy in Car Sales with Andrew Sardone

**SPEAKER_1** (0:02)
The Bliss Business Podcast, the show about empathy, connection, and consciousness in business. Today's episode is brought to you by Zero Company, your paid search, social media, and programmatic ad experts.

**Stephen Sakach** (0:16)
We are going to Bliss Car Sales today. Sounds, I know, unreasonable or impossible, but we've got someone here who's doing the good work to help us with this topic. So, welcome back to the Bliss Business Podcast, where we explore how empathy, connection, and purpose transform business from the inside out. I'm Stephen here again with Tullio. Hey, guys.
Let's get to it here. Before we introduce our guest, let me just say, there's a recent Gallup survey found that companies with empathetic leaders see a 32% increase in sales. Imagine that. And 23% higher customer loyalty. So, in industries like car sales, where trust can feel hard to come by, leading with kindness and empathy isn't just refreshing. Maybe it's a game changer. So, today, we're going to explore how empathy and kindness can reshape the very often uncomfortable, as Tullio will attest to, car sales process. I've been looking forward to this conversation for quite a while. Tullio, introduce our guest today.

**Tullio Siragusa** (1:25)
Absolutely. We're happy to have our guest today, who's Andrew Sardone. He's the founder of AutoNerd. Andrew has built a career on redefining what it means to sell cars by focusing on transparency, trust, and genuine care for his customers. His approach has transformed a traditionally high pressure industry into one where buyers feel supported rather than sold to. Andrew, welcome to the show.
Not to cut you guys off. What inspired you to bring empathy and kindness into the core sales world? I mean, it definitely needs it, but what inspired you to do this?

**Andrew Sardone** (2:03)
One because everybody tells you, if you're going to start a business, find a door you can walk through that nobody's dealing with. It didn't come along as that. It came along more as like a wrecking ball to the side of the head one day. It was very early on when selling cars that I realized that the first few weeks of selling were my favorite weeks. And the reason was is that I didn't know any better. I knew to go out there, talk to people, have a good time and all of a sudden they just bought cars. And then as time progressed and I started learning more, I started realizing that customers weren't treated as customers that were treated as transactions and products. And this is really where the problems started to, where I started to see the problem because customers aren't that. Customers aren't your products. Customers are people that you're supposed to partner with and assist them in buying a vehicle. You see, going ahead and putting your, essentially looking through the customer's eyes, you see a process just like we were talking about a minute ago with your shopping for a used car, which I'm sure we'll get back to in a second here, that our process of selling cars is fundamentally broken. It means it's a process that is driven by going ahead in finding somebody and for lack of a better term, we're taught very frequently, kind of cracking their head open and taking them for what you can. And that's not right because when it comes to car sales, people aren't necessarily looking for a car. Eventually, they get worn down and they just don't want to do this anymore. And that's not where we want customers to be. We want them to come out in the first shot and realize, hey, you know what, car salespeople aren't that bad. Actually, this particular individual that I might be working with, they care for me, they're expressing kindness, they're realizing that this process ain't easy and I need to be able to go ahead and get this job done, but I need somebody that can get it done for me. And the whole AutoKnerd philosophy is going ahead, making sure that customer leaves smiling at the end of the day. And this means that we have to partner with them. We can't be a car salesperson, quote unquote, anymore, right? The days of being a car salesperson are gone and being a consultant has to come to the forefront. The days of being a, quote unquote, closer, they're gone. People naturally close themselves when they find something that they want, when they're motivated. And our primary job as sales consultants is to motivate them. And our primary job as managers is to teach them how to motivate customers to want to buy, because when people want to buy, it doesn't matter what the price is at that point. And the customer doesn't ask for negotiation at the end because nothing will stop them from buying that thing.