Want the Upper Hand? Think Like a Hotel. You need to make the customer feel important, valued and part of the company's family.

Tom Maoli bought his first Lexus dealership in 2011. It wasn't easy. Lexus usually doesn't allow people with no experience in the car business to buy in. But he convinced them he could not only learn it fast but do it better.

As Maoli stood inside his new shop, he immediately noticed an opportunity to demonstrate what he was talking about. "The first thing that set me off was the way customers were greeted coming in the front door," Maoli says. "They were greeted and then left alone to wander." And if a salesperson was busy and didn't get to a customer quickly enough, that person would just turn around and walk back out.

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