Every day prospects walk on the lot and ask, “Do you have a white something?” And almost without exception, the average salesperson starts assuming that… the vehicle is for them; they want it: they know all about it; they’ve already driven it; they’ve got to have white.
BIG, BIG TIP: If you don’t have one, you never, ever say, “No, but I can get you one,” right off the bat. If you do, get ready to hear, “That’s OK, we were just looking, we’ll check back some other time.” Instead, you need to bypass color at this point with, “I don’t see one up front, they dropped off some cars yesterday and may be cleaning one up out back … what’s your second favorite color and we’ll look at that first?” (As you start walking toward your front lot).
First… find out who the vehicle is for. Salespeople present the wrong vehicle 30% of the time. No, I’m not talking about putting them on too much car 30% of the time, I’m talking about trying to sell them a vehicle they aren’t even interested in 30% of the time.
How does that happen? You assume that because they said, “I want to look at a white Malibu” … that they want one. To make sure you end up presenting the correct vehicle, your next question after your greeting is … “Who’s the lucky one Betty, who gets the new car this time? Is it for you or Bob?” When you get into the habit of asking this question, you’ll find that very often the car isn’t for them – it’s for someone else, or for no one else.
Example: A couple asked to look at a new blue Sentra. I asked, “Who’s the lucky one, you or Bob?” She told me, “Oh, we don’t want one, we want to buy a Z, our son lives up in Oregon and he just got one for school, and we just wanted to see what he bought.” A slightly different presentation, huh?
Or they pull up in a Corvette and ask to look at a new Mustang. If you assume it’s for them, you’ll probably also assume you should demo a GT and that you should show them how it’ll whup that Vette in 0-60, then demonstrate top end speed and how well it stops as you do a power slide back into the parking spot. But if the car is for your prospect’s 80-year-old mom who only drives to bingo, you covered the wrong vehicle, wrong features, and you just lost the sale.
Shortcut Alert – Shortcut Alert – Shortcut Alert: If they tell you, “I already drove it down the street – I know all about it,” before you say, “Do you wanna go inside and see what we can do?”, help me remember your competition down the street, so we know what your prospect just said.
With “I already drove it”, didn’t your prospect just say… “I talked to a 6-car guy down the street for about 20 minutes who didn’t know much about the product, we didn’t really hit it off, he didn’t ask me what I wanted it for, or how I’d use it, but he gave me their best price.”
I used to pucker every time somebody said, “We’ve shopped down the street and just want to know your best price.” Then I realized what that really meant.
When you hear, “I already know what I want,” or, “I know what I want, and have found pricing on the internet – what’s your best price?”…Just smile and say, “That’s great, it sounds like you’ve done your homework, so who’s the lucky one this time Betty, is it for you or Bob?” … and just keep asking questions, controlling the sale and following the steps.
Don’t assume they want the vehicle they asked about, or that they already know everything about it, if they say they’ve shopped. Just follow the steps, get ‘em excited and close the sale 57% of the time 101 minutes after your greeting.
