Sale Process

Kim MacPherson

Staff turnover in dealerships has always been high. In today’s tough market we see sales staff leaving the car business and this can be a great thing. The sales professionals left behind are the ones that can get through the difficult times showing that they are taking necessary steps to make sure they follow up, prospect more and have good sale processes. Employees leaving will allow you the opportunity to hire fresh staff and train them the way you want. It is the perfect time to make sure you have the staff the way you want and the way you want them trained. Your investment in them will in turn create loyalty, which will increase your sales, gross profits, parts and service revenue and CSI, and improve employee morale and decrease staff turnover.

Here are some tips on sale process that can help every sales professional. It’s basic stuff we all seem to know but forget or skip from time to time. This is great review for your veteran sales professionals and a good start for your new staff.

Step one: Meet and greet

This step on paper seems so easy, however, it is the hardest step to execute well for most sales professionals. If you can handle the objections you will be more confident. Talking to more people equals more ups and more ups equals more sales. The key to greeting your customer and maintaining control is to ensure you have a plan and you are confident in executing it. You must make sure what you are doing has a purpose.

The untrained or just unmotivated sales professional is still greeting customers with, “Can I help you?” We all know what the response is, “No I am just looking.” It’s like a soccer ball hitting the puddle. They call it dead in the water. Where do you go from there?

Try this: “Hi, welcome to XYZ Motors. Are you here for our 123 promotion?” or “Is there someone you are here to see?” or “Can I show you where our service department is?” Ask your customer a question. Take control; they are a guest in your home. When your customer answers you, your response is always, “Follow me” and take them inside.

Why do we take the customer inside? Simple, we ask the customer to come inside because there is nothing we can do for them outside. We have to go inside to get keys and dealer tags, so why not go inside?

Now let’s deal with the meeting that is not going so well. Let’s say you do come across objections; it’s going to happen, the best thing you can do is be ready to handle them. The following are the standard objections we hear all the time.

“I am just looking.”

This is a customer protecting himself. He is not going to walk in and say he is buying. Don’t let this objection change your course of direction. Introduce yourself and bring the customer into your office. Try this, “No problem, let me get a quick idea of the type of vehicle you are looking for. Follow me.” Turn and walk. The customer will nine times out of 10 follow you.

“What is your best price?”

In order to get over this objection you have to really understand that until the customer selects a vehicle, he or she will not buy at any price. The customer is programmed to ask this question right away.

Try this, “Is this the exact vehicle you want the best price on?” Make the customer confirm his selection. “Let me ask you Mr./Ms. Customer, if there were other vehicles similar with perhaps less kilometers and a possible better price would you be interested in getting the best price on those vehicles?” The customer does not want to miss a good deal. He will always say yes to this question. You respond with, “Great, follow me.” Take them to your office to sit down and get an idea of the type of vehicle he wants.

“Can’t buy today; my wife is not here.”

No problem; this is no big deal. Don’t upset your customer by telling him to come back when he has his wife with him. Interview your customer, select a vehicle, and see if he will go get his wife in your car.

“I want my best trade value. What is my trade worth?” Trade value first.

If you get into it about the trade in the beginning you will get sidetracked and start taking shortcuts. Try assuring your customer that your dealership will pay top dollar for good trades. If he wants to get the appraisal out of the way, do it, no big deal, but while you are asking him about the trade ask him at the same time the type of vehicle he wants. What does he like about his car and what doesn’t he like? All this helps you select the right car for your customer. Try to select the vehicle while the appraisal is being handled.

Step two: Interview

This is just about talking to your customer to find out about his vehicle requirements, loan requirements, or is there anyone else involved in answering these questions. Build a relationship; give your customer a reason to buy from you.

This step, along with greeting the customer accounts for 70 percent of the sale process. This stage will tell you how to sell your customer a car as well, as if you should be working on getting the car loan first or selecting the car.

If you are not good at building relationships with people, practice asking questions, talk to people at the supermarket, the gas station and around your community. Asking questions makes you great at your job and you will be surprised how many people walk away from a conversation with you feeling great about themselves!

Step three: Vehicle selection

When you are selecting a vehicle with your customers make sure you ask them if they like the car if you are selecting. Keep the communication open and listen; sell them what they want.

Step four: Walkaround presentation

Just do one. Most sales professionals are skipping this step and you will get better results if you do this simple step. The problem is most sales professionals that do a walk around point out the features and information that is in the brochure. Your walkaround should be a feature advantage benefit presentation using the information given to you in the interview.

Step five: Demo drive

Again, just do one. It’s great if you have a route and plan to go with them; it’s better. There are a lot of sales professionals skipping this step all together because the customer tells them they don’t have to. You need to get over this objection to earn their business. If they don’t drive they will not buy. Purchasing a vehicle is an emotional experience. You need your customer to be thinking about how nice the drive felt when he is reviewing what it will cost him to purchase it. Do not ask your customer if he wants to drive, assume he is going to drive. Open the driver side door and ask him to take a seat. Also, tell your customer your used car manager needs the time to do the appraisal on their trade anyway and it is better than sitting around waiting.

Step six: Exact selection

Pick the exact car out of inventory color, package, trim, accessories and everything they will want added. Work with one exact stock number. Your customer wants the best price; then he will understand you need the exact vehicle.

Step seven: Service walk

This helps the sale process because the customer is becoming more comfortable with the dealership. It is very hard for most people to walk into a strange environment and feel at ease. If you can make sure your customer likes you, the vehicle and the dealership, you pretty much guarantee he will find a way to purchase from you. Going to another dealership is that painful.

Step eight: Worksheet/trade appraisal

Negotiation is simple if you have completed all the previous steps and you are listening to your customer. The key to keeping confidence is to remember you do not start the negotiations; the customer does every time. If they don’t want to negotiate I think we can all agree that would be great for us. Present your numbers first always and then wait for an objection. There may not be one on the price or there may not be one at all.

Once you have closed the deal each customer should visit the finance department to complete and review the paperwork and learn about how they can protect themselves as well as their vehicle.

I will cover handling the objections during the negotiation in my next article. I hope this information helps you get refreshed and sell more vehicles. Get ready for a great year in the car business. Stay positive and focused and you will come out on top.

Kimberly MacPherson is president of Next Step Automotive. She has been in the automotive industry for over 10 years, working as a sales professional to a dealer principal. MacPherson currently provides sub-prime sales training throughout Canada.Contact this writer.