Friday, January 4, 2008

The Power of Obligation

Want to sell more cars? I didn't think so--neither do I. You know why not? Because I am by heart a very lazy person and sometimes I don't "give it my all" when dealing with a customer.

It's simple--all we need to do is make a friend and we will sell a car. All we need to do is break the natural barriers that people have when they walk on the lot and we will sell more cars. All we need to do is find some way to obligate our customers and they will find a reason to buy from us.

OK--forget the first paragraph of this post. I know that we all want to sell more cars but believe me when I state this--and I am as guilty as everyone else--we don't do everything in our power to sell more cars.

The title of this post is "The Power of Obligation." What are some things we could do to obligate our customers to buy from us?

1) I like to buy them a drink. We have a drink machine that sells pop for $1.25 a bottle in our waiting room (or "Coke" for all of you southern folks--I lived down there for a few years myself.) I work with people who flatly refuse to buy a drink for a customer because if the customer doesn't buy--the salesperson just lost $1.25! I buy them a drink even if I know that they cannot get approved. Why? Simple--most other salespeople won't and you never know--they might have a strong co-signer. If I have a customer that doesn't seem to want to listen to me, I'll buy them a drink because who is going to walk out with a full bottle of pop that they didn't pay-for without at least listening to what you have to say while they drink it? This technique is used on a larger scale for the "Time Share" people--they give you a gift like a free night or concert tickets and all you have to do is listen to their sales pitch. They even tell you that you don't have to buy--just listen. "What's the catch?" you ask them. None. The law of averages states that if enough people listen, some will buy. If you purchase enough pops and it gives people more time to relax and listen, more will buy.

2) Spend time with the customer--a lot of time. Get to know them. Do a good demo. Show them around your dealership. Take them on a good test drive. Ask them questions. Get them talking about themselves!!! This obligates them. You are no longer the crook trying to take their money but you are becoming their friend. I have customers who have become better friends and have disclosed many personal things about themselves that they probably haven't disclosed to lifelong friends. They are great customers and they send me ton of referrals. I would do anything for them and vice-versa.

3) I know the numbers--if you let someone leave the dealership you will probably never see them again--at least not 80-90% of them. I believe in doing everything in your power to sell a car but you know what? Never make them feel bad for leaving or never let them leave being mad at you. When they leave, I immediately send them a letter thanking them for their time--by the way ( I do sell software so I have to put a plug in for it...) Car Sales Assistant handles this automatically. CSA 2008 will even handle it better (still a couple of days out but will be out very soon...) Don't make the letter seem like a form letter... you know the type... Dear John Jacob Smith, Jr. , thank you for visiting me at Biff Motors, Inc. We appreciate your considering leasing/buying the blah blah blah. I know I sell software that prints such letters but you know what? Do a better job writing them than your dealer can. You know what's important to your customers--they don't. Hand write a little P.S. at the end--be sincere! Other salespeople won't do it and it will obligate them to you.

4) Use your customer to self evaluate yourself. This is tough because we never like to hear what we did wrong. If you are sincere about it, they will appreciate it.

5) Complement your customers. I don't care how much you hate the person you are dealing with, you can always find something to complement them on. Whether it is their children, their vehicle, a watch they are wearing, the sports team on their hat--find something and be sincere about it. I love complements--don't you? I once was looking at computers (and having trouble making up my mind) and the guy at Best Buy asked me which one I was looking at and I told him. He said, "Great choice!" and got the sale. Now I'm in sales and know that he probably says that to everyone but it helped put me over the edge. Use this method with your next customer and watch how well it works. "What car are you looking at?" I like that new Yugo. "Great choice!"

6) Things that can obligate them to buy from your competition...

  • Talking politics. You will probably piss them off with your views so don't do it! When I lived in Tennessee, people would always ask me if I was a democrat or republican. I would ask them back--what are you? Republican. Wow--me too! Or use the ever popular I've been too busy selling cars and taking care of customers to even know what's going on in politics.
  • Talking religion. You will probably piss them off with your views so don't do it!
  • Cracking jokes that are racial, ethnic, sexual, stupid. You will really piss them off so don't do it! One of our salespeople had a customer--a lady customer. She was sitting at someone's desk waiting for the salesperson when he walked in and cracked one of his weird jokes (they all never make sense to us...) he asked if she was "Here for the 3-legged race. Winner buys a car from me. Loser buys a car from me. If we tie, you buy a car from me." OK--first of all, why crack a stupid #@$%& joke like that? Second of all, she got a disgusted look on her face, got up and limped over to his desk. As if the joke was now not embarrassing enough, this bone-head says to her, "I saw that you were lame so I figured I would joke about it." Oh my God! She could have lost a foot to diabetes or in Iraq or had a toe blown off in Nam or burnt her foot in the house fire that killed her pet hamster or anything! Well, do I even need to tell the rest of the story? I will anyways...she didn't buy a car from us.
  • Talking bad about the competition. Instead of ripping them up, build your organization up.
  • Talking bad about their car. Never rip it up when getting it appraised--at least not out loud. Instead of cracking a joke about the dent in the side, rub your finger on it and say, Hmmmmmm.
  • And if you live in Michigan and they are from Ohio, never bad mouth Ohio State no matter how hard it is not to. Actually when I was living in Tennessee--I saw a truck pull up that had an Ohio State sticker on it. I greeted the customers and they said, "Nice day, isn't it?" (The weather was beautiful in Tennessee...) I said, "It was a nice day until I saw that truck pull up with that Ohio State sticker that fried my eyes--I'm from Michigan." They laughed but the joke brought us closer and helped us build rapport because even though we were enemies in the eyes of college football (even though I was too stupid to go to either college) we were friends in the fact that we were both Yankees from up-north. After they bought, they told me that they bought from me because they "felt like I was like them" In other words, even though we hated each other because of college football, we became friends. Now if only we could do this in the middle east!
  • And finally, if you are from Michigan, always bad mouth Ohio State because college pride (even if you were like me--too stupid to get accepted to either school) is more important than selling a car and don't forget it!


No comments: