Let me tell you a story. Almost 20 years ago, I was using an Amiga Computer as my main computer. It was built by Commodore and followed the popular Commodore 64 computer. I was a die-hard Commodore user that started with the Vic-20 back in the early 80's. I swore that I would never get an "IBM Compatible" as they were called back then until I saw that a game called "Railroad Tycoon" was coming out for the PC only. I love video games and had to have that game so I decided to buy a PC. Back then, they were a 286 processor and moved about as fast as molasses in the winter. Where to buy one, then? Hmmm.
I had a friend of mine who worked at a local appliance store and he told me he could sell me one. I went up there and bought the computer that my friend recommended to me. I didn't question anything--the features, the options, the price... anything! Now, as I look back, I realize that I probably paid too much and probably didn't get a computer with all the stuff that I would have like to have gotten (it didn't have enough memory--I think it had 512K of memory (not Megabytes mind you--kilobytes) and didn't include a mouse (had to pay extra) and didn't even have a good sound or video card. To make matters worse, everything was hard-wired on the motherboard and it was damn hard to add stuff to it.
What is the moral of this story? Be someone's friend and they will buy off of you no questions asked. If you can't be their friend, at least get them to like you. How can you get people to like you? Here are some tips.
- Find something in common with your customer. It could be a sports team, where you live, where you went on vacation, kids the same age, etc. Focus on their things, though--not yours. When I sold cars in Tennessee, I sold a lot of Saturn employees and most of them were from Michigan so I had instant rapport. Conversely, if I meet someone from Tennessee now that I live in Michigan again, I bring up the fact that my wife is from there and that I lived there for seven years.
- Ask them a lot of questions. People like talking about themselves--not you.
- If married, focus on the wife--ask her most of the questions. Wives hate being left out--ask mine!
- Learn to have a great sense of humor! Very, very important. It my not show in this blog, but I like to think I'm a very funny guy. If you can make someone laugh, you will win them over. Don't crack jokes about race, religion, politics, gender, etc. Do crack jokes about yourself. When I sold cars in Tennessee, I made myself the butt of many "yankee" jokes and believe me, it helped!
- Try not to use a lot of high pressure tactics. Use subtle tactics instead. Now, don't get me wrong--I have pressured the hell out of people and sold them cars but that was only as a last ditched attempt when I knew they were leaving and that I would never have another chance with them.
- Sincerely thank them for coming up to see you--even if they buy or if they don't. Getting people in front of you is 99% of selling and you really should be thankful when you have a live soul in front of you.
- Damn it--don't be cheap! Buy your customers a drink! And I don't mean a cup of water from the faucet or coffee but a soda or juice from a machine that costs you money. Let them know that you are taking care of it and have them see you take the money our of your pocket as you walk away to buy it. Not only will they appreciate it but it will obligate them to buy from you!
- Find something to like about your customer. They could be the biggest mooch and treat you like dirt but I'm sure there is something.
- If they mention that they were in "the war or the service," sincerely thank them for their service to our country and ask them a few questions about it. "Oh yeah? What branch of the service? When?"
Marv Chomer
www.CarSalesAssistant.com
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