Trial Closes

A trial close is simply a technique that we use to see if a customer is ready to buy. You can compare it to taking their temperature to see if they are "hot" for the car or "cold."

Here are a couple of good trial closes in no particular order.

The Sold Line Trial Close: When you are pulling back into the lot after a test drive (hopefully the customer is driving) say, "Jim--it looks like we found the perfect car for you. Do me a favor and park this car in the sold line so no one else tries to sell your car."

One of two things will happen...

1) They will pull it into the sold line which means they want to buy the car or
2) They will give you an objection or excuse that you will have to overcome to sell the car.

Where is the sold line? Wherever you want it to be. I tell them to park next to our service department. It really doesn't matter as long as they think it is the sold line.

The Either/Or Trial Close: Ask an either/or question regarding their paper work like, "Do you guys want to title the car in one name or two?" They will either give you an answer which means they want to title the car (they are buying it) or an objection.

The "Do you have time to do the paperwork right now?" trial close: Very simple...head into it with an overview of the features that they wanted and then say, "Jim--sounds like we found the perfect car for you. Do you have time to do the paperwork right now?" If they say yes, get the paperwork started! If they say no say, "When do you want to do it?" They will either give you a different time or an objection.

NOTE: Your goal should be to "spot deliver" everything so if they say that they will do the paperwork but do it tomorrow, you must talk them into doing it today. Why? There's a lot of dealerships between today and tomorrow and a lot of "little birdies" like they neighbor that might say, "You're not getting a good deal...see my friend at Biff Motors--he'll get you a better one."

How do you talk them into doing it today? Use what I call the "it would help me out" close. Hopefully you have done a good job with your customer and bought them some drinks to obligate them so you have earned the right to say, "Jim--would you mind doing the paperwork right now? We're not that busy and I know we already have a lot of deliveries set up for tomorrow. It would also really help me out." Who's not going to want to help you out if you do a great job? Right--no one!

Hopefully these few tips can help you sell cars--they have helped me out. It puts people under a lot of pressure if you try to grind a "yes" out of them when asking them if they will "buy right now if terms are agreeable" (a very weak close by the way) but easier to ask them to park in the "sold line"--they both accomplish the same thing but the sold line is a lot less pressured from your end.

Good luck selling!

Marv Chomer
www.carsalesassistant.com