We often hear several times in this business that we forget as sales people to put yourself in the customers shoes.
If you were a potential buyer about to spend anywhere from $10,000 to $50,000 lets say on a vehicle purchase-can we not agree that this is a big decision for most people?
I am sure many of you have seen this post being shared on Facebook and Twitter:
It paints the perfect perception that most people think when they think "Car Salesmen". A customer naturally has that stereotype that a Car Salesman is going to take their money and rip them off.
A customer holds back giving all their information on an internet lead/inquiry because of FEAR. As a customer who has this instinctual fear of a "car salesman": an email is perceived to be much less personal than a phone call or having to speak to a car salesperson at the dealership in person-so they will put in to "contact via email only" with no phone number or a bogus phone number. Writing an email as a customer is a customer that is keeping all of their boundaries up-they are looking to buy a car, they just want to keep control of the situation and not be "hounded with calls" or "pushed into a sale by a pushy salesperson": they are going to keep as much control of the sales process they can by communicating only by email. By doing this the customer does not have to rush-and they can feel control of their buying decision because of FEAR.
It is our job…as was stated in this thread previously, to BREAK THAT BARRIER. We must give such a "wow factor", world class experience to our customers that we are no longer a "car salesperson". Aren't we in a business about personal relationships and do we take our careers as professionals?
As a committed, professional salesperson we need to break the impression this customer has of us and get THEM to respond. Get THEM to ONLY want to talk to you.
Get THEM to ONLY want to buy from you.
Brand yourself to them as a person they will like and trust.
Give them such a great first impression and build such a great relationship from the beginning that they are no longer focused on that FEAR. They are dependent upon you for all of their automotive needs and THEY will call you or email you for an appointment because they see the value in their purchase.
When at Sunset Honda, I quickly found "FIRST IMPRESSIONS" are huge in this business. An email is just words on a screen: there is no body language, tone inflection and there is lack of emotion for that matter:
Imagine instead of a canned email you got a personal video message like this:
When at Sunset Honda, I did this with every customer.
I made short videos anywhere from 1 minute to 10 minutes (for longer walkaround videos imbedded as well) and my response to these from customers were not only a complimentary email or phone call back-but an easy sale by the time these customers would meet me in person. I averaged about 21 cars a month and had a 20% closing ratio with internet leads.
This customer put in a fake bogus name, a fake phone number and only a valid email. After I sent him a video he replied with this:
This is another customer who was an easy sale on a new Honda Fit.
Email is easier for the customer and they feel like they have control, which is why they often don't put their phone numbers in anymore of they will put fake ones.
The Phone is the next step up from an email-as we now have this customer on the phone and can gain control of expression and tone inflection over the phone.
However, the ultimate way of selling still goes back into the fact the the customer needs to BE AT THE DEALERSHIP. Here we have full control of the sale and it is the most personal.
It is our job to get them from an email-to a phone-into the store and to a sale.
To do this-break your stereotype. Create such a phenomenal first impression with video so that you can gain control of the sale. Customers want value with their purchase-with value is a good product they are purchasing and a great service (sales person)they are receiving with it.
Be The One.
