Your presence is your leverage

[Jeff Kershner]

Great advise @Baron Ringler, love the word track.

BTW - my response to Alex saying was a me being a smartass. I personally HATE that line. Unfortunately most of my team were trained by Phone Ninjas and that's a line that they trained to use, A LOT. And you're right, it's hard to get them to stop using.

 

[Jerry Thibeau]

Your presence is your leverage, and let me elaborate on that a little more for you. We have the largest inventory in the are and often we'll have similar cars and they may have slightly different packages. Being that I know the inventory here better than anyone, not only will I find you the right car, but I'll also get it for you at the best price. Then sell your dealership!!!

Just giving out a price first without trying for an appointment is a recipe to get shopped. Of course as a last resort if I can't get the appointment, I'll give them an exact price, but not before I ask about the trade.

Believe it or not, but we track how many times customers ask, "What's the best price?" Currently it's less than 5% of customers who ask for the price over the phone. Most times is the sales rep who leads the customer to price.

You guys can chuckle all you want, but we have a handful of clients that set appointments as high as 90%. The clients who score on a scale of 4.5 or higher are setting appointments at 80% or better.

I'll take my skills to any dealership and we can have a little wager on who knows how to convert phone shoppers to appointments! Just make sure you bring 5K or more with you for our bet!

 

[Joe Friedrichsen]

Everything about this thread is wonderful, haha.

 

[RickWillis]

View attachment 4485

It still happens today. Internet managers, BDC agents, and salespeople still send "your presence is your leverage" emails & texts to customers. Someone just showed me one.

A customer goes onto the dealer's website and clicks the "Get Price" call to action button to receive a slew of emails asking when they can come test drive, if they prefer to communicate over text message, or that their manager is super excited to work with them. And then the customer, in frustration, replies "I just want a price!" To be responded with "your presence is your leverage. We give the best deals to people who are in the showroom."

I shit you not.

Let's give the employee of the dealership the benefit of the doubt that he does not wish to message something so 1973. What happens to drive a perfectly good employee to send that garbage?

How many times can you ask a sales manager for a price before he starts saying "just get them in?" And how many times can you hear "just get them in" before you're tired of asking the boss for a price? You need to get back to these leads quickly. You have too many to answer already. And five more just came in. Screw it! Here's an easy answer.

Face it, we buy from people we like. If there's no one we like selling what we want, then the lowest price wins.

The industry has created the expectation that all salesmen are thieving dicks that will stop at nothing to get you in the showroom to strong-arm the sale. Is it any surprise the internet customer has no interest in engaging with you?

Unless you are willing to earn their respect, you can't expect them to think of you any less than piranha.

For the smart dealer, the TRUST YOU EARN is your LEVERAGE!

Rick

 

[Cameron Anchondo]

Face it, we buy from people we like. If there's no one we like selling what we want, then the lowest price wins.

The industry has created the expectation that all salesmen are thieving dicks that will stop at nothing to get you in the showroom to strong-arm the sale. Is it any surprise the internet customer has no interest in engaging with you?

Unless you are willing to earn their respect, you can't expect them to think of you any less than piranha.

For the smart dealer, the TRUST YOU EARN is your LEVERAGE!

Rick

This. Rick put this perfectly.

Car salesman have some of the worst rep ever with customers, you're already at a disadvantage.

When I was looking for a car, I had the same "come in and ger the price" BS and when I did go in, they still refused to give me the price before I would agree to test drive it.

Multiple dealers had the "your presence is your leverage" philosophy and refused to give pricing information and tried to strong-arm the sale.

The result? I found another dealer who just said the price, worked with me to get the payments where I wanted and made me trust them.

Point is, for every customer you lose using some antiquated philosophy, some other dealership is going to come along and build actual trust and respect with the customer and you're going to lose the sale.

 

[ChrisR]

This. Rick put this perfectly.

Car salesman have some of the worst rep ever with customers, you're already at a disadvantage.

When I was looking for a car, I had the same "come in and ger the price" BS and when I did go in, they still refused to give me the price before I would agree to test drive it.

Multiple dealers had the "your presence is your leverage" philosophy and refused to give pricing information and tried to strong-arm the sale.

The result? I found another dealer who just said the price, worked with me to get the payments where I wanted and made me trust them.

Point is, for every customer you lose using some antiquated philosophy, some other dealership is going to come along and build actual trust and respect with the customer and you're going to lose the sale.

100%

Just had a gentleman fly from California to our small Southern Idaho town to drive his new car home, because we were quick to reply, gave full informational answers, and took care of a fluctuating situation.