Extra Sales Without a Spec. Fin. Dept. – Part III
Prepare
Every missed sale can be tracked to an interview in which the presenter of the products and services either did not ask the right questions or missed the clues the customer gave about how to sell to them.
Interviewing skills are critical in gleaning information on how to present product & service benefits to each customer. Customers want products and services that provide increased:
– Security
– Convenience
– Peace of Mind
– Ease of Doing Business
– Affordability
– Dependability
A good interview helps you hit the customer’s mark and makes it easier to ask for the sale. The secret to your success is to make sure the customer sees your products as the solution to his expressed needs. See if you can add to this list of key interview queries:
– How much do you budget for each month to pay for future repairs?
-Who takes the vehicle to the shop when repairs are required?
-What type of vehicle repairs do you handle yourself?
-Is guaranteed mobility critical to your life style?
-Where do you go when you are on vacation?
-What gear do you take along with you?
-If your paycheck was less than normal due to an illness or injury would this monthly vehicle obligation be a hardship for you and your family?
A good interview also requires that you listen. How are your listening skills? Do you hear what the customer is telling you? Do you take time to clarify the customer’s concerns before you offer solutions? Engage your eyes as well as your ears to listen. Pay close attention to body language. Is the customer leaning in or leaning back when they talk to you? Does the customer make eye contact when answering your questions?
Make sure your presentation links the products to the customer’s life style requirements. If there is no connection, asking for the order is an exercise in futility. If the customer doesn’t see a need, no solution is required, and there goes the sale. When you can create mental ownership of products and services, the customer can visualize using the solution. This vision creates a willingness to purchase your wares.
Your presentation must also demonstrate value. The two most common reasons customers don’t buy are either they perceive no value or believe they can’t afford it. In my experience, when value outweighs cost you have the magic ingredients to make the sale. Watch for buying signals during your presentation. When the customer leans in or asks, “How much would that add to my payments?” you have critical buying signals.
Present
By now you have created a menu tailored to the dealership’s available products and services. Use the next 10 steps to make the menu work for you.
1) Greet. Do this at the sales consultant’s work area. Review the sales figures with the customer and explain that together you will now complete all the title work and take care of the funding issues. Invite the customer back into your office with you.
2) Build Rapport. Remember no one is going to do business with you until they feel you care about them. Reviewing the customer statement can be a great tool for getting to know the customer.
3) Conduct the Interview. This is a critical time for identifying the customer’s needs and buying motivators. Are they security minded, price sensitive, mechanically inclined, or ego driven? How are they going to use your products and services?
4) Present the Products. Remove all the brochures from your desk and use one presentation book to introduce the products from the customer’s point of view, demonstrating how the customer can benefit from them.
5) Ask Trial Closing Questions. During the presentation, ask seven little questions that will get “yes” answers. Trial closes are vital to test the waters. It takes seven little yes’s to equal one BIG yes.
6) Ask for the $ale. “Aren’t these the type of benefits you want to protect your investment?”
7) Let the customer ask. “How much is my payment?” That’s the question you are looking for. Now it is your turn to use the menu to summarize the benefits. Begin with the Premium Plan and work your way down to the Economy Plan. Ask the customer if they have any questions about the payment options you have presented.
8) Give the customer choices. Right on cue, the customer will select one of the payment plans on the menu. When you ask the customer to choose between something and something they usually select something. When you ask the customer to choose between something and nothing, the customer usually selects nothing. Although nothing is always an easier choice for the customer, nothing is not an option for you.
9) Isolate the customer’s concerns. “Rest assured, we do not want you to buy anything you do not see value in. By the way, what is it about ______ that gives you the greatest concern?” Your goal is to let the customer select one of the menu options and then to attempt to move the choice up one category by identifying the concerns and showing the value of the product from the custom’s point of view. Perhaps you omitted something critical about the benefits during the presentation. Ask again for the sale.
10) Make full disclosure and complete the documentation. Be certain to adhere to the disclosure rules of the consumer protection laws. If you have created value in your products you should not falter when you disclose all the terms and conditions of the installment contracts and related documentation.
Produce
When you have earned Those Extra Dollar$, return the customer to the sales consultant for a world-class vehicle delivery.
World of Special Finance, January 2003, p. 20, 22.