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Are You Selling or Are You Buying?

Have you ever had this conversation?

You: “Hi Mr. Customer, it’s me John from ABC Chevy and I just wanted to follow-up with you to see if you are still in the market for that 2010 Chevy Silverado that you e-mailed me about yesterday? I have a 2PM appointment slot open just for you today so that you can come down and let me demo the vehicle for you.

Client: “Hi John, thanks for getting back to me so soon with your e-mails and call. I am still in the market, I just don’t know if I have made up my mind about yet and my friend has a new Toyota Tundra that he swears is the best thing since sliced bread. I think might just wait.

If you have ever sold vehicles before, odds are you have had this conversation. Odds are you have had this conversation many times. It’s what you say next that will determine if you are selling or if you are buying.

You: Mr. Customer I can see you value your friends opinion and as luck has it I have a used Toyota Tundra on the lot as well that I would be more than happy to do a side by side comparison with you. I can demo each vehicle for you and weigh the pros and cons of each truck that will allow you to make an educated decision on what truck would work best for you. Does 2PM today sound good for you, or will tomorrow work better?

This is a great close and with this close you are planting the seeds of thought into the customers mind, the customer now feels that he has more than one option at your dealership and he is more likely to set an appointment with you and more importantly show! YOU JUST SOLD THE APPOINTMENT!

The following statement is what you do not want to say.

You:

Mr. Customer, I completely understand that you want to wait on your next purchase and when you decide that you are ready to buy, please consider ABC Chevy.

Though this statement is cordial and proper, you just bought what the client was selling. He said that he wanted to wait till after the first of the year and you bought it by saying that you understood and to consider your dealership when he decided to make a purchase. Sure you may sell a few customers this way, but I guarantee that in the end you will never reach your true potential as a stellar salesperson and you might as well use the empty showroom to get some exercise.

To everyone out there making a living in sales remember this:

1. Be fully prepared! What I mean by this is to make sure that you know your product inside and out, do research on you competitors product so that you will be easily able to compare your product to your competitors and always be asking relevant questions to discover a potential clients pain points.
2. Be excited! A few years ago I wrote a article about The Billy Mays Persona. We all remember him and how he was always excited about selling his products to the masses. Now I don’t mean that you need to yell and be spastic, all I am saying is to be passionate about what you are selling! When you are making cold calls and follow-up calls don’t be a monotone lame duck on the phone, be passionate about what you are selling, because if you believe that your product works then odds are your customers will too.
3. Always be closing! If you have followed steps 1 and 2 then you have put yourself in the position to always be trying to close the deal. 

Jason Parman

Internet Marketing and Digital Strategist

jasonparman@live.com

www.jasonparman.wordpress.com

While buying trucks from the market, it is recommended that you get second hand trucks. You should take good note of the serial number of the truck and then you should get in touch with the truck manufacturer in order to confirm that seller is registered keeper. This should be done before you go ahead and purchase it. manufacturer should have database regarding the details of registered owners and this will help in reducing any theft. Manufacturer might have informed by police or original owner if trailer gets stolen.

While driving the truck on the road; it is recommended that the truck shouldn’t be overloaded. It will effect the driving experience and you won’t be comfortable in driving it for long distances. There are specific limits about how much you should load up the truck and you should adhere to these rules while loading up the truck. If you go beyond this limit; then you are breaking the legal law and hence you might get in trouble later. Also, the safety of the other vehicles on the roads will get affected due to this.

While buying the truck, you should check the re sale value of the truck. If you are going to exchange or sell the truck in the future then this will help you in the future. You should take a note of the re-sale value and depreciation before you go ahead and purchase the trailer. Finally, customer support and warranty too is important. All this should be included while you buy the truck.

In their "Automotive Mobile Site Study", J.D. Power & Associates found that the use of smartphones for vehicle shoppers has increased exponentially. For example, they found that compared to 2010, those who used their smartphones to access automotive information increased by a staggering 40 percent.

Additionally, J.D. Power and Associates also found that 30% of male car shoppers use their smartphone when browsing for a new car. On the other hand, however, only 18% of women revert to their smartphone when looking to purchase their next car. Not surprisingly, the study also concluded that collectively shoppers 40 years of age and younger use their smartphone 26% of the time, while those 40 years of age and older only use their smartphones 21% of the time. It doesn't stop at smartphones, however.

Thanks to the emergence of tablet devices such as Apple's iPad and Blackberry's Playbook, vehicle shoppers aren't limited to just using their smartphones. During their study, J.D. Power discovered that many vehicle shoppers used a tablet device (iPad, Playbook) to access automotive websites. Men used a tablet device 22% of the time, while women only used a tablet device 16%.

Arianne Walker, director of Automotive research at J.D. Power & Associates had this to say following the study: "While the proportion of vehicle shoppers who use smartphones to visit the Internet during the shopping process is still relatively small, it is expected to continue to grow during the next several years, which will shape the way automotive marketers will need to design their mobile sites and apps."

If you're still not convinced that smartphones are changing the vehicle buying process, take this into consideration: the 40 percent increase in automotive website visitation on smartphones is greater than the use of gaming (27%) and social media (17%).

As more and more car dealerships move their attention towards smartphone shoppers and invest in their own mobile app, the number of smartphone vehicle shoppers is only going to increase.

What do you make of this study?

• more than 50% say that their attitudes towards a brand was shaped through Facebook
• 54% of them clicked "LIKE" on a brand fan page in previous month
• 38% have posted a comment in the previous month
• 30% shared the brand they followed with their network (love this WOM number)

• 56% watched a video on YouTube the previous 24 hours
• Hulu videos or shows were downloaded and watched by 19%
• 13% used a mobile device to watch a video
• and 21% found a different video source other than YouTube and Hulu.

Hello All,

Just wanted to send out a reminder that the contest for all my fellow "Phone Ninja's" is going to end on December 31st, So please make sure you have submitted your best objections and rebuttals in order to win some great prizes. Just take a few moments and think of that 1 customer that really was hard to deal with and let us know how you were able to overcome their objections and get them into the dealership. So far I have received some great entries but I am still looking for some more. Hope everyone had a Wonderful Holiday and also that you have a WONDERFUL NEW YEAR! Lets work hard and make 2011 a GREAT YEAR!!!

Thank You,

Kristy Ehmann

Dealer Synergy

Kristy@dealersynergy.com

I would like to start off by saying “Happy Holidays". I hope each and every one of you has a wonderful holiday season.

The "Holiday Season" is in full effect and the end of the year approaching quickly, I am hoping all of you are using this time of the year to your benefit. This is the best time of the year to set and close more appointments than any other month of the calendar year. Customer's are in "Shopping/Buying" mode during the holidays so use this mentality to your advantage!!

With that being said, my question to each "Phone Ninja" out there is this.....

-  What issue/objection are you hearing customers say most and trying to overcome? 

-  How and what rebuttal have you been using to overcome these objections?

In order to make this a little more interesting and to generate some feedback, I would like to make this a little contest. We are going to judge who came up with the best, well thought out rebuttal and give away a holiday prize!   

So please take a moment and think of each call you have taken and decide what is the most common objection you’re dealing with on a daily basis and how have you effectively overcame this objection. Is it the customer who is waiting till tax time to purchase a new vehicle?  Is it the customer who has to wait till after the holidays to see how much money they have left to put down on a new vehicle? 

I look forward to hearing from everyone and seeing how and what you said to help your customers and set more appointments. Once again Happy Holidays!

Thank You,
Kristy Ehmann
Dealer Synergy