The following Blog post is in addition to this Video by Sean V. Bradley, I hope you enjoy it!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qxHltQCOlz4
Everyone is an up part 2/ How and where to prospect via the telephone.
If you've been in sales for any length of time you have probably been told at some point to "get on the phone and make some appointments" by a sales manager. You know you have to do it, you want to do it, but you might not know where to start, you might be scared to do it, or you might work really hard at it but you haven't had any success at it. It doesn't matter if you are selling cars, houses or furniture- the phone sales process I am going to tell you about is the same for any business, use it effectively daily and watch your sales go up.
First off you need to know a little bit about why the phone is so important to your sales. People that you contact off the phone, manage to bring in to your store on an appointment and show up are more than twice as likely to buy from you compared to walk in traffic*. So how do you get started? You are going to need to be organized, work effectively and stick to it no matter what, every day.
1: Build a database of clients. All businesses keep a database of their sold clients (you should too by the way). Every morning before you start your day come in a bit early and start researching clients. A CRM** system can be searched just like Google. Refine your search by state/province, city, new/used clients. Use key words to further refine the search. For example " Jeep Wrangler", when the wranglers go on sale type " Wrangler" into the search field and get a list hundreds of names long, call the people on the list and tell them that the wranglers they were interested in are now on sale and get them to come in. CRM tells me a clients name, contact information and what type of vehicle they are interested in. It tells me their current vehicle, current payment, interest rate etc. CRM is a gold mine and it is the best place to look for prospects. This is where you start!
2: Have a hook for every call. What is a hook? A hook is the reason why you are calling that particular client. It is what entices them to come in and see you, so it needs to be clearly defined, it needs to be advantageous for your client and it needs to be real. Here are some hooks you can use, remember these are all straight out of CRM and they are real, strong reasons for clients to come in to see you:
A.) You are paying too much interest right now, what if I could get you a newer vehicle than you have now and lower your interest payment, could you make it in today (tomorrow, Saturday)? This is a super strong hook and you can use it on anyone who is paying non-prime interest rates. For example, CRM says client is paying 18% and owns a truck, Chrysler has a program on new trucks with subsidized financing for non-prime buyers at 6.49%. Boom! Strong reason to come in and buy.
B.) Are you still in the market for a new "blank"? Great! The owner is offering invoice pricing on the vehicle till the end of this month or until we sell out of stock, are you free today? Great hook to use on a client who walked without buying because of price. Now the vehicle they want is cheaper! I wouldn't tell them how much or they won't come in. Just tell them it will be on the invoice for them to see when they arrive.
C.) Are you still driving a 2010 "blank"? Is it in good shape? Perfect! I have a young client that wants a new one of those but can't get financed on it. Would you consider trading yours in for a new one if I could keep you in a similar payment? Can you bring the vehicle in tomorrow morning so we can get it inspected? Every owner would trade in a vehicle they love for a newer version if the conditions were right, so this call is super easy to make. Make sure you have a similar vehicle to the one they own before you make this call.
D.) How are you liking your 2010 " blank "? Did you know the 2014 has more horsepower, better fuel economy and tows more? Would you be willing to trade in your 2010 if I could get you a similar payment? I use this one on service clients. I can look in CRM and see which clients are coming in for service the next day, and why. If they are in a good position to trade in and keep their payment the same I give them a call the night before they come in for service and let them know they can upgrade for less this month because of; manufacturer loyalty programs, finance pull ahead, etc. Everyone wants a newer better version of their car/truck you just have to present a deal in the right way so they see advantage in upgrading.
3.) Keep track of all your calls: Create a notebook, excel spreadsheet, etc. that you can use and fill in everyday. You need to call clients at different hours and sometimes as much as 5 times before you get a hold of them on the phone, so be prepared to leave a strong voicemail message or send a text that will entice them to call you back! Call the client over and over, nicely and professionally until you get them on the phone. Remember, you are saving them money and getting them the vehicle they really want, so it's okay to call them repeatedly.
4.) Sell the appointment not the car: Don't talk price, payments or trade value on the phone unless you absolutely have to! Be truthful but say as little as possible. Your only goal is to sell the client on coming in using one of the hooks above. That's it!
5.) Confirm the appointment using your managers: Everyone likes to feel that they're important to your business. Coach your clients that a sales manager will call them a day before their appointment. This accomplishes two things: It flushes out people that may waste your time; it sets the tone for a serious business discussion to take place in the client's mind, the sales manager himself called me, so it must be good!
Finally, keep at it! Nothing great and worth having is easily done, but once you get the ball rolling and you are booking 3-4 appointments for yourself a day I will guarantee that your sales will increase. Keep taking ups, keep answering the phone, but book yourself 4 appointments per day no matter what and get your money right!
Sincerely,
Eduardo Aragon, Sales Consultant, Okanagan Dodge, Kelowna, B.C., Canada
* Check out the Mind Map here and see the stats on selling cars by appointment prospecting https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/yourphotos?pid=5992537944900930466&oid=115827040417935774939
