HARDISON’S TIPS – SEPTEMBER 29, 2020 (PT.1)

HARDISON’S TIPS – SEPTEMBER 29, 2020 (PT.1)
So, you want a job selling cars, but you are not sure if you have what it takes. Depending on your circumstances, selling cars can be very rewarding, or it could turn into one of your life’s biggest nightmares. I will try to make it easy for you by providing some tips from my 16 years of experience.
The biggest thing to remember is that selling cars is not about you. It is about your customer. If you keep in mind what your customer wants and needs and do your best to satisfy them, you will do fine.
Steps to Become a Successful Car Salesman
Prepare yourself for the meet and greet.
Qualifying: Find out what your customer requires to purchase a car.
When choosing the vehicle, find out your customer’s financial requirements.
When negotiating, use a four square system to negotiate the vehicle’s price and payment.
Step 1: Meet and Greet
The first thing you will need to do is to meet a customer on the lot. Try and be there when they pull in as this will keep your competitor salespeople off your op (short for opportunity).
Let them get out of the car by acknowledging the customer with a hello. When they have all exited the vehicle, use a nice greeting such as “Good Afternoon! Welcome to Shady Motors my name is Tom and you are?”
Let everyone introduce themselves and shake their hand, thanking them for coming into your store.
The Meet and Greet might sound simple enough, but it is much more complex than you would believe. Within the first thirty seconds of meeting you, your customer will form an opinion of you in their minds.
Everything counts from your smile to your clothes. Everything about you will be scrutinized. If the customer forms an unfavorable opinion of you immediately, all is not lost but you will have to work harder to close a deal.
Step 2: Qualifying
Once everyone has been welcomed to the dealership, it is time to find out what your customer requires to purchase a car.
When you ask a question be prepared to keep quiet and listen to the answer. Many new salespeople think that they have to keep talking to entertain the customer. This is not true. The customer would much rather talk about themselves for the most part rather than listen to you.
Questions to get them talking:
“What brought you into our store today?”
“Which vehicle did you come to look at?”
“Did you see our advertisement?” Finding out if it was an ad that brought them in is very important. The amount of money a dealership spends on advertising is astronomical. Knowing which ads are working is imperative to a dealership so they can focus on advertising that works.
It is also important to know what your dealers ads are, which vehicles are in the ads, as well as the price in the ads. You will need to know how the ad is structured as well, is there cash down or a trade reflected in a price or payment?
This conversation should not last very long but will give you a few minutes to feel your customer out. If there is more than one, try and figure out which one will be the mouthpiece (the one who will most likely answer your questions), but never ignore anyone in the group as you never know what kind of influence each person has over the buyer.
It is also during this conversation that you should try and find out which part of the group is actually looking to buy a vehicle.
If there is only a single person, try and get to know as much as you can about them. Get them talking for once on a roll, a customer will lay out everything for you that you need to close a deal with them.
Make It A Champion Day!