When we talk about car sales basics we talk about features and benefits. Our job is to demonstrate the features and sell the benefits, blah, blah, and blah. I sure we’ve all heard more than we care to hear about features and benefits during our car sales training. The car salesman mistake that I am referring to is why they are buying a car.

Lets make this real simple, when you go to the store and buy a broom do you buy it because you like the color, the comfortable handle and the styling? No, you buy it because you want clean floors.

Simple Car Salesman Mistake to Fix

This is where many car salesmen drop the ball. They don’t know why their customer is buying a car. There is not much sense in demonstrating and selling a benefit if the customer doesn’t care about the feature. We need to sell what our customers want to buy, not what we think they might want to buy. This simple car salesman mistake may be hurting your commissions.

People buy things to solve problems and if we dig a little deeper solving a problem means avoiding pain or experiencing pleasure. We all want to avoid pain and experience pleasure, but what does that have to do with buying and selling a car.

You might say that our customers buy cars for transportation, but if that were truly the case we would only be selling stripped down economy cars and cheap used cars. Sure we sell one or two of those customers a month, but most of our customers buy a car for several reasons. Reasons that they will rarely share with their car salesman.

Did you really think that people buy cars with leather interiors, sunroofs, alloy wheels and Bluetooth because they need basic transportation? Of course not, these are emotional reasons for buying cars and our ticket to increased sales and commissions.

Take the time and learn what your customer wants and needs in their next car. This car salesman mistake could be costing you commissions and sales. You could ask them, but they wont tell you that they want a nicer car than their friend, neighbor brother or sister. They won’t tell you that they want to look good driving their car. They won’t tell you that they want more confidence, more prestige or more respect. They won’t tell you that they want to impress their friends, coworkers and relatives.

All your customer is going to tell that they want is gas mileage, safety, reliability, durability and the best price. It’s the job of the car salesman to determine what is motivating their customer to purchase a new vehicle.

We know they don’t NEED a new car if they are trading in a two or three year old car, they want it, but why do they want a new car. You see it on a regular basis when a father comes in with his daughter to buy a car. The daughter wants styling, sporty, specific colors and accessories and the father wants safety, safety, safety (no I didn’t stutter he wants safety for his little girl) and reliability.

Car Salesman Mistake That Could Cost You Gross

When you are absolutely certain that your customer wants safety like the example above you are going to tailor your presentation around safety. What about the customer that isn’t so easy to read? You need to ask questions and look at the clues. Ask open-ended questions and get them talking. You will be surprised how much you will learn if you can get them comfortable and talking (sometimes more than you want to know).

The clues range from their trade-in or current vehicle, the way they dress, their income level, the way they talk, their level of education, where they live and the clothes they wear. All of these things will tell you something about your customer. A very common car salesman mistake is accepting what your customer says as the truth and not reading between the lines.

You need to find out their real reasons for buying a car, but you don’t need to discuss it with them you just need to demonstrate and sell the features and benefits that align with their wants. They are not going to tell you that they want to impress their friends, but if you tell them that their friends will be impressed their face will light up if that’s one of their reasons.

Their real reasons for wanting a new car are often too embarrassing to talk about so you need to be a detective/psychiatrist and then use those reasons to sell them a car.

One time I closed a deal and simply by putting the customer in the car and pulling up next to the showroom window so they could see their reflection and told them how good they looked. Would anyone tell a car salesman that was one of his or her reasons for buying a car? Of course they wouldn’t and that’s why being aware of this this car salesman mistake is important.

Once you discover the real reasons for buying a car you can focus your efforts in that direction. Remember car buyers that only use logic create “mini” deals and customers that buy with emotion pay profit  and tips. Don’t make this car salesman mistake again and you will discover that you will sell more cars and boost your salary.

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