Tip No. 1: Avoid the Myth — “Salespeople create numbers and managers create gross.” This statement is a myth. How well a salesperson establishes a relationship with a customer and asks questions that uncover wants, needs, emotions, previous buying patterns, communication styles, the customers HFG (hope for gain) and more will determine gross profit more than anything a manager can ever do.

\A salesperson must create a buying environment and experience that transcends price. The price pendulum works. When value exceeds price, people buy. The value can be perceived in many forms and channels. Value can be perceived in the 3M’s: Money, Me and Machine. Value can be communicated emotionally, logically, experientially, conceptually, fear based, happy based, product based, salesperson based and more.

Tip No. 2: Sell Apples to Oranges — What is different about your sales process that creates “WOW?” What makes your process so much better that price becomes less of an issue? Create “apples to oranges” choices and distinctions on Money, Me and Machine. Example: Use a different meet and greet such, as “Hi, folks, welcome to ABC Motors. Are you out beginning to look and shop around?” This takes the traditional response of “I’m just looking” away but does so in a positive manner. If you receive an e-mail contact, then use video e-mail to contact the customer back. You will be unique from all other dealerships who reply back to the customer. First impressions count.

Tip No. 3: Walk the Wheel — Draw a circle and draw a series of lines coming out of the circle all around the circle. On one side of the line, you have one option. As an example, you could have “financing,” and then on the other side “leasing.” You could have a line with “long-term financing” and then “short-term” on the other. Keep doing this until you exhaust every possible scenario you can think of. When you think of better options, the issue of price will become lesser in consideration. Your competition will often be very narrow in their focus.

Tip No. 4: Set the Stage — How do you address price? Are you practicing stone-age sales techniques? Do you actually believe, as many sales trainers teach, that you can avoid the issue of price? Notice I said the “issue.” You would not stand for old-school “avoid and evade” techniques, and neither will your customers. Try setting the stage for price by addressing how you and your dealership handles price. There’s an old saying that “You can’t sweep crap under the rug and expect the stink to go away.” Address the issue of price up front and with confidence. You will notice the trust and comfort you create with customers because of this.

Tip No. 5: What do you say? — Don’t wing it. Know exactly what to say to a customer when the customer asks you what your best price is. Competence = Confidence. When you are competent in handling the question, your confidence goes up and the customer will follow you anywhere and do anything. Example: “Absolutely! I will get you pricing on anything you want. The price on every vehicle on the lot will vary somewhat because of the following: Time in inventory, supply and demand of the vehicle, current factory programs and dealership promotions. Let me get you the correct price based upon on those factors. By the way, so I can get you the best price, let me ask you…”

Step 1 – Listen

Step 2 – Agree (“Absolutely!” “Sure!” “You bet!”)

Step 3 – Address (use a word track like the one above)

Step 4 – Segue (bridge from the addressing of the question to redirecting using a phrase, such as “By the way...”)

Step 5 – Redirect (ask questions about car buying and car trading)

Tip No. 6: Dig Deeper, Dig Deeper, Dig Deeper — Most salespeople go skin deep with customers, but you could and should dig deeper. Go deeper by going to their trade-in first. When you go to the trade-in first, you are going to their comfort zone. When you go to the trade-in first, you unlock their buying patterns and preferences. You will create role reversal in the selling process and discover how the customer communicates. The customer will explain what their “hope for gain” is by communicating their dominant keywords. About 95 percent of your customers will have one or two keywords that they repeat over and over that will communicate what is most important to them.

After you first greet a customer and begin to communicate, tell them the following, “Let’s walk over to your vehicle for a quick second for two reasons. One reason is I can get all the information about your vehicle so when the market value is being determined I will have all the information necessary and that will save you a bunch of time. Secondly, as I am getting the information I want to ask you a couple of questions about the vehicle and from this I usually come up with a few ideas to save you some money, fair enough?”

Notice I am anchoring in two things: saving time and saving money. Your customers all want to save time and money. Perception is reality. You are setting the perception of reality to save time and money. You are talking the language of the buyer.

Tip No. 7: Practice Give/Get — Never give something without asking to get something in return. This establishes value in your price, your proposal of the price and you. You are also establishing some pain to the practice of the customer asking. If you give without asking for something in return then you are rewarding the act and associating the emotion of pleasure to the act of asking. Like Pavlov’s dog, what gets rewarded gets repeated.

To receive the free special report “Increasing Sales and Profits by Handling Objections” e-mail me at info@tewart.com with the word “Objections” in the subject line.