I am posting some parts of a course I teach to beginning salespeople in the hopes some members will find it useful. I meant to put up this post last week, but the launch of my novel, Old Scores distracted me. For any of you who might wish to read my novel, you can find it on Amazon as an eBook here or through my blog here.

The Steps to a Sale

Following the steps to a sale makes money for the salesperson and the dealership. The steps also help customers find the right vehicle, decide upon it, purchase it, and have closure with their decisions. They are blueprints to success that every good salesperson eventually internalizes. The salesperson who does, always knows what to do next to cause a potential transaction to progress.

In sum, the steps are the game-plan. They need not be executed in the same precise order with every customer. Nor must they be accomplished exactly as I describe. Doing them sequentially is the ideal, the “approved solution.” However, each transaction usually varies from the perfect step-by-step sale to some extent. Studying and internalizing the steps of the sale allows salespeople to keep on track. Each step reinforces the value the salesperson and the dealership adds to a vehicle and helps to extract a meaningful and profitable commitment from a prospect.

Step One - The Greeting

Here are a few tips and techniques to guide salespeople in the Greeting. Before I ask salespeople to practice or adopt my techniques and phrases, I remind them that they already have most of the social skills they need to succeed. They learned these from their parents and friends over the course of a lifetime. At the start of an auto career, it is important that salespeople not lose themselves in a myriad of thoughts and techniques that are not THEM. They must trust their instincts. Over time, they will use imagination and mental practice to adopt some of the phrases and the techniques their sales managers teach them. And, over time, those techniques will become a part of them, make them a stronger salespeople.  At the outset, however, it is enough to remind them they will never be too far off track, if they set as their goal simply to make a new friend.

The Greeting is always the first step of the sale. As with several other steps, there are elements of the Greeting that go on during subsequent steps of the sale. Salespeople should think of each of the steps as part of a holistic process, rather than a distinct element that must occur at a specific stage, or in a given sequence. The Greeting is not simply an exchange of names, though that is an important part. It is the step of the sale when a salesperson makes the first impression, when they communicate openness, friendliness, rapport and empathy, verbally and non-verbally. These and other elements of the Greeting continue well into subsequent steps of the sale.

The primary element of the Greeting occurs when a salesperson first introduces herself. However, the greeting really begins before a salesperson ever speaks with a customer. The first moment a salesperson sees a prospective customer, they should mentally prepare themselves to be “on stage,” with one goal in mind, to make a sale. Then as they approach the prospect, their dress, carriage and expression communicates silently that they are a confident, friendly and professional. When they enter the prospects “space,” they introduce themselves and get the prospect’s name in return, continuing to communicate friendly professionalism with tone of voice and body language. 

I believe it is extremely important to get the prospect’s full name, first name and surname, right away. Doing so breaks the ice and opens the prospect to sharing thoughts with the salesperson in more depth. Failing to do so, places the salesperson in a subservient position with respect to the prospect. Getting a prospect to respect that the salesperson’s help is valuable and needed becomes an uphill battle, when they do not command sufficient initial respect to be given the prospect’s full name at the outset.

The best and most straightforward way to get a prospect’s name during the greeting is simply to ask for it, physically, verbally and emotionally. One way to do this I find particularly effective is to say, while grasping the prospect’s hand in a welcoming handshake, “Welcome to dealership name, I’m first name – last name. And you are?” Accompany this last question with a slight cocking of the head that requires a response while continuing to shake the prospect’s hand.

Salespeople must use both their first name and last name in this introduction, because they will require a response that includes first and last name. If the prospect replies to this question with only a first name, the salesman should continue to hold and shake hands while repeating the prospect’s first name with a questioning pause and another cock of the head. This procedure will extract both first and last names from a prospect over 95% of the time.

The salesperson should immediately introduce herself to every other member of the prospect’s party, the spouse, the children, the friends, et cetera. In the case of a large group, where there might be any confusion as to who is buying, the salesperson makes that determination immediately by simply asking, “So, who is getting the new car today?” Do not to offer to shake hands with ladies in the group, unless they offer their hands. This is old school etiquette, but many still appreciate it.

A salesperson should not underestimate the importance of introducing herself to every one of a couple’s children. With small children, she should squat down to their eye-level to introduce herself, shake hands and say something like, “Isn’t it fun shopping for a new car with Mommy/Daddy?” Parents give major brownie points for this, and having the kids favorably disposed can actually become a deciding factor in a sale.

Let’s back up for a moment to the beginning of the Greeting. Walking right up and thrusting a handshake out there often isn’t the only first interaction with a prospect. It certainly works, but many salespeople prefer to break the ice with a comment about the prospect’s own car before introducing themselves. Or perhaps, when a prospect is already walking the lot, an icebreaker about a particular vehicle at which the prospect is looking is appropriate. However, salespeople should remember, when they initiate the introduction, it should include their first and last name and obtain the first and last names of the prospect.

Having gotten a prospect’s surname name, I like to take a moment to burn it into my brain so I won’t forget it. For some reason I remember first names easily but forget surnames. Not all salespeople will have my problem, but they may wish to adopt my memory technique anyway. Oftentimes, it gets a customer to open up and begin to share their “story” with me.

I repeat a prospect’s surname name and then take a stab at its origin: English, Eastern European, Italian, French, Spanish, Portuguese, etc. Then I ask the prospect what the origin really is, “That name sounds Italian. Is it?” I will ask how the prospect’s family came to America, sharing that my great-great grandfather was a German immigrant to New York. It is incredible how often this opens a floodgate of family information that makes the prospect very memorable to me and creates instant rapport.

If a salesperson can spend five to 10 minutes with a prospect, talking and listening about anything from personal histories, to the weather, to sports or current events, before ever addressing vehicular needs, it is time well spent. However, salespeople do not always accomplish this at the outset. Sometimes this personal interaction must happen during subsequent steps of the sale. The important concept here is that personal interaction needs to take place at some point during the selling process. People buy from people they like, and they want to know something about the people they buy from. Often, they open up about themselves and their needs in proportion to how much they perceive the salesperson opens up to them. 

Prospects need to be able to see the salesperson as a father, or husband, or wife, or son, or daughter, in addition to being a salesperson. It is important for each salesperson to determine what her public persona will be. Most salespeople are very social and outgoing by nature. There is very little difference between their public and private personas. However, some successful salespeople are very private people. These salespeople train themselves to be open and friendly and to expose the public portion of themselves during such interpersonal interaction.

There are also several things that salespeople should avoid saying to a prospect during the greeting. The most common mistake is to ask a prospect: “Can I help you?” Sales clerks everywhere make this mistake. Of course, they can help the prospect, that’s their job! So why ask the prospect? The worst thing about asking this is that it usually elicits the response, “No, I’m just looking.” It is terrible to prod a prospect into saying something negative at the outset. Don’t give them the opportunity by asking that question.

Salespeople who have gotten a little training in the difference between open-ended and closed-ended questions will sometimes substitute the nearly-as-bad initial question: “How may I help you?” Hearing this, most customers simply ignore the initial word “how” and still respond, “No, I’m just looking.” To avoid this nearly-as-bad alternative, salespeople should simply introduce themselves and start helping!

Sex, politics and religion are topics to avoid in conversation with a prospect at any time. There is simply too much emotion attached to some aspects of these topics. Discussing them is like walking through a minefield; a single misstep can cause an opportunity to sell a vehicle to blow up! A discussion of these subjects, even if initiated by the prospect, can distract from the selling process and consume time unproductively. Salespeople should not assume, even when a prospect introduces one of these topics in a way that appears to be in agreement with their own beliefs, they can safely plunge headlong into discussion. When this occurs they should cautiously acknowledge the prospect’s remarks, and bring the conversation back around to a discussion of vehicles and the prospect’s vehicular needs.

In my next post, I will feature step to of the Steps to a Sale - The Needs Analysis.

Cheers,

Pete