http://www.dealeretraining.com

http://www.facebook.com/dealeretraining

http://www.linkedin.com/in/stansher83

Does your sales and business development team create valid reasons for the customer to do business “now?” Do you ever wonder how you can move the needle with growing business? The answer is really simple when considering what we have been taught over the years. To be successful in any business, sales professionals need to be aggressive by asking the right questions at the right time.

As a dealer consultant and BDC director, I am always listening to outgoing calls as well as incoming calls. I notice that many calls do not show a sense of urgency. I hear a lot of calls where customer questions are being answered, but there is never a question that comes back to the customer to regain control of the call. I see this on the showroom floor as well when I walk by and listen to sales consultants work deals.

As our industry sees tough times with a shortage of inventory, it is more important to apply these techniques in the sales process. We need to consider what happens if we do not build urgency in the sales process. The consumer may miss out a deal of a lifetime, because the magic question was not asked. This will cause sales professionals a chance to miss a sale for the dealership.

How do we improve this issue?

I have always been an advocate of weekly training through motivational meetings and role playing. The best method of training “urgency” is to create a few power lines that will show full control of the situation. When speaking on the phone lines such as “When can you come in? This afternoon or this evening?” or “How close to right now can you be here?” should be used. When working a deal on the showroom floor lines such as “Are you prepared to take delivery of your new vehicle right now?” should be used. This is a great way to see if you can get a commitment out of the customer.

In order to properly train dealership personnel on this practice management needs to set aside thirty minutes in the morning before the day starts. These thirty minutes will be an explanation of these closes and why they should be used. The best method is to go around the room using repetition and role playing scenarios that will call for these lines. I believe that a continuous training session will improve skills of sales professionals.

The bottom line is that as sales professionals we were always taught the golden rule, “If you do not ask, you do not get.” Start asking your customers for commitment with urgency and watch how many more times you will get. The ultimate goal is to improve our closing ratios, our income, and the success levels of our dealerships. This is a basic technique that needs to be revisited time after time. The basics may sound “old school” but they still work if executive properly.

Stan Sher is the founder and president of Dealer eTraining, a premier automotive internet sales and digital marketing consulting company. For more information, please feel free to call 732-925-8362 or email stan@dealeretraining.com .