There’s a popular saying, “Show me your vehicle and I’ll tell you who you are”. As corny as it may sound, it isn’t far from the truth. Some scientists have seen a correlation between the kind of vehicle a person drives and their personality. Going by this logic, it is highly effective to focus on a person’s emotional side when trying to sell them a customized van.

If you have been trying to get your customized vans off the market for a long time without progress, chances are you are doing something wrong. Try infusing some emotion-based selling into your approach. Instead of spending so much time on its fuel consumption properties, carrying capacity or the number of cylinders the vans have, a story-led technique may work for you.

Here are some tips for emotional selling.

1. Profile your customer

When you get a prospective buyer, try to get as much information about the person as you can. Of course, this doesn’t mean you jet off on a series of FBI-esque interrogations. Make it a dialogue and be very friendly.

Imagine a recently married young man is looking to buy a Volkswagen T6 102PS Van . Why does he want it? He came with a sports car. Maybe his wife is expecting a baby, so his family is growing. That’s an emotional reason. If you can tap into that reason and build rapport, you are halfway on course to completing that sale.

2. Understand their Needs

Customers may not always be forthcoming on why they need a particular product, it is left for you to deduce reasons for their purchase decisions. For example, an elderly man and his wife walk into your shop to buy a van like the DSG T6 Highline . Why specifically this van? Perhaps the couple have arthritis and want a vehicle that is easier to get in and out of. This is an emotional reason. Of course, the couple won’t mention their condition; it’s left for you to find out why as a savvy salesperson. It could be that they are having family coming in from abroad that will stay for a while and they want a van that can accommodate everyone on day trips.

These are merely assumptions for the sake of examples. There are many emotional reasons people buy such vehicles, from family gifts to self-gratification. It is up to you to apply smart selling and close the sale based on these emotions.

“The usual procedure most sellers follow is the introduction and request approach” says Tom at VW-T.

“How are you sir/mam?”

“Can I help you find something you need?”

“Once they get that out of the way, and the prospective customer mentions the van they want, the sales persons show it to them and start off on the features”.

Suppose the customer doesn’t care about the features?

For some people, it’s all about, “Will the van move fast if I press down the pedal?” “Will it be strong enough to carry the entire load we need it to carry?” If yes, then they are good. What is left is why they should buy that van.

Try to get more out of your customer before taking them to any specific van. This will help you build an idea of what they are looking for and how to sell it to them.

Here are some questions you may want to include in your qualifying process. They are emotional-led and can help you establish a sales direction:

• Why do you want to replace your current van? (if they have one already)
• What matters most to you in a van?
• What have you seen so far? What did you like about it?
• What’s your time frame? Is it something you’ll need in, say 2 days, or by next month?
• What is your budget like?

You could add more to the list. Make them as brief as possible though. Most importantly, build a rapport . You stand a better chance of closing a deal when you connect with your customer on an emotional level.