Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Craig Lockerd on March 29, 2011 at 10:24pm

I love the sound of that land....it's all about culture change....I know it can happen,at my company we have a company conference call at 8:30 am Eastern every Tue...west coast guys....5:30...today I ended the call speaking to this subject .I shared with them our number 1 objective is to affect a life in a positive way,we leave dealership and the people that we meet there better than what we found it.And spoke to our "mission statement" which reads "If we do what we do better than anyone else does it,someone will find a way to pay us to do it"....I told them I loved them and to have a great week!

On those calls there is over 500 combined years of car experience......sooooo it can be done!

Permalink Reply by Lin Poissonnier on March 29, 2011 at 11:29pm

I read all the replys and I think how many are fact or fiction. Please don't take this wrong. I think we do the 10,000 acts of kindness then what? I bet if you had a salesperson do everything correctly from meet & greet to demo to working a deal that's a couple hundred over cost, It now comes  down to the customer. It goes like this I can get a better deal. Now What? The different face gong over the numbers to make sure there is a clear understanding. I have seen it many times people want that second face. Now I'am not talking the old time closer that will try and wear you down. Just true honest show and tell.

Permalink Reply by Cheril Hendry on March 29, 2011 at 11:36pm

It comes down to one thing. Trust. If the customer trusts the salesman, price is not the deciding factor. But here's the irony....people who are not trustworthy themselves are usually the first to mistrust. That part is beyond any salesperson's control.

Permalink Reply by David Simpson on March 30, 2011 at 7:55am

What a fun subject.  My .02 cents worth; you have to earn the right to close (legitimate care and kindness) but you better know how to close depending on the response of your client to your offer (10K of the latest and greatest). 

"Closes" do 3 things:

• They reveal objections
• They expose the source of a customers fear
• They create a reason to move on through the process.

Daddy always said, "You can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink.  You can, however, salt his oats." 

There is not that much difference between legitimate care and kindness and 10,000 of the latest and greatest closes.  Those are presented in the discussion as opposites however, they are not.  "Closing" is, at it's foundation, effective communication.  Effective communication is the root of good relationships and good relationships are what a sales person should be striving for in their interaction with each customer.  That effort earns us the right to ask for the business.

Permalink Reply by NANCY SIMMONS on March 30, 2011 at 10:45am

Awesome Rick!

Richard Emmons said:

I believe if you tryed to show the client 10,000 acts of caring and kindness you would break all sales records.

Permalink Reply by NANCY SIMMONS on March 30, 2011 at 11:00am

WOW!   These comments are all fantastic and I hope everyone involved in sales on this site reads each and every one of them! 

Proper word track skills acquired through effective training coupled with a genuine care, concern and compassion to truly accomadate a client's requirements and desires is the formula leading to the success of a sales professional!  They cannot have one without the other!  Which is more important you ask?  I believe core kindness is something you really cannot teach/train... Hire folks who have personal integrity, concern and kindness for others, and an open-minded positive attitude and then train word tracks to use for various close situations! 

 

Every prospective buyer is unique and maintains their own agenda.  The ability to recognize the consumers approach in a very short time requires skilled training and experience!

 

As a footnote, I have read "Little Blue Book of Selling" and I too, thought it was off the charts!  I believe I passed it along and never got it back, so I am going to order another copy right now!

 

Thanks for this post Craig!  Awesome as usual!

Permalink Reply by NANCY SIMMONS on March 30, 2011 at 11:15am

I like Fantasy Land too Cheril...cool perspective!  Looking back into the history of automotive sales, we in the industry created this monster of dis-trust and the consumer's perception they are never getting a good "deal" from the start!  Factory rebates and incentives just added to the confusion throught the years!  We watched how Saturn's One Price "no-haggle", non-negotiations methodology panned out...Is it too late? 

Cheril Hendry said:

OK, so I'm going into Fantasy Land for a moment, but what if the term "closing" became extinct? What if the customer goes to the dealership because of who they are first, and what they sell second? What if every happy customer refers 3 more, who receive the same professional experience as the person that recommended them? What if the trust level was so high that the customer didn't question or cross-shop the price or the trade-in value? That being said, I come back to reality...for now. But it's fun to think about, eh?

Permalink Reply by Lin Poissonnier on March 30, 2011 at 12:18pm

Wow ,, I like what daddy said. Good reply David

Permalink Reply by Ernie Kasprowicz on March 30, 2011 at 3:07pm

David, Good way to state it and tie the two together.

David Simpson said:

What a fun subject.  My .02 cents worth; you have to earn the right to close (legitimate care and kindness) but you better know how to close depending on the response of your client to your offer (10K of the latest and greatest). 

"Closes" do 3 things:

• They reveal objections
• They expose the source of a customers fear
• They create a reason to move on through the process.

Daddy always said, "You can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink.  You can, however, salt his oats." 

There is not that much difference between legitimate care and kindness and 10,000 of the latest and greatest closes.  Those are presented in the discussion as opposites however, they are not.  "Closing" is, at it's foundation, effective communication.  Effective communication is the root of good relationships and good relationships are what a sales person should be striving for in their interaction with each customer.  That effort earns us the right to ask for the business.

Permalink Reply by NANCY SIMMONS on March 30, 2011 at 7:41pm

This C.S. Lewis quote seemed appropriate for this post... funny...I just stumbled across it...

"Education without values, as useful as it is, seems rather to make man a more clever devil." ~ C. S. Lewis

 

Permalink Reply by Mark Proctor on March 31, 2011 at 7:05am

An old saying but true and mentioned here. "If you spend 75% of your time on the lot selling... you will spend 25% closing. If you spend 25% of the time selling... you will spend 75% of the time closing... And with little commission for the effort.

Permalink Reply by Stephanie Young on March 31, 2011 at 10:34am

One of my favorite quotes!!!  Thanks Nancy for giving it a chance to impact this discussion.

NANCY SIMMONS said:

This C.S. Lewis quote seemed appropriate for this post... funny...I just stumbled across it...

"Education without values, as useful as it is, seems rather to make man a more clever devil." ~ C. S. Lewis

 

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