My husband is in the market for a new car. His old one, having faithfully served him for over 12 years, is in desparate need of a retirement plan. However, unlike previous times when we've purchased a car, the decision of which car to buy isn't clear cut. Which means lots of trips to lots of different dealerships.
At this point I am sorely tempted to take out one of my "sales call evaluation" forms and fill it out while I watch my husband interact with the salesperson. Trust me, some of these people would fail.
At one dealership, the sales process was so soft, you couldn't even feel it. There was no attempt to help us "get happily involved" (to quote Tom Hopkins). Aside from the lack of a sale, the problem with going too soft is that it leaves the customer feeling very uncomfortable. "What just happened there? Don't they want us to buy a car?"
At the other end of the spectrum are the salespeople who are so anxious for our business they come on too strong. The problem with this tactic is that unless the buyer has walked in, decision made, let's just decide on the price, it will scare the buyer away. It took me 3 years to convince my husband to test drive the type of car I drive. (He's a loyal Pontiac buyer - owned 4 in a row)It took an overzealous salesperson 10 minutes to drive him away. He never did get to test drive that car, either.
The closest we've gotten to a good sales experience so far was a Nissan dealership. However, they still let us leave with out sitting down and giving us an idea of the options available and potential pricing. We liked the car, we'd like to know what it costs.
As a customer, I'd like to suggest a few things a good sales rep needs to do:
1. Begin to build a relationship. Don't just sit down and take contact information immediately. Find out why someone is there. Offer a test drive.
2. When someone begins to balk at providing information, stop and listen. You are making the buyer nervous. Calm them. What are their concerns? What are they looking for in a car? In our instance, my husband offered that he had been looking at a Pontiac. Not once did the sales person ask why we were looking at an Acura.
3. Don't just show a car to someone. If they're not sure, ask questions. Not rapidfire, but enought to get a sense of what they are looking for. Make recommendations based on that.
4. Listen to what a buyer is telling you and what they're not. Refusing to give you their price point? Chances are they are looking for a bargain. Offer a number and watch the body language. You'll get an idea of where they stand.
5. Really, do you really need to bring a manager out? Seriously, everyone's pretty educated on sales techniques these days. You either have the ability to sell the car or not. Don't waste our time.
Seriously, I'm going to take my evaluation form next time and start rating... then send a it to the offending sales rep and their manager. In this economy, it's imperative that our selling skills are excellent. No low hanging fruit, time to put a little sweat into the effort and climb up into the tree.
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