Sell More Cars

Selling cars is not your standard retail sales job. It takes a lot of practice, patience, and commitment to become a good car salesperson. Whether you’re new to car sales or have been doing it for years, it’s important to know how to break the ice and engage potential buyers. After you’ve made a good first impression, help customers find the right car for them so you can close the deal. When you conduct yourself by certain standards and treat customers the right way, you can sell more cars and make more commissions.

Steps

Breaking the Ice and Engaging Customers

1. Approach people who are browsing the lot directly to show confidence. Don’t lurk off to the side when you see people come in to look around. Walk up to them directly and introduce yourself in a professional manner to start a conversation with potential buyers.
   • When you see someone walk onto the lot, approach them directly and say something like, “Hi, my name is John, can I help you find anything in particular today?”
   • Expect customers to say, “I’m just looking.” This doesn’t mean the conversation has to end. You can keep asking questions to keep the conversation flowing and try to find out what the customer’s needs are.
2. Make eye contact with clients before you approach them and when you talk. Look a customer in the eye for 1-5 seconds before you walk over to them to engage them in a conversation. Hold eye contact when you are talking face-to-face with clients to show you are listening and attentive.
   • Be sensitive to customers who seem uncomfortable with eye contact. If someone seems shy, avoids your gaze, or seems uncomfortable in any way, then don’t stare.
   • Some people have social anxiety or other conditions that make eye contact uncomfortable for them, so it’s important to be respectful of this and don’t force eye contact when it doesn’t feel natural.
3. Repeat customers’ names to help you remember them. Ask customers their names when you introduce yourself and start a dialogue. Repeat it back to them as part of your next sentence to train your brain to remember it and help build rapport with them.
   • In practice, this would go something like: You: “Hi, my name is John and I’m a salesman here, what’s your name?” Customer: “My name is Jane.” You: “Nice to meet you, Jane. What are you looking for today?”
   • Keep using the person’s name throughout your conversation, and write it down with any notes you take after the person leaves.
4. Talk to people with a genuine smile to show enthusiasm. Customers are more likely to buy a car from a salesman who is genuinely enthusiastic about helping them find what they need. Smile and be friendly during all your interactions with people on the lot to show enthusiasm that will inspire confidence and trust.{{greenbox: Tip: No matter what is going on in your personal life, leave your problems at the door when you walk onto the lot to sell cars. Potential customers will be able to tell if you are bored or grumpy and it will decrease your chances of a sale.}}
   • If you have trouble being naturally enthusiastic, try to get yourself excited about the sales process. Think of it as an exciting challenge and imagine how you will feel when you close a sale and make the commission.
5. Raise your voice slightly to command attention. Talk at a slightly higher volume than you normally would to demonstrate enthusiasm and grab the customer’s attention. Don’t yell or talk so high that it feels completely unnatural.
   • Potential customers are much less likely to buy a car from someone who talks quietly, is hard to hear, and seems shy or lacks confidence.
6. Avoid talking badly about other car dealerships. Don’t talk down about other car dealerships in an effort to get people to buy from your dealership. Let your knowledge, professionalism, and kindness do the work.
   • If they were not considering buying a car from your dealership, the chances are that the customers wouldn’t be there. You don’t need to be petty and talk bad about the offerings or the employees at another dealership to gain clients.
   • Focus on providing clients with a good experience and making them feel comfortable with you and your dealership.
7. Pay attention to your personal grooming to make a good first impression. Dress professionally in clean and ironed clothing. Shower daily, wear deodorant, brush your teeth, and don’t smoke while you’re at work so you stay smelling fresh.
   • First impressions are very important in car sales. The customer needs to feel comfortable talking to you, so it helps when you look and smell nice.

Finding the Right Car for the Customer

1. Ask low-pressure, open-ended questions to engage the customer. Open up a dialogue and start to get to know potential buyers by asking open-ended questions. Try to find out small details about what they are looking for and what brought them to your dealership without pressuring a sale.{{greenbox: Tip: You can also ask open-ended questions that aren’t car-specific. For instance, ask what they like to do on the weekends, where they are from, and what they do for work. This will help you get to know the customer and determine the type of car they might be interested in buying.}}
   • For example, you can ask things like: “What kind of vehicle are you interested in looking at today?” “What kind of vehicle do you currently own and what do you like or dislike about it?” and “Why did you choose our dealership to come to today?”
   • Even if the customer is “just looking,” questions like these will help you gauge their interests and give you a lead for a potential sale, even if it’s in the future.
2. Treat everyone equally and don’t make assumptions about them. Don’t profile customers based on anything like race, gender, age, or how they dress. Ask everyone the same questions and provide them with the same level of service.
   • For instance, if a female-male couple comes in car shopping, don’t assume that the man is the decision-maker. Pay equally as much attention to the woman and ask them both the same questions to find out what they are shopping for.
3. Listen to customers more than you talk to them. Don’t cut customers off when they are answering your questions. Let customers talk about themselves as much as they want and listen to them attentively.
   • Wait 1-2 seconds after a potential buyer ends a response to a question or states an opinion before you follow up with another question or statement to make sure they are done talking.
4. Offer to show them cars that meet the customer’s requirements. Try to understand what the customer is looking for from the questions you ask them so you can suggest cars that meet their needs and wants. Make a mental note of anything the customer says they are looking for or anything they particularly don’t want in a car so you can show them vehicles that they might be interested in.
   • For instance, the customer might be shopping for a car for their teenager, so they may want a car with lots of safety features. Or, they might need a car for their daily commute that will last a long time and isn’t expensive to maintain.
   • Listen for cues in the customer’s responses to your questions and in anything else they say so that you can address them later on.
   • For example, they might say something like, “I don’t have a lot of credit or a high budget. I just want something affordable and reliable.” Use this to guide them to budget-friendly, reliable cars later on in the conversation.
5. Make sure you know about all the different cars on the lot. Read up on every new car you get on the lot and memorize its features and specifications. Buyers are much more likely to buy a car from someone who is knowledgeable and able to answer their questions about any type of car they see on the lot.
   • If the customers get the sense that you don’t know what you are talking about, it is highly likely they will tell you they’ll “be back” and you’ll never see them again because they don’t trust you to help them make an informed purchase.
   • Spend 10-30 minutes each morning reviewing the information about any cars you don’t have completely memorized so you are ready to talk about them with potential buyers.
6. Be honest with customers so you don’t lose their trust. It’s inevitable that at some point a customer will ask you a question that you don’t know the answer to. Tell the customer you don’t know, but you will get the answer for them right away.
   • For example, maybe a customer will ask you what the gas mileage rating is of a car and you don’t know the answer. In this case, say something like, “To be honest, I don’t know, but let me just look up that answer for you quickly and I will let you know right away.”
7. Give the customer your card and leave them be if they are not interested. There will always be customers who are not interested in talking with a salesperson and will not engage with you in a dialogue. Hand them a card and politely let them know where to find you if they have any questions.
   • You will usually be able to tell these customers apart within the first 30 seconds of talking to them. Watch for signs like if the customer is avoiding eye contact, seems uncomfortable, or is only giving you one-word responses to your questions.
   • These types of customers will appreciate that you were not pushy with them, and may come back to you for help when they are ready to purchase a car.

Closing the Deal

1. Take interested customers on test drives to try and close the deal. Offer to take customers on test drives when they are considering a particular car so they can try the car out and feel what it would be like to own it. Test drives are the best time to ask customers if they are interested in taking the car home that day because they will feel more attached to the car.
   • At some point during the drive, you can ask the customer to pull over into an empty parking lot or somewhere safe to do so. Get out of the car together and have the customer look at it again from the outside after driving it. Then, ask them something like: “So, now that you know what it would be like to own this car and drive it every day, what do you think about taking it home with you today?”
   • Many customers have already done research on a car and know more or less what they are looking for before they come to your dealership. A good experience with you and a test drive can be all it takes to seal the deal.
2. Wait till a customer is ready to buy a car to discuss the price. Wait until a customer seems like they are in love with a car. Ask them if they are ready to buy, and only then begin to discuss the price and payment options.
   • Say something like, “So, is this a car you are ready to buy today?” Then, if the client says yes, go speak with the sales manager to negotiate the best price for the customer and discuss things like cash down, financing, and trade-in value.
3. Follow up with customers 7-10 days after a sale. Make sure you get a phone number to reach customers at after a sale. Call them up, ask them how they are enjoying their new purchase, and thank them again for deciding to buy from you.Template:Greenbox: '''Tip''': Send a handwritten thank-you note for an extra touch. You can even send holiday cards or birthday cards to your former clients so that they remember you and they come to you for their next car purchase.
   • This extra level of service will help them keep you in mind next time they are car shopping. They are also more likely to recommend you to friends who may be in the market for a new vehicle.

Tips

• In order for your dealership to get a lot of customers, it’s important to have good marketing strategies and especially important to stay up-to-date with Do Digital Marketing methods.
• If you don’t work at a dealership, but rather you want to sell your own car, you can sell it online to get the best price for it.

References

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