Selling new cars is a difficult job. Your competitors, often just a few miles away, are selling the same product. Not a product perceived as being the same, but an identical product. The buying decision is usually a matter of selecting the lowest price. But it doesn’t have to be that way.
My wife went to a car dealership to test drive a vehicle that we were thinking about buying. She sent me a text saying, “I don’t like this car, and the salesperson is annoying.” The salesperson kept calling her ma’am (big mistake). He didn’t ask her any questions and talked about the powerful engine and how much torque it has. My wife doesn’t know what the benefit of torque is. She doesn’t want to know. To top it off, he was a sweaty mess, disheveled, and smelled like BO. My wife was so distracted that she couldn’t focus on the car.
Let’s breakdown how poorly this salesperson did and how he lost the sale.
Formal Greetings
In certain situations, it’s appropriate to use the term Ma’am, Miss. or Mrs. when meeting someone for the first time. In most cases, it means you forgot the person’s first name. Using a person’s first name is the way to go. People like the sound of their first name. They’ve heard it their entire life.
Information Overload
Your value proposition can’t be one size fits all. Before you talk about features and benefits, first seek to understand what’s relevant to your prospect. The best way to find out what’s most important is to ask. If your selling cars you could ask, do you have children?
Hygiene
Think of the best and worst salesperson that you’ve met. How did they smell? If you don’t shower, you’ll have body odor. If you smoke cigarettes, you’re going to smell like cigarettes to non-smokers. There’s no masking it. The same goes for eating lots of onions and garlic at lunchtime. Avoid is using a lot of cologne or perfume. If you use Essential Oils for scent, put the oil on your clothes. Your skin absorbs the oil, and the scent fades quickly.
Appearance
You don’t have to be a model to have a vibrant, healthy appearance. It doesn’t matter what your style is, how you wear your hair, etc. Be yourself, just don’t look like a slob.
“Before you talk about features and benefits, first seek to understand what’s relevant to your prospect.”
Michael Tattersall
The Difference
My wife has a friend that recently purchased the car model that we were considering. Her friend raved about the car and gave us the name of a salesperson from another dealership. My wife reluctantly went to the new dealership to test drive the car again.
This time, she loved the car. Why? The salesperson asked her questions. After carefully listening to her response, he talked about the features of the car that are relevant to her. Then, he told a story about the features that his wife and kids like about their car. He called her by her first name. He was polite and didn’t smell bad.
It was the same car, but the salesperson made a difference. We negotiated a reasonable price with the dealership and bought the vehicle. Remember, it’s not the product that makes the difference, it’s you!
