031 Lessons from the car Lot, How NOT to sell

If you like this episode,  please like, share & leave a review!

Today Sales Toolkit is all about using the sales formula of 

Authenticity + Curiosity + Desire to help = Confident Selling

 Key Takeaways:

Hey Girlfriends! This past weekend I helped my mother-in-love buy a new car and I was reminded why I love teaching and re-shaping the mindset of value selling. I was also reminded of why so many people get a bad impression of sales and are appalled with the dealership and their lack of any customer journey!  The car industry can stand to learn so much and likely earn twice as much by shifting to a coaching-selling culture rather than a “you're a number” culture! 

 

Okay, stay with me as I take you on this journey…

 

If you have been listening to me for a bit you know the psychology of selling is very important. You also know how you make someone feel ultimately determines if someone buys from you… unless your in the car industry it seems.  When we arrived at the dealership, the guy sluggishly walked out, introduced himself, and said, I’ll be here if you have any questions.. That’s it!  No discovery! No, what are you looking for? How can I help you?  I see you drove up in that car.. Are you looking for something comparable or different? Tell me more about your lifestyles and needs… NONE of that.. Why.. because quite frankly he didn't’ give a damn…  So. What did that do to me? 

 

Well, my energy immediately matched his energy and I could literally feel the walls and the “don’t tread on me vibe” go up.  As he let us alone to endlessly walk the car lot and my mother-in-love saw something she liked, I reminded my whole family to show no emotion because I knew I was getting ready to go into negotiation mode! YUK! Negotiating brings me back to corporate selling where everything is hidden, nothing is just out in the open and you have to fight for what you want.  If you have ever purchased a car recently then you know the sticker price on the window and what the “out door” price is thousands in difference.  So, before you say to any new car make sure you ask for out-the-door price, this will include taxes, titles and all fees.   But I digress, - The salesman came to check on us and we asked to test drive the one she liked. Once they got back I could see my mother-in-love really liked the car so I suggested we grab lunch, let them take her old car and give a trade in value and we’d be back.. I announced “to start our negotiations '.  Who am i?!   Upon our return the car we were considering was pulled out front, all shiny you could tell he ran it through the car wash and his chest was puffed out with a big ole smile on his face.  I was taking over now because, like most, my mother-in-love sees negotiation as being confrontational and honestly I can see why. I shook the guy's hand and asked him again the price, I told him we needed to be at a price point that was $5,000 under that.. He immediately said.. We can't do that… I said .. sure you can.. Everything is negotiable.. We can bypass this whole thing.. Please just go get your manager. After about an hour of back and forth, they met me where we needed to be but unfortunately, it took me threatening to walk away, telling them I nor my mother in love didn’t care about the shiny features they were trying to throw at us as a value add.  In fact, at one point they were listing all the “products” and I asked them. What’s the value of these and they couldn't answer the question.  As they continued to tell me how much they purchased car for and how they would lose money by meeting me I became irritated. I dont give a damn about that and if it wasn't for my mother-in-love, I would have walked away but I knew she really wanted this car. Finally, after hours at this point, they came back with the number we wanted… why.. Why…  

 

All this to say, car lots would sell more and at higher prices if they didn’t go out of their way as it seems to make you feel you're just a number. See what happens is everything immediately goes to price objections because the potential clients don’t feel valued so they feel the need to make up the value in getting a price they perceive is aligned with the value of the car. After the negotiations were over the manager comes over and says I just want to shake your hand… What do you do for a living? Realtor?! I said no, I teach business owners how to do exactly the opposite of what happened here today.. He was over impressed with my selling skills but I was over-exhausted after that.  See selling your services or products should feel like lighting your soul on fire when you sell from a place of genuinely wanting to help and coming from a natural place of curiosity. 

 

We talk about the sales formula 

 

Authenticity + Curiosity + Desire to help = Confident Selling

 

That salesman was just showing up to a job, he wasn’t passionate about helping people get into the car of their dreams and that showed from how he dressed, walked, and introduced himself, all the way to the end as I had to push him to push his manager. See he should of been pushing his manager on behalf of his client.  He lacked curiosity as he didn't ask one qualifying question to see if we were just shopping, in the decision phase and he sure didn’t have the desire to help!  Yes, he still made the sale but if you ever go to dealerships you will find that most of the salespeople are rather new… the guy was 2 months old because selling from inauthenticity, lack of give a shit really is exhausting and certainly not rewarding long term. Yes, he made the sale but i’m telling you.. He could of sold that car for more than asking price if he was customer journey-focused and his first priority was caring about how we were feeling from the moment he walked out. 

 

 

CONNECT WITH GWEN:

Discover why your prospects aren't buying audit- CLICK HERE

Connect with me on Insta- @GRITANDTENACITYCONSULTING

HAVE A QUESTION?

 Ask it here and I will respond directly to you! 

Have a Question? Ask HERE