Offer Information Overload

Are you more comfortable making a decision when you have all the facts and information? Or do you prefer to have just a tiny amount of information and go with your gut?

I always prefer to make intelligent decisions based on information. For any decision I need to make, I will do a proper amount of information gathering (not too little, not too much) and then decide. I do not go into analysis paralysis and overwhelm myself with research. I understand that no decision is still a decision.

I also understand that not everyone is like me. Frankly, I think most would say they are not like me. Most customers want to gather an abundance of information before making a purchase. And in fact, the more expensive the item being purchased is, the more information a customer needs before deciding.

When I first started selling cars, the internet was just getting started, and vehicle information was not nearly as available online. If fact, most of the information available online was misinformation or outright wrong. Fast forward to current times, vehicle information is available everywhere, and for the most part, it is pretty accurate. The problem nowadays is there is TOO much information available online.

Most customers will start their car shopping experience online, then either get overwhelmed by all of the available information, decide on a vehicle they would like to get more specific information on or recognize they want a professional’s help in making the best decision. In all of these situations, the customer is looking for service and guidance; lean into that. Give the customer what they want, and be of service and guidance.

Zig Ziglar said it best:

“You can have everything you want if you help enough other people get what they want.”

If this does not sum up sales, I do not know what does.

Here is where the problem lies, most salespeople and managers fear giving customers information, especially regarding financial information, such as price, down payment, monthly payments, and trade values. Most salespeople and managers fear the customer will take this information and shop it against other dealerships. When I hear this, I start laughing out loud. Every time, no matter how many times I listen to it, it makes me laugh.

Here is the cold hard truth about it, if you do not give the customer the information they are looking for, they CAN NOT buy from you. You are making their ability to purchase from you impossible. On top of that, the fear that the customer will shop you against other dealers will come true because you gave them no choice. The customer needs the information, and you won’t give it to them, so they are forced to go elsewhere to find it.

The bottom line is that if you do not provide the customer with the information they are looking for, you will never earn the sale. So, why not use this to your advantage?

Every customer expects to hear some variation of the following when trying to gather information:

“I can’t do that.”

“We don’t do things that way here.”

“That is against our company policy.”

“Not until…”

Or some other stupid statement every other salesperson has said to them in the past. Why not flip this around on the customer? Do something they don’t expect. Be different. Be helpful. Be of service.

Try this:

“It will be my pleasure to get you the {best price} on the right vehicle for you. Most of my customers who are in a similar situation also want to know {down payments}, {monthly payments}, and even {figures for your trade}. I am sure you need that information as well?”

Offering the customer more than they asked for while catching them off guard will lower the customer’s defenses and differentiate you from every other salesperson. This will allow you to get past the customer’s natural defenses and be on your way to building a relationship.

This approach is known as OFFER INFORMATION OVERLOAD. It offers the customer more information than they were initially seeking, a lot more. Notice the operative word in this approach, OFFER. This is not about giving the customer the information they are searching for. This is not about giving the customer the additional overload information you offered, at least not yet.

All of the information offered is all information I need to give the customer if I want them to buy from me. And giving a customer this information is actually a part of every sales process at every dealership; it is called the write-up, investment proposal, pencil, or whatever your dealership happens to call it.

And because giving the customer all of this information is already in your sales process; there is nothing wrong with offering it. The only consideration is the timing of actually giving the information, which I am not looking to change.

If you read between the lines of my offer, the only thing I have truly committed to is, “I am going to write you up.” However, I will not write the customer up until the customer does what I want. I will use the offer of information overload to get the customer to go through my sales process. Once the offer is on the table, I can use the offer of providing the customer with this information to get them to answer my needs assessment questions, provide me with their current vehicle information, select the right vehicle, participate in a presentation & demonstration, and look at figures.

The process of OFFER INFORMATION OVERLOAD, to take your customer through your sales process, is extremely simple and one of the best ways to get the customer to do what you want. I mean, think about it this way, the customer wants the information, and you have to give the information to make a sale; it is the perfect combination, like chocolate and peanut butter. It sounds like a win-win to me! What about you?