Sell by Listening

As a salesperson you must understand that you are the product that people are buying. People buy you first, then your dealership, then the actual product.  Your goal is to transfer your beliefs in the following to the customer:

1. Your product is the right product for your customer
2. Your dealership is the right dealership for your customer to buy from
3. You are the right salesperson to help your customer now, and in the future

In order to do this, you must learn what is important to your customer and then use that information to transfer your excitement and enthusiasm about the product, your dealership and you to the customer. The good news is your customer will provide you with every piece of insight into exactly how to sell them their next car, all you have to do is LISTEN.

The following are some guiding principals that can help you get the customer volunteering all the information you need:

1. Focus on what is important to your customer
   • Your customer has already shown interest in your product, otherwise you would not be interacting with them. Your challenge is to get the customer talking about their wants, needs, dislikes and can’t stands. During your Trade Appraisal and Customer Profile you will gather this information, in order use this information during the remainder of your sales process.
2. Guarantee your customer a successful visit
   • Your customer will enter this process with their guard up and wanting to protect their information. There are two simple ways to get around this and encourage the customer to open up to you:
     1. Find out what a successful visit means to the customer.
        • “If today is to be a complete success for you, what would that accomplish for you?” – This question will tell you everything the customer is looking to do today. It shows the customer that you have a genuine interest in them and allows you to use this desire to accomplish moving your customer through the sales process.
     2. Be interested in your customer now and be interesting later
        • Ask questions about your customer and their current situation with the intent to hear and understand them. Use ACTIVE LISTENING.
        • Once you have this information your can become more interesting to your customer because you will actually understand the information the customer is interested in hearing about. 
3. Mirror your customer
   • Your success will increase greatly with your ability to adjust your communication style and body language to match your customers. You must quickly learn to speak, and act like them.
4. Assure and confirm
   1. Use the information gained while asking the customer profiling questions to assure the customer that your product:
      • Fits their wants and needs
      • Solves their current problem
   2. Ask the customer to confirm you are on the perfect product for them.
      • Use phrases such as:
        • “Wouldn’t you agree?”
        • “Sounds good doesn’t it?”
        • “Make sense?”

Remember your goal here is to get the customer talking and providing you with the information that you are going to need to: select the right vehicle, present the benefits to the customer (from their perspective), allow the customer to demonstrate these benefits, present an investment proposal the customer can say ‘yes’ to, and when needed, negotiate and close the sale.

In order for this to work you must practice these items until you have mastered them and can not get them wrong. You must be fully prepared to listen to your customer tell you exactly how to sell them their next car.