Don't be afraid to Close the sale by Bob Morey

Too many salespeople have it backwards. They're afraid to ask for the sale or follow-up with customers because they don't want to appear "pushy." However, you stand a much better chance of offending a customer by not asking un-flinchingly for the sale or by neglecting those follow-up calls to cinch the deal.

Let me explain. Put yourself in the prospect’s shoes for a moment. Do you like to be treated as a serious buyer? How do you feel when salespeople disregard you and trivialize you as a customer? Do you feel "small" when they act like you're wasting their time and don't have the money to make the purchase for what you're looking at? Of course you do, and so do your potential customers. We all want to be respected. We want to be taken seriously. We're offended when we get the "brush off." Therefore, do you really think your prospects will feel "pressured" or "pushed" when you ask them to buy something? Doesn't asking them to buy give them the benefit of the doubt that they can buy? And doesn't that show that you have a higher regard for them? Of course it does.

If you aren't asking people to buy because you don't want to seem "pushy", chances are that deep down you’re using the perception of pushiness as a crutch. You're afraid to ask for the deal. You're afraid of hearing "no." So you hide behind the cloak of being a "professional" and not "high-pressuring" your customers.

Another reason you may be afraid of asking for the deal is because you know deep down that you haven't earned the right. Maybe you don't know your product well enough, or you didn't take enough time to build rapport with the customer and identify their needs. You can't fool yourself, and if you're not doing a quality job during the sales process, you're not going to feel confident enough to ask for the sale, and by all rights, you should feel reluctant to ask for the sale because you know you don't deserve it!

So stop hiding behind fear of putting on "pressure" or behind your own incompetence and turn pro, because pros ask for and get the order.They know that the difference between pressure and persistence is technique. They realize that customers want to be sold and want to be asked to buy, so they give them what they want. They don't always hear "yes", but they know how to use "no" as an opportunity to find out what the customer is objecting to so they can overcome it and make the sale.

So let's make sure we have this straight: you don't offend people by asking them to buy, you offend them when you don't! The same goes for follow-up. When you don't follow-up persistently with a prospect, you're telling that prospect that:

o They're not worth your time.
o You don't think they can afford the product anyway.
o You don't think they were really interested.
o That you're a weakling of a salesperson!

Following up persistently with a customer shows that you put a high value on their business. It shows that you're willing to earn their business and not just wait for it to fall into your lap. It sets you apart from the 99% of other pretenders in sales that won't go to the trouble to make the calls.

Following up can be one of your best competitive advantages; a real edge in a crowded market. Start doing a better job of closing and following up; basics, basics, basics, and watch your sales soar without having to wait on any more ups than you already are. Instead, you'll be doing a better job with the opportunities you have; one of the keys to rising above the crowd in sales

Feel good about you? by Bob Morey

Do you feel good about yourself? If you don’t, then stop trying to sell cars until you do. You’re wasting your time, pilfering money from your dealership, hindering people from making important life decisions about owning a newer vehicle, and becoming more dependent on others if you can’t convince yourself and others of your value to the process of selling a vehicle.

Watch a salesperson approach a prospect for the first time. You can often tell whether a vehicle will be sold; and where it will be sold. If the salesperson is genuinely smiling, has his shoulders back, holds his head up and puts a spring in his step, he’ll likely sell a car at his dealership. If he hesitates on approach to the prospect, has his eyes to the ground, lets his shoulders slump and has an un-pleasant expression on his face, the sale likely goes to the next stop the prospect makes.

When we believe in ourselves, we make others believers too. If we doubt ourselves, we plant concerns in the minds of the people we are trying to win over.

How confident would you be if the dentist you’ve visited for the first time didn’t smile when he greeted you? What if his eyes averted yours when you tried to explain why you were there? What if he said that he didn’t know how much of the root-canal charges were covered by insurance or how much you’d have to pay him after he finished the job? What if he told you that he didn’t have what you needed right now, but would call you when it came in? Would you wait for his call, tooth aching, or start looking for another dentist? What if he had bad breath??

Not the same thing? Sure it is. A majority of people will tell you they would rather have root-canal than go car buying. They’re faced with confiding to you (a complete stranger) their personal and sensitive formation, to see whether they should decide on the purchase of the most or 2nd most expensive item they’ll ever buy. They’re in front of you looking for information (and sometimes a reason to be somewhere else). If you don’t feel good about yourself, how will they feel about you? They will go elsewhere.

So you say: I’m ok; I feel great! And maybe you do. But do you project it? Are you so in control of your life that others want to be around you? Do other people look to you for advice, recognizing that you’re special? Are you the positive force others want to tap into? Do you feel so good, and project it, that others feel good just being around you? Not that good? Why not?

When we visit with "accepted" professionals such as doctors or lawyers, what value do we put in them and why? They have specialized knowledge - so do we. They give us vital information that can help influence our important decisions - so do we. They are recognized as holding positions of authority - we engage in activities that may change people for the rest of their lives!

Furthermore, every time we deliver a new vehicle, hundreds of people get to keep their auto-industry related jobs. We are pros. What is your value to the person in front of you who hopes to buy a vehicle? If it’s apparent to him you are a positive force who will help him travel through a foreign process while giving him assurances to justify and validate his hopes, he’ll see you as a professional.

On the other hand, if the way you act and what you say is a replay of his last experience with a car salesman, you have no value to him - you’re just another carsalesman.

So, in order to be seen as valuable by prospective buyers, you must bring value to the table. Unless you see value in yourself, you’ll bring no value. It’s that simple.
Start building your "VALUE ARSENAL". Evaluate and repair your personal life if need be…health/ surroundings/ security / finances / love-life & family / friends / education / life goals. (In that order).Practice communicating beyond the average: confidence…approach…posture…expression…vocabulary…humor…positive demeanor. Expand listening skills. Learn human nature. See other’s signs:"I’m important"… learn four comfort zones. Distinguish fears vs. needs. Be aware of egos. Expand own attention span…

"People act either because of an expectation of gain or a fear of loss". Improve selling / negotiating skills…fact-finding expertise…listening skills…value vs. cost…analogical persuasion…earn trust…give to get. Activity breeds activity.
Knowledge of process and product…be the authority… anticipate change… know of future trends…have valid answers ready; know questions and concerns before encountered…anticipate failure, expect success…people buy for their reasons, not yours.



A Morey selling basic

People buy for their reasons, not ours! Your job is that of a detective more than as a salesperson. You must find out the customer’s motivation for coming into your place of business by asking “Fact-Finding” questions.

KISS

One of the first lessons I learned in the business of retailing automobiles was the KISS rule. KISS is an acronym for Keep-It-Simple-Stupid. One visual depiction of this rule is: open mouth, insert foot; a good concept to keep at the foremost part of our brains!

Jackie Cooper, an industry legend in auto-retail sales training, told me a story once about how he blew a sale he’d just closed. Jackie was noted for going into car dealerships for 2-3 days and training “on the floor”. Jackie insisted that, all customers who were not closed, be turned over to him before they left; but only after that customer had been turned over to every manager in the store. In other words, Jackie was so confident of his closing skills that he wanted to be the last person the customer talked to.

At a Cadillac dealership in Texas, Jackie had the opportunity to take the last turnover to an elderly woman who was going to go home and “think about” buying the new Cadillac she had just driven. Jackie managed to get the lady back to the negotiating table where she finally agreed to buy; right then and there.

While writing up the deal and without thinking, Jackie asked a question of this lady he had asked hundreds of other people in order to create a vision of ownership as a help in closing them. This question creates a “word picture”, as Jackie called it.

“Ma’am, do you think this Cadillac will fit in your garage?” Jackie asked casually. Frequently, when you have a customer who has yet to take mental ownership of your product, you can ask them a question like this one, and they’ll mentally picture the vehicle in their garage: taking mental ownership. Jackie’s problem was that this lady had already said yes, she’d own the car. She already mentally owned it!

As Jackie tells the story, the lady was ready to O.K. the figures on the buyer’s order just as he asked that question. “At that very moment, I watched in horror as she stopped signing, placed the pen down on the table and said: ’You know, I don’t think it will fit in my garage.’ ”

Jackie of course drove the lady and Cadillac to her garage and tried every way possible to make it fit… it didn’t.

We have all likely experienced times when we gave the customer more information than they needed and, as a result, lost a sale or gave up some profit. Recently, during one of those long, uneasy periods of silence, when the customer is trying to decide whether to say yes, I was tempted to ask the customer how our car compared to the one like it she had seen at another dealership. Wisely I kept my mouth shut and she bought moments later. Not until after she was getting ready to drive away in her new purchase did the lady mention the other vehicle. Whew!

The rule of thumb for KISS is to say no more than is needed, to sell the benefits of the car and once the customer says yes, keep your mouth shut and keep writing!