Steps to Get Your Sales Groove Back

Welcome to 2023! To help you power up for a profitable year ahead, this blog focuses on your best and hottest leads in the dealership – your sales calls! Those people who actually picked up the phone and called you first. We will review the top strategies for mastering your sales calls, converting leads, and boosting your sales numbers. 

A Culture of Order Takers 

Unfortunately, I still hear sales reps everywhere that get on the phone with a potential shopper and completely wing it. It doesn’t matter if the rep is young, old, green, seasoned, highline, or used cars…. they’ll answer every question like an order taker until the shopper just runs out. They’ll get on the phone and simply react and are then thrown off track when the customer asks about price or brings up an objection. And then, perhaps even worse, I hear brand new salespeople using strategies from 20 years ago, just because they heard what the vet in the next cubicle is saying.

But Do They Like You? 

The problem with this is that most shoppers today are deciding where they will buy even before they leave their house. According to the 2022 Capital One Car Buying Outlook, 53% of car buyers research vehicles online, and 44% research local inventories. The majority of vehicle shoppers start their journey on Google with a few searches. When they’ve completed their initial research and are ready to get serious, they often call a dealership. So, by the time they’re ready to call, they’re simply deciding if they like you or not and if it’s worth their time to come down to see you. They’re doing most of their homework online and then calling you to size you up! If they don’t like you…… CLIIIIICK.  

This is why those very first moments after you pick up that phone are so critical. As a sales professional your job is to guide that call and take it to the next level.  It is your goal to convert that shopper to the next stage of the process — and then eventually into the dealership! Yes, you want to do everything possible to get that shopper into that dealership and physically in front of you. 

Logical to Emotional 

The main reason you want your shopper in the dealership IN PERSON is that it takes their shopping process from a logical one to one of emotion. Lack of inventory, market adjustments, special orders, and high-interest rates have shifted the mindset of shoppers, and today, they are willing to switch on package, model, even brand, and segment. When you can convert that shopper into the dealership, it doesn’t matter which vehicle they called on. Once in the dealership, more than 80% of shoppers will actually switch. They see the shiny new paint, they smell the new car leather, they hear the purr of the engine, and then boom. The shopper that was dead set on a white hybrid is buying the black-on-black AWD sport package showroom special. Additionally, even though shoppers today are using more online resources to shop for cars, most shoppers – more than 90% — still want to come in, so…INVITE them!  

Get Excited Again

Don’t forget that while you might work around car deals every day, your average shopper only buys a car every 3-5 years. This is a big deal for some people. Think about it for a minute. First-time buyers, ethnic families, and single moms; this is a sign of accomplishment for some. Get excited, help them and advise them. Be that friend they want to work with. Don’t pick up the phone and act annoyed or distracted. And don’t let questions or objections keep you from getting customers in! Objections are just opportunities to build more trust. Objections might mean you are closer to a deal than you think. Every call is an opportunity to gain a customer, and if you do things right, you’ll gain a fan and referrals for life. 

Lastly, have fun! There is no business like the car business and by doing the right things every day and taking care of people ANYBODY, including YOU, can have a lucrative career on the sales floor. 

I’ll see you at the top!