Automotive Addict

There are several different Closing Tools or Techniques taught to Car Salesman, but I believe it all comes down to one! This is just one of the steps in the road to the sale, but the one many focus on.

I believe if you do a proper meet and greet and interview, you will land a customer on the correct vehicle at the correct price and payment. If you follow the process from start to finish, Closing The Deal is the easiest part. Also, the biggest suggestion for Car Salesman is a proper Walk Around and Demonstration of vehicle operations and features. Remember this, Function-Feature-Benefit. When doing a walk around, you have to tell the option or Function, What it Does, and the one many salesman miss--how it will Benefit the consumer. For Instance, this car has dual stage air bags which will come out at a speed according to the severity of the impact; the benefit to you Mr/Mrs Customer is that in a small fender bender, the air bag wont come out at a rate that will injure you more than the accident like earlier designed air bags. Many salesman will say; This car has front and side airbags. What if you were to add that the National Highway Safety and Transportation Administration has proven in test results and real world accidents that side air bags were proven to save lives in side impact accidents. You would want to be protected from an unfortunate accident in the side wouldn't you Mr/Mrs Customer? This builds VALUE!!! Value in the vehicle means more money in your pocket. Customers do not mind paying for information. If you build a penny more value than the list price of the vehicle, the customer will pay list price! If you lack information concerning features and benefits, you will get "I'm really not ready to make a decision," "I have a doctors appointment to get to," "My wife or husband or dog needs to look at it." Or Worse, "How much are you going to take off the sticker."

Anyway, that's enough on that, now for some Closing Techniques:
THE BEN FRANKLIN CLOSE or BALANCE SHEET CLOSE:
This is where you list things the customer liked about the vehicle in one column and dislikes in the other column. This will let you know real quick if you are on the correct vehicle. If there are more negatives than positives, you have some work to do. This is where you bring out every positive you gave the customer; you remember, Mr/Mrs Customer, the side air bags are a positive, the anti lock 4 wheel disc brakes, etc. etc. If you presented the vehicle correctly, you should be able to fill up a sheet with positives.

REDUCE IT TO THE RIDICULOUS CLOSE:
This is where when a customer says you are $30 dollars too high in payment. You break it down by the day. Mr/Mrs Customer, that is only $1 dollar per day. Everyone blows $1 per day. Drink one less coke per day.


TRADE IN CLOSE:
This is great for those with a Trade In. After you pick a vehicle and are getting ready to write up the trade, have the customer come with you and tell you about their trade in. Be sure and touch any little scratches or dents without saying anything. The customer is going to tell you everything they have done to the vehicle. "I put a new Transmission, new brakes, head gasket, etc. etc." Make sure you write everything they have done to the vehicle down, Especially things they have done in the last 6 months to 1 year. Even ask them how much money it cost them to perform these standard repairs. Now, when you get to the table and you are $50 dollars away on payment, you have some ammo. "Well, Mr. Customer, you said you put a new transmission that cost $2000, brakes cost $300, Misc. cost $100, that means you have put $2400 in your trade in the last year, correct?" They will always reply, Yes. "Well, that comes out to $200 per month on Standard Maintenance items, that if not performed would make your car worthless. This new car is under Factory Warranty and is going to save you money at a cost of only $50 a month." Or whatever it comes out to be. It could be $200 more in payment and makes sense to buy the new car instead of repairing the old car.

This is just a few Closing Techniques that may help you, but be creative. If the customer is saying "NO", You have nothing to lose.

Auto Insurance is one of those bills we would rather not pay each month, but is as necessary as the light bill. As with any Insurance, Especially Car Insurance, you never know how important it is until you need to file a claim!

The Auto Insurance Market has become so competitive with new companies arriving on the scenes. And, have you ever seen as many Car Insurance commercials on TV? It seems as though every other commercial is Insurance related.

Many people do not realize the competitive nature Auto Insurance Companies have been forced into, but it is definitely to our benefit. It is almost as competitive as the Cell Phone Market, ALL Insurance Companies want their little piece of the pie and are giving AWESOME INSURANCE QUOTES to get you to convert to their company. If you do not believe me, take a moment and check out Esurance easy online car insuranceQuote! The Industry as a whole realize that many customers are looking to Save Money and cut monthly costs any way they can, and cutting Car Insurance Costs is one of the easiest.

There are other Auto Insurance companies that can save you money online like 21st Century Insurance Companyor you can Shop and Compare multiple Car Insurance quotes for free.This will get you the best Insurance Quotes from the best companies so you can compare prices at one time.

I hear many Car Buying Customers say "I have been with XYZ Company so long, I hate to switch." What if it could save you several hundred dollars per year, would that equate to getting a raise? Has your Auto Insurance Provider ever called you and said, I am going to lower your Car Insurance Rates? Why not save some Money where you can. You may be able to trade and get the Car you have been dreaming of if you were able to save some money on your Auto Insurance!

So you want to be a Car Salesman! This is a day in the life of a Car Salesman that may not be so unfamiliar to other Salesman, but you must always keep a smile on your face.

6:00 Alarm goes off

6:00 Hit Snooze on Alarm

6:15 Hit Snooze on Alarm

6:30 Hit Snooze on Alarm

6:45 Wife punched me in back yelling "You are going to be late for work."

6:55 Stagger to bathroom to shower and shave

7:00 All the sales Guru's tell you to look yourself in the mirror and say, "I am GREAT!" "I am the BEST!" Maybe tomorrow I can do it without laughing.

7:30 Cant be late for work again, put shirt in dryer instead of ironing.

8:00 Leave for work to get there early, they tell me I will sell more cars if I am early.

8:10 Return home to get cell phone

8:30 Leave for work again after stalling for another 20 minutes

9:10 Walk into sales meeting 10 minutes late, Sales Manager makes an example out of me. Tells new Sales Reps that early birds always get the worm, bla, bla, bla. I got a worm for ya is what I wanted to say. He must have had knee pads on during his interview to get a Managers Job!

10:30 Finally get out of meeting after hearing the same story, "When I was selling cars...." When you was selling cars, you could get a homeless person approved for a loan.

11:00 Walk almost a mile around the car lot trying to shake off another negative meeting.

11:30 Finally have time to get a cup of coffee, this will surely make me feel better.

11:45 Sit coffee down outside to catch a customer--Reach to shake hands--customer says "I am not buying anything, I am picking someone up from your service Department." Ok, Ok, I guess you can do that dude!

11:50 Coffee should be cooled enough to drink-Forget about rude old man-Wow, coffee has a Cigarette put out in it!

12:00 Go to lunch to keep from strangling someone

1:00 Get back to work--Your cousin is talking to another salesman. (in car sales if a customer does not ask for you, it is not your customer.) Cousin sees you and says "I didn't know this was the dealership you worked at."

1:30 Salesman sales car to your cousin. Wow, I will never live this down, but try to lessen the impact by saying "it was a distant cousin," I have not seen them in years!

2:00 Catch cousin alone and tell them "Give me my house key, you are going to have to find you another place to live!"

2:30 Finally catch a customer that seems very interested in a GMC Yukon. After the test drive, the customer says, "My company is buying the vehicle for me and they usually get it directly from the factory, I just wanted to make sure I liked it."

3:30 Catch another customer that is very interested in a used car, test drive, write up, appraise trade, present numbers....Customer says, "I just got hired at XYZ Motors and they told me to mystery shop to see how the process goes. Thanks for your time." OH, not today! You may want to call XYZ Motors to come and get you because Its a MYSTERY as to where your trade in keys are!

4:00 Get paged to back lot (Customer Waiting) which is not uncommon, but it is about 1/2 mile walk and golf carts are nowhere to be found so take off walking. See Salesman hiding behind cars laughing because they made up the fake page!

4:30 Call doctor and ask him symptoms of high blood pressure!

5:00 All Sales Personnel are needed on showroom floor. Sales Manager says, "We are going to have a lot party." Great finally something fun for today! I find out a lot party is where you rearrange all cars on the lot. You have got to be kidding!

5:30 to 9:00 work with customer on a new GMC Acadia--had trouble closing the deal and had to split with another salesman to close the deal. I was supposed to get off at 8:00, but at least I sold one. The other salesman tells me, "Your part of the commission is $50 dollars!

9:30 Go to Wal-Mart pharmacy to use their blood pressure machine

9:45 See your cousin that purchased a car from your dealership. Told him the car he bought had been wrecked! Maybe his blood pressure will be as high as mine.

The next time you go to your local dealership and it seems if all the salesman are not in the best of moods, realize customers do come first, but it could have been a rough day! Tomorrow, we will try again. No wonder so many car salesman have grey hair.

If you are new to selling cars, remember one thing. WOMEN make the DECISION when buying a new car! I see new salesman start talking to customers and leave the women out of the conversation. This will NEVER lead to a car sale! PERIOD!!! Do not pay too much attention so that the husband is left out or feels you are hitting on his wife, but definitely talk to the wife. If you ever notice when figures are presented to prospective car buyers, men always look at their wives before answering. They can tell by the wife's body language whether she thinks its a good deal or not. I know many men are saying, "I wear the pants in my family." Yea right, but your wife probably picked them out for you. Women always get the new cars too. They may say, this is a car for my husband, but women get the new cars and men drive the old ones.

This should be a hot topic! Everyone says that women are taken advantage of when buying a car, but think again. Women are more informed than men when buying anything. They do there homework, and are not afraid to speak their mind. I found that when I was selling cars, women always negotiated the best deal. Women always use the "I have to talk to my husband first" line, and it works! Lets give women credit where credit is do.