As a famous man often says, "An automobile is made up of
15000 high-tech component parts: plastic, metal, rubber,
glass and space-age materials. These dissimilar parts and
assemblies are welded, riveted, stapled, bolted, glued,
bonded, and fused together by highly trained human beings.
Some of these parts are moving at incredible speeds in
excess of 10,000 RPMs, continuously rubbing and abrading
against each other with less then 3/1000ths of an inch of
clearance and less then 1/1000th of an inch of lubrication
in the presence of high levels of heat. You new car has more
than 1000 times the computer memory, making 10,000 times
more decisions per second than the computer we first used to
put man on the moon with Apollo 11. And we present them like
a low-tech pair of shoes, reducing the buying process down
to price.
Too many of us in the automotive industry
have fallen into selling price and not value. We are
negotiating on how low we can get the price of the vehicle
and not on how much value and benefits we are providing to
the customer. Value is a measurement of benefits People
accept price and they buy value based on the amount of
benefits the vehicle provides them.
The perception of value based on the
knowledge of benefits is flexible. As value increases, the
budget of the customer increases. When value is lower then
price, the customer feels they are not getting a good deal.
When value meets price, they feel they are getting an okay
deal, but when value exceeds price, they feel they are
getting a bargain at any price. Before you can sell value,
you must understand and know your product as well as your
competitors.
Your dealership has many resources that will
provide you with the needed information such as Source
Books, Factory Videos, DVDs, etc. Other good sources are
Automotive Magazines such as Car & Driver, Road & Track,
AutoWeek, etc. These are excellent resources to gather
information about you and your competitor's products. You
can also look for and listen to Automotive T.V. & Radio
commercials. The words and pictures used to describe
features and benefits can also be used in your
presentations. Paint a picture and put your customer in it!
Next, you must know what the Hot Buttons or Motives of the
customer are. Who, what, how, when and where and why. Once
you have this information, you can now start to formulate
the best way to present your vehicle based on the customer
needs and desires. Every customer is different.
Customize every presentation directed at what
is important based on the information you have gathered in
the common ground step of the Road to the Sale. Steps of the
Walk Around: Step 1 - Front of the car Step 2 - Under the
hood of the car Step 3 - Driver side Step 4 - Back of the
vehicle Step 5 - Passenger side Step 6 - Inside the vehicle
The 6 point walk-around should tell an organized, complete
story, which covers all the needs and benefits of your
customer. Get all parties involved in the presentation.
Don't ever think just because the truck is
for the husband that the wife is not interested. She is the
key in making the buying decision. Always use F.A.B. in your
presentations: Feature - What is it? Advantage - The
Improvement Benefit - What it does for the customer Example:
Feature - Boron steel side door intrusion beam. Advantage -
High tensile, high impact resistant steel beam. Benefit -
Will prevent an excessive amount of intrusion into the
passenger compartment during 33mph side impacts by the
average vehicle and thus possibly eliminating injury to the
occupants. Also, you should use buzzwords to build more
value into your feature. They are not plastic headlamp
covers, they are high impact Lexan, the car has Air Cooled
ventilated disk brake rotors, aluminum alloys, thermal
composite intake manifold, sheet molded composite, forged
steel, sequential electronic fuel injection, etc. You get
the picture! Start at position #1 and work your way round
the vehicle ending at the passenger side or position #6, the
inside of the car. This way as you are presenting the
interior features from the driver's seat, you can begin the
demo ride. As you perform your walk around you must get the
customer actively and physically involved. Use their senses
to build more emotions and desire! Remember, buying a
vehicle is an emotional experience - This is the best time
to maximize your opportunity! Sight, Sound, Touch, Smell,
Imagination. Example: Talk about the sound of power from the
factory tuned exhaust, which will contribute to the overall
performance and fuel economy due to less restrictive exhaust
gases. The feel of luxury in the interior with the use of
soft touch materials adding to the comfort of the customer,
or how the controls have their own unique feel to facilitate
the ease of operations of the cruise control, power windows,
air conditioning, or heater, thru the factory use of
tactical feel feature using raised or lowered areas on
control buttons. The look of the paint quality, panel fit,
body lines, the forged aluminum wheels which add to the
overall style and statement of the customers vehicle.
The lack of sound when you are on the inside
of your new vehicle because of advanced technology provided
through quite-steel, more insulation, solid body structure,
thicker glass, better fit and finish which provides a more
pleasurable ownership experience. Imagine how much more
comfortable and fun your next vacation will be in your new
Sport Utility Vehicle. Put your customers and their wives
and kids by name into the benefits story. Paint the picture
with your customer in the middle of it! Know all about your
vehicle and your competitors. Only use 4 to 5 features at
each of the 6 points of the walk around. In today's
competitive market with so many choices available to
consumers, we as professional sales people must have
complete knowledge and information of the customer, our
vehicle and our competitors. Professionals learn and
practice their professions. Today's vehicles have more
technology that benefits a customers needs than at any other
time in automotive history. People will pay more for
technology if they understand how it benefits them
personally. Customers buy safety, performance, style,
appearance, comfort, convenience, economy, durability, and
utility. Vehicles offer more today for less money than at
any other time in our history, but we tell less about the
value of the vehicle than at any other time in automotive
history! What's wrong with this picture? Present the vehicle
like a professional and you will be paid like a
professional!
Contact Anthony at 800.726.0510
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