Lots of sales people, even very experienced struggle when a customer needs to speak to their wife, husband, partner or boss etc.
This episode covers techniques to help you discover any objections, that might be masked by a decision deferral.
Here are the highlights:
{01:16} Deal with it at the beginning
{05:52} Business to Business sale
{07:00} Shaking hands
{08:11} Involve everyone
{10.32} Are the kids involved
{11:50} Eddie Expert
About Symco Training:
Symco Training was founded in 2000 by Simon Bowkett and it was his belief that the business had to offer its clients something different. That difference was clear to Simon from his days in the dealership when he experienced many sales trainers who had all the answers, but were unable, unwilling or both to actually show the delegate how they could be implemented. It remains the ethos of the business today. You see, Symco only employ trainers that are committed to delivering not only in spiring and insightful training, but are equally as happy to demonstrate these skills and techniques with real customers in your own showroom. We believe in order for sales training to be effective and in Simon’s words ‘real world’, it needs to be tried and tested in the only place it matters the showroom floor. There is no room for theory when your goals are for your team to sell more cars, hours or parts and retain more profit. In dealerships around the world the focus applied by many of the sales executives is to try and sell a deal. Symco specialise in getting your teams to focus on selling themselves, the product and then supporting this with the deal.
To find out more visit www.symcotraining.co.uk
Welcome to the Selling and the Motor Trade Podcast, an association with Symco Training. This is the weekly podcast where we share best practice tips and ideas on how to sell more cars, improve your service department and generally put more profit into your dealership or dealer group. I'm your host, Simon Bowkett. As some of you probably already know me as Skippy, I will start by saying thank you for taking the time to listen to this podcast. Do you have an appetite for an open sales training program? You see, we normally run our sales training programs for dealer groups or manufacturers so we can get enough people in a room to make the training cost effective. But every year I get lots of people saying, oh, I've got one dealership or I've got just two dealerships, I've got three salespeople that could really go through your training program. And we're often saying, I don't know how well it's going to stack up for you. Now you have options. You could also go to Amazon and get the book Words That Sell Cars. It's a great book and we have lots of clients give that to every salesperson when they start in the industry. Of course, you could always go to our signature sales fitness training program. If you listen to our podcast, we plug that all the time. It's cost effective because it's only £299 for three months of digital online training that gives your salesperson a great start in their career. You could do that. But what is an appetite for an open physical training course? Now guys, we have to run that course interactively. It's not one of these courses where your salespeople sit there, cross an arms, just listen to it board throughout the day. It won't be death by PowerPoint. So that sounds like something you'd be interested in. Go to our website. It's simcotraining.co.uk. Look for the tab about open courses and you get all the details you need right there. Hi, welcome to another episode of Selling in the Motor Trade. I just come back from Ireland last week and a salesperson, good salesperson, been in the industry for a long, long time, knows what he's talking about. He said, hey, Skip, can you help me out? I always struggle with the customer says, I just need to check with my wife before I go ahead with the deal. Or I just need to check with my husband before I go ahead with the deal. Or I need to check with my business partner, my accountant, someone else. He said, how do you deal with that objection? Well, I said, firstly, we need to deal with that objection right at the beginning of the process. If the first time it comes up is at the end when you're trying to close the deal, I would say go back and check your qualification. We need to find out who the decision maker is early on in the process. But that one you go be so careful with because ladies, listen to this, if you say to any man, can you make a decision? Okay, are you the decision maker? Can you make a decision by yourself? Every man's going to say, of course I can. I wear the pants on the family. My wife said I can. It's kind of like asking any man, are you a good driver? You know what? Every man's going to say, yeah, I'm great. Well, actually, are we all as good as a Lewis Hamilton or a Max Verstappen? Maybe not. Okay. So you've got to be quite careful with that one. Okay. To find out, are they the true decision maker without just saying, are you the decision maker? So this is a technique I stole from a guy called David Martin. Thank you, David. I know you're a listener to the podcast all the time. David's a great sales trainer from the States. We've interviewed him on this podcast. Go back and have a listen to it. And I really like this approach. So, well, actually, before I tell you David Martin's approach, let me go back to Ronny Konsonon. Right at the beginning of the process, Ron Konsonon would turn around and say to a man by himself, okay, is anyone else going to be involved in choice of color of the car or maybe accessories? You see, by wording it that way, we're kind of saying that, well, I know you're the decision maker, the man with the ego, okay, but is anyone else going to be involved in choice of color of the car or maybe accessories? If the husband says, well, I probably want my wife to have a look at the colors of the car. What I was almost code for under no circumstances is that man ever going to buy the car without running it past his wife. But hopefully you've left the ego intact, okay? If the man says, well, I probably want my wife to have a look at the car, then you say, yeah, no problem. That makes sense. Hey, listen, when are we going to get your wife here to have a look at the car? Oh, I'm sorry. The color of the car. Hey, when are we going to get your wife here to go through the accessories on the car? Again, you're the decision maker. But you're probably going to have to get that man's wife there to make the decision. So I've nipped that in the butt early on. Now if the guy turns around and says, no, no, it's my car, my choice. I'll see what I can do. Okay. It's all down to me. Fine. You know that no one else involved in the buying process. Now, having said that, I would do that to a man. If I've got a lady by herself, guys, I personally would never say that. Has anyone else going to be involved in choice of color of the car? You might have the lady think of what? Can I not even make a choice of the color now? Is that what you're telling me? So you've got to be so, so careful that one. But the man by himself, I might try that. If I've got a lady by herself, guys, I'll get to you. I pretend she's the decision maker from start to finish, no matter what, because you know what, guys? So often she probably is. Okay. And just assume she's the full decision maker anyway. Okay. So you might try that one to start with. And also we got to be so careful. My brother is gay. If my brother was there by himself, okay, I'd say, hey, is anyone else going to be involved in choice of color of the car? Or maybe accessories? I know that Wayne, my brother would probably say, well, I'd want Peter to have a look at it. That's code for. I know Wayne's not going to make a decision without running it past Peter first. But also in reverse, I know their relationship. Peter might make a decision without running it past Wayne's verse. That should be dynamic then. You have no idea who the destination is when you're speaking these people to start with. So you might try that one just with man. I wouldn't try it with a lady. Just be careful with that one. Now also decision maker, you get the user, chooser, the business person. They're driving that van. Okay. It's going to be a, I don't know, a caddy van trans van, something like that. The end user, if you say you're the decision maker, the end user is always going to say, oh, yeah, that's down to me. I decide where I buy it from. Guys, reality, is that end user on that business to business sale, that lease deal, whatever that contract hire, whatever country in, are they always the final decision maker? So often they're not. And you're stuck going through all the hard work. So go back to the financial director and the financial director or the endie of the company or the buyer says, you're not paying that for a car. No, no, no, we get our cars from such and such. Okay. And you've done all the hard work. So again, on this one, you might say, other than yourself, is anyone else going to evolve in the final decision? Now, I know you're the decision maker, but other than yourself, is anyone else going to evolve in the final choice? Okay. So if the user chooses, well, my F team, my MD would probably want to have a look at it. That means we need to get the financial director. We need to get the management director involved as part of the process whenever we can. Okay. Oh, why would you talk about this meet and greet stage? Also the other thing, again, the same time I was out in Ireland. This was a young guy relatively new. And he said, Hey, Simon, and why are you talking about that? I always shake the man's hand, but sometimes if you're uncomfortable shaking the lady's hands. Whoa, whoa, what are we doing? Tell me what you say. I said, Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't introduce myself. I'm Simon and you are. Okay. And then he does this weird. Oh, and you must be and does this not guys. Hold on for a second. If you got to shake one person's hand, make sure you shake everyone's hand in the buying party. Absolutely everyone. Oh, in fact, even young Johnny. In fact, if you got hobby and wife and they're young Johnny, who's six years old. Okay. Again, this is Ron Consodyne. Ron Consodyne was a great sales person when I started in the industry. I was working at Tony Island Holden in Townsville, North Queensland. Ronnie was coming up to retirement age and it was that smart old bull that gave me all these little tips and ideas there. Okay. And how to deal with people, not so much the sales process, but just people skills. I just learned so much from him. And this is another one from him. Introducing himself to everyone in the buying party every time, even six year old Johnny. So what Ronnie Consodyne would say is he'd say, Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't introduce him as a I'm Simon. You are. Oh, Mary and Frank. But then it'll turn around to the six year old. If you say the six year old, what's your name? Poor Johnny gets nervous and runs me on mummy's skirt and things all big scary man speaking to me. So what Ronnie Consodyne does is he'll turn around and pick a name, any name, he'll turn around and say, and you must be, let me guess. I'm good at this. You must be David. Oh, right there. Johnny is saying, no, my name's Johnny. And right there. Okay. Mama, though, thinks, Wow. Six year old Johnny can remember his name. What did he do? But because you played that duff little game with Johnny, what's Johnny think of you as the salesperson now? Oh, I like that salesperson and then involved Johnny throughout the process. Hey, Johnny, what color card do you think mummy and daddy should go for? That red one. Oh, we're looking at silver. Hey, Johnny, where's the first place you think mummy and daddy's going to take in the lovely new car? See grandma. What do you think grandma? I think she'll prefer the red one. Okay. So, Johnny, would you do me a favor? Would you draw me a picture of a car? Because I'm going to need that later to show mummy and daddy something. Now think about why Ronnie Consonone gets the young Johnny to draw a picture of a car. A couple of reasons. Okay. Number one, he can use that picture later to go through his PCP. If you're in a different country, PCP in the UK and Ireland, personal contract purchase or personal contract plan, depending on what manufacturer they are. So you might talk about using that where you can do the deposits, the final guaranteed minimum future or final payment in your brand. And most people just pay for the bit in the middle. Use the drawing of the car that Johnny did. Just keep him involved. Okay. Or you might use it for a gap presentation guaranteed asset protection later on. But the real key, what I stole from Ronnie Consonone on that one is you're involving six year old Johnny throughout the process. Okay. And the name, if you're not comfortable with that one, fine, try something else, but involve him throughout the process as much as you can. On by the way, is six year old Johnny going to be part of the decision making process? You bet your bottom dollar. I can remember before Emma and I had children. I speak into a salesperson who was an extra travel agent. And they said, I so often it's the children decide where the family holiday goes to. I can remember thinking, fuck that. If I'm favorite, they'll go, we're all bloody young if they don't like it. Tough. Tell you what, how many times have Emma and I been to Florida, Disney World. Okay. Kids love it. Okay. How many times have we gone to the same place in Grand Canyon area? Because the kids are nice and happy. Emma and I might want to go and try new places, but we do it so we don't risk it. Okay. Maybe the travel agent was right. But I think it's exactly the same in buying a car. Okay. Johnny might not have a direct influence on how much a month mom and dad can afford to spend on the car. But tell you what, if Johnny's bored, he wants to get out of there. He knows how to throw a tantrum. And mom and dad are going to huck him out of the dealership and say, we'll come back later. Okay. Can you just give us a call for the numbers and your wholesale is nacking to involve everyone in the buying process. So involve Eddie expert. Who's Eddie expert? Eddie experts, the guy that turns up with his mate to buy the car. Now there's two types of Eddie's. There's Eddie's that really want to be there. Okay. They're the ones who want to throw their weights around and say, yeah, I know how to buy a car and I want to be there and I'm going to show my son or daughter how to get a good deal. Okay. You know the worst Eddie other experts I find? Okay. Is fathers and fathers Eddie expert buying a car for their daughter? The real emotions that's driving there is love. They want to get the best deal for their daughter, don't they? Okay. Oh, the worst ones is the youngest son, the 20, 23 year old son buying a car with his mom. The car is his mom and the young son wants to throw his ego around. Mom, I'll show you how to do it. I'll get you the best deal. The real emotion that's driving them is love. Okay. With those, there you go. Okay. Little things like letting them know how good their mom or their son or their daughter is there having them there to get the best deal. Hey, listen, I know you're going to keep them straight. You're going to look after them. Make sure to get the best deal. Stroke Eddie's ego. Well, I said the worst one. Okay. Here's another one that frustrates me. It's the two mates. The mates buying the car and he's brought his mate along and he's Eddie expert. What tries him though is a different emotion. All too often the emotion drives him is the emotion of jealousy. His mates get the new car. He's not. Okay. So he still needs his ego. Stroked a bit. So he turns around and says things like, Oh yeah, that $30,000 car. You should be able to get it for 20. Okay. Well, 800 a month payments. No, no, he's I could get that for 450. Okay. I mean, what plan is Eddie on? Okay. He hasn't done 19,000 42 minutes of research. Okay. Eddie hasn't he's made has, but you got to be so careful. You got to stroke Eddie's ego. Make him feel special. Make him as part of the deal there. Cause I tell you what, if the buyer has bought Eddie along, they respect Eddie. Even if Eddie's a knob, you can't make Eddie look like a knob in front of his mate. I know you want to. Okay. So often Eddie's made himself look like a knob. But you got to be so careful there. Cause if Eddie's ego gets bruised, he'll wreck the deal on you. I promise you, even then, if you do the deal, okay, Eddie will still be shopping around afterwards because he's ego was bruised. Okay. It's involved. Oh, and by the way, anyone in the buying process, someone turns up with that flea, bitten, stink and manging mutt of a dog. Oh, by the way, we're not a dog family. Okay. Sorry. All you dog lovers out there. The dog, the only reason we're not a dog family is Emma, my wife, she's allergic to dog. So don't, don't beat me up. But if someone does and you're not a dog lover, they turn up that smelly manging mutt of a dog. You know, if they turn up with a dog, that dog's important to them. Okay. So make sure you make a fuss about that dog as well. Okay. So involved everyone in the buying process. But let's get back to what I was meant to be talking about. Right at the end, when someone says, I need to check my wife. I need to check with my business partner. I need to check with my whoever it is. Okay. We need to see if that's an excuse or not. And here's the quickest, similar way. And David Martin, we need to think for this one. Okay. David Martin will turn her and say, fully understand that. Buy her cars a big decision shouldn't be taken lightly. Now, listen, can I ask you a question? If your wife was to say, no, we should be saying no to the car or the numbers. I stayed there again. Firstly, agree with them. You understand that? Buy her cars a big decision shouldn't be taken lightly. Or you can do the old pendant route or you'd be a brave man than me buying a car without my wife. Okay. To me, I don't know, does that work in 2023? Did it ever work? I don't know. You'll tell me some of your pendant lovers out there will say, oh, it worked brilliantly. I've just never used that one myself. Okay. But this one here, okay, when they say I need to check with my wife at the end. Okay. I agree with them. I understand that. Buy her cars a big decision shouldn't be taken lightly. But listen, if your wife was to say, no, do you think she'd be saying no to the car or the numbers? Guys, in my experience, nine times out of 10, I'll say, well, the numbers. Okay. And which number do you think she wouldn't be 100% sure about? What that monthly figure, that balance of change or that 12 and a half for your car? Oh, definitely that 12 and a half for our car. Really? And we work within a market. We don't create the market. What do you think your wife would be hoping to get for the car? What? 12, 6, 12, 7s on like that? No, she definitely won 13 or she definitely won 14. Right. Well, as I said, we work within a market. We don't create the market and bear in mind that 12 and a half for your car is allowed for the new tires that we put on it is allowing for it to get through that NCT test. So I've got to say that 14,000. I just don't think that's going to be feasible. How? I think she could be. Okay. Now again, that's where the husband might be using the wife as an excuse. Okay. So that one there, try it. See how you get on with it. Hey, listen, if your business partner is saying no, would they be saying no to the car or the numbers? Okay. Definitely numbers. And which number do you think they wouldn't be 100% sure about? Oh, is that 650 a month? You've got what the real objection is. But again, nipping the bud early on. Okay. If they do need to run a past, their business partner, their wife, the husband, of course, we're going to let them do that. But let's just make sure it's not an excuse to go ahead with it. Try that one. See how it gets on with you. And we had a request for a few other ideas like this. So I'm going to go through those in the next couple of weeks as well. Listen, do me a favor. Most people hit the subscribe button on Spotify. It really helps for Apple or wherever you get your iPod. Please do me a favor. Go and do it. It's an algorithm. You know how it works. Okay. Most people do that. So they get the notification when it comes through. Also, this one here is another one of these ones that you might want to send it out to everyone in your sales team. Okay. Remember, we've got not just this. Here's our sales pitch. We've got words that sell cars the book. Go to Amazon. It's the easiest way to get it for you. Okay. There's lots and lots of ideas in there. But also we've got our signature sales fitness program where we talk about these ideas. And a lot more. Clearly, we have time to do a lot more on that sales fitness program. It's $2.99 a month for your person to put them through that whole process. So go and have a look at that. Can't have a look at our website. And again, thank you. That just leaves me to say that all details of this episode and other episodes on the selling in the motor trade can be found on our website simcotraining.co.uk. Go there to get a copy of our book, Words That Sell Cars. Go there to sign up to a free trial of our sales fitness online sales training program. Easiest way to get hold of me is Simon Bowkett, food link to it. Thank you.
