When is the ideal time to follow up unsold prospects and what should you say?
This episode will give you an outline call structure, time to call and what to discuss.
Another essential listen in your morning meeting.
Here are the highlights:
{01:33} Typical follow up call
{04:39} Your introduction
{05:50} Get the green light
{07:01} The excuse
{08:50} Questions
{10:38} Scale 1-10
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. And welcome to another episode of Selling in the Motor Trade. We've got a bite size one today for you, a little short one that you can play in your sales meetings. When you're tracking your salespeople, you should follow up an unsold prospect. Now what I mean by that is, customs being in your dealership today, let's say it's three o'clock, four o'clock in the afternoon. We haven't sold these people a car. We need to put a follow up call into the customer. When's the right time to do it? Are you saying tomorrow, 24 hours, 48 hours? Guys, we recommend the same night follow up call. I know what some of you are thinking. That sounds like you're bugging people. And you would be bugging people if you do a follow up call like we hear in car dealerships all the time. You see, what we do is we listen to hundreds and hundreds of calls every single week in car dealerships, incoming and outgoing calls on the sales and after sales side of it. And so often we'll hear a follow up call like this. Hello, Mr. Casey. Yeah, you're in over the weekend. You're having a look at the XYZ. I'm just finding to see if you had any more thoughts on the car. You see, that call is for your sales person's benefit, not the customer. It just doesn't work. And also that is bugging people. What do you think? Okay, customers are going to say, well, I haven't had a chance to think about it yet. What we're going to do is we're going to do a same night follow up call. But this simple rule I want to remember, if you want something, you need to give something. You want anything in life. You need to give something. If you want respect, we need to give respect. If you want money, you need to give work for money or invest money. Okay, if you want love, you need to give love. Okay. So if we want information from customers, we need to give some information first. By getting on the phone and saying, what are your thoughts? What do you think? That's clearly for your benefit, not theirs. So here's what I might do on a same night follow up call. And I want you to think about it. There's an aunt sitting there thinking about the car for a week. Kids get your own tea tonight. We're thinking about the car. No, I don't want to watch that football game tonight. I'm thinking about the car. Okay. It doesn't happen. They drive down the road. They turn to one another and they say, so what do you think? Yeah, I loved it. Yeah, so did I. Shall we buy it then? Yeah, let's buy it. And that's the worst conversation they could ever have. Because how often do they turn around and come straight back in? Once a year? Once a career, if you're lucky, no, it doesn't happen. So here's what I would suggest. Okay. And this is part of our sales fitness program. Sales fitness, this is the online training program where we set an idea through to your salespeople every day for the first 90 days. Because the skills are, if you listen to this podcast, you know, I say this all the time. But the skills we learn in the first three months last with us for the rest of our career. Good and bad. What is teaching your people in that first 90 days? How often is it the five car Fred? Because five car Fred, he's the guy that's got time to teach your people. In fact, your top salesperson doesn't want to give away their unique ideas. So here's one little snippet from the full obsession. We do full obsessions and how to prospect and how to take that incoming telephone inquiry. Not the old fashioned ways. It's a three door, five door. Okay. So, Daniel or Zoramak, I mean, please of modern world, how many cars that's three door, five doors anymore? Okay. But we still hear the same process being taught sometimes. Okay. So what we'll do is we'll give you just one little snippet on how to follow up the same night, full up call. And this is what I recommend you do. Start off with ring, ring, ring, ring. Good morning. Good afternoon. Okay. It's probably going to be afternoon because it's the same night, full up call. Hello, is that Mr. Jones? Hello, is that Bob? Make sure it's the right person straightforward so far. Then I'm going to say, hey, it's just Simon calling from Honda. It's just Simon calling from it. Say it. I'm not going to say swans way. Say it. I'm not going to say R.R.G. Toyota. I'm not going to say Norton Way Mazda. I'm just going to say it's Simon calling from Mazda. You know, it is why sometimes your customer is going to say, which one? What have they told you? Yeah, they've actually told you they've been shopping around. Now for your use car operator like HBO, someone like that, okay, you might turn around and say, how is it Simon calling from the dealership? In fact, if you're selling used cars in a franchise dealership, you might say, has just Simon calling from the dealership? Which one? Now it's only that call I would ever use that approach on. Okay. So firstly, how is that Mr. or Mrs. Jones? Okay. This is Simon calling from the dealership. Point three is we want to remove the curse of the call. Now at Simcoe training, we call this the green light. I stole that from a man called Brian Milstead. He taught me how to be a trainer many years ago. Now Brian Milstead said, but green light, a green light is getting permission to speak to the customer. Something along the lines of, I haven't got you a bad time. Is it convenient to talk? Have a cool, you good kind. Something like that. There's nothing worse that you're sitting down to a lovely hot meal and you've got some car salesperson trying to sell you something. Okay. You're sitting there watching the ashes. Okay. So great game is going right to the end and there's controversy on about how a man was stumped or whatever it was for the English people listening to this. I'm sorry, I'm Australian. Don't beat me up on this last ashes. Okay. But you know what? I'm recording this just after the second ashes because I'm not sure when this will come out if you listen to this. So what we're going to do is introduce yourself. Okay. Use, it's something from the dealership and then the green light. I haven't got you a bad time. Then point four, and this is the real key to it. I'm going to say the reason for the cool is I forgot to tell you that cars got the such and such on it. I forgot to tell you that car had the full leather interior, not the half leather interior. Did I tell you that? No, you didn't. I just want to make sure you knew it had the full leather interior because that was an 1800 pounds extra option when the car was new. I didn't want you making a decision without having all the facts. I forgot to tell you that car's actually got the three years roadside assistance on it, not just the 12 months like lots of other manufacturers. In the UK, the equivalent of AA home start is 149 pounds a year. So you've just got shorter, what? 450 pounds worth of extra value that I didn't want you making a decision without having the facts. All this and I forgot to tell you that, DeLorean, you're looking at, it's actually got the flux capacitor on it. Whatever it is. Okay. Now, some of you guys might be sitting there thinking, hold on, I've told the customer everything about the car. Really? Have you? Not modern car, but if you're telling me you have, fine. Okay. They say, yeah, you did tell me that Simon. Oh, I'm sorry. I can remember if I told you not. I just didn't want to make a decision without having the fact. Okay. All the facts. I didn't want you to compare it to another DeLorean without the flux capacitor and not have all the facts. I just want to let you know that that option was a 1400 pounds extra option when the car was brand new. See, that's your excuse to speak to the customer. That's what you try to do there. Okay. Now, after that, we're going to go into that. That's almost your permission to phone them. So then I'm going to turn around and say, well, listen, why are you on the phone? Experiences taught me that when you leave a dealership, you get all the questions we're all about, has it got this or has it got that on it? Can I ask you what other questions do you have about that car? And we need to look at that one. The people who have been through ourselves fitness program, if you say, do you have any other questions? Okay. The answers are yes or no, they've not thought about it. Okay. I say, what other questions do you have about that, Rad for? You're effectively sitting the customer back in that car. I'm going to give you an example. If I saved you, now right now, I want you to listen to this, driving this car, going for a jog wherever you listen to this podcast. You're driving the car there. And I'm going to say to you. Did you enjoy your last holiday? Just yes or a no. If I turn around and say, listen, can I ask you, listen to this podcast now, what was the best part of your last holiday? You see, second to round, are you thinking of something? That beach, that restaurant, that city break. Can you see how you're mentally there by saying, hey, what was the best part of it? Or if I'm a bit rude and crude here, if I turn around and say, do you like your partner's body? I'm not that loud anyway. Is going to be just a yes or a no. If I turn around and say, listen, what was the best part of your partner's body? I'm going to answer that loud on that one. But second to round, are you thinking of something? It's not forces you to think about. So that's where we want to say, not do you have any other questions. That's what we hear all the time when we're going in there doing our dealer visits, our coaching training visits. We want to turn around and say, hey, what other questions have about the car? Have they got a question? Clearly answer it. But then that gives you a permission to say, okay, well, I've got a question for you. I've got a question here if that's okay. I listen to a scalar one to 10. 10 being, that's the car that you really want to be driving for the next two or three years. And you just want to secure it now and start enjoying it as soon as you can. One being, it's not the right one for you at all. And you never want to hear from me or hear of, Symco Mazda ever again. Overall, how would you rate that CX5? Now, the number is normally seven, eight or nine. But actually, the numbers are almost irrelevant. Okay. Listen, I'm a scalar one to 10. 10 being, that's the car you really want to be driving for the next two or three years. And you just want to secure it now and start enjoying it as soon as you can. One being, it's not the right one for you at all. Overall, how would you rate that CX5? About an eight? That sounds good. Sounds like we're on track. Listen, what would have to change to be a perfect 10? Or what would have to alter to be a perfect 10? You see, guys, what we're trying to achieve here is find out what the real objection is. The hardest objection to overcome, the one you don't know what it is. If you know what the objection is, then you've got to find chance to be able to deal with it. So again, recap, really simple. Ring, ring. Hello, is that Mr. Casey? Yes, just Simon calling from the dealership. I haven't got you a bad time, have I? Listen, sorry for disturbing you so soon, but the reason for the call is I forgot to tell you that car you're looking at, it's also got the 12-inch satellite navigation screen in it, not just the 10-inch, because it's the bling bling model. Did I tell you that? You didn't tell me, so I remember. I knew I had it there anyway. As long as you know, it's just that that was an extra option of X amount of pounce when the car was new. I didn't want you comparing it to another car and not realizing the difference it had on it. But listen, why on the phone? Experience had taught me when you leave, you get all the questions in the world about has it got this or has it got that on it. Can I ask you, what are the questions to have about that car? Answer them, OK? OK, well, I've got a question, you've that's right. Listen, I'm a scalar one to 10. 10 being that's the car you really want to be driving for the next two or three years, and you just want to secure it now and start enjoying it as soon as you can. One being it's not the right one for you at all. Overall, how do you rate that DeLorean 9? 8. Actually, the numbers are relevant, even if they said 5. That's not as high as I would have hoped. Listen, why would I have to change to make that a perfect 10? OK, give me more money for my car. Keep the monthly payments lower. OK, get the delivery date this year, not next year. OK, turn it into a Mercedes ML. Now you might not be able to turn it into another car, but at least you know what the objection is. Guys, if your salespeople listen to this, your managers probably said, have a listen to this in the sales meeting. I bet your diary system, inquiry, max, key loot, whatever you're using out there, dealer web, I'm sure it's full of customers that you don't really know where you're up to with them. So try a same night full up call because you've got more of a fighting chance to sell the person the car if you know what the objection was to stop and go ahead with it. Anyway, hope that helps. And do me a favor. If you like this one, I'm going to ask for a favor here. Can you actually just like it, subscribe it, do whatever you need to do, young savvy people there, but share it with other people. This podcast is all about sharing tips and ideas on how to sell more cars, make more money, OK, in the sales and after sales department. And that's what this one's all about today. 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 there. Thank you.
