Cold-calling. If you’re any type of salesman, then you know what the word means. It is the solicitation of business from potential customers who have had no prior contact with the salesperson conducting the call. It means that you’re contacting strangers and asking them if they need a new car. Studies show that only 2% of cold-calls actually result in the customer buying something from that salesman. When training sales managers, you can teach better techniques. You don’t have to go door-to-door to solicit your business, but sometimes you do have to make phone calls to increase the number of customers that you have. Luckily, there are ways to increase the number of sales with the customers that you have right now without ever picking up the phone to make a cold-call.
1. Be Extremely Honest with Your Customers
People are intelligent. Most of the time, they can tell when there is something off about the way a salesman is speaking. Even if they can’t put their finger on it, they know something isn’t quite right. Car salesmen (especially car salesman) have a reputation of not being 100% honest with their customers. Even if the rumor isn’t true for the majority of the time, there’s still a reason it became a rumor in the first place. If you’re candidly honest with your customers, they’ll know, and they’ll feel that you're honest with them. They will trust you more after that, and they’ll come back year after year for repair and for anything else that your shop offers them because they know that they can trust you. To a customer, there is nothing more important than trust.
2. Find Things in Common
If you take the customer out on a walk around the dealership to get an idea what that person is looking for in a car, you’ve already earned some level of credibility in that person’s eye. From there, they just need to know that no matter their decision, you’re looking out for them. The best way to do that is to establish common ground with the person. Create small talk while you’re going from car to car. Talk about your kids, if you have them, and ask the person about the little details in their own lives. If they have solar panels on their home, then talk about net metering with them. If you can establish common ground and show that you have things in common, it will help to earn their trust. You want them to feel like you’re more than just a salesman and you want to feel like they’re more than just a customer. Treat them like you would treat a friend who’s coming to buy a car from you.
3. Be So Good That They Have to Talk About You
A fail-proof way to gain new customers without having to do any cold-calling is by having people talk about you. When a person gets something new that they love, they will talk about it. If that person has buyer’s remorse, then they won’t talk about it. To get someone to talk about it, you need to be so good that they can’t ignore you. You need to tell them about every single amazing perk that comes with the car and then offer incentives for the person if they bring in referrals for you. If someone walks into the dealership, you already know that they’re interested in a car. Your job is to help them decide which car they want. If you do that in a way that is helpful and not pushy, then they’ll talk about you to their friends whenever their friend mentions car problems or when they’re looking for a new car.
As your talking to customers, you need to be calm and professional. You also need to smile. Smiling will break down your customer’s barriers and help them to relax while they’re talking to you. Be nice and compassionate when they come and never get frustrated or pushy. If you do that, then you’ll see your sales increasing almost overnight.
