Yesterday I visited several car showrooms as I am thinking about changing one of the cars. I won’t bore you with the ins and outs of it and it doesn’t matter what makes they were or what companies but they were executive brands / companies and there were 4 of them. It inspired me to have a little rant about a few of things that I wouldn’t do if I sold cars!
If I sold cars I wouldn’t…
- Sit comfortably in the showroom whilst potential customers looked at my cars on the forecourt – no matter how cold it was!
- Chat with my 3 mates in the “sales” office whilst a customer read brochures and opened car doors in the showroom.
- Greet my customer with the words, “So, do you want to buy a car today?”
- Fail to offer a nice coffee from the flash coffee machine because it was 25 minutes until home time.
- Wander off mid “sale” because I cannot think of anything to ask / say.
- Bore my customer to death showing them how to log onto the company website… seriously!
- Send my customer into a trance banging on about engine versions (one showroom), the history of the 4-wheel drive car (another showroom) or just waffle.
- Fail to build rapport in any meaningful manner (all 4 showrooms).
- Fail to ask any pertinent questions (3 showrooms).
- Fail to hear the one critical piece of information (“…bad road so we were thinking 4-wheel drive…”).
- Push something else (how good the 2-wheel drive version is) because I didn’t hear the critical information.
- Not ask / be uninterested in the customers’ circumstances (in one garage the guy looked bored every time I said more than 4 words).
- Fail to take interested customer details (all 4 showrooms).
- Fail to give ANY literature out or anything to take away (all 4 showrooms).
- Not make a sale, build a relationship or have any way of following up (all 4 showrooms).
- Sit around moaning about the state of the market (probably all 4 showrooms).
These are just some of the things that I wouldn’t do if I sold cars…
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Great post here Gavin. The people you refer to in this will probably be wondering who took their jobs next year. I had a very interesting meeting today with a man running a retail sports operation and he told me that he preferred to work with people that get angry when a person walks out of the store with nothing, particularly when that person was not approached by a member of staff. He’s one of the top performers in his business and it’s easy to understand why.
Shaun. I totally agree. Good enough is not good enough any more. The current market offers great opportunities for those driven to get great results by working hard and providing huge value for their clients but it provides little reward for those wanting an easy ride.
Hi I totally agree, in between car cleaning the other week my wife and I decided to take a look at a new car to replace her one, so we looked a bit scruffy. This high end car showroom ignored us so I had to go and ask about a particular model, he took all my details and tapped them all in(yawn) even though I told him twice we get our current cars serviced there so use those details, he ignored my wife who the car was for. A demo model of the car was coming in the following week at some time so he said he would call, which he did not do. I inquired 2 weeks later to be told the demo model has gone to another showroom now? I gave up and wont use this place for the replacement car.
Paul. A few year’s ago I had a similar experience when I lived in London! One of the salesman actually told me that the car I was looking at was “quite expensive.” Deal lost. Judging a customer’s ability to pay based on their attire on a rainy Sunday afternoon is not the best plan!
Gavin, the general standard of salemanship in the retail environment is quite shocking. A contact of mine once visited 3 “prestige” dealers before paying cash for a car to a very “green” salesman who happened to be the only person to actually engage him. Makes you wonder where the managers are and just what the training entails!
I guess if the managers were in the office on that day then they too were “hiding” in the office! As for training, clearly not good enough or not being implemented well enough.
I think you make some very valid points on here Gavin, having recently been through the process of buying a new car, there is no doubt that there is so much room for improvement in car sales teams.
My main gripe was that they seemed to be overstaffed but yet no-one could be bothered to ask us if we needed any assistance. They appeared to look up – and make an instant decision as to whether they think you are serious and then shuffle some papers again!
Agreed, I am sure there is. Mind you, there is room for everyone to improve so whilst talking about this situation people should look to their own sales teams and how they can improve them and their customers’ experiences.
What’s up, just wanted to say, I liked this blog post. It was helpful. Keep on posting!
Hi Gavin
these guys must not be motivated enough . they probably feel that nobody wants their cars and despite you walking into the showroom you must be just keeping out of the cold like they are ..
Can you suggest how to stay motivated in the cold dreary times..
Mano
Mano
Thanks for taking the time to respond. The key words there are “they probably feel that nobody wants their cars”… That will impact every action and every interaction and will destroy their chances of breaking out of their sales slump!
On how to get and stay motivated, I have lots to say
. A good start would be to understand why you are doing what you are doing, know what is important to you and know how you are helping yourself achieve / live that. Set goals, goals that inspire you, goals that set you on fire with a passion to be the best that you can be. Create stepping stones, milestones, objectives that you can achieve on a daily and weekly basis so that you always feel that you’re moving forward. Spend time focusing on maintaining the best state you can and spend time with people who are motivated, inspired and focused!
Join my success newsletter… hey, it’s free (!) http://www.gaviningham.com/gavins-success-newsletter/ and it’s always full of tips, strategies and stories to inspire and motivate.
Feeling like video? Watch these 3 videos on finding your personal motivation.
http://www.gaviningham.com/2010/02/06/video-finding-your-personal-motivation-part-i/.
http://www.gaviningham.com/2010/03/03/finding-your-personal-motivation-part-ii/.
http://www.gaviningham.com/2010/03/10/finding-your-personal-motivation-part-iii/.
And, perhaps most of all, have fun and enjoy the journey. As someone once said, “Every day I wake up above ground is a great day!”
Great post
Very funny and i totally agree.
I think service is either given for free or somebody is paid to deliver it (Supposedly)
Now, the person who is bored and paid to do it..is bored and if not motivated to keep him/her interested and on the ball he or she will be BORED and fail to do what we all think that person ought to be doing. If you deal with the boss usually things are a little better as they have something to lose by not making a sale..the person from earlier don’t care as they will just get another job and do exactly the same as they are just selling their time and not their involvement, interest, passion etc.