Automotive News Canada - October 2021 - 7

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Adopt a Back-to-Basics Approach to Customer Experience
SALES LEADERSHIP
Ensure your
sales team
puts vehicle
selection first.
By JEFF WILLIAMS
President & CEO, Absolute Results
Insights & Selling
Strategies
have " and " must-have " options, as
well as their budget.
So many classic closing techniques
revolve around selection. For example,
closing questions like, " On a scale
of one to 10, how would you rate the
car? " or, " If you were going to buy
a vehicle today, is this the one you
would choose? " all serve the purpose
of confirming vehicle selection before
negotiating price.
In last month's article, I discussed the
importance of Customer Experience
to the success of dealers who want to
thrive in this decade of disruption.
This month, I'd like to use an age-old
selling principle to develop a backto-basics
approach to delivering a
high-value Customer Experience to
the customer of today and tomorrow.
When I started in the auto industry
27 years ago, I learned that vehicle
selection was the number one job of
a salesperson. Period. It wasn't selling
the car. The sale was a by-product of
selection-if you earned the customer's
trust by selecting the right
vehicle, then, of course, you should
sell it to them. Conversely, if the right
vehicle wasn't available, the job was to
keep a daily eye on inventory until a
suitable vehicle was found, and motto
was: " Follow up until the customer
buys or dies " .
Of course, anyone who has sold cars
knows that selection isn't an easy job.
It takes hard work and quality conversation
to discover the customer's
buying motives and needs. Not only
do you need to know your product
well, but you must also navigate the
complex lists of customers' " nice-toIt
seems, however, that in today's
market of hyper-competitive pricing
and inventory shortages, we have lost
sight of the importance of vehicle
selection. Last month, my trainers
asked hundreds of sales professionals
what the number one job of a sales
professional was, and they received
dozens of different answers-many of
them good answers, such as
" selling value, " " serving customers, "
and " closing the deal " -but
almost nobody identified vehicle
selection as most important.
groups and OEMs have developed
seamless digital retailing solutions
that allow customers to complete
their purchases online.
In the light of these anticipated
changes, how significant will vehicle
selection be to high-value Customer
Experience in 2024?
To your customers, it could be what's
most essential. Understanding,
evaluating, and choosing from the
dozens (in some cases hundreds) of
options and model configurations
available can be overwhelming for
consumers. Without a professional
guide, product excitement can easily
turn to purchase frustration. Consider
that even the most seamless digital
retailing solution only works if the
customer knows exactly which model
and option package they want to buy.
WITHOUT A
So, how crucial is vehicle selection
to the role of automotive
sales professionals (or product
guides) in today's market and
in the future? Is it still foundational
to providing high-value Customer
Experience?
PROFESSIONAL GUIDE,
THE PRODUCT EXCITEMENT
CAN BECOME
PURCHASE FRUSTRATION
To answer this question, let's project
into the future. It's 2024, and every
legacy OEM has at least three different
types of powertrains: electric,
hybrid, and gasoline. Some OEMs
also have diesel- and hydrogen-powered
engines. A growing percent of
new vehicle sales are now build-toorder.
Many brands have their own
connected-car user interface, including
virtual-personal-assistant services
bundled into ownership. Top dealer
ABSOLUTE DRIVE™
Engage EVERY Service
Customer in a conversation
AUTOMATICALLY create a trade-up
offer for service customers who
match your parameters
SECURE a trade-in
65% of the time
" Drive helps us acquire used vehicles every month, from
customers we didn't originally sell. "
- Saskatchewan GM dealer
Also consider the negative effect
selecting the wrong model has on
Customer Experience and the sales
opportunities lost when customers
decide not to purchase due to lack
confidence in their selection.
Now, let's revisit the back-to-basics
approach to Customer Experience
that views vehicle selection as the
sales team's number one job. Professionals
laser focused on selection and
on acting as trusted advisors to their
customers by helping them understand
their driving needs, evaluate
their options, and make the best
product decisions will add tremendous
value to the customer, the dealership,
and the OEM. Automotive
professionals like these will be highly
valued relational connection points in
Customer Experience, growing dealers'
sales while increasing customer
loyalty to the dealership as well as the
brand.
It will take more than the classic
automotive sales training on product
knowledge or objection handling
techniques to shape sales professionals
into trusted advisors whose number
one job is to assist customers with
vehicle selection. It means training
sales teams in the soft skills of communication
and coaching them to be
masters of the art of conversation.
It's very likely that conversation skills
will soon be the most valued of selling
skills. Conversation skills equip
your sales team to connect with your
customers, to engage with them in
dialogue-by asking questions and
sharing stories-and finally, to make
recommendations that result in sales.
Conversation skills need to be mastered
and then adapted to in-person,
telephone, and digital communication.
So,
lets embrace this back-to-basics
approach to selling where the
number one job of our sales team is
vehicle selection.
Here are three simple questions that
your sales team can use to better understand
your customer's needs and
find them right vehicle:
1. Tell me about your current
vehicle. Why did you choose it x
years ago?
2. In what significant ways have
your driving needs changed
since that purchase?
3. How do you plan on using your
new vehicle over the next few
years?
Role play these three powerful questions
with your sales team, applying
them to each appointment confirmation
and each deal closing. Every time
they bring you an appointment or a
deal to authorize, ask them, " What's
changed for this customer since their
last vehicle purchase? " And when a
customer isn't ready to commit to
either an appointment or a purchase,
ask your sales team, " On a scale of
one to 10, how certain are you that
you've selected the right vehicle for
your customer? "
These simple conversation-starting
questions will help your team make
vehicle selection their number one
job, develop their conversation skills,
and prepare them for tomorrow's
customers.
For free access
to eight video
lessons on
the Art of
Conversation,
scan this QR
code:
Automotive News Canada - October 2021

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