OK that title, made you click, I hadn’t really lost my sales mojo, but the truth is, some of the best salesmen in the world sell cars, and I’ve been lucky enough to learn valuable lessons that will help me in my career for the rest of my life by being part of it.
You might think that car salesmen sit and stare at a window all day, watching for fresh meat that they can take advantage of, not like you, a “real” salesman, working the phone, reaching the buyers, and closing? Sure there are some car salesmen that fit the old stereotype, but I can tell you that in today’s competitive environment the best salespeople, the ones that consistently sell cars every month, and maintain good margins doing it, are true professionals, and would not only succeed but EXCEL in almost any sales position.
I know most of the people reading this HATE car salesmen, and lets be honest, it’s not exactly the most respected profession in the world. But I can tell you since joining the automotive sales industry, I’ve come to have a new-found respect for true professional car salesmen. The best salesmen that I’ve recruited and managed all have the following traits:
- They are true hunters – One thing that would surprise most top salespeople in B2B is that most top car salespeople are really aggressive hunters. They build a book of business through aggressive self promotion, networking within their communities, and getting the word out that they are the person to go to if you need a car. They use flyers, referrals, and most importantly, take such good care of their customers that their customers gladly refer a nonstop train of business to the one person in the business that they trust. When times are good, they man the phones, and self promote. When times are bad, they double up on the phones.
- They have charisma – They are intelligent, personable, and people just naturally “like” them. Don’t get me wrong, they might be terrible when not in front of a customer, but when they need to be they truly understand how to make people like them. They take every opportunity to get on the common ground and build a relationship with their customer in a very short time.
- They are great listeners – The stereotype of pushy car salesmen “talking you into buying a car” isn’t indicative of the top salesmen. They are skilled listeners, and truly take an interest in discovering their buyer’s needs.
- They are masterful at negotiating – I’m not talking the high pressure negotiating, I’m talking about true consultative, value focused, let the customer sell themselves and set the prices for you type of negotiations. One of the key things I teach car salesmen is the art of objection handling in a non manipulative way that allows a customer to give you all the reason’s they “should” buy instead of talking them out of the sale.
- They are not afraid to ask for the sale – one of the sad truths in sales professionals is that as a whole the unsuccessful ones are unsuccessful because they are afraid to ask for the sale. This might work in software, or an industry where you are selling by presentation to a board, with a long sales cycle and decision by committee, but in car sales, you have one shot to get a deal done with someone who is fearful, mistrusting, and who is about to invest in one of the biggest decisions of their life. And from start to finish you will probably meet this person, help them decide on which car they want to purchase, become their friend, gain their trust, then negotiate the deal with them all within a couple of hours. Think about this for a minute. Meet a complete stranger for the first time, and 2 hours later, you know each other’s life stories, kids names, hobbies, how you met, or divorced your significant others, laughed together, talked about your dreams together, and then you sit down and ask the customer to sign a paper locking them into an investment that many times exceeds the persons annual salary, and will be paid on for up to 6 or 7 years. At some point you HAVE to ask for the sale.
I think that the biggest benefit of not only being in management at a car dealership group, hiring, training, observing, etc… but actually taking the step of going out on the floor, working the phones, and selling customers is that I get to practice the entire sales cycle sometimes several times a day. A face to face, large investment, life changing decision, and I get to close the deal multiple times a day, hold a fair margin for the company (we all deserve a fair profit) and have a customer that thanks me for giving him or her the “best car buying experience of their life”. It’s a true boot camp of sales skills, and one that I would honestly recommend to anyone that desires to succeed in sales of any industry, service or product.
