Your Guide to Automotive Industry Digital Marketing

Many companies in the automotive industry employ outside salespeople. If you are a manager at a company employing outside sales reps, or if you are one yourself, then this blog post is for you.

There are five questions any customer asks of themselves and you. These questions are the same for every customer and are asked in the same order. If you want to sell more, you better be prepared to answer them in ways that result in a strong “yes” or a sale will not take place.

About 20 years ago, I met a residential siding salesperson (true story). This salesperson believed that customers and prospects need to be told how to act during a sales call. He felt, and I agree, that most customers don’t really know what to do during a sales presentation.

This sales guy would start his presentation the same way every time. “Mr. Customer, I’m glad to be in your home today. The first thing I am going to do is to find out if we can even help you. To do that I need to ask you some questions. If we can, I’ll show you how. If we can’t, maybe I can steer you to someone that can. As I said, if I can help you, I’ll explain how and what’s involved in making it happen. I’ll also tell you more about me and my company so you know why we’re right for you. Does that make sense to you?”

After getting agreement from the prospect, the sales guy would then tell the prospect what they need to do. “Mr. Prospect, if you really think about it, there are three things you need to decide here today. The first one is if you are comfortable doing business with me and my company, as we’ll be the ones serving you. Then, you need to make sure this is something you need or want to do now.  Finally, you need to make sure our plan fits your budget. If those three things come together, we’ll come together. If they don’t, maybe this is something you should leave alone.”

Not only did this approach set the right “tone” for the meeting, it was highly effective.

Why?

Because it addresses the five questions every prospect asks before buying from anyone. Here are the five questions:

• Do I want to do business with this person?
• Do I want to do business with the firm that this person represents?
• Do I want and need what this person is selling?
• Does the price and value meet my expectations?
• Is this the right time to buy?

Keep in mind…prospects ask these questions in this exact order. Answer them in this order and the sale is much more likely.

One of our past radio show guests, Geoffrey James, writes a column on selling for Inc. Magazine. Geoffrey wrote an article about these five questions that I recommend you read. You can find it at http://www.inc.com/geoffrey-james/5-questions-every-customer-asks.html.