F&I and Showroom, November 2015

44 F I and Showroom November 2015 Mad Marv His Madness says the test drive isnt obsolete He explains why working a deal without one is a wasted effort for everyone involved By Marv Eleazer F amed sales trainer Clint Mc Ghee once said the new car smell is a chemical that causes customers to buy cars and if they werent ready to close they just hadnt inhaled enough of it I happen to agree which is why I insist that a customer drives the car before I begin my process I know what youre thinking There goes old fashioned Marv again refusing to believe modern car buyers already know what they want and dont need to drive it Well I may be old fashioned but Ive seen too many deals fall apart because the test drive was skipped It happened to me recently One of our most experienced salespeople brought me a completed deal on a used SUV The customer lives in another town and our salesperson agreed to call her when the credit was approved When the deal was good to go I asked the salesperson to set an appointment to close Thats when the expected avalanche of questions about the finance terms began to pour in I took a phone TO and answered all the customers questions I noticed some hesitation in her voice and asked what was troubling her Im just not quite ready to commit to something I havent actually driven she said My husband drove it and he thinks its a good car but I havent After encouraging her to set an appointment for a test drive I hung up the phone Im sure I dont need to tell you what kind of conversation the salesperson and I had afterward The couple came in the next day and took the SUV for a long demo ride By the time they returned her appreciation for the vehicle had waned We were back to square one minus the time the salesperson had spent prepping documents and getting the car ready for delivery As expected the deal went cold and I moved on Incidentally much to my surprise that same couple came back the following day and test drove a new Fusion I got the second deal approved and she came back the next morning Success She was thrilled with her new ride and gave the salesperson glowing remarks Alls well that ends well That experience is why I question studies like the one issued by DMEautomotive in April 2014 It found that of the 2000 car shoppers polled 16 skipped the test drive and 33 test drove only one vehicle Very few tried more than a few But if you think that means test drives are quickly becoming a thing of the past think again We know customers are rebelling against and refusing to participate in the traditional sales process but I think they might be throwing the demo baby out with the bathwater And theres plenty of evidence to support that In fact Autotraders much discussed Car Buyer of the Future study demonstrated a strong preference for test drives with 88 of the 4002 car buyers surveyed indicating they would not purchase a car without a test drive Shocking right Folks that new car smell remains a key closing tool Thats why F I professionals need to reinforce the importance of the demo by refusing to take an F I turn on deals where this critical step is skipped The reason is simple Emotion plays as big a part in the sale And let me tell you that emotion spills over into the F I office Customers know they need our products but wont give us a chance to present them until theyre ready to buy Thats where the demo ride tips the scale in our favor Listen we cant cut corners in this business and remain successful There is a reason the sales process has as many steps as it does Thats what it takes to deliver a car Decades of practice by generations of salespeople have proven that emotion is one of the biggest factors in the purchase of a new car The demo ride excites those feelings of pride and creates mental ownership Weve seen it time and time again The more attached customers are to a car the more theyre willing to pay the price to own and protect it And if you dont believe me check out what Maritz Research executive Chris Travell said in a TIME magazine article about the research firms 2012 survey of car buyers As cliché as perhaps it sounds theres that new car smell that needs to be experienced firsthand and cannot be experienced over the Internet Sounds just like good ol Clint Marv Eleazer is the F I director at Langdale Ford in Valdosta Ga Email him at marv eleazer@ bobit com No Demo No TO