F&I and Showroom, September 2018

www fi magazine com 14 F I and Showroom September 2018 and making their decision to buy an easy and natural progression in the conversation makes you different and successful STEP 2 FIND THE FIT TO GET THEM TO COMMIT I cant count how many times I have heard the following People buy from people they like While the saying has merit the reality is people buy from people they trust and respect And nothing builds trust and respect more effectively than an F I manager who is focused on discovering why the person in front of him or her needs some or all the products offered Does the product fit the need If it doesnt fit they will not commit You should view the needs discovery process the same way a doctor asks probing questions to uncover symptoms for which he or she can prescribe a solution Always diagnose before you prescribe To do otherwise is malpractice You should never move a customer to buy a product he or she doesnt need Its much easier to move someone to buy if the product fits their situation Remember people and their needs should always trump products In other words the focus should not be I have products How can I sell them to my customers It should be I have customers How will my products help them And when you find the right fit they will commit STEP 3 FOLLOW THE 70 30 RULE Customers should be talking 70 of the time This makes their time in your office a dialogue not a monologue I conduct and record roleplaying exercises every month Before reviewing the tape I always ask the F I manager what percentage of the time he or she spoke vs me the customer Their response is usually only partly correct In most cases the F I manager is speaking 70 to 90 of the time which is a liability in the F I office Most of us were moved to the F I position because we are good at connecting with people In the F I office we want to maintain that ability while letting our customers do the talking An effective way to overcome objections is using what you have learned from the customer to help them see why the best answer may not be No especially after what you told me earlier The more You told me earlier facts you gather before the menu is presented the more products you will sell after they say No The conversation to move a customer from No to Yes should never break down to a feature benefit monologue that makes a customer feel like his or her judgment is being questioned It should always move to why in the customers situation the product is critical A talking customer is your chance to actively listen Customers expect to endure listening to a sales pitch When they encounter the opposite they start talking And one of the most powerful things takes place They start thinking out loud Their situation becomes clearer to you and to them If you can get customers to think out loud you have cracked the code to overcome many objections And you will have fun doing it Just remember this mantra Your numbers will make you proud when the customer is thinking out loud STEP 4 MAKE IT VISUAL AND INTERACTIVE Now that youve gotten your customer to open up and even think out loud how do you move them to buy First any effort to talk the customer into buying will only see limited success More than 65 of communication is visual You must move from a verbal effort to a visual one See our natural tendency at this point is to share everything we know about the features and benefits of a particular product Then were shocked when the customer says No once again The customer didnt say No because we are not good at talking about a product The problem is the customer didnt connect with the information shared Thats what the visual effort does it makes a much deeper connection and sets us up to move the customer to buy A hand drawn visual combined with a verbal effort makes that attempt even more effective And handing a customer an actual part of a vehicle that has failed and sharing the story of what happened and how much it cost to replace is much more effective than telling that story without the part When you provide a visual effort it creates a mental picture in the mind of the customer allowing him or her to see themselves needing or using the product That mental picture becomes more powerful than the visual you provided But that progression wouldnt have happened if not for the visual process you started with when you set out to overcome the customers objection Overcoming customer objections is a normal part of the process with customers They have questions concerns and in most cases past experiences that were not favorable The effort to overcome them must be intentional visual and interactive When this happens you overcome objections more consistently It even becomes fun when you see the lightbulb come on and your customers make the transition from No to Yes Now everyone wins The customer gets the coverage he or she needs and you get the sale Keep selling ABOUT THE AUTHOR Rick McCormick is the national account development manager for Reahard Associates Inc an F I training company providing classes workshops in dealership and online training Email him at rick mccormick@ bobit com FINANCE INSURANCE