As customers adjust to a different automotive retailing landscape, it’s more important than ever for sales professionals and managers to continue honing and developing their skills. Today on Inside Automotive, anchor Jim Fitzpatrick catches up with Sean Gardner, instructor and sales trainer for the Joe Verde Group.
If you were to look at the price on any car before the world ‘shut down’, compared to the prices now, there is a substantial difference between the two. Gardner notes, “one of the biggest objections that a salesperson may get is in the negotiations.” So, he mentioned that he was unaware of how to add value in the number, which is where our discussion lies today: How to build value in the price of a car so that you can move forward in the negotiations.
If you think about it, it’s more than just price. Everyone’s a little different and they each work their deals differently. But, chances are there is trade value, down payment, monthly payment, and options on each salesperson sales sheet. Therefore, as a collective, Gardner suggests, “we need to learn how to add value in price to move on in the negotiations. First things first, “if you’re going to do a good job at price negotiation, it all starts on you being flawless in the selling process,” emphasizes Gardner. The swelling process is where the customer feels comfortable, excited, and loves the salesperson.
Once the customer asks the question: what am I paying for the car, is when the salesperson needs to point their pen right under the price displayed on the car. According to Gardner, when you start with the suggested manufacturer price, or the price the dealer wants for the car is when you’ll lose them. But when approaching the numbers as just above or right below the actual price, those options then allow the negotiations room to flourish.
To illustrate, it’s important to identify the concerns and the questions versus the objections during the negotiation process. After identifying, “agree and sell them anyway,” asserts Gardner. Ultimately, customers aren’t buying the vehicle for the price, but for the features in it, so agree and highlight the features. Which in Gardener’s words, “will add value number and provide an opportunity to move on in the process without making price the issue.”
“If you make the price the issue, you’re going to need a tissue.” — Sean Gardner
You can never make the customer happy when it comes to the numbers, but you can give them price options, you can agree, and you can move on. According to Gardner, “so you have to learn how to professionally tell customers the price, then you learn how to agree and move on.” However, when you have the customers that are extremely informed and just looking for the best price, the best way to handle that is “Joe calls it the CMV, current market value, blame the price on the current market value not what you;re manager wants to get for the car.”
