When it comes to prospective buyers, salespeople need to ask the right questions. According to Matt Easton, Sales Trainer, Consultant, and Founder of Easton University, asking your buyer questions regarding the repercussions of not taking action, has power. Therefore, Matt Easton joins us on today’s episode of Inside Automotive to further elaborate.
Easton says that as salespeople, “we have to stop selling and talk about the repercussions of not acting.” For instance, Easton’s 19-year-old daughter purchased an SUV left in their driveway due to Eastons’ concerns about her frequent trips from Colorado to Los Angeles. But then, the license plate lost its validity after being left idle. Easton says his family tried to get him to update it, but he wasn’t receptive. As a result, he had to pay $800 in tickets, in addition to purchasing a new license plate. As salespeople, he claimed, “we spend too much time on ‘you have to do this’ and fail to take a few moments to ask the buyer to consider what might happen if they don’t do this sooner rather than later.
Highlighting the consequences of not taking action
Instead of asking customers the dreaded question — what brought you in today? Easton suggests instead ask — what’s the most important thing we need to accomplish today? He then adds, “we need to save our customers from themselves.” For the majority of the time, clients come in with a problem, yet salespeople get trained to focus on the features, perks, and how great everything is, which often leads to ignoring the problems. Therefore, Easton notes, “We must emphasize the consequences of delaying action.”
"People take action because of pain." – Matt Easton
To illustrate, if a mother visits a dealership out of concern for a faulty transmission, but the salesperson is overly pushy, the woman can easily become overwhelmed and leave. Meanwhile, the consequeces of her neglecting the transmission because of the salesperson could result in her being stranded in Atlanta traffic with four children.
Whereas, Easton urges salespeople to take a different approach. For instance, he claims to be “empathetic and uses logical tonality to better help,” that doesn’t try to oversell. He adds, “when you calm down and allow them to speak, they’re more inclined to open up and take action now.” Salespeople need to start skillfully posing those difficult questions so that consumers, whether or not they do business with them, feel assisted and like you were looking out for their best interests. Which, according to Easton, “will pay dividends for you.”
Easton concludes by saying that “As salespeople, it’s our responsibility to realize part of our job is to save our consumers by being aware of the repercussions of doing nothing at all.”
