Adapt your training efforts to meet evolving client expectations — Doug Christiansen, Joe Verde Group

The automotive industry has been known to be a people business where people buy people and the car comes second. So when did sales teams stop making sales? During this year’s NADA Show in Dallas, CBT News anchor Jim Fitzpatrick spoke with Doug Christiansen, a sales instructor with the Joe Verde Group, on the training strategies that will get every dealer’s sales force effectively selling vehicles. 

Key takeaways:

1. Salespeople are no longer making sales but rather taking orders as a result of the industry’s transformation and the pandemic’s long-lasting impacts.

2. The Joe Verde group promotes training for all employees at dealerships. Sales teams need to be reminded that they must first earn the right to ask about customer interest in buying. However, they must adhere to the process, which consists of a series of duplicatable steps that produce predictable results. 

3. Christiansen notes for training, sales representatives must go through the warm-up stage of the process to make clients comfortable. Meaning they need to establish a strong rapport by creating a positive first impression that is warm and inviting.

4. Following the first impression, the value-building stage occurs. Which is how to provide a value that is higher than the price.

5. Sale reps would finally move on to the closing phase, but it’s important that the customer actually owns the car, not that they would be sold based on price negotiations. 

“selling is nothing more than the transfer of enthusiasm from the salesperson to the customer.” —Doug Christiansen

Notable background:

— The Joe Verde Group has three workshops to support training efforts for both dealers and sales teams alike: 1. Sell More Units To The Traffic You Have Now, 2. Close In The Negotiation For Maximum Gross, 3. Build Your Business By Phone & Internet. 

Click here for more 2023 NADA Show coverage on CBT News.

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