Relational shoppers drive higher profit margins.
Businesses with a product having a long purchase cycle have an advantage in that they can cultivate relationships well before a customers need arises. The goal is to have the customer think of one company and like them the most when their need for a new ___product___ comes about. For a car dealership, here’s a script, with possible responses, of an idea for them to sell more cars faster and easier…
Dealership Employee: Mr. Boomer, do you need a ride to work?
Customer: Yes, please
Dealership Employee: Great, let’s go grab a car.
Customer: (Dumbfoundedly gathering things)
Dealership Employee: Is there a car on the lot you’d like to drive? Something you’ve always wanted to drive?
Customer: Uh. I don’t know. Maybe a…
Dealership Employee: Let’s go drive it.
Customer: I’m not buying anything and I don’t need a rental. I’m certainly not going to pay for one.
Dealership Employee: I know. We don’t own a van so if you want you to want you can pick out a car you desire and I’ll bring it back here after we drop you off. When your car is done in the shop, I’ll bring this car – or any other car – back to your work. If you prefer, I can drive the car and you can sit shotgun.
Customer: Okay.
Dealership Employee: So, which car was that?
Where Dealerships Can Take This
While they’re driving, the dealership employee can assess what’s next and the communication style the driver prefers (and it may be best for the employee to stay silent).
A dealership can go as far as determining the “cool” things the car has and showcasing them in a natural way. For instance, Tesla salespeople have a script to highlight the “Ludicrous Mode” in a very natural, non-sales-like way.
The trick in this is for the dealership employee to NOT sell the car. They need to simply allow the customer to drive. If the person is interested in the car, they’ll initiate a conversation when they’re ready. Additionally, when their car is ready from the shop and they’ve just stepped out of a brand-new car and into their old one, what emotions are they going to have?
No trade will be made unless they want the thing more than they want their money.” – Roy H. Williams
Emotion is What Drives Sales
You researched a previous purchase to the nth degree (don’t deny it). You came to a conclusion you wanted that one. Why did you come to that conclusion? What stat was it that caught you and coddled you in its hands? What emotion was tied to it? Savings? If it was savings, the high of saving money was the emotion that drove you to buy.
It always comes back to emotions.
Your Next Steps
Start thinking of the long-term relationship. Stop thinking about today’s sale. Put your energy towards understanding how to tantalize the emotions of your buyers. If you’re good and it, if you have a strategy your entire team understands, and your product is superb, your pockets will be lined with gold in a few years.
I saw a “courtesy van” from a local car dealer and thought about persuasion and relationships.
I have a knack to attract questions about marketing, business, customer service and technology. My Wizard of Ads colleagues – some of the smartest people you’ll ever meet – will often ask me questions they can’t figure out and miraculously I come up with an answer backed with curiosity and research.
49 of them worldwide – impress the hell out of me. Some are world renowned (and not just in their own heads). They helped Best Buy turn their world around in the early 2000’s. One has placed over 78 books on national bestsellers lists. Some of their own books are New York Times Best Sellers. Two consult a company that rhymes with frugal (yeah, that company). But what’s most impressive is our ability to grow small owner operated businesses with smaller budgets than the other guys.
