7 Steps to Increase Your Auto Sales
With the current market conditions, it’s easy to think that high interest rates and a bad economy are to blame for your slow sales. However, to use my home state of California as an example, from January 1, 2023 through September 30, 2023 there were 11,345,445 new vehicles registered. That is an average of 1,260,605 new vehicles per month. This is a 13.3% improvement over the first 9 months in 2022.
Is it really reasonable to say that interest rates and the economy are the cause of your lower sales? Keep in mind that interest rates were significantly lower in 2022 and there were less incentives and higher markups as there was less inventory than we have in 2023.
If you are willing to consider things in your process that you could change to help increase your sales and lead conversion rates, here are the 7 steps that will help make a huge impact on your numbers:
Use Empathetic Listening Skills
Most automotive sales professionals confuse empathy with sympathy. The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines the difference as:
“Sympathy is when you share the feelings of another; empathy is when you understand the feelings of another but do not necessarily share them.”
When working with a prospective customer, it is vitally important to make sure they feel like they are being heard and taken seriously. Don’t wait to hear an objection and then use a memorized word track to try and overcome it. Instead, ask meaningful questions and get your prospective customer engaged in talking about themselves and their situation. Not only does this rapport building lead to trust, but it will also make your shopper feel like you are working with them to find a solution to their situation rather than pressuring them to make a decision because you want them to. The news media is giving your prospective customer so many reasons not to buy a car right now — Slow down and listen so you can give them reasons why they should move forward with a purchase today.
Focus on Creating Value
In the past it has been easy to sell cars. Inventories were low and demand was high. You were confident that if someone wasn’t willing to pay your asking price, that another customer would come in and buy the car. Today’s market does not allow for that to happen the majority of the time so what you used to do will not work today. Instead of letting the inventory sell itself, you as an automotive salesperson have to create value during your process. Not just build value in your vehicle, but also show value in how working with you gives your prospective some benefits and why buying today would be better than waiting for uncertainty. Remember, just about every dealership in the United States provide options to a customer to buy a car online, so when they decide to come to your showroom you have to give them what they expect, not give them what you expect. Give your prospects a compelling story and they will convince themselves today is the right time to purchase a vehicle.
Stop Trying To Sell Over the Phone
It used to be that if you had a vehicle in stock that the buyer wanted, you could tell them to come buy it while it was available before someone else does. Shoppers aren’t flooding into your showroom to buy what you have before someone else does right now. Stop using tactics intent on selling shoppers on the other end of a phone your car. If they wanted to buy it from home, they would have gone online and done so. Your goal on a call has to be to set an appointment with the promise that it is the next logical step to get the shopper what they need to make a buying decision. Engage them in conversation that lets them believe you’re an automotive sales professional with their best interest in mind. Utilizing your skills of empathetic listening will help you in your ability to set more appointments. Your story starts with the call and get the shopper interested in coming in to visit and find out what is in the next chapter.
Stay Mentally Prepared
When you believe that the market is bad and interest rates are too high and because of the economy everyone can’t pay their bills and has bad credit, there is no way for you to be positive and encouraging in front of your prospective customers. How you look, act, and speak create the impression a shopper is going to have of you. So often we don’t realize what we look or sound like in front of others, but it could be the deterrent for your prospective customer to tell you they need to think about and go buy from someone else. Stay focused to deliver on the expectations a shopper has and be sharp and ready to respond to their questions and increase their level of interest as you continue to build rapport and a buying situation. Don’t turn a buyer into a shopper!
Utilize Social Media
Every one of us in this business spend time using social media, but most of us do not understand the importance of using it to engage with potential customers. Have an account that you keep on a professional level, but make sure it is personal in its content. Share stories of things that happen at your dealership that are positive and welcoming, like quick videos from your Thanksgiving or Christmas celebrations that would draw potential customers to want to work with you. Show photos or videos of happy customers and let them say something positive about their experience with you. Showcase a time when you are out having dinner and someone greets with you a smile or positivity that lifts up your day and highlight how your dealership provides the same type of experience. Do not use your social channels to display cars in the hopes that someone will come in to buy it. That makes your social media an advertisement, when it needs to be more about being approachable and trustworthy.
Take Advantage of Online Reviews
We are told that CSI or NPS is important and in some instances dealerships are connecting your scores to your pay plans. From a financial perspective, I get the importance of high CSI/NPS scores in order to collect bonuses. However, don’t stop there. While your bonuses may not be tied to online reviews, having online reviews helps bring in more customers which results in more sales and commissions. It’s basically a form of free advertising that isn’t sponsored by your dealership. People want to work with someone they like and trust. How much easier would it be if someone saw online reviews about their positive experiences with you and therefore came in wanting to work with you? If you’ve already spent time being an active and empathetic listener and delivered a positive experience for your customer, kindly ask every time if they would help you with sharing a few words about their experience online. I would go one step further and even text or email them a link or QR code after they leave so they don’t have to search. User generated promotion is probably the most powerful form of promotion you can get for yourself.
Avoid Negative People
With all of the news media and some politicians telling people that the economy is bad, interest rates are too high, and dealers are charging too much for cars, do you really need to go to work every day and hear more negativity about the market? You can’t have a positive mindset and be mentally prepared or deliver a positive experience to a customer if you feel like no one wants to buy a car right now. Remember the graphic at the beginning of this blog post? Just in California alone there are almost 1.3 million new vehicles being sold a month in 2023 and it is expected to increase in 2024. I want you to focus on the positive message in that. For us in California, out of 1.3 million cars being sold each month, I just need to find a way to sell 20 to make a good paycheck. Stay positive and move your shoppers into customers and leave the negative and toxic people behind. Give yourself reasons to make money and let others make excuses for why they can’t.
It only takes one person to talk to in order to make a sale. You may not see as many potential customers calling or coming in to your showroom as you did in the past, but if you incorporate these 7 steps into your process you’ll convert more of them into customers. It’s not harder to sell a car today, it just requires a different mindset and a more-focused process. Get after it and make it happen today!
