This article is the last of a three-part series. We began by rethinking telephone procedures to match your shop’s unique needs. I explained how to convert telephone and internet inquiries into appointments while balancing lead flow and workload with your shop’s capacity.
In Part Two, we looked at customers’ primary frustrations with car repairs and how a good “bedside manner” reduces stress. Eliminating the typical hassles leads to a more satisfying customer experience while building trust, peace of mind, and value.
In this article, I’ll share my secrets to closing every sale without high-pressure tactics. Closing sales should occur naturally when you use the strategies and techniques in this three-part series.
A selling cycle includes every procedural step you take, from the initial customer contact to getting the customer’s job approval. However, closing the sale is not an event that occurs at the same point in the cycle every time. Contrary to common belief, it doesn’t always happen at the end of the sales cycle. Many sales close as early as the first contact – some are pre-closed before they even contact you. Some of the old sales adages include:
- ABC – Always be closing.
- CECLCO – Close Early. Close Late. Close Often.
- CESET – Close every sale every time.
Close the sale 100% of the time. You’ve heard that great salespeople don’t take “no” for an answer. But I’ve found that many service advisors don’t know how to accept “yes” for an answer. Be alert because “yes” can come at any time, and if you miss it, you might talk yourself out of the sale.
If you think selling is getting people to buy things they don’t want, don’t need, can’t use, or can’t afford, you probably think selling is high-pressure manipulation. Selling and closing do not have to involve high-pressure, arm-twisting, or manipulative tactics. Selling is little more than making it easy for your customers to make informed decisions in their best interest – saying “yes” to your advice, proposals, and recommendations.
The close occurs when there’s a transfer of enthusiasm. It’s when your enthusiasm for whatever you’re selling transfers to the customer. You can sense when it happens by what the customer says, asks, and does. Therefore, it’s vital that you’re good at listening and observing the customers’ behavior.
Customers give buying signs – clues that they’re onboard with you. For example, if a customer asks you a question that indicates that they’ve progressed to post-purchase thinking, the close has already occurred. For instance, if a customer asks, “After you finish fixing my car, will it work differently than before?”
Another example is when a customer makes forward-looking statements like, “I know the car is getting old, but I plan to give this car to my daughter when she graduates in a couple of years.”
Body language indicators include gathering personal belongings (car seats, jackets, and recreational equipment) from the car to take with them while it’s in your shop.
Sometimes, you can tell by their demeanor that they intend to have it fixed – they take the car key/fob off the key ring while telling you why they’ve come in.
Don’t miss the buying signals! In our business, most customers are predisposed to repairing their vehicles, and unless you do something to mess it up, you’ll get most of the jobs that come through the door. The hard part was turning them from an inquiry into an appointment.
Asking Repair Authorization
After presenting the repair recommendations, ask them questions that don’t directly relate to saying “yes” or “no” to the repair proposal. I like to ask questions related to things that only matter if we do the repairs, and by answering or agreeing, they’ve essentially said “yes” to the repairs. These are called trial closes or soft closes. You ask these questions immediately after presenting the recommendations and price options. If they answer these questions, you know they’ve decided to repair the vehicle. Here are a couple of examples.
- Would you like us to save your old parts or throw them away?
- Will you need a rental/loaner car?
- Do you have other transportation while we have your car?
- Do you need a ride home or to work?
- How soon do you need your vehicle back?
- Which of these repair options will give you the most peace of mind? (This is a more direct approach because you ask them to make a buying decision.)
Unfortunately, every customer will not say “yes” to your service recommendations. How do you handle their rejections and objections? First, here are a few things to keep in mind.
- Don’t take it personally. It doesn’t always mean they dislike you or you’ve done something wrong.
- Don’t overreact or respond too quickly. Some people need a little time to process your proposal.
- Be professional. Remember, your primary role is to help customers make rational decisions amid their emotional situations.
- If you don’t think car repairs are emotional, in a survey of over 8,200 drivers, 42% stated that they could only afford an unexpected repair of up to $500, and only 25% could handle $1500+.
- Often, “no” only means they don’t have enough information or a good enough reason to say “yes.”
- Sometimes not fixing the vehicle is the best option for the customer – that’s just reality.
Here are my favorite techniques to help them say “yes” after they’ve said “no” or if they raise an objection.
- Let’s start with financial objections. I don’t want to put that much money into a vehicle that’s not worth as much as the repairs. I’m not going to keep the car. I’m going to get another car—or other similar statements. Asking questions is always the best way to get through the process, and it’s less pushy. They won’t be open to your suggestions if you push or disagree with them. I call this sequence the feel, felt, found process. Validate their feelings but not their unreasonable ideas.
- I can only imagine how you feel, and I know unexpected repairs can be stressful.
- Many of our customers felt the same way when their car went wonky. But many of them have found that fixing it was the best answer.
- Ask these types of questions to help them with their decision.
- Were you planning to get rid of your car before this happened? (Most will admit that they weren’t.) Once we make the repairs, you’ll fall back in love with your car and save a ton of money too.
- Are you planning to get another car? You know the cost of another vehicle could be much more than these repairs.
- Are you thinking of getting a new car or another used car?
- (New Car) The depreciation and higher insurance cost alone will be more than the repairs.
- (Used Car) You might just be purchasing someone else’s problem. For example, your car was working fine until this problem appeared. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that many vehicles we work on were recent used car purchases.
- What do you plan to do with your car?
- (Junk it) Maybe I can help with that. Do you know the salvage value of your car? (Of course, they don’t.) Let’s call a couple of salvage yards and see what it’s worth.
- After you get a couple of salvage bids, you might be interested in buying the car. We used to buy cars to fix and flip. We also picked them up for our loaner fleet. Are you willing to sell your vehicle for the salvage value? If you are, I’d buy it and forgive the amount of your bill with us. That way, you’ll net a little more money. We could use it in our loaner car fleet.
- Some will agree to sell it to you, but most of the time, they realize their car is worth more than they thought and will approve the repairs.
- There’s an old saying, “Whoever owns the car when it breaks pays for the repairs in the end.” The point is you’ll get less for it as a trade-in or when you sell it with a problem, and you might not make a wise purchase in your haste to get another car. However, if you fix it, you can drive the value out of the repair, get top dollar when you sell it, and take your time shopping for your next car.
- Sometimes it’s as simple as asking, “Why?” We learned to use this sales tool when we were kids. We’d ask our parents, “Why? Joey’s parents are letting him do it.” Try it with customers. Here’s the process.
- I’m curious, why don’t you want to fix your car? (Wait for their answer. Some people will take a while to process the question.)
- (Suppose they say, “I’m going to park it until I can afford to fix it. I’ll drive my old truck until I can fix this one.”) You respond, Is there any other reason you aren’t going to fix it now?
- By asking if there’s any other reason, you’ll find out if they’re blowing smoke or if that’s really their plan. If you don’t pin them down to their real reason, you’ll chase your tail, answering one excuse after another.
- (Suppose they say that it’s their only reason for waiting.) You might ask, How long do you think it will take to save the money to fix it? If it’s a reasonable amount of time, you might offer to store it for them, fix it, and let them make payments until it’s paid off – like a layaway program. Or offer one of the available financing programs.
- In the March issue of GEARS, I explained one of my favorite closes in my article, Service Writing Lessons from a Pet Hospital. It’s called the Benjamin Franklin Decision-Making Method. I refer to that article rather than repeating it here.
The main thing to remember is to help customers make rational decisions. They’re the ones in crisis. You’re the professional and should advise them while keeping their best interest in mind. That means that sometimes you might recommend that they not fix the vehicle. However, you can’t make honest recommendations unless you know and care about their situation. The above process will put you in a better position to advise them.
Some of you might have thought that closing 100% of your sales meant making every sale, but that’s not the case. All sales cycles come to a close. But the truth is that sometimes the close is you accepting their “no,” or you choosing to advise them against fixing the vehicle would be in their best interest. In either of these cases, seize the opportunity to win a customer for life and get referrals from them. Ultimately, you still win, and you’ll sleep better knowing you’ve done what’s best for your customers.
Learn more about Coach Thom Marketing and get unlimited access to free sales and marketing articles and videos in our online library.
CoachThomMarketing.com Phone: 480-773-3131 Email: coachthom@gmail.com
