Here are three car dealer manager catchphrases I both love and hate as a salesman. You won’t hear them in every dealership. But when you do, you can guess that dealer experiences some unhappy customer experiences and lost sales.
“Go chase ‘em.”
I’m not sure what bothers me so much about this statement. Maybe it’s because no other business literally chases down a customer who’s leaving. Imagine a manager at Starbucks telling a cashier to go chase down a guy who left because he didn’t place an order. Imagine you walked into a Home Depot, asked some questions about paint, and thanked the salesman for his time. But, as you cross the parking lot, that same salesman comes running after, telling you his manager said if you buy the paint today, he’ll take 10% off. Chasing is inefficient. It’s indicative of poor communication and a lack of teamwork to get things right the first time.
“What do you mean?”
When a salesman brings his manager a situation where a customer doesn’t want to buy now, this is the de facto response he’ll get. “Sir, they don’t have the money.” “What do you mean, they don’t have the money?” Sir, they want to look at some other cars.” “What do you mean, they want to look at other cars?” “Sir, they need some time to think about it.” “What do you mean, they need time to think about it?” This is usually followed by a “Go chase ‘em.”
What this really means is that the manager won’t get up out of his chair. And maybe that’s a good thing – you wouldn’t want him asking your customer, “What do you mean, you don’t have the money?” These objections should be treated as simply that – objections – not opportunities to ensure a customer never comes back.
“Go hit em’ with this.”
Whenever I hear a Sales Manager say, “Go hit ‘em with this.” I imagine he’s thinking, “I don’t think they’ll take this deal, but let’s send the salesman out with it just in case.”
What I don’t like about this one is that it’s usually preceded with the salesman’s explanation of what the customer wants to do. So, simply hitting the customer with something entirely different is depleting to them and creates objections – which ultimately provokes “What do you mean’s?” followed by a “Go chase ‘em.”
You might be wondering why I said I love these terms, too. The reason is simple; they bring me new customers. Just yesterday I was sitting at my desk, and no one was available to help a prospective customer outside, so I introduced myself. After talking with him, I learned he’d just left a competing dealership because he felt they were playing games and charging obscenely high amounts. I asked what brought him to us, and he said, “Your reviews are just awesome.”
If you’re a car shopper and you’re wondering how to avoid these negative experiences, one of the best things you can do is start your deal on Carwoo! It not only makes car-buying comfortable and easy, but fun, too.
[photo by dskley]
