Creating an Appointment Culture – Part 8

Creating an Appointment Culture – Part 8

TRANSCRIPT: Once you get the prospect on the phone, you have one goal. That is to get an appointment that shows. Let’s discuss how the call from Part 7 should go. For example, I know the prospect might demand more information. The prospect may want to understand the why about something, or he many want more information. He may say, “No, tonight does not work.” Whatever it is, we need to be able to overcome their objections. We can’t overcome objections if they just say, “No”. When I ask them to come in at 5:45 or 6:15, and the prospect says, “Nah”, I need to understand why, right? I have to be able to overcome his objection.

One thing that we need to learn to say, in the car business especially, but it may work in other businesses as well, is, “It would be irresponsible for me to give that information over the phone.” This is because lots of information is irresponsible for a dealer to give over the phone. An example is a trade appraisal. Someone has a 2008 Toyota Camry that he wants to trade in. Can we give him that information over the phone? No. Only a trained appraiser knows what the car is really worth. The prospect can go online and fill out a trade appraisal form and see what a computer says his car is worth. He can see what the book value of his car is, but we know when we are evaluating trades, that this is never the case. Sometimes cars are really nice and will need little reconditioning. Sometimes they are really rough and will require lots of reconditioning. Ultimately, we need to see the vehicle in order to give it a firm price. That is why we need to learn to say, “It would be irresponsible to give that information over the phone.”

Let’s assume that the prospect wants to know what his interest rate is. Dealerships need to learn to say, ”It would be irresponsible to give you that information over the phone, but let me tell you that we work with twenty-seven banks and credit unions. We can guarantee that you are going to get the very best rate that you qualify for. I have got a business manager free tonight at 5:15 and another one open at 5:45. Would either of those appointments work for you?” What we want to do is overcome any objections that our prospect has with the next steps. If a prospect says they do not have time, we would tell them we understand and that the best way to save them time is to schedule a priority test drive. That way when he comes in, he will be in and out on his test drive within five minutes, and won’t be attacked by sales people when he comes on the lot. If the prospect truly wants to save time, the best way to do that is to schedule an appointment.

One of the things that make BDCs really strong is that they don’t always have answers. They learn to say things like, “My manager would be happy to answer that question when you arrive at our dealership.” That is the way that a BDC should work. They should not give a ton of information. Remember there is an inverse relationship between information given and appointments that show. Your team only has one goal on the phone. What is it? To make an appointment that shows. Without an appointment that shows, you will be lucky to sell a car.