Creating an Appointment Culture – Part 9


Creating an Appointment Culture – Part 9

TRANSCRIPT: Another question that prospects want an answer to is, “What is my out the door number?” Meaning: “What are you going to give me for my trade? What is your final price? I need to know my out the door numbers, or I am not coming in.” A salesperson should say, “Well, there are lots of things that go into a car deal. It would be irresponsible for a car dealer to give you those numbers over the phone. For example, do you have a trade?” The prospect may go on to say he has a trade that you know you can’t get at auction right now. You could tell him, “Great, we can’t get that at auction right now. My used car manager would be happy to give you a written appraisal on that and we’ll buy your car whether you buy our car or not. Why don’t you bring it by at 6:15, so our appraiser can take a look at it.

See, you have changed completely from trying to sell a car, to getting him in to let you appraise his. This is because you have one goal on the phone, and that is to make an appointment that shows. If you continue to give out information, he will never show. I guarantee it. One thing that I want your team to understand is how to bury the dead. What I mean is the guy who wants the “out the door numbers” who lives fifty miles away has two other dealers with the same brand as you much closer to where he lives. He is not coming to buy from you. He wants to get all of your information in writing so that he can take it to his local dealer and beat them up over it. They may come close, they may beat your price, they may match it, but he is not buying from you even if they don’t match it. He will pay five hundred dollars more for the total deal rather than drive fifty miles to see you. So, you have got to learn to bury the dead.

This is how you do it. For the guy that wants too much information, you say, ”Hey, Bob, listen. You are not going to buy a car from me. You are going to take all of my information, and you are going to go to your local dealer. You will try to beat them up with it. They may or may not match my price. But at that time, you won’t care because you are not going to buy from me. I have got an idea. Let’s save some time. You go on in and see your local dealer. You get his best offer then drive to see me. If I can’t beat it, I will fill your tank with gas and give you a hundred dollar gift card to the Olive Garden. Ok, Bob?”

Bob isn’t showing nine times out of ten… One time out of ten he actually will, and when he does show, you can match that price. If you can’t match that price, what are you out? Fifty dollars in gas and a hundred dollar gift card? That is not a bad trade off considering the amount of time you would have spent with those ten prospects that wanted everything from your team and were not going to show up until they got it. Remember, time is money in an appointment culture. Learn to bury the dead and sell more cars…