Customer Interaction Skills That Generate More Sales

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Among the most difficult challenges facing automotive sales consultants today is dealing with customers who often know more about the product line than they do. Add to this an extremely competitive industry and declining per-vehicle profit margins. Given these realities it’s hardly surprising that, when interacting with prospects, you’ve got the potential for a ‘‘no-win’’ rather than a ‘‘win-win’’ situation.

Here are some ideas about how to avoid the former and achieve the latter.

A conflict situation is a moment in time during which the concerns of two people appear to be incompatible. For automotive customers, this may result from a feeling of pressure to ‘‘buy now’’ or because unrealistic expectations have been created in their minds about vehicle price or availability. Sales consultants, on the other hand, typically feel an urgent need to convert everyone who comes to the dealership into an immediate sale.

In any potential conflict situation there is a continuum. At one end of the spectrum is Competition. Here one person seeks to impose his/her will on the other party, regardless of the other party’s doubt, hesitation, or concerns. In this scenario, the best you can hope for is short-term gain. But this comes at the expense of fostering a long-term customer relationship.

At the other end of the spectrum is Collaboration. Here you try to avoid or mitigate conflict by finding a solution that is agreeable to everyone involved. In this scenario, you hope not only to ‘‘win,’’ but also to preserve and advance the relationship. Not surprisingly, top performing automotive sales consultants exhibit a selling style which reflects this position. They focus on building long-lasting relationships with their customers. And they do so by using non-confrontational, negotiation-rich interaction techniques.

While there is no single ‘‘right way’’ to do this, by adding the following techniques to your sales arsenal you’ll significantly increase your closing ratio. And remember, negotiation-based selling is a skill. Like all skills, it must be practiced before it can be perfected.

Try not to get frustrated. A good way to minimize frustration is to periodically ask yourself questions like, ‘‘Is the customer being treated the way I would want to be treated if I was in his/her place?’’ and ‘‘How committed am I to developing/maintaining a long-term relationship with this customer?’’
Remain fixed on your end goal … to make a sale. Don’t get bogged down in a personality dispute.
Identify key areas of agreement. Verify with the customer the accuracy of your perception.
Sum up the main points of disagreement. Verify the accuracy of your understanding of disagreement points.
Explore points of disagreement with the customer. For example, How much do we really disagree? What factors are causing us to disagree? On which points would the sales consultant/the customer be willing to comprise? If you did compromise, what would you expect from the customer in return?
Generate a potential solution by focusing on options which promote mutual satisfaction.
Ask the customer if this solution represents the best way to accomplish his/her goals, based on buying motivations you’ve discussed earlier in the sales process.

If you’d like to learn more about win-win negotiation techniques, a great place to start is Getting To Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In by Roger Fisher and William Ury. This slender book offers a concise step-by-step strategy. It’s a classic.

For more hands-on assistance, check out Win Squared. Win Squared is a simple, yet powerful software program which can help sales consultants improve their communication skills and adjust to the demands of individual sales situations.

Using fundamental principles of supply and demand to help focus on each party’s key strengths and weaknesses, Win Squared provides concrete ideas about how to identify customer requirements, encourage customer buying motivations, address potential objections, and create agreement.

The software contains numerous specific tactics for making persuasive closing arguments and convincing customers to accept them. It also takes personality and assertiveness into account, allowing you to choose not only what issues are most important, but also how assertive to be and what style best suits your needs.

Finally, Win Squared is extremely flexible. For example, it can be used to prepare a complete sales pitch; to target more narrow issues, such as time or information; or just to practice personal selling techniques.