Digital Dealer - October 2017 - 38

By Ted Dupuy

COMMUNICATIONS

Director of National Accounts
Flick Fusion Video Marketing
APRIL 21-23, 2015 * TAMPA, FL
APRIL 21-23 * TAMPA, FL

A Scientific Model for
Building Customer Trust
Do your customers
trust your salespeople? According to the
most recent Gallup poll
on the subject, the
answer is a resounding
"No!". Americans rank car
salespeople as the third
least trustworthy profession. Only members of
Congress rank lower, and
now with recent elections...journalists.
Now, I know for a fact
most car salespeople
are not bad people. But
fighting this customer perception can be an uphill
battle. Trust must be
earned, and it's not easy
if a customer is preconditioned to believe you're
dishonest.
In overcoming this
type of silent objection,
it helps to know how the
mind works. According to
an article in the Harvard
Business Review, there
are seven situational
factors that a person uses
in their decision to trust
someone. These factors
were identified by experts
based on years of researching trust, suspicion
and resolution of conflict.
As you read through
these situational factors,
think about how you can
apply them to your interactions with customers.
1. SECURITY

The higher the stakes,
the less likely people are
38

OCTOBER 2017

SIMILARITIES

FOR DEALERSHIPS AND FOR
SALESPEOPLE, EARNING CUSTOMER
TRUST CAN BE AN UPHILL BATTLE,
BUT KNOWING THE PSYCHOLOGY
BEHIND HOW PEOPLE DECIDE TO
TRUST IS HELPFUL.
to trust. Buying a car is
pretty high stakes for
most people because a
lot of money is involved.
As a car shopper begins
their journey, how secure
do they feel giving you
their contact information?
To entice prospects
to give their personal
information, many dealers
use trade-in forms, price
quote forms, payment
calculators and other
widgets on their website.

D I G I TA L D E A L E R . C O M

The customer expects the
widget to give them the
answer they are looking for. If you don't give
them the answer they
feel duped. You have just
destroyed the first and
most important factor in
the decision to trust.
If you aren't willing to
quote a price or payment
over the phone, don't use
that call to action on your
website.
2. NUMBER OF

At a deep psychological level, people tend to
trust other people who
are like them. Similarities that your customers
look for include common values shared and
personality traits. This
is why it's long been
important for salespeople to make small talk
to try and find things in
common with their customers, and why some
salespeople use the
'mirroring technique.'
These sales techniques are easy to apply
with a showroom up. But
what about when the
prospect hasn't decided which dealership to
visit? Video emails have
been proven to be very
effective at increasing engagement and
response rates. Send
salesperson introduction
videos, or have your
salespeople record a
personalized greeting for
an existing vehicle walkaround video.
Videos allow your personality to shine. When
customers see you smiling and being friendly on
video, they are far more
likely to trust you.
3. ALIGNMENT
OF INTERESTS

Before your customer
decides to trust you,
they ask themselves
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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Digital Dealer - October 2017
