Digital Dealer - October 2017 - 39

this question: 'How likely
is this person to serve
my best interests?' For
example, if their heart
is set on a certain color
for a certain model, and
your dealership doesn't
have that color in
stock, are you going to
immediately try to push
a different color, or are
you going to go the extra
mile to help the customer find what they're
looking for?
Alignment of interests also applies to
negotiating a price. The
customer always wants
a good deal, but that
doesn't always mean the
lowest price. Research
indicates that although
you must be in the
market range with price,
selling the value of your
dealership is an effective
technique. Find out why
the customer is looking
for a vehicle and fill that
need with your value
proposition.
4. BENEVOLENT
CONCERN

People trust others
who show genuine
interest and concern in
them. This is similar to
alignment of interests,
but goes deeper. Every
salesperson is trained
to fish for what the
customer's objections
are so they can overcome those objections.
While relying on words
from a script may be
helpful in some circumstances, you have to be
very careful that your
response doesn't come
across as rehearsed or

insincere.
Buying a car is a big,
exciting and important
event for most people.
But to salespeople who
sell cars every day, it can
become mundane. It's
important to try and tap
into the customer's sense
of excitement and give
every customer the VIP
treatment.
5. CAPABILITY

This comes down
to how competent and
knowledgeable the
salesperson is. If you
need brain surgery, don't
you want your surgeon
to be experienced and
knowledgeable? Although
buying a car isn't brain
surgery, demonstrating
confidence inspires your
customers to trust you.
This is why training,
mentoring and ongoing
education is so important.
Not just for your salespeople but for everyone
who interacts with customers. Imagine a scenario where a prospect
calls in and asks someone in your BDC what the
residual is for a certain
vehicle they're looking at;
and the BDC employee's
response is, "What's a
residual?" That kind of
answer reflects poorly on
your entire dealership.
Salespeople demonstrate incompetence
when they send emails
filled with grammar and
spelling mistakes. From
the customer's perspective, how can they
trust you to register and
handle paperwork for
their car if you can't even

spell? Templates can help
solve this problem, but a
better way to address this
issue is with videos. The
vast majority of salespeople I know are professional and well-spoken, even
if some of them don't
know how to spell. They
come across as very capable in person, and also
on video.
Videos in emails are
still novel enough to excite and engage customers. Communicating with
customers in a direct,
visual manner instead of
with the written word is a
great way to build trust.

6. PREDICTABILITY
AND INTEGRITY

Before a person
decides to trust you,
they ask themselves (on
a subconscious level)
'How certain am I that
this person will act or
react a certain way?' As a
salesperson, behaving in
a way that the customer
expects and wants builds
trust.
However, if you say
one thing but do another,
you are perceived as
lacking integrity. If you tell
a prospect you are going
to do something, do it.
Send that email, do that
research, call them back
when you said you would,
have that car ready for
the test drive. Deliver on
your promises.
The more predictable
and honest you are, the
more your customers will
trust you.
7. LEVEL OF
COMMUNICATION

The ability to com-

municate openly and
honestly builds trust,
while poor communications skills destroy trust.
As a salesperson do you
answer your customer's
questions directly, or do
you avoid answering their
questions? If it's the latter, I can assure you that
all the charm and chatter
in the world isn't going to
fool them.
One of the most effective means of communication is story telling.
Are you telling your
dealership's story with a
value proposition video?
Are your salespeople
sharing their stories with
introduction videos? Are
your loyal customers
telling their stories with
customer testimonial videos? People love stories
and they love watching
people share their stories
on video. The more you
communicate and share
stories, the more your
customers will trust you.
Trust is a vital part of
every purchasing decision. 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.
TED DUPUY is Director
of National Accounts
with Flick Fusion Video
Marketing. Ted has more
than a decade of experience
working with automotive
dealers to help improve their
sales processes, inventory
merchandising and video
marketing. EMAIL: t.dupuy@
flickfusion.com

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

OCTOBER 2017

39
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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Digital Dealer - October 2017
