Do you give numbers to every potential client you come in contact with? It’s a topic that gets thrown around a lot in management meetings and training seminars and I’ve been in some rather heated discussions about what direction to go. I’ve thought about it a lot and we can examine both sides of the issue.
Practice #1 – Only Give Numbers to Those Ready to Buy
This is the way I was trained and brought up in the business. My managers told me that we were not to give any numbers (payments, trade figures, etc.) to someone who wasn’t ready to buy today. How many times have you heard that? I could count into the thousands!
This position was largely based on fear. Fear that the customer would take our numbers and shop them to the competition. And you know what? That’s exactly what people did. Way back in the days before the internet, shoppers would visit four, five or more stores trying to comparison shop to see if they were getting the “best” deal.
On the dealer side of things, we sort of held all the information and the shoppers were in the dark. When they did indicate that they were ready to buy, the point was to keep them there in the showroom for as long as possible, giving as little information as possible until the customer agreed on a deal and we could take up the rest of their day waiting to get them in the F&I office. What a business model, huh?
Well, it actually worked really well for years and years or else we as an industry wouldn’t have stuck to it so religiously. It wasn’t consumer-friendly, but what the heck, we were selling cars, right? One can see how consumers came to dread visiting car dealerships – we trained them!
Practice #2 – Give Numbers to Anyone and Everyone
Today’s day and age is much different, however. The advent of the internet means that consumers are now in a much more advantageous position. They can do research from the comfort of their home (or wherever), gathering all the information they need to make an informed decision. They can see prices, get the value of their current car and even work their own deal on our websites. Some dealers will even bring the car to the client so they can test drive it at home before finalizing numbers.
This is on top of all the recently founded companies that are trying to disrupt the franchise dealer model. They’re giving customers what they want, when they want it. They built their business models to do what (most) franchised dealerships won’t do.
How to combat those strategies? Start by assuming everyone you come in contact with during the day is a buyer, not a shopper. They are ready to pull the trigger right then and there if you will only give them a good experience. And that experience has to include what it would look like if they were to actually buy the car in question! Keep in mind that this includes not only people who come to the showroom, but those who call the store and those who submit their query online. They’re all the same – they’re all opportunities to do business.
For example, if someone is looking at a new car, why wouldn’t you give them numbers on a straight purchase, lease and finance? Wouldn’t you as a consumer like to have all that information? And by the way, don’t ask for permission to give them numbers, confidently assume they will want them and proceed accordingly. If they say they don’t need them, simply reply that part of your job is giving them an idea of ALL of their options should they decide this is the right car for them and want to proceed. Who’s going to get mad at that? Maybe one in a hundred people? So go ahead, try it out. They’re not going to punch you in the nose, and you just might sell another car.
To summarize, I think giving numbers to everyone you come across is a winning strategy for today’s marketplace. After all, hockey superstar Wayne Gretzky said that “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take,” and he scored the most goals of anyone who played the sport. Take the shot!
What say you? Do you or don’t you give numbers to everyone? I’d love to hear your take.
Make it a great day! Dan
