I have read many books and attended many seminars on the subject of "closing the sale." Most of
the solutions for closing the sale that I have gotten from those sources, deal with a magic phrase
or argument that will convince the customer that the salesperson is right and the customer should
do business now. After spending most of my adult life in sales, I have come to the conclusion
that closing the sale is rarely a magic phrase or argument that changes a persons mind, as much
as it is a series of things or events that allows a customer to become comfortable enough to make
a decision to buy.
A customer will move through three stages before making a purchase,
Character stage
Emotional Stage
Logical stage.
The first two stages must be satisfactory before a customer can get to the logical decision stage.
A customer must feel comfortable with the salesperson, dealership and surroundings first. The
character stage can include artifacts like dress or cleanliness, accessibility and atmosphere of a
dealership. Once trust and rapport has been established the customer next has to get emotional
about the product and the advantages and benefits of owning the product.
If the customer likes a salesperson and has comfortably made a decision about their character
and then also has gotten emotional about the product, the customer is now ready to close through
logical thinking. Salespeople should remember two things before attempting to close; 1) If
people want to do business with one another, details will not stand in the way 2) Emotions
distort reality. Those two thoughts remind salespeople of how important it is for the customer to
have stages one and two satisfied before ever attempting to move to stage three. Many sales are
lost by moving too quickly to the close without having satisfied pre-close conditions.
The salesperson will know when to move to the closing stage by observing and listening to the
customer. The customer may ask questions such as "What would my payments be", "What is the
warranty", "What are your interest rates", "How long would it take to get this in red" etc. A
salesperson usually can guide a customer to the logic stage at the end of the demo drive by
asking logical questions. The end of the demo drive is the peak emotional time in the buying
process and is a great time to ease the customer to a logical decision. Examples of those
questions would be: "Other than money, is there anything that would keep you from owning this
vehicle?" "Is there anything you would like to add, change or correct about this vehicle before
we get the figures on it?" After setting the stage gracefully by asking those questions, you can
now ask the easiest close question there is, "Do you want it?", If the salesperson has a smile on
their face and asks this question in a nice manner, the results will surprise you. Keep it simple
and don't make the process difficult for the customer.
Once a proposal has been shown to the customer, the customer moves from right brained
emotional thinking to left brain logical thinking. A salesperson will have to combine logic and
emotion in handling objections successfully.
When a customer says no to a proposal, there are several logic questions to help move the
customer to close:
"Let me ask you a hypothetical, fun question, What if the vehicle were free, would you
own it? If money were not an issue you said you would own it. Mr. customer if you
consider the reduced maintenance expenses, gas savings and resale value, it's not free but
it's a great value."
"Where do you go from here if you don't buy today?"
"Where do you see yourself 30 days from now if you don't buy?"
"If you were to buy in the future, what conditions would have to be met?"
"What is the most important consideration in buying for you?"
"Is it the money, me, machine or time?"
"What would be your dream deal or ideal situation?"
"When you bought your last vehicle, what was the main thing that caused you buy that
vehicle?"
"If you had a guarantee, would that make a difference and what would that guarantee
look like to you?"
"If you could propose one thing to lower your risk and enable you to make a decision,
what would that be?"
I believe that closing is more of letting the customer buy than selling them. TLC - Think Like A
Customer. Listening, rather than talking 80% of the time will enable any salesperson to close at
a much higher percentage. There aren't any shortcuts, magical phrases or or words to close a
customer. Closing is a process of perceptions, feelings and events that all come together
successfully, and if a dealerships sales force are more aware of this process, then more sales will
be made.
© Copyright 1999 Tewart Enterprises, Inc. All rights reserved. Used with permission.
Mark Tewart is the President of Tewart Enterprises Inc., a training and consulting company and
is also a partner and National Marketing Director for Symeron LLC, an automotive computer
company. Mark is a keynote speaker and has had top ranked programs on ASTN (Automotive
Satellite Training Network) and is a featured article writer for Dealer Magazine, Wards Dealer
Magazine and JustSell.Com as well as being a contributing author to a book titled, GenderSell -
Selling To The Opposite Sex. Mark also provides sales and management seminars
internationally.
You can contact Mark at:
Mark Tewart, President
Tewart Enterprises Inc.
1999 Kirby Rd. #100
Lebanon, OH. 45036
mtewart@tewart.com
http://www.tewart.com
FAX 513 934-4588
