Selling the UnSold

Selling the Unsold

We don't sell them all! I wish I could title this post "How to Sell them All" then I would be doing the infomercials on TV at 2 am from my sleek, party boat, yacht and tell the world they would be stupid not to buy my tapes. My ability to develop all kinds of character defects would be limitless. I could go on, but back to reality...

Every week we meet many customers and we don't sell them all. After measuring the sales effort for decades, I always found that one sells about 25% to 30% of 1st time In's (counting everyone). That means 70% to 75% left you and the store without a new car.

These Unsold's are the very best and fastest place to grow your sales. Just think, they came to the store interested in a new car. They weren't looking for a fast food joint and ordering a cheeseburger and they weren't here just to use the bathroom. These people are in the market for a new car! They may not have been far enough along in the sales process to buy today, but they will and you know their contact information (right?) and they know you. These unsold's are a better list than any list you can ever buy. We need to work it - HARD!

If you are just hanging on the door waiting for it to swing, you're probably seeing 35 to 55 customers a month. Selling your 30% means you sold 10 to 15 cars and didn't sell 25 or 40 interested customers. Some of these customers are going to buy in the next 12 to 48 hours, some are 1 or 2 weeks out, some are just starting the process and 1 or 2 customers may have left after making inferences about your mother (we meet every walk of life and that includes some dumb asses - sorry, but it is baked in the cake).

So How? To call all the unsold's every day is not the most efficient use of your time. Some customers will consider that stalking and blow you off completely. You have to figure out what customers are going to act the soonest and pursue them first. The others can wait. To do this we have to be able to segregate the customers into:

Hot’s - Mild’s - Cold’s

When I designed my CRM in the 1990's, I set up criteria for each based on where they ended in the sale process. THIS IS JUST A GUIDE that I used for computer tracking. There are many exceptions and since you are still smarter than a computer, trust your instincts.

Cold - Came in and never went for a Demonstration Drive
Mild - Came in and went for Demonstration Drive but never went to close
Hot - "All in" but left without buying, and can buy!

As long as you have a long, active HOT list going, the Cold's and Mild's can wait. Hopefully you asked "if not now - when", so you have a good idea of their time frame.

Hots

A Hot Customer is going to buy a car in the next 12 to 48 hours. After they buy, they are out of the market for the next 3 to 7 years. So this customer is either going to be your customer or the guy down the street's customer. If you lose, one day we will hear you doing your follow up calls, when you say "Oh, You Did..." then we'll know you lost to the guy down the street.

I always believed I was a better value than the guy down the street, and not because charm and charisma are my super powers, but because I busted my ass on the outside work to get what the customer wanted done. I earned it.. and I didn't want the slacker salesman down the street to get the benefit of my work. That slacker can't close an open face steak sandwich without going to cost. He doesn't deserve to be in the business let alone sell my customer. Before you can achieve good pursuit, you have to get your mindset here and become competitive about this. Earn it, (really earn it) and by god ask for it... No Timidity and No Apologies.

Hot Pursuit

Hot list
You have to identify who should be on this list. If you're not sure - go deep. Then make a manual list and carry it on your person. That way, between customers you can pull it out and make a quick call.
When I visit you at the store, I would be excited if you could tell me three of your customers that are going to buy a car in the next 12 to 48 hours. So this all starts with a list of those customers you expect to sell today.

The Call
The objective is not to sell the car over the phone, but to make an appointment to get the customer back into the store today or tonight.
To do this right, you have to tell the customer something new every time you call. If you don't, your call becomes stalking and you'll get shut down. The idea is I want to tell the customer something new that builds curiosity and motivates them to come back in.
One time I had a manager tell me to just call the customer and tell them I had good news and get back in here. I asked what that news was and he wouldn't tell me. He said just call and tell them that we have good news. So, I did. Of course the customer asked "what’s the good news" and I had to say "I don't know" as I was laughing inside knowing they were as perplexed as I was, but …IT WORKED..
Building Curiosity is the key.

Rehash with Manager
There will be times that you’re going to need ideas to build curiosity before you make the call. If you need help, share your hot list with your manager 1st thing in the morning. A good manager will have lots of ideas you can use to build curiosity on the call. Things like reappraise the trade, financing options, new incentives, or just "Good News", etc...

T.O. to Manager
I used to sit in team meetings with the guys in the morning as we planned the day and developed a Store Hot List to beat the sales people with the remainder of the day. We would check the status of the list at 11 am, again at 3 pm, and spot check before salespeople went home.
If the salespeople were having a tough time, the managers were on the phones doing a T.O. on the call. For whatever reason, sometimes a customer will just respond to a "manager" when they won't to a salesperson. The T.O. call is a valuable tool.

Remember just because the customer left without buying doesn't mean we forget them and move on to the next door swing. If you are doing that, you're missing a lot of deals and helping the guy down the street stay in the business. Get on this, get good at this and watch your sales increase.

I know some of you are good at this. I hear some of you talking about your pursuit with some of the new tools available today. If you have anything to add that works for you, I would like to hear about it.

Good Selling