Remember “El Nino” and the subsequent “El Nina”? No one had ever heard of them until the time the news and weather people blamed everything on them from their inability to accurately predict the weather to global warming. Well in this, the year of the winter that never ends, the same can be said of something called a polar vortex. You probably didn’t know what a polar vortex was either but you did know that when anyone uttered that word out went the professional business attire and in came the heavy boots, turtle neck sweaters and down coats. Did anyone actually count the number of cars they cleaned off this winter? My point is that those in the media feel they must constantly update the way they say “lousy winter” or “snow storm” or “cold and windy.” If they don’t their listeners eventually tune them out because it is just more of the same.
So, can we learn anything from the talking heads on television? To start, what does your sales presentation sound like? If you haven’t updated it or you are relying on old data and statistics to sell your 2014 customers it might be time to make some changes. As so many of you have heard me say before (speaking of tuning out) unless your customer is a first time car buyer, they’ve heard your spiel before—even if they haven’t heard it from you. So how do you grab someone’s attention and keep it while selling service contracts, GAP coverage, tire and wheel pro(yawn)grams and z-z-z-z. Yes, let’s face it, these are not the most colorful products you can sell. And how do you make costly events sound positive? Let’s go back to those clever weather people and think of how they make cold and miserable sound like fun. In the case of your products, in part it comes down to talking about every person’s favorite subject: themselves! In other words you have to structure your discussion around your customer. Service contracts—talk about his past experience with mechanical issues; GAP coverage—how it can impact his future car buying experience; interior/exterior protection—pride of ownership, and getting a trade allowance deserving of the good-looking vehicle they’re trading. You get the picture. Don’t forget to focus more on the positive benefit of having the product rather than the negative problem that created the need for it.
Next, make your points compelling enough to keep your customer’s attention throughout your presentation. Be genuinely interested in what they have to say. Converse, don’t lecture or recite word tracks and statistics. Know your products better than anyone. Make sure your positive feelings about them and your confidence in them shows through in your body language as well as your words. Know your audience—Baby-boomers will listen to stories, gen X and Y think and listen in bullet points—so adjust your presentation to the buyers sitting in front of you. Finally, ask yourself if you would buy from you. If you can honestly answer yes to that, CLOSE THEM. You have earned the right to ask for the sale. In weather terms, you’ve created the ideal conditions for great skiing, otherwise known as cold and snowy.
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