No Emotion = No Sale
You might think that people buy from you because you have excellent product knowledge or you have given them a great price or great service. While these are factors in the customer’s decision making process, it is your ability as a salesman to get your customer emotional about their purchase that made the biggest difference. People buy from people they like and trust and without forming an emotional bond with your customers, they won’t do either of these. They will be indifferent about you and indifferent about your product. Your use of emotional selling with be the difference in the customer’s eyes and it will encourage them to make a decision based upon how they feel about you, as a salesperson.
Notes:
Some professional salespeople actually try to silently mimic their customer, becoming who they are. With the use voice inflections, body language and mannerisms some salespeople feel that the more the customer sees the salesperson as they are, the greater chance they will have with the rapport building with the customer.
I used to make it a habit to secret shop a new dealership every 3 or 4 months. I thought it would be a great idea to see how others were doing the same job as my own people. If they did things great, I would try to work those things into my sales process – If they did things badly, I would make mental notes and make sure that my guys didn’t do any of those things.
I visited a dealership, not that long ago, and a young lady introduced herself to me during one of my secret shopping days. I gave her all the typical answers that a customer that was ‘just looking’ would give a salesperson. She was polite, friendly and persistent with her desire to help me that day, that I genuinely started to appreciate her and enjoyed the time we spent that day on the lot. Later that night, I went home and talked with my wife about her. I explained that I really felt compelled to give her my business and that I wanted to go back to the dealership and purchase a car from her. I was amazed how well she was at getting me emotional about her product and her brand. I didn’t purchase from her, but I really felt that I would have if I had seriously been looking.
Your customers will only buy a car from you after they have gone through a process that includes gathering, processing and considering a good set of budget and car related information, right?
If you said yes. You would be Wrong.
Decisions to purchase are almost always a factor of a change in their emotional state. The information they gathered may have been a factor in their decision making process, but it was the emotion that they had that made them act of that information. Sell a person with LOGIC and you will get them THINKING. Sell a person with EMOTION and you will get them ACTING.
It doesn’t matter what you are selling, people base their final buying decision on one thing – Their feelings! You can be selling a product, a service, a concept or idea – Everyone will take the experience they receive from you and convert it into an emotion. It’s that emotion that makes them act and give you the word you want to hear, “yes”. They will only make the buying decision when they experience a connection between you, them and the item being sold.
Buying decisions all come from SIX basic emotions:
· Love – “My loved one will love me more, if I make a decision now.”
· Fear. "I will miss out on this great deal, if I don’t decide now.”
· Greed. "I will get something or achieve more in life, if I own this vehicle”
· Envy. "If I don't make a decision now, my neighbor will think less of me."
· Pride. "I work hard and deserve this, so I’ll buy it now”
· Guilt. "I will look like I don’t care, if I don’t buy this car for my son."
Every successful closing technique you have ever learned is designed and centers around taking advantage of one of these emotions. If you can get the customers emotional state high enough, they will not be able to resist buying from you.
Match their emotions with their beliefs
Your ability to encourage these emotions within your customer are dependent upon their basic beliefs. If they think that small cars are ‘unsafe’ to drive, you will have a hard time getting them emotional about the purchase of a small car. If they think that leasing a car is a waste of money and a big rip-off, you will have a hard time selling them on the benefits of leasing. Any time you try to change a person’s beliefs, you are attacking something that is dear to them. You must be skillful if you plan to change the way someone believes. It is their belief system that will ultimately determine how their emotional attachment to your vehicle will play out.
Notes:
Always be careful to balance things. Do not condemn something you may need to use.
Example: If your customer came to you lot expressing their thoughts of a competitive make, the last thing you want to do is completely talk down on that vehicle.
Why?
What if you had to switch form a new car to a used? Maybe you had that model or something similar and you had to start selling the benefits of that particular vehicle? You have more than likely lost credibility with this customer in this situation.
It is always good practice to compliment competitors and then segue into why you would prefer
What your product has to offer.
A good example would be, if your customer has always been told that leasing is a rip-off, they will have strong feelings of ‘fear’ when the word is brought up. Before you can change this emotion, you must first address the reasons they feel the way they do. It is only after you have successfully changed their belief about leasing that you can introduce new feelings such as ‘Love’ into the sale.
Much in the sale way, a customer that is trying to buy more than they can afford might be interested in leasing if you can get them to feel ‘Pride’ or ‘Envy’ when talking about your vehicle. Throw in a little ‘Love’ and you will likely make a sale.
Notes:
When trying to create emotions that will drive your customers want or need for your vehicle, it is important to understand the emotional state of your customer. You can only find this out by using a carefully selected group of questions to get the answers to the big question. What are they feeling, Now? Your job is to determine what they are feeling and to what degree. It means that you need to spend a little time getting to know your customer and finding out what things are important to them.
There are three driving feelings that will add to your customer experience. If you can get them emotional about your vehicle, then you can motivate them to act on their feelings and make the sale. The following are rapport building goals:
· Get them to Trust you – If people feel like you will do what you are telling them you can do; they will trust you. Say what you mean, and mean what you say. If you make it a habit to give your customer respect, they will give you trust in return.
· They must have Confidence in your abilities – They will take every opportunity to size you up. They will test your knowledge and question your abilities. If they feel you are competent and show that your knowledgeable about your product, they will be more likely to listen to what you have to say. Make a friend and help them solve their needs.
· They must feel like you really Care about them – If they feel that you are interested in them and you understand what they are trying to say, the will start to care about you. It is only when they begin to know you, that they will open up and let you know how to help them. Stay motivated to help them, and they will help you.
So what do you need to discover about them?
Information is power. You goal is to make a sale, but the sale is a destination. Until you get them to say ‘yes’, you are only on the road and there are many stops you must make before you get to the end. You must learn to gather information from while giving them information. Along the road, you will exchange enough information to cause them to being forming emotional feelings towards your vehicle. If done with skill, you can bring out positive emotions that will lead to the sale. If your careless, you can stumble on a hidden negative emotion and kill your chances.
Keep in mind that it is not the information itself that is the most important. It is the emotions that are behind the information. What you say will evoke an emotion from your customer; good or bad. It is necessary that you understand why your customer feels the way they do and that you identify the emotions they are feeling accurately.
Questions you should ask:
· What things are important in your next car?
· What things did you like about your last car?
· What things did you dislike about your last car?
· Is the car for yourself or for someone else?
· What will be the primary use for this vehicle?
· What makes you choose today to come looking for a new car?
· If we found the right vehicle, are you able to make a decision today?
Since you are trying to bring out only positive emotional feelings, you need to keep your questioning about positive things. Don’t try to discuss how they feel about the person that just totaled their car. It might be a great story, but it’s likely to bring a negative emotion into the conversation.
Here are a few questions designed to trigger a positive emotional response:
· What things would you love to have on your next car?
· What did your last car have that you enjoyed the most?
· Who is going to be the lucky driver of the vehicle?
· You look great in this vehicle; can you see it parked in your driveway?
· Who would you show this vehicle to first, if you had the chance?
Don’t just start talking about the features your cars have with your customer. It is important that you ask emotional needs questions FIRST. Once you get them thinking emotional about your vehicle, it is important that you ask the best questions ever… “What else is important to you?”