Learning Empathy from Selling Cars...

If you are reading this article right now I am positive you have been told "no" in your life, and I am sure you hear much more often if you are in a "sales" position. And I am certain that if you have not been hearing "no" in your life then you are not pushing hard enough. Even with that said, I am no hero, or expert by any means.

To be very honest with you, I did not prepare myself for all of the "no" that comes along with a sales career. I knew that it wasn't going to be easy, and I knew that I would have to develop certain skills to be able to master the art of selling. But wow... It seems as though some customers will hint to "yes", just to hit you with a curve ball "no" right at the last moment. Not a great feeling, at all.

I have only been in Auto Sales for 2 months now, and the whole time I can feel that I am short on skills and knowledge, both on sales and the product. I have spent time learning our inventory, learning the sales process, learning closing techniques, learning how to story tell and build rapport. These all work so well, and I can feel improvement except none of these have yet allowed me to deal with painful "no" when the customer ultimately does not pull the trigger. Or tell you on your follow up call that they have already bought somewhere else. Or this one is the worst... You see one of your customers (that you spent hours working with) at the gas station with a brand new Cadillac Escalade that they did not buy from you. All of these situations can put pressure on your self confidence and on your bank account because one "no" can easily spiral out of control in to a whole lot of "no" that sting even more. However... there is hope!

I have just recently unlocked a potential superpower in the sales arena... It is called... EMPATHY. This superpower with allow you to stop complaining about the "no" and put the focus back onto building value in what you are selling.

So this idea started as me pulling this line on a customer (who had told me not to bother them with phone calls)... "Of course not Sir, but please understand that it is my full time position to sell cars and if that includes a quick follow up call with you in the future then I have no choice but to do it." with a smile on my face, he laughed and said, "Yeah I guess you are right, I'll talk to you soon". This guy did not want me bothering him because he knows he has so many other things going on in his life, and he doesn't want this slick, good-lookin, smooth talkin salesperson to pressure him into buying a car. Now it is my job to build value in the vehicle in reference to the other things he does have going on.

So the point of that story is this... Empathy must go both ways... I have to get each of my potential customers to realize exactly the duty, and obligation I have to make this sale happen. It is my full time focus, and the way I bring home a pay check.

Now even more important is my ability to understand that the customer does not have even the slightest obligation to buy a car at all... let alone, buy one from me! The customer will rarely be as excited to close the deal as I am, and so I need to build certainty in that buyers mind so that they do want to drive home in that vehicle.

So to wrap this up... My future sales process with include the following...

1. It is MY job to build value and sell the car.
2. It is also MY job to realize they have other things going on, that I do not have control over.
3. Stop complaining about the "no", because people got stuff.

#carsales #business #entrepreneur #marketing #socialmedia