The auto business is a tough market. Anyone selling cars today knows that with the advent of online shopping, the job has only gotten harder. One key to success in auto sales today is to build long lasting customer relationships. These relationships can help you weather tough times as you accumulate a steady pool of return customers.
The Importance of Building Customer Relationships
When an older couple comes in and buys a car, you might not give it your all because you think it’ll be the last car they’ll ever buy. Thinking like that is a mistake, and it can cost you future sales. When treated well and given a good experience, that same old couple might come back to buy more vehicles for kids and grandkids. That’s the beauty of building lasting customer relationships. However, how do you do it?
How to Foster Strong Customer Relationships
One essential factor in building lasting customer relationships in the auto business is to overcome the stigma that surrounds the very concept of car salesmen. Folks perceive car salesmen as one of the most dishonest and crooked professionals around. That’s why the first ingredient in a lasting customer relationship is trust. The best way to build that trust is to be uncompromisingly honest with your customers.
Things like giving customers a great deal when financing is limited, those customers will come back to you, sometimes in better circumstances with more to spend. The customers you help through tough times can surprise you by coming back a couple of years later with more money to spend. The trust you built in making that first deal will go a long way.
Never judge a book by its cover. Customers who walk in the door wearing what you might perceive to be shabby clothing could be rolling in dough. If you don’t give these customers the time of day, you can lose the potential for long-term sales.
Another thing to remember is that to get long term sales; you have to focus on fulfilling your customer’s needs. Focusing on customer needs can mean selling the conservative crossover instead of the more expensive SUV and taking a hit on the initial commission. The idea is to separate yourself from the concept of the crooked car salesman who will say anything to sell customers more vehicles than necessary.
Pushing customers into buying more expensive cars and focusing solely on your commission is off-putting. More importantly, it can break the bank, leaving the customer in no position to finance another car from you in the future.
Get the Advice You Need from Automotive Consulting Enterprises
ACE has the insight you need to succeed and build customer relationships that will last. Building these relationships will keep on paying dividends for years, supplying you with a relatively steady stream of sales revenues.
Get in touch with Automotive Consulting Enterprises and prepare to soar!