Mastering the "I'm Just Looking" Encounter

David Lowe 0:00

I'm just looking .

David Lowe 0:02

I love this one Today . In today's episode , we're going to talk about this . Get our thinking right and come up with the right game plan to help your buyer feel comfortable sticking around and giving you an opportunity to earn their business . Stay tuned . I am David Lowe , the automotive sales coach , and I still hear I'm just looking right , it's funny . I'll drive onto a lot One . Maybe that I've never trained before . People don't know me . Maybe it's a new dealership and I like to drive the lot because inevitably somebody comes out to say hello . I love that .

David Lowe 0:47

By the way , you've got to get out and tell people I'm ready to help you and you have to be better prepared than most salespeople are . So I normally roll down my window and I hear from the salesperson can I help you ? All right ? And what are you going to say to ? Can I help you ? It right ? And what are you going to say to ? Can I help you ? It's always . I'm just looking . It's pretty comical what happens after that . And it's not their fault .

David Lowe 1:15

It's amazing that we hire sales . Sales is a professional job . This is a professional career . Most salesmen make more than most other professionals out there and if you're a master sales consultant , you're going to be in the top percentage of income earner . This is a professional career and it's a craft and it's an art and it requires training . Unfortunately , people want cars and they're going to buy cars regardless . If you work hard and you're nice , you'll sell cars , and that misleads many dealerships , many managers and many salespeople to believe you either have it or you don't . What's left on the table are lost sales and lost gross and overvalued trading . So if you want to increase your effectiveness , sell more cars and make more money and , most importantly , live with that healthy pride , right , joy , peace and satisfaction from doing a great job . Our automotive sales coaches , dealership playbook and our training is something that will help give you that . Give you the tools , the thinking tools and training you need to do that Now , in this episode , I want to give you some of that right we're talking about . I'm just looking and this is I want to take you back hilarious .

David Lowe 2:29

I was in Omaha , nebraska , oh , mid-90s . I was training for dealers all over the country I don't know , I was 35 or 36 . I don't know what age , and I had run a dealership from age 23 to 30 . And when my buy-in didn't work out , I left and joined this training company . It was a great experience to get to see so many dealerships . By the way , a lot of the thinking from the playbook came as I studied the good and the bad and the ugly at these dealerships , right , anyway , so I fly into Omaha and I'm dressed for training . I flew in and I had on my Cole Haan slip-on shoes really nice leather shoes dressed in my suit . I get off the plane and I catch my sole on that little grate off the airplane right and I tear the sole of my shoe off in the winter in Omaha . Now , I didn't bring three sets of shoes . I had one set of dress shoes with me , so my shoe was flapping in the wind right .

David Lowe 3:30

The dealership picked me up at the airport . I did training and I'm talking with the sales manager . I'm like hey man , can you take me over to Nordstrom's ? I have to buy a pair of shoes . I can't be here for three days without shoes . He goes sure , man , at lunch let's go over Nordstrom's down the street . We ran there .

David Lowe 3:47

I go to the Cole Highland rack , I'm picking up some shoes . I need shoes . I'm going to buy shoes , I have to have shoes . And a salesman walks up to me and says can I help you ? And I said I'm just looking . I swear to God , it just came out of my mouth . And the salesman said let me know if you need anything . And turned around and left .

David Lowe 4:02

The sales manager was with me , started cracking up . He's like didn't you just coach and train our salesman on this today ? Isn't it human nature to say that ? And so what we want to do ? Of course , our welcome needs to change . This episode is not about doing a great welcome . Some of you might call it a meet and greet Time . To update it to a welcome , a welcome . All about making our buyer feel comfortable , and we're prepared to do that . We have an action plan . We teach that right on the Excellence Roadmap .

David Lowe 4:31

So when we walk out and we say hello to somebody and they say I'm just looking , we really need to understand what's going on here . Right ? What is happening here ? Are they just looking right ? How many times , if you don't need a washer and dryer , how many times do you go to Best Buy and hang out in the washer and dryer section ? Right ? People don't do it . Going to a car lot is not that ? What they're really saying is what I don't want to be pushed or talked into doing something I don't want to do . You're not going to talk me into buying the wrong car for the wrong price . I don't want to be pressured . It's kind of like that forearm right and so they're giving you , give me some space . Are they just looking ? The answer is no .

David Lowe 5:20

Most people over nine out of 10 of people that shop for a car buy a car . It's not a question of if they're going to buy , it's what they buy , where they buy , when they buy it and how much they spend for it . Right , by the way , whose job is it to help them answer those four questions ? It's yours . Now , what do I ?

David Lowe 5:34

I know if they're saying , just looking , they're here . Why are they here ? That always goes through my brain . Remember , start with what you know , step back . I'm always thinking why would somebody say I'm just looking ? They drove , physically drove here . All right , there's a reason they're here .

David Lowe 5:56

So when they say they're just looking , I don't want to say , oh , I'm just a selling , because in this case , guess what might happen that might offend them . It's pressure , isn't it ? I know that some guys are like well , that's how I found my first wife , right , they want to make a joke , and that's cool . I love joking with customers , but that may offend many people in terms of those people that are really nervous about what's going on . I'm not sure that they know my personality yet and that that will come across right . Does that make sense ? So there's other ways to handle this . I know that's true . I'm going to give you one that I know works right , and that is to not attack it , but to back off and make it comfortable for them to tell you why they're here . That's your goal Get them comfortable to tell you why they're here . They're here for a reason . If we can get them comfortable enough , they will tell us their story , everything we need to know to help them find the right car and to make a profitable sale today .

David Lowe 6:56

Okay , so when somebody says I'm just looking , the common response is what are you looking for ? You know that's kind of pouncing on that person who just said that , right . So when somebody says it to us , why don't we do something better and different than everybody else ? So , oh , rock and roll . Thank you so much for coming here to look . We really appreciate it .

David Lowe 7:18

Okay , I want you to think about the psychology of what's happening . What is this fearful buyer expecting A shark of a salesman ? What did they get ? A human , somebody that appreciates them , somebody has good manners , somebody that's not going to pressure them . What I say ? Oh , rock and roll . Oh , that's awesome . Thank you so much for coming here to look . I really appreciate it .

David Lowe 7:43

We know that when we use the words thank you and appreciate together , buyers' hearts open up , buyers' hearts soften . Isn't that what we want here ? We want to let them know somehow I've got you and these steps will do that right . And then I might explain to them hey , just FYI , we're part of Ford dealership group . We've got cars everywhere , just about every make and model available to us through our network . What am I saying there ? In that second part ? I'm saying you may not see what you want , but I may have it . That's kind of building value for the next question .

David Lowe 8:25

And the next question is saying what are you looking for ? In a better , softer , kinder way , it might be . So what are you guys considering ? What are you guys kicking around ? What are you guys thinking about ? And did you see , I'm not going , I know you're buying . What are you going to buy ? I can find it . Maybe I got it . I might have something you'll buy . No , I'm like rock and roll . Thank you for coming here , really appreciate it . Now , first I want to apologize . We've got cars scattered everywhere On our website . We've got five dealerships all in this group and so I've got a lot of cars spread in a lot of places . So can I ask you , what are you guys ? Kind of kicking around or considering that soft question will make them feel well , we're thinking about this . You know what we say Rock and roll . I can totally help you with that . Come with me . By the way , my name is David and we're back in the welcome step .

David Lowe 9:19

Doesn't this seem simple ? You know why it is . Doesn't this seem simple ? You know why it is ? It's funny to me that we would hire salespeople and say get out there and talk to these people , go talk to these people . In fact , that's what most dealerships do . They don't train . They send people who have no idea what they're doing out to talk to the buyers . It costs dealerships a fortune and it costs new salespeople a fortune . It costs dealerships a fortune and it costs new salespeople a fortune and ultimately it costs too many of them their job because they never develop the skill set . They trip on a couple buyers , we have the right car at the right price . We're all going to sell cars because of that and they think they're a salesman .

David Lowe 9:56

When things get tough , they fail to develop the skill sets they need . Don't do that . If you're naturally gifted , don't fall short of your full potential . Remember naturally gifted people . You need the skills as well to maximize your potential . So here's what I'm trying to say If you want to increase your effectiveness , you want to be a better salesman . You want to sell more cars for more money , right , you want to make more money . Maybe even you want a chance to move up to a manager someday . You have to take personal responsibility for your thinking , your attitude , your knowledge , your skills and your actions , don't you right ? And to do that , you need training Our sales coach we're coming alongside dealerships .

David Lowe 10:44

By the way , when I was with that company Half a Car in the 90s , almost every dealership I went through across the country didn't have a training plan , and as I went back there three months later , they'd be like we need good people . We can't find good people . By the way , that was three decades ago . Dealers are still saying it . I'm like well , you hired last time I was here . You had some good people . What happened to them ? They didn't make it .

David Lowe 11:07

I said what is your training like ? Oh , we don't have training . Either have it or you don't . I'm always like could you imagine if your plumber was hired and trained what the world would be like ? Listen , this is a professional career . It requires training , it requires skills , right , it requires a constant improvement . This is a craft and this is an art . Yeah , you can be a bully , you can be a brute and yeah , people want cars and they're going to buy cars .

Mastering Sales Excellence in Automotive

David Lowe 11:38

Our training and this podcast , this episode's never been about selling cars . People are going to buy cars , even if you suck . This is talking about becoming a master sales professional , right , living with a healthy pride . That can only come from living and working with excellence , the pursuit of your best self and , quite frankly , the way I treat people is going to determine how I feel about myself If I treat them with respect and courtesy , like we're teaching you . I will feel better at myself If I use these outdated pressure techniques taught by so many big trainers .

David Lowe 12:15

By the way , people just jump onto this crap really , really quickly and I'm just telling you if you want to be more , be more . Build your foundation on character and integrity . Learn how to overcome your buyer's fears in a positive , powerful way that creates a partnership with you and your customer . That builds that relationship and trust you need to help them find the right car and feel comfortable saying I'll take it today . All right , I'm David Lowe with the Automotive Sales Coach . Thank you for joining us . If you haven't watched our other episodes , please go back and watch them . A lot of good stuff in there . We really appreciate your time . We know how valuable it is , so thank you for watching or listening , and good selling .