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.

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.