3 Things You Are Missing Out On During the Walk Around

Trading in a vehicle for the customer can be just as complicated and frustrating as it is to purchase a car. But it does not have to be this way! Rather than make it complicated for the customer - or a painful process - here are the top 3 ways to handle the walk around & appraisal. Offering the customer an excellent experience.

Online Trade-in Value

Instead of rolling our eyes at the customer who brought in an estimated trade-in value - as we know very well more often than not the customer fails to mention that the vehicle had an accident, bald tires, dented door panels, stained seats, wrong trim level, etc. use it as an opportunity to work with the customer. And while not all customers will oblige there is a way to approach this situation.

For example, if the customer says their vehicle is worth “7,500” dollars, but we know very well that we could not give more than $3,750 - then we need to walk around the vehicle and review the offer with them. Showing and explaining to them why we cannot give them the $7,500 which just so happened to be the “retail” value. Not the trade-in value. Not to mention they put that their trade-in with 86k miles on it was in Excellent Condition.

In this case, it is best to work with the customer re-doing the appraisal process. See below as to how to handle the appraisal with the customer.

Less than 3% of Vehicles are in Excellent Condition

Everyone has their own version of what “excellent” condition entails. And more often than not the customer views their vehicle as an investment. So when it comes time to trade it in they forget about the stained seats, the dents, the scratches, the bald tires. So instead of getting frustrated with the customer, we can say “Mr. Customer, I understand. However, less than 3% of the vehicles we trade-in are in excellent condition. For the vehicle to be classified as the excellent condition, it has to be showroom ready. Do you mind if we take a look?” Once you walk around the vehicle with the customer - as outlined below - you can start to point out the items they have forgotten about.

The Walk Around Appraisal: Bring the customer with you!

Nobody likes a Wizard behind the curtain! But that is exactly what happens more often than not. Where the customer - with their offer in hand - is waiting on the showroom floor looking at their phone. Possibly even at the offer. All while the sales manager - the Wizard behind the curtain - is creating numbers. All of which will frustrate the customer when you come back out with numbers that do not work!

So instead of taking this approach, it is best to include the customer in the walk around. Review the questions with the customer. One by one. In some cases, the customer might even point out some of the flaws! And by doing it this way, the customer is much more likely to trust you as they felt apart of the process. Understanding that for the dealer to sell the vehicle again, it will need new tires, brakes, etc. Whereas, before, they were sitting in the showroom waiting for the manager - the Wizard - to give them numbers. Not knowing why the trade-in value was lower.

So next time you are dealing with an online offer or trade-in take the time to walk around the vehicle with the customer. Let the customer be apart of the initial process. All of which will also help the sales consultant build rapport with the customer. As that rapport built - with trust - will make it that much easier to sell the vehicle.

I recently opened a new Independent lot and quickly learned the importance of a good team. 

The review/survey has become a direct tool for the consumer to judge who they are willing to do business with but is everything put on the Internet the truth? The answer is YES. When a consumer feels a certain way and strongly enough to take the time out to write about it, it is their truth. 

A way to head off any bad spirited reviews/surveys is to ask for one before they leave. You will instantly have a feel for how that's going to go. At that moment if there is any angst or bad blood boiling, handle it. There is no reason to wait and "hope" that they will be "nice" during the review process if you haven't completely earned it. 

Having bad reviews IS costing you money and you can't really quantify it because no one comes in or calls and says "hey, I didn't buy from you because your reviews suck."  

The future is now and to maintain your dominance simple things like VALID positive reviews must be top priority. 

As I put down the biography of one of our lesser known Founding Fathers, Alexander Hamilton, I couldn't help but think what would he think of the incoming generation known as the Millenial. 

I'm sure good 'ol Alex would be utterly flabbergasted that instead of news traveling between towns and posts by horse and courier is now instantly received via selfies and hashtags - what a gas! Hamilton, our first Secretary of Treasury, would be taken for a spin considering the way money moves with ease between apps, the internet and the recent uproar of crypto currency. For the first time it made me take a step back and realize one thing...change is inevitable.

This Generation known as the Millenial is in fact the largest generation known in human history and their buying power packs heavy heat. Their trends are speaking in massive bold letters across the globe saying "WE ARE INFORMED! WE ARE IN TOUCH! AND WE AREN'T GOING ANYWHERE!" The pace at which information moves and is received is faster than ever and the Millenial carries all of that power in the palm of their hands via "smart phone." It is a true relief to have such an educated consumer. A buyer who is already aware of features, benefits, price and all the other intricacies that come with the purchase of a car. 

Circling back to Mr Hamilton: He would be impressed with the resourcefulness and the ability to absorb terabytes of information in a nano second. However, Im sure he would be ill enthused with the fact that the ability to drive a manual transmission is close to obsolete but nothing lasts forever. Kudos to the Millenial and here's to moving forward.

As I sat in my office with three selling days left in December, the only activity in the entire building were the thoughts chattering in my mind, "what in the world made you want to run a USED car dealership?" "You can't teach an old dog new tricks," "Mom was right, you should 've stayed in finance."  The excruciatingly painful month of December was coming to an end and I was the only one selling anything however the problem was, i'm not a sales person, I hired three people to do that, so WHY aren't they selling anything? Oh I know, how could I forget...not enough leads, no one is ready to buy today (regardless of the fact that they are on the freaking lot looking at cars, that has no bearing on the sales process apparently), and my all time favorite from my ever so clairvoyant sales staff "They aren't qualified," without as much as a write up or a credit app to verify said suggestion.

Instead of planning an early retirement ceremony for myself, I pulled myself together and thought, what would Oprah do? My answer, motivate. So I persisted. I opened up our CRM and looked for holes, instant holes, printed lists and had what I like to call a family meeting. At the impromptu family meeting I handed out each person's honey do list and told them the first to set an apt that showed received a spiff, the person who sold the most over the next 3 days received a spiff, the person with the highest gross gets a spiff and if the Heavens open and one person wins all three categories, they get a 3 day weekend with paid time off...

A tornado of motivation swept thru the room and the air became lighter and more breathable. I had never seen our team so focused, dedicated and most of all MOTIVATED. They were challenged and had direction with a laser sharp intensity possed by only the elite of athletic competitors. But would it yield results?

Cut to December 31st-

We ended up booking 7 deals in the the last 3 days of the month with grosses I could smile about. We paid on all three spiffs and would have gladly paid for the trifecta however it was not obtained and that's okay. The team came together for a bond that has stuck well thru January and it only cost a couple of bucks considering the results that were manifested. Instead of chewing tail we took the reverse approach and I must say, motivation over decimation saved the day.