While I really look forward to the day I won’t be blogging about inventory constraints, based on the newest information regarding chip shortages, there is talk that it could affect vehicle production into 2023. We have clients that have already filled their entire allocations with orders for future vehicles. Ordering vehicles will now have to become a sales skill for today’s automotive professionals. Yet how does one learn to take orders for vehicles without being an order taker? There is a way.

Just because you’re taking orders doesn’t mean selling is over. Let’s face it, we could have a software program or showroom kiosk take orders, but there is still valuable opportunities we can explore and smart car sales training will get you there. When engaging with shoppers, there are 10 steps to ordering vehicles the right way.

Acceptance

First off, for your own sanity, recognize this is the world we live in now. (Accept that this is a part of the new world so understanding inventory availability is imperative. A firm grasp on one’s inventory needs to be part of every consistent car sales training you emphasize for your team).

Acknowledgement

An early acknowledgment to the shopper that their desired vehicle is one sought by many with limited supply and production is important. Don’t get their hopes up just to delay their excitement for 6 months. An early introduction to the process of ordering vehicles process needs to be made.

Education

Educating the customer as to why this is happening in our industry, across all makes, referencing sources, and giving them certainty it’s only an obstacle, but one easily managed is important. Ask if they have heard news about inventory shortages.

Considerations

It is important, now, to not go straight for the deposit, as so many salespeople do. This is where asking questions to best understand your customer is necessary. When you first decided you wanted to get a new vehicle, what steps did you first take in your research? What makes did you consider (or are still considering)? What made you decide on this model? Have you looked into ordering vehicles before? What about the vehicle you desire is a need vs a want? Are there any time constraints you have? Are you concerned with the reliability of your current vehicle? Is your budget available now that may not be later that you should take into consideration? Have you always bought new, or have you purchased a pre-owned in the past? What was your experience with that?

Alternatives

Regardless how dead set they are on their desire to order a vehicle from you (which is still awesome if you think about it), you must let them know you wouldn’t be a good adviser if you didn’t at least recommend a couple alternative vehicles ready right then and there. It is your job to recommend they at least take a peek at something that may serve them better sooner. If you can put their eyes on another vehicle available and open up their potential outcomes, you’re not being an order-taker, you’re providing a solution as an adviser. (This is why understanding your inventory is so necessary.) If they go with that recommendation, which could be financially beneficial to them, continue as you know to handle every sale

Enthusiasm

Hey – maybe they want what they want, and a deposit is the only way to go. Still realize, while they may only be putting down a small amount of money they may later ask to be refunded, at the very least be enthusiastic about them getting their place in line for an order. Selling a place in line must be equivalent in enthusiasm to buying a vehicle in person. You sell incredible vehicles and they should still be excited about this inevitable purchase. Take that deposit as if they’re winning a bid on a new home. They may not be able to move in right away, but it’s theirs.

Accessories

It is not too early to get them thinking about accessorizing their vehicles. Right now, because they aren’t going to be having a payment 45 days out, adding accessories to their future vehicle is like spending play money. There is no sting if they see what it converts to in payments. They don’t get sticker shock. Consider using accessory-focused software that shows the consumer what their vehicle will look like if they don’t just take it as stock, but have it customized with dealer-installed accessories to fit their lifestyle. They can always choose to withdraw it any time between now and when it hits the lot, but this both improves profitability and helps them take some mental ownership of the future vehicle.

Expectations

We need to set realistic expectations on how the deposit works, how long the vehicle is truly estimated to arrive, and also how you will keep them updated throughout the waiting period. Don’t just take the deposit and ring them 3 months from now when you have info on it. Keep engaging them, every 10 days to 2 weeks with any relevant news. It could be anything from info about a factory opening back up to new designs for a model year, all the way to your dealership’s involvement in local charities. Make them a part of the conversation.

Maintenance

If you’re already going to be making them a part of the conversation, why not try to bring them into the fold of the dealership as well? Your service department builds long lasting relationships that improve retention. If ordering vehicles means customers are several months out before their new car or truck arrives, why not ensure your team is caring for their current vehicle between now and then? Whether it could be a perk from the dealership that the vehicle they’re trading in gets a free oil change between now and the time their car arrives, or not, you can start building a strong relationship between dealer and customer well in advance of the customer taking delivery.

Gratefulness

In the end, be grateful. (As DealerKnows listens to sales calls and provides corresponding training as part of our services for dealers, we hear a lot of “take it or leave it” language, and this is not the way to start a positive relationship with a client.) Show them how grateful you are they picked your brand, your model, your dealership, and yourself to place this order for their future vehicle. Be grateful they gave you attention and time while you assisted them. Ordering vehicles might be nothing more than paperwork, but it still involves commitment and trust. Salespeople must not overlook this when assisting customers with such a transaction.

At DealerKnows, we spend a lot of time training salespeople and BDC agents on how to overcome obstacles and convert shoppers to customers. Inventory constraints, be damned, ordering vehicles cannot be viewed as a secondary job. Using these 10 steps above will improve the customer experience when ordering vehicles while increasing profits. While ordering vehicles is typically not what excites salespeople, as I’ve shared in my past blog, an important car salesperson tip is to appreciate the small wins. Never be dismayed if someone wants to do business with you. A deposit is definitely something to be happy with.

“When you get the customer in, you’ve got to slow them down.” This is a very saying that is meant to allow the salesperson control of a customer in the store. People feel by slowing a shopper down, they are able to make them go through the organization’s road to a sale. That is bad advice. I do not remember a single time I’ve walked into a store and said “I really hope I could speak to someone who would make my path to purchase longer.”

Online shopping has given customers ADHD when it comes to the actual transaction. By all means, they research more than ever before, but once their mind is made up, they only seek someone to validate their research, present the product, answer questions, and complete the paperwork. Only four steps necessary to take the customer from greeting to sale.

The problem lies in the fact that sales professionals think those four steps are best to be completed by them and them alone. So they treat the process as a sprint. “How quick can I rush the customer through this and bypass as many obstacles or objections as possible?” they challenge themselves. When you make the four steps to a sale a sprint, it does not work to your advantage. Haste makes waste. Corners get cut, relationships aren’t given time to blossom, and value isn’t built. Other times, customers feel hurried and feel that something is amiss because of the speed of the transaction. They feel their time is being valued, but not their opinion. No one likes being rushed to spend money.

On the other side of the coin, some salespeople take the antiquated statement of “slowing them down” to heart, and drag out the process, spending countless hours doting every “I” and crossing every “t”. Consumers get bored, are given far too much time to rethink their decision, or feel as if these long delays show their time is not a priority. The salesperson again tries to address all four process tasks by themselves, adding in even more time-consuming steps. This causes delays to the sale, wasting far too much of the customer (and salesperson’s time) to complete just one transaction.

Instead, a sale should be a relay race. I’ll still use the word race, because a level of urgency and purpose in the process is important. There is still, indeed, a finish line that you are working toward. But the beauty of a relay race is that it is a team effort. The baton can be handed from one person to the next. Multiple people in different positions participate in the interaction with the customer. Specialists in different aspects to the steps become involved allowing others to focus on the administrative work necessary to move the transaction forward (without the customer waiting on them to be present throughout the more mundane tasks).

Sales management needs to be actively involved early and often in the in-store customer’s experience. Nothing requires finance management to be an end-of-the-line individual, with only customer contact at the tail end of their visit. From accessories specialists, delivery coordinators, and more, selling should be a team-related activity, like a seamless race where the customer’s time is valued, all steps are completed thoroughly, questions are answered immediately, and all elements to the transaction that are not customer focused can be done simultaneously. You don’t need to dizzy them with multiple, customer-facing interactions by different personnel, as some players can be completing tasks behind the scene that speed up the process without costing a customer time.

Find the star sales athletes on your team and work to perfect the best relay race process for your store. You’ll be surprised how fast and effective your sales can become when working as a team.

I’m not about to get into semantics here. Pricing is not an objection. Just returning for an on-site visit to a car dealership client, I was confronted with a store that actively avoided talking price at all costs. Even when the shopper asks. Even when being displayed on the website, they choose not to re-confirm in email or on the phone.
“Why bring up an objection?” they said.
Your product’s pricing shouldn’t be one.

“What’s the price?” Or, “What’s your best price?” are not objections from customers. They’re simply questions for which you must find an answer. “I do not want to buy this car.” That is an objection. “I can’t afford this.” That is an objection. Objections are to be followed up with more questions to the prospect.

A customer doesn’t object until they say “No.” Just requesting the price (or bringing up the price) should never stall a deal. It should move it along.

Stop being scared about presenting the pricing. It is what it is. Not all price answers lead to customer objections. Normally, shoppers are simply looking to validate their belief of what the pricing should be. Granted, I see dealers smacking on $2,000 in addendum fees unbeknownst to the customers and that will certainly bring about objections. However, requesting a product’s asking price is not a prospect being difficult or throwing up an objection. It is seeking an answer.

Today’s shoppers are price snobs, and deservedly so. I’m one myself. When I visit Amazon, I cringe at any call-to-action saying I must add the product to my shopping cart before seeing the special price. Customers are no different. Your product’s price is your friend. A necessary element to a loyal relationship.

There isn’t enough time in the day.
At least, not enough time to recollect all the excuses sales teams come up with to skirt their responsibilities. As I walk through the valley of the shadow of showrooms, I see all evils. How we have grown accustomed to allowing these perpetrators from completing their tasks, I do not know.

Common sales scenarios I find ironic:

Problem: Customer is not greeted promptly on the showroom, or at all.
Sales Staff Excuse: “I didn’t see them.”
The Irony: What else are they looking at, if not the showroom for customers? Oh, that’s right:

Problem: The CRM is swimming with overdue tasks.
Sales Staff Excuse: “Uh. I’ve been busy.”
The Irony: They’re busy…

Problem: Won’t adapt to using iPads in the showroom or plainly revolt against tablet usage
Sales Staff Excuse: “I don’t know how to use it.” Or, “It slows me down.”
The Irony:

In most of my posts, I’d say this is the fault of management. Poor monitoring, worse accountability, and a lack of training are all reasons important sales tasks are not completed in a reasonable time frame.

However, it is time we put some onus on the sales professionals of our industry to take what they do seriously. I’ve said before, I don’t believe it is possible to motivate someone. Sounds crazy, yes. There are countless “motivational trainers”, “motivational seminars”, and “motivational quotes” that permeate our daily lives. But they’re not responsible for results.

You cannot motivate another person. People must self-motivate. However, self-motivation is easier if you teach them skill, instill confidence, and provide goals. How are you trying to make sales staff realize the irony of their excuses and the over-use of their own devices? Are you challenging them to embrace new technology by pointing out the similarities with what’s in their hands? Are you providing them hands-on walk-throughs and tutorials necessary to improve their skill-level? Are you showing them how to complete tasks properly, and holding them accountable if they don’t?

Do they even know you’re paying attention?

Therein exists the irony. When tasks go overdue, when sales dwindle, and when technology fails to be adopted, there is selling happening. It’s just the sales staff selling management on the idea that their excuses are valid. Their job is selling customers, yet they dedicate time and effort to selling managers on why selling can’t be done. I’m all for allowing salespeople being able to use their smartphones at work, provided it is for work (and that relevant notes of communication attempts are made in the CRM). But the wasting of time needs to cease. Make it a point to eliminate excuses from the floor, and you’ll get people off their phone, and on task.

JOE WEBB • APRIL 25, 2017 • LEADERSHIP AND SALES MANAGEMENT,SALES TRAINING

The word “Gravy” is used in sales when something extra happens that is a benefit to you. It’s something that wasn’t expected, or additional profit that was made beyond the structured deal.

In automotive retail, for instance, the majority of salespeople’s sold deals come from customers walking onto the showroom floor, being greeted, and subsequently buying a vehicle. If a customer is given to them from the Business Development Center or Internet team, it is considered Gravy. Likely a deal the salesperson wouldn’t have obtained otherwise. If they conveniently catch a phone up and, with little enticing, that shopper ends up coming in and buying, they consider that sale Gravy.

Here is a sales tip: Gravy should be your meal, not just the extra dressing you get on top of your monthly commissions. The moment a salesperson recognizes that their phone skills alone can single-handedly produce unlimited appointments and sales for them, they’ll learn that it pays much better than waiting on a random customer to step foot in the showroom. So long as they can take phone calls, the gravy boat is in their hands.

Same thing goes with Internet customers. The majority of dealers generate considerably more Internet leads than phone leads. As soon as a salesperson begins embracing these shoppers, putting an emphasis on how much work they should put into their online conversations, the minute more gravy will find its way onto their plate.

With enough Internet lead, phone up, and chat opportunities, any professional, well-trained salesperson can easily make a very filling meal on that gravy alone. When their skills on the phone and email supersede their abilities to be the first to shake a customer’s hand, their palate (and paycheck) will change completely. Their entire meal will be made up of gravy, and they won’t have time (or even crave) anything else. Even in stores where leads and calls don’t make their way to salespeople themselves, they can still hone their proficiency at taking care of these shoppers’ in-store experience (which shouldn’t be too far off from their online shopping experience). Either way, it will strengthen their prowess to work with researched shoppers.

Much talk has been made about the mystical “Internet Dealership”. This nomenclature needs to be changed. Almost all dealerships now are “Internet Dealerships”, however, the term is meant to represent stores that distribute all leads, calls, texts, and chats to each and every sales agent on the floor. The concept is, if all shoppers are online, our entire team must have the expertise to handle them throughout the lifecycle of their shopping journey. It is a noble cause, just one that I haven’t seen much success from without at least some discrepancy in profit leakage.

In the end, though, it is the direction dealerships must begin working toward, and it starts with improving the deftness of your sales team’s phone, email, and communication skills. Teach them the recipe needed to make the best gravy, and you’ll soon find you have the makings of a prosperous, thankful team.

JOE WEBB • MARCH 12, 2017 • INTERNET SALES TRAINING,PHONE TRAINING,SALES TRAINING

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. The role of sales manager is the most important position in any retail operation. A great one can become the internal engine driving the sales team. A successful manager is the motivating force behind profit growth. A dedicated sales manager is the training arm that keeps the education of product and process front and center. Yet, a bad sales manager can kill enthusiasm, cripple cooperation, and condone bad habits.

While working alongside auto dealerships and small businesses to improve their communication, engagement and performance metrics, much of my training focuses on the utilization of tech (CRM, website, etc.) while the rest is dedicated to improving the know-how of the personnel. Never before has sales management been more integrated into the success of a store than now. They single-handedly influence policies, processes, technology and teamwork on the sales floor.

Poor sales management skills wreak havoc on culture and profit. Here are 10 ways sales managers fail:

• They don’t realize they’re role models. Being respected as a leader starts with listening, not by delegation.
• They don’t actively monitor how many available opportunities are being worked at any moment in the store, or online.
• They treat every salesperson the same, not catering their training down to the individual.
• They look at potential customers as “deals” rather than as people with a unique situation to be addressed. They’re rarely flexible to a new way of selling a product.
• They don’t dedicate near enough time to performance reviews or sales forecasting, and do little coaching throughout the month to help each individual achieve their goals. They believe holding sales quotas over someone’s head is paramount to positive reinforcement.
• They don’t know how to inspect their team’s activities. Instead, they only react to results after the fact. Accountability of staff is a core component to being a good mentor.
• They don’t embrace mastery of their CRM or productivity technology as a means of finding existing sales opportunities to close.
• They don’t try to get to know their staff on a personal basis, and in turn, rarely know how to motivate anyone beyond money or threat of termination.
• They seldom reinforce the importance of a customer lifecycle (derived from multiple purchases). Instead, they only focus on the in-store process. The best sales managers realize rapport sells someone once, but relationships sell someone forever.
• They don’t engage the customers themselves enough. This is the biggest opportunity for improvement. Far too many sales managers are “chairborne managers” rather than “airborne managers”. Today’s sales management need to integrate themselves into the customer’s in-store process earlier and more often. They must greet customers the moment they enter. They must leap out from behind the desk and work with the customer one-on-one at the first opportunity. They cannot send salespeople back and forth from the desk to the customer with more info or new pricing, using the sales team as an echo. They need to insert themselves into the process. Get involved in personally presenting a solution the moment the customer is ready to make a decision without forcing the salesperson to be their mouthpiece.

There are a multitude of trainers and programs teaching people “how to sell”. Not enough time is spent teaching management how to actually “manage”. As much focus is dedicated to closing deals, equal focus must be spent on teaching sales managers how to motivate their teams, hold them accountable, coach to the individual, forecast sales, reinforce product knowledge, improve customer experience, and make it a fulfilling place to work. If they’re not living up to this level of acumen, DealerKnows can help with your sales management training.

Those are the duties of a great sales manager. Don’t let any of the 10 ways sales managers fail infect the profitability of your store.

Feedback from customers is imperative to know what your dealership is doing right and wrong when it comes to consumer interaction. From CSI surveys catching the insights of post-sale clients, to online review sites allowing shoppers to share their experiences (sold and unsold). To understand your company’s pain points, it can’t solely be from the customers’ perception. Your own people need to have a safe place to lodge feedback (a suggestion box for instance) as to what they see hurting business within your four walls. Let’s face it… they see the inner-workings even more than your visitors.

Too many salespeople, managers, and BDC agents keep their lips zipped when it comes to expressing how they feel as it relates to opportunities for improvement. They don’t want to be known as a complainer, problem child, bellyacher, tattle-tale, rat, or, worse, a potential lawsuit. So they keep quiet and allow problems to persevere. This is costing you money. And morale.

Instances are brushed under the rug to keep a fake sense of uniformity or team, but it undermines the very essence of building a strong cohesive unit. When training dealers, we see circumstances such as:

• Salespeople whispering that sales managers are unwilling to leave the friendly confines of their desk; making salespeople feel they’re on their own with little support from management to help close deals.
• BDC agents setting hard-won appointments only to have a manager make a confirmation call, seek out objections before the customer arrives (in an effort to I don’t know, maybe make their lives easier or ensure a sale, as if their time would be wasted otherwise?), and subsequently talking the prospect out of the appointment.
• Salespeople getting appointments set on their behalf, only to spend the two hours prior to appointment not learning about the vehicle, finding the car, or pulling it up.
• Finance Managers looking ahead at a deal loaded into the DMS, noticing the client is paying cash, and choosing to kill time until something better comes along, thereby leaving frustrated buyers sitting longer than unnecessary to purchase a car.

Far too many circumstances prevent customers from doing business in your store – and because it’s team effort to sell vehicles nowadays, the people that know best about these deficiencies, process breaks, and crimes of laziness against customers are your very own employees.

Your team doesn’t want to have to openly go to ownership, upset them with bad news, and be labeled. They don’t want to appear they can’t work with others, even if there is a problem. They don’t want to rock the boat, but they do want things fixed. These things aren’t always selfish, but often will make the dealership more money. Or, at the very least, make shoppers happier or improve employee relations. Consider putting up an anonymous suggestion box. Willfully ask everyone to submit thoughts or feedback. Or it can be an open email inbox where people can send anonymous emails from fake accounts. Only the owner should have access to this suggestion box, or someone from HR that is entirely unbiased to a situation, and never should they try to uncover who it is that made the suggestion. Or, you can promise to make the suggestion box entirely confidential with a promise that no direct negative action will occur from being open and honest. If presented to the team as a professional yet safe way to be heard, the suggestion box won’t be abused.

One way or another, you should rely on your people to give you the best feedback on how to make processes better. So long as they feel it won’t come back to bite them, these unfiltered opinions and peeks behind the curtain are the necessary ingredient to building a winning team. That is how organizations evolve.

As you can see from the picture on the right, it may be time for this dealer to update their phone script.  (Yes, that is a real, actual, antique phone script currently taped to a real sales desk.  No, this is not a pirate’s map circa 1702.)

World’s Worst Phone Script found at a present-day car dealership by DealerKnows

Almost every dealer who records calls using a call management software knows that listening to those very calls is the quickest way to make their blood pressure skyrocket.  Phone handling is abysmal at most stores, and while some track the calls, and others preach the importance of phone skills, very few are training their teams to be skilled in today’s phone etiquette.

Much of this is the fault of the times.  With the digital smorgasbord that dealers must chew through, far too often they put phone training on the backburner. They assume that the online traffic will generate itself into sales and ignore the fact that phone handling has evolved.

If your dealership still operates off of an archaic phone script passed down from the sales managers of yesteryear, you need to update your phone script.  
(And yes, “phone script” can be a bad word on the
showroom floor. It still carries with it a negative connotation.  We, at DealerKnows, believe in phone structure over phone script.  With that said, we still provide scripts (and the corresponding structure) to our clients, solely as a foundation for quality phone etiquette.  You cannot rely on the antiquated questions…

• 2-door or 4-door?
• Automatic or manual?
• Lighter colors or darker colors?

These idiotic questions are medieval when you consider how detailed the consumer’s research process is, as well as how the OEMs build their vehicles.  These questions aren’t relevant.  So here is a proverbial “Call to Action” -
Walk up to the nearest salesperson and ask them for a phone script they use to train on.  Or something they use as a guide. Then ask your sales manager.
Do they have anything that wasn’t written on 1960’s parchment?
Does it need to be updated?
Does it need to ask more intuitive questions based on today’s researched customers in an effort to covert more appointments?

My guess is there are some holes in your phone script. It is time you get them some phone training and do something about it.

As you can see from the picture on the right, it may be time for this dealer to update their phone script.  (Yes, that is a real, actual, antique phone script currently taped to a real sales desk.  No, this is not a pirate’s map circa 1702.)

World’s Worst Phone Script found at a present-day car dealership by DealerKnows

Almost every dealer who records calls using a call management software knows that listening to those very calls is the quickest way to make their blood pressure skyrocket.  Phone handling is abysmal at most stores, and while some track the calls, and others preach the importance of phone skills, very few are training their teams to be skilled in today’s phone etiquette.

Much of this is the fault of the times.  With the digital smorgasbord that dealers must chew through, far too often they put phone training on the backburner. They assume that the online traffic will generate itself into sales and ignore the fact that phone handling has evolved.

If your dealership still operates off of an archaic phone script passed down from the sales managers of yesteryear, you need to update your phone script.  
(And yes, “phone script” can be a bad word on the
showroom floor. It still carries with it a negative connotation.  We, at DealerKnows, believe in phone structure over phone script.  With that said, we still provide scripts (and the corresponding structure) to our clients, solely as a foundation for quality phone etiquette.  You cannot rely on the antiquated questions…

• 2-door or 4-door?
• Automatic or manual?
• Lighter colors or darker colors?

These idiotic questions are medieval when you consider how detailed the consumer’s research process is, as well as how the OEMs build their vehicles.  These questions aren’t relevant.  So here is a proverbial “Call to Action” -
Walk up to the nearest salesperson and ask them for a phone script they use to train on.  Or something they use as a guide. Then ask your sales manager.
Do they have anything that wasn’t written on 1960’s parchment?
Does it need to be updated?
Does it need to ask more intuitive questions based on today’s researched customers in an effort to covert more appointments?

My guess is there are some holes in your phone script. It is time you get them some phone training and do something about it.

The Meet and Greet.  The Needs Assessment.  Getting to know them on the test drive.  Making friends while waiting for figures from the manager.  All of these are associated with the idea that building rapport is the key to selling cars.  Well, building rapport is OUT!  It is no longer a determining factor for many customers when buying a new vehicle.

We all have countless sales stories from our retail days (those of us who’ve done retail at least) of instances where finding a common ground with customers has helped us sell them a car.  It still can go a long way in creating a more comfortable sales experience.  However, I will say it again… “building rapport” is out.

The new focus should be “Fostering Relationships”.  I know many of you are saying “splitting hairs” or “semantics”, but I don’t believe these two phrases mean the same thing.   Building rapport is looking for some mutual understanding or trying to find ways to align yourself with the individual person.  

 involves the development of trust before the handshake, during the interaction, and long after the customer leaves the store.

Building rapport happens mostly in person and occasionally on the phone and email.  Fostering relationships is peer to peer.  It involves creating an evidence of honesty in your interactions with other customers.  It relies on developing ways to grow your relationship further.  It carries with it the idea that a relationship should develop after the sale opposed to just prior to the sale.

I will not tell you to do away with the “Where did you go to school?” or “Where do you work? questions.  I won’t ask you to cease the “How do you use your current car?” inquisitions or the “Yeah, my sister lives in that town” scenarios.

Instead, I’d like you to think of ways to engage the customer before you are engaged.  Reviews, testimonials, video bios and more are all ways to start fostering a relationship with customers before first contact.  What is the difference between building rapport in person or fostering a relationship in person?  The former is asking questions, looking for commonalities.  The latter is discussing how you will serve them and continue to earn their business long after the sale.  (Think “new owner clinic discussions” and “loyalty program talks”.)

Put a strategy into place today (whether it is in your service department, your social media calendar, your CRM follow-up, or your post-sale deliverables) that will allow you to truly foster a relationship with this customer.  In the days of multiple mediums to communicate (especially social platforms), it is more important than ever to maximize your connection with your customers.  This connection shouldn’t just be between the customer, the salesperson and their church, but instead, how your entire organization serves the church, the community, and the individual customer with your personal services.

Stop thinking that building rapport is all you need to sell a vehicle in a 2012 world.  Building rapport is all about completing a short-term action while fostering relationships are about implementing long-term strategies.  You must foster relationships before, during and after, if you truly want to develop ongoing customer satisfaction.