I’ve been in the automotive industry for 31 years now and although there have been some seismic changes to the customer’s buying experience and their subsequent expectations, some things will always remain unchanged yet vitally important. For me, one of those things is the value of building a strong relationship with our customers.
This may be an over-share but I’m going to tell you about a recent event in my business life that made me reflect on this. I was asked to provide a quotation for some sales training for some new employees who had been recruited from outside of the industry and there were some very specific and important learning outcomes that were required from the training.
I diligently worked on the proposal and costings and submitted it as requested, but here’s the thing… Because of the geographical challenges I opted to conduct my initial consultation and fact-find on the telephone. Now, telephone skills are one of my favourite topics and I like to think I can ‘walk the walk’ when it comes to conducting this element of my business, but I failed to win the work. It was awarded to a competitor.
It’s always good practice to reflect on the outcomes of each opportunity to do business, whether you get the sale or not – What went well? What didn’t go quite so well? And the killer question I always ask: ‘What would you do differently next time?’ So, I thought about this and realised something really important had been overlooked.
When we sell cars profitably there are a number of factors that are key: paying the right price for the stock (and therefore pricing it competitively), preparing it quickly and presenting it well both physically and online etc. We live in a connected, online world and inevitably business is done over the telephone and online, but there is no substitute for a face-to-face meeting.
According to Albert Mehrabian’s study in the 1960s there is a massive amount influence that non-verbal behaviour has on the impact that you have on another person. When we sell cars, the most profitable deals are done with customers with whom we have rapport and mutual trust and respect. Whichever way you look at it, unless it is repeat business it’s much harder to do this on the phone.
So, my learning from this? When I next have an opportunity to do business with similar geographical challenges I will get face-to-face (or at the very least Skype) with my potential customer because the strongest relationship that we have with customers who purchase vehicles is always the one we have face-to-face, over a coffee.