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A small but true story on using humor with your customers…

I have a friend that’s a salesperson in the car business. Now, he is extremely good at what he does. He is very good at following the basics, a great closer, following up, prospecting etc. But one of his strong points is making people laugh.

When the showroom was jam packed with customers, he was a true show stopper. He would put on these silly glasses with the big nose and moustache and start with this entertaining hilarious speech right in the middle of the showroom. A gimmick like this worked for him. Every customer didn’t talk to him. But the ones that did were very easy to sell to because of the strong rapport he had with that customer. And there is absolutely no reason why you can’t get creative and find your strong points.

You don’t have to be a stand up comedian like my friend to sell a lot of cars. But the point is, if you have a great sense of humor use that during the sales process. If you ever meet superstar salespeople in the car business, you’ll notice they all follow a plan, work smart and have a great sense of humor. These people are also fun to be around and they spend a lot of money, time and effort to get better at what they do. You’ll also notice the average salespeople are the ones who are stubborn because they feel there is no room for improvement. Building rapport is all about making a friend. Before you sell them a vehicle make a friend.

Pitfalls of building rapport and getting caught up

Doesn’t it feel good when you sell a vehicle and have a happy customer because you made a friend? Well then you need to build a lot of rapport. But remember your main objective, and that’s to sell a car. So try not to get emotionally involved with the customer. There is a big difference between getting emotionally involved and building rapport. Avoid believing everything that the customer tells you. If you start to sympathize for the customer then you’ll have a tough time closing the deal.

Think about this; if you’re emotionally involved, how will you present your deals to your managers? All you’ll end up doing is sympathizing for your customer. If you approach the sale this way it will weigh your judgment and affect your selling ability.

Rather than sympathizing with your customer, learn to empathize with your customer. Remember most of your customers are buying a very expensive product which ranges in the thousands. So yes, you do have to understand their feelings. If you can understand their feelings, the customer will begin to trust you. So understand them and learn to empathize to build rapport and gain trust. But don’t sympathize, once you  do that, that’s when you’ll lose track of the sale.

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Why can’t car salespeople take the time to build rapport?

Too often, I see car salespeople trying to go from just meeting the customer to closing right away. And every chance they get, they are trying to close the sale on price. Sure, you might sell a few vehicles and make some money. But it’s not even close to what you should or can earn in the car business.

Getting the customer to like you is key to grossing high per deal and closing the sale. You must get the customer to like you if you want to make real money in the car business. So why not slow down and build rapport and get to know the customer? What this will allow you to do is gain control of the sales process. Building rapport will slow things down and allow you to smoothly follow the basic step to a sale.

The customer came into your dealership because they are interested in buying a vehicle. And this might come as a shock to you but trust me when I tell you; they know you’re there to sell them one. So start off by getting rid of that tension. You got to make them feel as if they are here to own a vehicle versus you are there to sell them one. Customers just don’t like to be sold.

Since almost all customers don’t like to be sold, it’s your job to get that nervousness out of the air and ease that tension. Start asking them open-ended questions and allow them to talk. Break the ice and start asking them questions about themselves such as:

What do you do for fun?

Do you have any kids?

The idea is to slow things down and get off topic and talk about something else other than selling them a car. This is called building rapport and it’s the easiest way to make the customer feel comfortable. Now don’t just build rapport, qualify at the same time. Building rapport and qualifying should be done side by side. If you do these 2 things then you ease the tension and at the same time figure out what vehicle to present to the customer when it comes down to showing them a car. It will also save you time and help you close the sale.

How long should the car salesperson build rapport?

No one can tell you how long it should take. That will vary from customer to customer. Some are easy and some people are tough. But if you have control over the conversation then I would say it’s fairly easy to build rapport.

If one of your strong points is that you’re very humorous, use that to your advantage. Just don’t be rude. Customers are much easier to close when they are having fun, laughing and having a great time. Mastering these selling skills is a must. There are tons of others I teach. But building rapport is a must to succeed in the car business as a salesperson.

About the author: Mak has many more exciting Automotive sales training articles. Get a free must have e-course for car salespeople