Knowing Your Audience to Sell More Cars
Tom, a business executive for a prominent real estate company, prepared for an important presentation for a conference catered to commercial real estate agents (agents selling/leasing business properties).
Tom had experience in both residential and commercial real estate. During his presentation, he used many examples of his experience in residential to somehow create a connection with commercial. There were visible signs of the audience tuning out.
Why?
Because Tom made the biggest mistake a presenter could make: He failed to understand his audience. What worked for Tom in a previous conference did not work for him here.
For decades, car dealerships have struggled with knowing the right things to say to a customer to sell a car. It’s an understandable struggle. Training companies know there is a market for it and have developed tens of thousands of scripts and phrases to communicate to all their customers.
The industry has exhausted these resources to the last drop and it still doesn’t seem to resolve the issue. This means that there is STILL a deeper issue to deal with at the core. It’s time for dealers to think past the surface solutions of scripts and phrases and get to the root of the cause.
The most significant mistake a dealer could make is to not understand the intrinsic personalities of their own prospects (the same as Tom’s issue of not understanding his audience).
What moves your prospects? Why do your prospects feel comfortable or uncomfortable with you? Does the vehicle they inquired about really fit their needs? These and more questions cannot be answered unless you begin to understand WHO they are and what their personality type is.
Human beings are identified primarily by one of four personality types. They are: Dominant, Influencer, Steadiness & Compliant (derived from DiSC® Personality Profiling):
Dominant (D)
- Direct
- Strong-Willed
- Forceful
Influencer (i)
- Friendly
- Talkative
- Social
Steadiness (S)
- Safety-oriented
- Cautious
- Risk Averse
Compliant (C)
- Analytic
- Process-Oriented
- Researched
There are many facets to understand about these four personality types. For today, we are touching only on the basics. As you begin to understand the basics, you will start to see a world of difference in how you interact with your prospects now, from the lead source to the sale. It’s time we come to the realization that what we call “leads” are really human beings that deserve a respected response from dealers instead of static ones. Take a look at the following example of an Internet lead:
Name: Malcolm T.
Phone: N/A
Email Address: finishline@hotmail.com
Year: 2018
Make: (XXX)
Model (XXXX)
Trim: Sport
Options: 2-door, stick shift, 19” wheels, racing stripes, & spoiler
I hear people say, “I HATE these kinds of leads! They don’t give you a real phone number or even a full name!” I’m here to tell you “stop the hatin” because this is a gold mine! How could this be a gold mine you ask?
Well if you were to understand the basics of personality profiling, what kind of conclusions might you come to? For this particular lead/person, one probability would be the following:
- Influencer personality (friendly, talkative, social…)
- Male
- Age Range: 18-30
- Single
- No children
I’ll stop it at the five conclusions above. With these conclusions, wouldn’t you respond with something more dynamic than the usual static response: “Thank you for inquiring about (Make) (Model). Someone will be contacting you shortly.”?
How about something like:
“Hi Malcom,
Thanks for your inquiry on the XXX XXXX Sport! That’s an awesome car! You are definitely going to turn some heads with this! You can’t go wrong with the 2-door, stick shift, 19” wheels, racing stripes, & a spoiler! One of us will contact you in the next two hours so we can talk about this car a little more. I am excited to talk to you about this! What’s the best number to reach you at right now?”
Tell me, what are some of the key words that would strike a chord with this particular “Influencer” personality in the above response?
- “awesome”
- “turn some heads”
- “excited”
- “Right now” – get them on the phone while their emotions are engaged.
The above key words resonate better with the personality such as the “I”/Influencer. Whereas, another personality such as the “S”/Steadiness profile, the above keywords probably would not resonate as much.
Don’t get me wrong. I am not saying that the above lead/person has to be a single male ages 18-30 that’s very social in nature. At the same time, you CANNOT AFFORD to send out another static email response that sounds like your competitors either. The key is to STAND OUT and say to them “I hear you and I’m ready to serve.” Otherwise, you’re just another dealer on the prospect’s list. This is the FIRST STEP with Internet leads! You can’t be successful with failing at the first step.
As you can probably see, when you begin to understand your audience better, the natural response for the listener is to allow you into what is REALLY on their minds. Mastering this kind of communication to specific profiles of your prospects will enhance your relationships while methodically increasing your sales!
I will publish much more on the many different facets of personality profiling to maximize your performance in Internet sales. You obviously cannot close a prospect with just the one example above. It may take a few more volleys to get the prospect on the phone and/or set the appointment. To learn more about ProStar’s ProSense Methodology® which includes profiling the person behind the Internet lead, visit our site at www.ProStarAutoSolutions.com. Let us know how you heard about us. In fact, go to the Interactive tab and respond to one of the sample leads on the page. I will be glad to give you my feedback. Please comment below with your honest thoughts. Thank you and best of success!
