From the Hello to the Demo

When a sales person and customer first meet, depending on their negative past experiences, mistrust and defensiveness may occur. The customer may be characterized as rude; the seller, as conniving; and both could easily be offended.
Then, misunderstanding would be a result, causing a ‘no-win’ and uncompromising launch between the two. How is this so?

Situation: Many times customers are scared to death of sales people, because they simply do not want to be taken advantage of by stereotypical “slick hustlers.”

What do you do?
You take control of the situation and do not react emotionally to anything that is about to happen. Thus, you should:

(1)Walk out confidently and introduce yourself.
(2)Welcome the customer to your business and ask for his name in return. Remember, the customer may or may not resist, but in all cases, do not take it personally. He may be scared and uncomfortable, because of past experiences with adgering, ‘hard-sell’ salespeople.
(3) Find something comfortable to say, that fits your personality. For example: Hello! Welcome to Hometown Motors. My name is __________.” As you welcome the customer to the dealership, smile and shake hands. Next, find out what brings him into the dealership. For example, was it an ad or was it “word of mouth?”

The answer, “ I was just looking” isn’t enough. If that is his answer, you’ll have to be more specific with your questions. Don’t be fooled: customers are there because they want a car.

A professional will get the customer involved in the selling process as quickly as possible. One way to get them involved is to ask rather than tell. When you ask, rather than tell, you inspire open communication.