How to sell and more importantly: Close the Deal!

Most of these methods only apply to selling, whether its selling cable tv or Ginsu knives. Unfortunately in the world of auto detailing you cant ABC (always be closing). You have to weigh your options, a straight forward ABC shark will probably get their business and make them spend big the first time around, I doubt that they would be a repeat customer. Real money in detailing is in the long run, unfortunately some detailers get greedy and want to rack up as much like a mechanic. If you want them to spread the word or better yet come back at least once a month you would have to treat them with respect and always listen.
 
Let me share another concept.

It's called "customer for life"

The Carnegie methods have been worn out in the business world, by hordes of MBAs trying to get the maximum out of each deal.

The Sandler approach is to get your customer to decide what they need, not what you want to sell them.

If I were going to do this for a living, I would arrange my portfolio in order from least to most, including at least approximate pricing for each level of results.

Some people will go right to the back. Others will start at the beginning, and stop when they reach their maximum willing expenditure. Your job is to get them what they need, not what you need. It's always about the customer, not what you would like to do.

Most of the people who would contact you are probably successful in their own business endeavors. They want to look successful as well.

It's easier to push someone a step higher than they were willing to go than it is to get them at the top of your game.

Making them decide what to purchase gets you repeat customers and referrals.

Jim
 
Thanks everybody!

As for the picture editing.. All I really do is turn down the brightness not too much photoshop effects. Natural is better though, that's for sure!
 
MaximumAuto said:
Thanks everybody!

As for the picture editing.. All I really do is turn down the brightness not too much photoshop effects. Natural is better though, that's for sure!
Click to expand...

Not trying to be an a$$, but your two posts now conflict each other:

MaximumAuto said:
but take it to a photo editing program and adjust levels like contrast, brightness, saturation, etc..
Click to expand...
 
jgg85234 said:
So, my next question is

When you've made a customer ecstatic over their vehicle, how many of you remember to ask for referrals? Every person you help has their own network. Don't give them a business card, give them several and ask for referrals.

Jim
Click to expand...


I agree.

In fact, I built tis into my VIF to help detailers remember to ask for referrals. Click the link below and look at the screenshots, specifically the call-out box on page 3

Mike Phillips VIF or Vehicle Inspection Form



Once a person gets the form they can edit it in MS Word and remove as much of the back-end of the form as they want. But my goal was to make the form VERY complete because it's easier to remove or delete material than it is to try to become a writer and add the material.


:)
 
Jesse nice post. Yes to run a business you much be proficient at many aspects. You focused on sales and closing as well as sales training. I appreciated your write up and generally agree.

I'm not a fan of photo editing other than sizing cropping etc. Digitally altering the appearance colors saturation is a pet pieve of mine. No place for it in auto detailing IMO.

Back to the core topic closing. Totally agree this is where the money is. Too many don't know how to close in sales. Yes its always about the customer. Convey services and benefits and go the extra mile for them and you'll create a client vs just a customer.

Overall very enjoyable post for something off the beaten path.
 
rmagnus said:
Jesse nice post. Yes to run a business you much be proficient at many aspects. You focused on sales and closing as well as sales training. I appreciated your write up and generally agree.

I'm not a fan of photo editing other than sizing cropping etc. Digitally altering the appearance colors saturation is a pet pieve of mine. No place for it in auto detailing IMO.

Back to the core topic closing. Totally agree this is where the money is. Too many don't know how to close in sales. Yes its always about the customer. Convey services and benefits and go the extra mile for them and you'll create a client vs just a customer.

Overall very enjoyable post for something off the beaten path.
Click to expand...

+1 So many shops only show photos of high end cars and not their work. I believe show what you can do so the customer can see what their getting for the money. I could post pictures of what ever car I wanted but I want my customer to see my work.
 
Very informational topic. I'm sure many newcomers and people starting up will be able to benefit greatly. Thanks!
 
You need to always be selling yourself. This is not really a hard sell type of business tho. If someone is searching your service via the internet then they need a detail. If you are a mobile detailer than they are specially calling you for convenience. They may need a detail because they have a spill, stain, scratch, taking the toy out of storage, taking the van on vacation or whatever.

What you need to do is SELL CONVENIENCE. Tell them you can do it this week or you can do it while they are at work or you can pick up the car while they are away and have it ready when they get home. I am not selling price I'm not even selling the idea that I'm the most technically skilled detailer around. What I am "selling" is a professional level service that is CONVENIENT to the customer.

I will let you guys fight over who has the best prices and who has the most skills. I know why my phone rings. Convenience.
 
One of the hardest parts of closing a deal, is listening to the customer. First sell them on what they want, then start with add on sales.
 
jgg85234 said:
Let me share another concept.

It's called "customer for life"

The Carnegie methods have been worn out in the business world, by hordes of MBAs trying to get the maximum out of each deal.

The Sandler approach is to get your customer to decide what they need, not what you want to sell them.

If I were going to do this for a living, I would arrange my portfolio in order from least to most, including at least approximate pricing for each level of results.

Some people will go right to the back. Others will start at the beginning, and stop when they reach their maximum willing expenditure. Your job is to get them what they need, not what you need. It's always about the customer, not what you would like to do.

Most of the people who would contact you are probably successful in their own business endeavors. They want to look successful as well.

It's easier to push someone a step higher than they were willing to go than it is to get them at the top of your game.

Making them decide what to purchase gets you repeat customers and referrals.

Jim
Click to expand...

Now these are topics that interest me at this point in my life. Earlier in my life all I was ever interested in was hard manual labor in construction work. When I went back to college I was busy getting prereq's out of the way in preparation for this type of learning. Life got in the way and I had to drop out of college for the time being, but I've never lost that zeal to learn.

Jim, I really appreciated the phone calls and conversation. I also really appreciate the time and effort made in two great posts. I really lood forward to future threads you may start. You are going to fit in nicely on this forum and be a big asset to many forum members. There are lots of good people that are willing to help each other by sharing information and ideas...making us all better. Thank you, Jim!!!:props:
 
Where do customers come from?

I would prefer to do this series on an interactive basis, rather than output only. The best ideas aren't confined to one person. Everyone has a point of view and ideas about how to do things.

So, let's start with where did your current customers come from?

Warm market? (That's family, friends and acquiantances)
Advertising? (Including Craigslist, newspaper ads, radio and television)
Attending events? Car shows, etc.
Getting a contract with a dealer to do bunches of cars on a regular basis?
The Internet? (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.)

I'm going to put up some statistics here, that we'll talk about in a later post.

This is my LinkedIn profile.
Who's Viewed Your Profile
4 Your profile has been viewed by 4 people in the past 90 days.
12 You have shown up in search results 12 times in the past 15 days.
Your LinkedIn Network
107 Connections link you to 4,663,285+ professionals
158,916 New people in your Network since May 2

Besides the connections you are already making, what other ideas do you have for finding new customers?

Jim
Feed back please
 
Obviously, the most effective way to learn the Sandler System is to go to one of his training locations. Short of that, this book is a GREAT start. When you read this, it will blow your mind and change your perspective completely. Why have I been doing things wrong for SO long??
- Mike
 
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