I have some thoughts that may help Tony. But first I had better come clean about my car buying behaviour.

I have never bought a new car and I can't imagine doing so. I always buy a 2 or 3 year old Volvo Estate and then replace it when it becomes expensive to service, usually around 200,000 miles. I see a car as a tool and I don't get a kick out of impressing people with it. I choose a Volvo as they have great performance (yes realy, look up a T5 if you don't believe me) and lots of space for work and for holidays.

I believe I have chosen the most cost effective way to get a great reliable car at a very low cost per mile.

The way to sell to me and possibly Michael (I'm sure he will come back on this) is to show me that I can have a great tool, with less hassle at a better price. I am due to replace mine early next year and will probably buy a 2 or 3 year old Volvo Estate again but if you could find a way to sell me a new car whilst costing me around the same and having a better tool then I would be interested.

The buttons that you might consider with me .

1. New car has lower fuel consumption which offsets the cost of buying it.

2. LPG is still half the price of Petrol (gas) in the UK, so you could sell me a car that would also use that.

3. I probably spend around 500Pounds (1000 dollars) a year on service and maintenance. Perhaps a new car would save me on that.

4. I keep cars for a long time partly because of the environmental cost.
If you could show me that cars have improved so much in the last few years that they would last longer that might convince me too.

Reading that back it sounds like I'm not your ideal customer, but you may get some ideas for how to sell to someone who doesn't give a stuff what the neighbours think.

Michael_DeBusk wrote:

I don't buy a car when I want a new one. I buy a car when I can't stand to drive the old one anymore. I had my last vehicle for twelve years, and I've only had my current one for six.

Oh. Well then, Michael, clearly you're not in the market for a car today, so I won't even try to sell you one.

After all, you've got 6 more full, long, drawn out years of wondering exactly when that knowledge that the car you current have and have enjoyed for the first 6 years... will eventually degrade sufficiently.. and cause you significant enough heartache, annoyance, costs and more.

After all, I mean that's 6 more years without steady car payments, but also without any security that something might not go wrong at any moment. For you it's the absolute last minute when you just can't stand it anymore, and for me it's not knowing when then next $500 repair is going to hit, or the next $1000 repair bill, or the next $2000 bill when the transmission and the brakes both go at once...

So I just wanted to explain that I understand where you're coming from and that I know you're not in the mood yet to save yourself all that mounting uncertainty and annoyance, that for you it happens slowly over a period of years; only you will know when the timing is right, and I'd just like to put a request in that when you finally are ready, for all the right reasons, to get your next new car, please allow me to be of service to you.

- Jonathan

russianbear wrote:

Michael,
Thank you for opening my eyes. I failed to consider your motivation. Thank you, sir. Let's play a game. Let's say someone is on my lot and says to me what you did, I buy my car when I can't stand the old one anymore, etc. However, this person is on a car lot and knows damn well I'm gonna try to sell him a car. Any suggestions on how to proceed?

I gave my response to Michael in the prior post.

In the above question, you're making it clear that your outcomes are NOT the same as Michael's, and anytime you're pushing your outcomes over your client's, it comes off as incongruent and pushy for them.

The one salesguy on the lot who can sell to me is the guy who can convince me that he's set his own ego & goals aside, to help me achieve all of mine.

If you constantly stay stuck inside your own mindset, you'll never become a better persuader.

I'm getting the sense that you're operating from a mindset that says 'if a customer walks off the lot today, he's not coming back.' Personally, I wouldn't ever want to be that salesman, and I wouldn't ever want to buy from him.

Be the guy they WANT to come back to the next day. Can you?

Try something different. Don't even try to sell your customers today. Convince them you'd rather have them come back tomorrow after they've thought it over and decided it would be a great choice. And then you want them coming back to you in 4 or 6 or 10 years again -- because they had a good buying experience with you.

- Jonathan Altfeld

jonathanaltfeld wrote:

Try something different. Don't even try to sell your customers today. Convince them you'd rather have them come back tomorrow after they've thought it over and decided it would be a great choice. And then you want them coming back to you in 4 or 6 or 10 years again -- because they had a good buying experience with you.

- Jonathan Altfeld

And what have you ever sold?

John

z8000783 wrote:

And what have you ever sold?

John

Hi John,

From ages of 14-18 I sold "programmes" at a famous Summer concert series in NYC (Dr. Pepper Music Festival, then Miller Time festival). I was the top salesguy at the ripe young age of 14, so during subsequent Summers, ages 15-18, I got a promotion & ran the entire programme concession; I not only hawked programmes on foot, but also hired, fired, & managed the other hawkers & earned money from each programme the other guys sold.

In college, I sold Spring Break vacation trips to Daytona Beach.

In grad school I was a waiter for a whopping 6 months -- & that was more than enough. (I learned how to sell more bottles of wine to diners. Big deal!)

As an AI consultant after college, I spent 2 months co-selling (with 1 other consultant) a $26-million artificial intelligence software solution to Equifax corp. And sold more than 10 other AI projects (with me as the onsite consultant) to companies such as Ernst & Young, Chase Manhattan Bank, GTE (Now Verizon), Countrywide Home Mortgage, Delta Airlines, & more.

Since starting my NLP business, aside from selling my CDs/DVDs, courses etc., I've been involved in figuring out how to boost sales for several different sales organizations.

I was hired by a commercial real estate company to come in when meetings were scheduled, and close deals that weren't closing in previous meetings (I earned my commissions).

I was brought in by one of Orlando's bigger timeshare sales groups, rewrote their outbound telemarketing scripts, modeled one of their better salespeople, figured out what she (yes, she) was doing that the others weren't, and taught that to them. Average increase in sales on a per-person basis in my training group -- 12% monthly increase.

There's probably more I'm not remembering off the cuff.

Regards,

- Jonathan

Seems like the most important part that most not so successful sellers omit is high quality information gathering. The worst buying experience is when somebody gets in your face and tries to break down your resistance by talking nonstop or behaving in a condescending fashion, as if to imply that you, the potential buyer, are simply not up to speed and ought to be embarrassed for sounding so ill informed.

By way of contrast, a great salesman takes genuine interest and is more like a matchmaker that connects the right person to the right product or service. In other words, that salesman is adding value to the buying experience. That requires constant calibration of the buyer's level of interest, asking careful questions that allow the salesman to understand what frames the buyer is bringing to the transaction, a "time frame", must have it right now ?, a "quality frame"... can wait forever to find exactly what I want, or a "price frame"... flexible on quality of the price is right...

russianbear wrote:

Let's say someone is on my lot and says to me what you did, I buy my car when I can't stand the old one anymore, etc. However, this person is on a car lot and knows damn well I'm gonna try to sell him a car. Any suggestions on how to proceed?

If I'm on your lot, I've probably already decided it's time to trade, or at least seriously considering it and gathering information.

Me, I know what I want before I step onto a lot and I'll offer you $300 over invoice for the closest thing you've got to it. I'll have a list of colors and options, sorted by:

1. gotta have it;
2. nice to have it;
3. ok if it has it; and
4. better not have it.

If I need your help, though, you'll want to ask me about what I'm driving now. I sort for sameness first and then for difference, so I'll tell you how I want the new one to be like my current one and then I'll tell you how I want it to be different. When you describe the new one, tell me about the features in the right order. If there's a cool new feature I might not know about, save it for last.

I drove my last one for twelve years and intend to drive my current one at least as long. If the one you want me to buy is too different from the one I want, I won't buy it. I'll want a dealer exchange. I'd hate to order one, though, because by the time I'm ready to trade, waiting three months to do so is tough.

By the way, I can pay cash, so if your F&I guy wants me to finance, he'll have to find me a great interest rate.

southnick wrote:

The way to sell to me and possibly Michael (I'm sure he will come back on this) is to show me that I can have a great tool, with less hassle at a better price.

That's a pretty good way to sum it up. I buy new, though, rather than 2-3 years old, because I figure getting another 2-3 years out if it is worth the money.

jonathanaltfeld wrote:

Oh. Well then, Michael, clearly you're not in the market for a car today, so I won't even try to sell you one.

Oh, no... of course you won't.

You saw my 1990 Dakota, with the paint falling off of it. Sometimes I wish I hadn't traded it.

jonathanaltfeld wrote:

Don't even try to sell your customers today. Convince them you'd rather have them come back tomorrow after they've thought it over and decided it would be a great choice.

My sales manager would have fired me a lot sooner if I'd routinely "allowed" customers to walk off.

jonathanaltfeld wrote:

Hi John,

From ages of 14-18 I sold "programmes" at a famous Summer concert series in NYC (Dr. Pepper Music Festival, then Miller Time festival). I was the top salesguy at the ripe young age of 14, so during subsequent Summers, ages 15-18, I got a promotion & ran the entire programme concession; I not only hawked programmes on foot, but also hired, fired, & managed the other hawkers & earned money from each programme the other guys sold.

In college, I sold Spring Break vacation trips to Daytona Beach.

In grad school I was a waiter for a whopping 6 months -- & that was more than enough. (I learned how to sell more bottles of wine to diners. Big deal!)

As an AI consultant after college, I spent 2 months co-selling (with 1 other consultant) a $26-million artificial intelligence software solution to Equifax corp. And sold more than 10 other AI projects (with me as the onsite consultant) to companies such as Ernst & Young, Chase Manhattan Bank, GTE (Now Verizon), Countrywide Home Mortgage, Delta Airlines, & more.

Since starting my NLP business, aside from selling my CDs/DVDs, courses etc., I've been involved in figuring out how to boost sales for several different sales organizations.

I was hired by a commercial real estate company to come in when meetings were scheduled, and close deals that weren't closing in previous meetings (I earned my commissions).

I was brought in by one of Orlando's bigger timeshare sales groups, rewrote their outbound telemarketing scripts, modeled one of their better salespeople, figured out what she (yes, she) was doing that the others weren't, and taught that to them. Average increase in sales on a per-person basis in my training group -- 12% monthly increase.

There's probably more I'm not remembering off the cuff.

Regards,

- Jonathan

Is that it?

John

You can't sell anything to anybody, you can only set the conditions that will enable them to buy from you

z8000783 wrote:

Is that it?
John

Is what it?

- Jonathan

jonathanaltfeld wrote:

Is what it?

- Jonathan

Is that all you have done?

John

z8000783 wrote:

Is that all you have done?

John

Is anything ever "all" ?

- Jonathan

(still trying to figure out what kind of conversation we're having)

jonathanaltfeld wrote:

Is anything ever "all" ?

- Jonathan

(still trying to figure out what kind of conversation we're having)

One I am now going to stop because I refuse to carry out conversations with Meta-Monsters.

John

A psychiatrist is a fellow who asks you a lot of expensive questions your wife asks for nothing

z8000783 wrote:

One I am now going to stop because I refuse to carry out conversations with Meta-Monsters.

John

Well that's it then, why would I continue conversing with name-callers?

- Jonathan

jonathanaltfeld wrote:

Well that's it then, why would I continue conversing with name-callers?

- Jonathan

You're too late I stopped this conversation before you.

John

Always and never are two words you should always remember never to use

z8000783 wrote:

You're too late I stopped this conversation before you.

John

Hey where'd you go? I was just getting the hang of this.

- Jonathan

jonathanaltfeld wrote:

Hey where'd you go? I was just getting the hang of this.

- Jonathan

Look to your right and just behind you

jonathanaltfeld wrote:

Oh. Well then, Michael, clearly you're not in the market for a car today, so I won't even try to sell you one.

After all, you've got 6 more full, long, drawn out years of wondering exactly when that knowledge that the car you current have and have enjoyed for the first 6 years... will eventually degrade sufficiently.. and cause you significant enough heartache, annoyance, costs and more.

After all, I mean that's 6 more years without steady car payments, but also without any security that something might not go wrong at any moment. For you it's the absolute last minute when you just can't stand it anymore, and for me it's not knowing when then next $500 repair is going to hit, or the next $1000 repair bill, or the next $2000 bill when the transmission and the brakes both go at once...

So I just wanted to explain that I understand where you're coming from and that I know you're not in the mood yet to save yourself all that mounting uncertainty and annoyance, that for you it happens slowly over a period of years; only you will know when the timing is right, and I'd just like to put a request in that when you finally are ready, for all the right reasons, to get your next new car, please allow me to be of service to you.

- Jonathan

I have to think this man has sold a car or two in his day. This is just brilliant. I will definitelb be using this. This is why I love Mr. Altfeld.