Sales Manager 101: Are You the Closer?
Car dealerships have all different kinds of management types. New Car Managers. Used Car Managers. Finance Managers. Business Development Managers. Fleet Managers. You name it, there’s a manager for it. The bigger the dealership, the more types of managers they have. Some dealerships have positions dedicated entirely to closing deals. Often called Floor Managers, these managers take over when a salesperson doesn’t or can’t close a deal. Closers.
I’ve done a few videos on this topic, the art of closing you could say. It’s a mystery and a science all in one package. If you had to take sales and boil it down to one word, it would be closing. If you’re a Sales Manager, or a Floor Manager, one of your key roles is taking what’s known as a T.O. or turnover. The salesperson can’t close the deal and now you have to take over.
The turnover process gives your best closer a chance to close the deal before the customer walks out the door.
There are a few reasons why a dealership benefits from a turnover process. The most obvious is that you want your best closer to take a run at closing the deal before letting a customer walk out the door. Let’s face it, you did a lot of work, and spent a ton of cash to get that customer sitting in that chair: best not to leave it up to one person, likely your least experienced person, to walk a client. Beyond that, having an experienced closer sit down beside an inexperienced salesperson and close a deal right in front of them could very well be the best on the job training they get. Two minutes in live action on the showroom floor is worth two hours in a boardroom.
Is that you? Are you the “closer”? Or do you just think you’re a closer? Books could be written on closing. Maybe I’ll write one, but for now I’m just going to give you a few tips if you happen to be that manager that has to take a turnover on the floor and try and close a deal that a salesperson has quite possibly screwed up royally.
Here is where you begin. You tell the salesperson this, “Ok, when we go over, I want you to introduce me as your manager, and let them know I like to meet everyone before they leave, then you shut up and say nothing. When you get good at it, one day I’ll let you nod and agree with me, but for now just smile when I look at you and say absolutely nothing.” If the salesperson speaks and screws up your deal you gun them on the spot, or give them one chance…you choose. Then it’s off to meet the client. “HI, Mr. and Mrs. Smith, this is Andy, my sales manager. He likes to speak with every customer before they leave.” Then the salesperson shuts up and away we go. Relationship time. Before you do anything, you take all the time you need to get to know the client. Build a relationship. Just talk and keep talking until you have rapport. The next step is finding out what exactly is stopping the client from making a deal. In most cases it’s just fear. “We just need to think about it,” or “We will let you know tomorrow.” Or some other version of, “I need to get out of here before I buy a car!” I’ve closed thousands of deals and most of the time, the salesperson just gave up too easy. That’s why you spend the time relaxing the client, because that way, you can overcome the fear. That’s the cycle you create when you take a turnover. Rotating between relaxing the customer by sitting back and building rapport, then leaning in and attempting to generate an offer. When you're bringing the heat and you see the client getting edgy, you lean back and start the small talk, relax things a bit, then take another run at it.
Remember, it’s the offer you need. Forget about whether the offer is actually a doable deal or not. The obstacle you are trying to overcome is the fear, and the way to overcome it is first, making the customer comfortable with you, and second getting an offer, however stupid it may be. Because the moment that client makes an offer, that fear is gone, and now you have something to work with. A prospect ready to buy, instead of ready to walk.
The basic rule of all sales contact is to plan the next contact.
Of course, the reality is that you can’t close everybody. The occasional customer just won’t close. Then what do you do? The basic rule of all sales contact of all kinds, is to plan the next contact. In a perfect world the next contact would be scheduling delivery because you closed a deal, but if you didn’t, the next best thing is a future appointment to sit down and take another run at it. Because, in my experience, most salespeople fail to book a future appointment, or even a future call, when a customer is about to walk. It’s like, “Oh well, can’t make a deal, so…goodbye!”
That’s the job of a closer in a nutshell. Do what the salesperson didn’t or couldn’t. Build a rapport. Overcome the fear or objection and generate an offer, which should mean you have a deal. And in the unlikely event that you cannot generate an offer and close a deal, then make damn sure you plan the next appointment with the client. In a perfect world every salesperson on the staff has the same level of skill as the manager or closer, but we all know that’s just not the case. By having a closer or sales manager tasked with talking to customers before they leave every single time, you make sure your best closer has a shot at every client. Can’t really do much better than that. Good luck and good selling.
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