Sales Manager 101: The Vehicle Switch

You spend hours selling the customer a vehicle. All the features and benefits. All the great things about this particular car, and now you have to tell them they can’t have it, but they can have this other great one! The question is, how do you do it right so you don’t blow up your deal?

There are a whole host of reasons why you may need to switch a customer from the original vehicle that they bought, to a completely different vehicle.  If it’s a brand-new factory order, it could be an availability issue. It could be a used or new car that happens to have already been sold when you sold it again, likely because a salesperson didn’t think it was important to put a sold sign on it or park it in the sold area. Maybe the bank said the amount financed is too much and the client only qualifies for a lower-priced vehicle. Either way, there comes a time when you need to switch a customer from that amazing vehicle you spent hours closing on to a completely different vehicle. So how do you do it?

There comes a time when you need to switch a customer from that amazing vehicle you spent hours closing on to a completely different vehicle.

A long time ago, long before I was selling cars, when I was a teenager looking for a used car, I remember a particular buying experience that stayed with me. I was eighteen and going from lot to lot looking for a car. Test drove a ton. I had a pretty good-paying job-figured I could afford a payment. After looking for weeks I found this very cool black Volkswagen Rabbit- was at a GM store. Manual transmission. Sporty. Nice. I test drove it, sat with the salesperson for a while and agreed to terms. My car. Wow. I remember, after I signed the bill of sale, walking outside and staring at the car for a while. I was so excited. Just needed to wait and find out if I was approved.

A few days later, the call. “Sorry, you’re financing has been declined. You will need a co-signer. Can you provide one?” Well, first of all I would never say to a customer that their financing has been declined and they need a co-signer. That’s a rookie move. It should have been, “You’re approved with a qualified co-applicant!” But I digress.

“Uh, ya, probably, let me ask my mother.” I was not super happy about asking my mother, that’s for sure. It took a few calls from the salesperson and a few days to get up the courage, but about a week later I was able to get my mother to help me out. Off we went to the dealership to see the finance manager. My mother gave her information and then we waited. Finally, the call. “You’re approved, but we do need to discuss some things, so can you come in today at six?”

“Do I need my mother?” I couldn’t wait to get my new used car. They only wanted to talk to me.

I arrived for my appointment and sat with the sales manager. “The good news is that we’ve worked really hard- managed to get you approved for financing. The bad news is that the vehicle that you originally selected has been sold.” I was so disappointed. “Now that we have all that financing in place, why don’t we take a look at something else? We do have you approved on this great Ford LTD that just came in on trade!”

After weeks of going from dealer to dealer looking at small sporty cars with manual transmissions, finally picking the one I loved, running around tirelessly to get help from my mother to co-sign, I drove off that lot with a giant Ford sedan. Unbelievable.

Why would I do that? Was I weak? Maybe. Young? Definitively. But what was the real reason?

The reason was this. I had already made the difficult decision to buy. The time spent looking for vehicles only added to my mental commitment to buy. Even going through the difficult process of asking for a co-signer only added to the already significant momentum pushing me towards a purchase. Literally, by the time I had gone through all of that, I would have bought almost anything and actually did, because I was fully committed mentally to the purchase, the vehicle selection being only one piece of the puzzle.

Here’s the thing. If you have to switch a customer from one vehicle to another, never assume it will kill your deal. If it’s finance, keep working the finance, even if the vehicle is no longer available. Whatever you do, if you have to switch a client from one vehicle to another, focus on three things.

If you have to switch a customer from one vehicle to another, never assume it will kill your deal.

First, if the deal is not approved, for any reason, keep working until you have a solid approval of some kind. If you have a committed customer who has signed a bill of sale and left a deposit, you still have a deal even if the vehicle selected is unavailable or the client doesn’t qualify. Keep working the deal until either you know the deal is dead, or you have some path forward on a different vehicle.

Second, always in person. Never deliver bad news over the phone unless your plan is to actually lose the deal. That’s true in almost every situation, but none more than the vehicle switch.

Third, have a plan, and be ready to execute that plan. Know the vehicle or vehicle options you’re switching to, know what you’re going to say, and in a perfect world be ready to deliver the unit on the spot.

Always move forward, always in person, and always have a plan.

The big mistake so many salespeople make is thinking that the car is the deal, and they couldn’t be more wrong. The car is simply one piece. The act of looking for a vehicle. Test driving. Deciding to buy. Arranging financing. Mentally looking forward to driving their new vehicle. Do you really think a customer who has done all that work wants to walk away? Or is it more likely they are so committed to the process that they will buy almost anything, like I did? Yes, I was young, but people are people.

The simple fact is that most customers buy on emotion and the vehicle is only a piece. A piece that can be changed if you do it right, in person, with a solid plan, and if possible ready to deliver. Or, you could just give up and call your customer to tell them the bad news and kill your deal. Your choice! Good luck and good selling.