Sales Manager 101: Your Last Chance to Do It Right

In the car business, there are a few common issues that come up over and over again. Especially when it comes to selling used cars. “You promised me this or that.” “The salesperson told me this.” “My warranty is bumper to bumper”. I could go on and on about the endless complaints that all boil down to one thing: detailed disclosure.

If you’ve been in the car business a while, the same issues keep coming up over and over and over. Let’s see if this sounds familiar. You have a problem that happens multiple times. The customer says they were promised something and didn’t get it. How do you fix that? You could ask the salesperson not to do that, or ask the customer not to lie about it, but neither of those would work, so what do you do? You create a document. Yep, one more document for the file. Big bold letters, “No verbal promises! Nothing included other than what’s on the bill of sale! The customer has read and understands all these terms.” Pages and pages of disclosure, that cover your ass, but do they really fix the problem? No. Why?

People are conditioned to sign what’s in front of them.

People typically are conditioned to sign what’s in front of them. You get the occasional reader, but by and large its sign, sign, sign. A typical delivery file in my world is twenty to thirty pages, many of which are documents created by the dealership to prevent liability. And that’s great, by the time you get to court, you will have a bunch of documents to prove you’re right, and then the judge will still find for the customer because they’re the little guy, and you are the big bad dealer. “The sales guy just said sign here, sign here and didn’t explain anything!” And they are right. That is exactly what happens. Salespeople, Finance Managers, they are both guilty of just that. Why would they go into detail with a customer and explain everything, generate a whole bunch of unnecessary questions and objections when they can just smile and chat the customer up while they point at the next signature line? “That’s a great car. So good on gas, yes sign here.” “My uncle bought the exact car, and he loves it. Yes, sign here too, it’s the delivery acceptance document, it’s all good.” Sign. Sign. Sign. It's so easy. The customer is excited, they just want their car.

It always works because that is when the customer is the most accepting. Everything is positive. But here is the problem. Customers drive away having signed documents they have not read. Let’s face it, almost no customer is reading the bank contract. It’s a bank contract. It’s written by a team of expensive lawyers and even if there’s an issue with it, you can’t change it. I’d be willing to bet in fact that most Finance Managers haven’t actually read any of the bank contracts. Why would they? But some things are absolutely vital to the client. Things that are likely to come up after delivery, that could easily be avoided by just having some detailed disclosure, detailed conversations about what exactly is and isn’t part of the deal.

“This is your used car warranty. It is a limited warranty. This is what it does not cover. It has a deductible. The deductible is this. The maximum amount for any claim is this, and the total claims during the entire period is this. This is your delivery acceptance document. It’s important. First it says we’ve given you everything that is part of your agreement. Is there anything else we’ve missed, or are you satisfied that you have received everything promised? This is our loaner policy. This is our after-sale policy.” On and on. All the items that basically say, we have given you everything, told you everything, and set expectations for everything in the future as it relates to your relationship with us.

The setting where the customer will sign almost anything also happens to be the perfect time to disclose everything and set expectations.

The funny thing is, that same setting where the customer will sign almost anything on delivery, because they are excited and looking forward to getting their new or used vehicle, also happens to be the perfect time to make sure you have fully disclosed absolutely everything and set expectations perfectly and explicitly. The car is ready. The customer is excited and ready. The insurance on the vehicle is in place. The momentum of the deal is never stronger than on delivery day. That is the time to tighten your deal. Make sure not just that your customer has signed everything, but make sure they understand everything. That, more than anything, will lead to satisfied customers and much less after-sale heat.

The bottom line is this. Just because a customer signed a piece of paper on delivery doesn’t mean they understand it. The vehicle delivery is your opportunity to make sure your customer fully understands everything, maybe your only opportunity and most certainly your best. Don’t make the mistake of having a customer blindly sign a bunch of documents only to have them sitting in your office complaining because nothing was explained. May as well not have the documents at all. Good luck and good selling.