Dealership marketing managers sometimes forget that so much goes into making a car sale. Sometimes it’s easy to forget the little things that are important to a customer – whether it’s a special promotion, a decorated showroom, or the attitude or attire of a sales person, buying a car is a big decision. Most customers don’t take the experience lightly, so presentation is absolutely everything.
Take for instance your sales person. The way a car salesman presents him or herself to a customer is everything. Naturally a neat, professional appearance makes all the difference, but there are varying degrees of appearance that affect a customer.
When you’re selling cars, automotive direct mail ads and special paper promotions aren’t what sell the car – the experience the customer has in your showroom ultimately sells a car. We all know that if a customer decides on a car, then walks into your showroom and gets terrible service, they’re probably not going to drive off your lot in that car.
One of the keys to giving effective service to customers is locking in salesperson appearance. Consider the following factors that affect your employees’ appearance:
Branded Tees
Many dealerships provide monogrammed polo shirts or branded t-shirts to their sales staff. This has several effects on a potential customer.
One, it provides another way to showcase your branding, and uniformity among your staff. It’s also a no-brainer for employees when getting dressed for a shift. Many employees would rather have clothing provided that reflects your company name rather than be expected to buy dress clothes for work – provided attire just makes it easy, and also helps your employees show pride in your brand.
If you’re a smaller dealership, being able to afford branded clothing for your employees can be helpful to establishing your credibility as a big enough business to provide good service. You can also give extra tees to your customers as needed.
Sell to the Crowd
If you’re selling BMWs, you want your sales people to look refined, and dress up on the job. More casual car styles require a casual, comfortable appearance. Take a look at the kind of merchandise you’re selling and the way your lot looks. If you’re selling older, used cars, a three piece suit may not be necessary and may in fact turn off your customers.
Dressing to the merchandise helps build trust with your potential customers, and provides uniformity for the brand you’re selling. Remember that every part of what you do and how you appear to a customer – from greeting the customer to attire to promotional materials you give away – has an effect on whether or not that customer will buy from you. For this reason, it always pays to make sure your staff dresses the part – whether you’re operating a luxury car dealership or advertising for an older used car lot.
Chad,
Great article, it is all about the customer and the experience they have that will drive sales. Making the client feel special is key with big decisions that are sometimes emotinally driven. Some people associate their car with their identity which makes the experience and the car design that much more important. Other prospects, simply need information fast and need an attentive, knowledgeable sales staff. Unfortunately, many dealers may greet you at the door, but then leave you waiting in the show room for way too long, then when they do come back they can’t answer questions and don’t have materials to leave with me. That doesn’t make me feel special.
Due to my business experience working in customer service driven enviroments, I am very in tune to customer care iniatives when I walk in to a car dealer, a hotel, a resturant, etc. This last spring I experienced different levels of service helping my son shop for his first car. While my son didn’t have a big budget and wasn’t buying a luxury car, he could be in years to come, I definitley will be sooner than that. Dealers that train their sales staff to think big picture are important. If we are well taken care of with this small purchase, we will more likely be back, and have the potential to buy 3 or 4 cars from this dealer. On the other hand, if we aren’t treated well, it’s all over.
One thing you talked about in the article is dressing to the product you sell: BMW – Suit, Trucks – Golf Shirt. In addtion, if there is a special Saturday event during football season, what better experience could a dealer host than a football theme, with salesman in jerseys, TVs, and tailgate food. However, the football theme is great only as long as the dealer is focused on the client by delivering high level service and paying full attention to every prospect that comes in the door.
Example – Gas stations back in the 50s, 60s and 70s were full service. Texaco took the approach where customer service was so important they sent a pit crew out to you to not only fill up your tank, but wash your windows, check your oil, tire presure and did it would a smile. With competition today, sending 4 guys out to every car is not economically feasible, but you get my drift.