Many sectors in the UK are seeing a decline in sales and for many car brands, particularly those in the mid-price bracket, sales in October 2011 were down anything from 5% – 18% depending on the brand.
On the AM automotive management website visitors are asked to vote on: Do the teams in your business feel positive about 2012? It currently shows that 27% of people responding are saying YES, with a whopping 73% saying NO.
Car sales have been a particular interest of mine over the last two weeks, as we are looking to replace a car which is just coming out of its contract hire agreement. So we called three different brands asking for a test drive: Toyota, Ford and Nissan. I was very intrigued with the different ways in which we were dealt with and thought the differences worth noting:
Toyota
The dealer was disappointing from the very start. A very uninterested salesman took the telephone call and asked us what model we wanted to test drive and which day we wanted to come in. He wasn’t interested in arranging an appointment at all, he simply said to show up on the following Saturday when he would be in. The salesmen didn’t offer us any further information, he didn’t even ask our name, phone number, budget or anything except ‘ what car did we currently drive’. His attitude was so bad it put us off completely! As it happened we were extremely busy on the Saturday and because we didn’t have an appointment we never got around to going into the showroom. There’s a lesson there – how many other people are not showing up for a test drive!
Ford
An appointment was made and we met with the salesman. He was friendly’ish and went through the mechanics of showing us the model we were interested in. During the actual test drive, not once did he mention any special features or the fuel consumption, despite my mention that we were looking for better fuel economy. He made no attempt to find out what we were looking for in a car. To get any information we had to keep asking him questions. He did mention that he was not a typical car salesman. In my view that was an understatement! His lack of enthusiasm was overwhelming, almost amusing and we came away from the showroom feeling totally un-inspired. We were not offered any further information to bring away. This was a week ago and we haven’t heard from him since.
Nissan
We called into the showroom to look at the car we were interested in and were met by a smiling young man called Kumar. He knew all about the car, was extremely enthusiastic about the features, fuel consumption and general performance. He asked about what we needed in a new car and arranged for a test drive the following week. On our return to the garage everything was ready for the test drive. His enthusiasm for the product was contagious, he engaged, used our names appropriately, all the things you would expect when you buy a new motor car, which after all is the second most expensive purchase most of us make apart from our homes. From a sales skills point of view, Kumar hasn’t put a foot wrong. We have agreed to purchase the car and all through the process this young man has done everything that he can do to ensure we are happy. He calls back when he says he will, provides the information we need and is friendly, cheerful and extremely helpful.
Summary
For me this experience has reminded me of the importance of professional sales training and ensuring salespeople have the right sales skills. It demonstrates that if a sales person is keen and enthusiastic and they present their products in the best light, it can make a difference in closing the sale. I have no doubt there is a correlation between the attitudes of the salesmen representing the three brands and their sales figures.
By Kasmin Cooney OBE | Righttrack’s Managing Director