The car salesman already has a reputation for being a liar. I hope you are not lying to the car buyer without realizing that you are lying. I am sure we have all stretched the truth at times when we are selling cars for a living, but there is a difference between lying and stretching the truth. I have observed many car salesman over the years that have lied to their car buying customer and not be aware that they were lying. (I have also seen many that knew they were lying, but that is another matter)
How You Might Be Lying to the Car Buyer
I have seen many car salesmen and saleswomen lie to their customers about what seems like a minor or insignificant item, but the car buyer knows better. I have seen sales people stumble through questions from car buyers such as engine size, horsepower, fuel tank capacity, available colors and a whole host of other seemingly unimportant items. The salesman is not 100% sure of the answer and they end up lying instead of telling their car buyer that they do not know. They think that the answer is not a critical factor to the person making a car buying decision, but they underestimate their customer.
Lying to the Car Buyer Fails the Test
Whether the size of the gas tank is bigger or smaller by a gallon or two or if the size of the engine is off by a tenth of a liter of so may not really be a reason to buy a car or not, but there is much more to these questions than minor differences in specifications. These kind of questions are a way of making conversation or more often than not a test of the car buyer’s salesman. That’s right, they are testing their salesman to see if they know their product or if they are going to tell them the truth. They may start with easy specification questions and then will move on to more subjective questions. If they sense or know that you are lying to them you are turning them into “Be Backs” or “I have to go” or any other excuse they use to leave.
Stop Lying to the Car Buyer and Pass the Test
Today’s car buyer is more sophisticated and more educated than they were only 5 years ago. The Internet has made it very easy for today’s car buyer to know more about every detail of a car they are thinking about buying than their car salesman. The numbers tell us that over 80% of the car buyers spend some amount of time on the Internet researching the car they are thinking about buying. Many of your customers already know the prices, options, colors and specifications.
Now if you couple the time the car buyer has spent researching the new car they are considering along with the car salesman’s (unfounded) reputation for lying to the car buyer and you end up with a customer that is educated about the car and suspicious of the car salesman. The only way to overcome this is to be very careful of every word you use. If you don’t know the answer to their question, tell them you don’t know, but you will find the answer. They will respect you for being honest with them and you will pass their test. If you pass their tests they will allow you to move forward through the steps of the sale. If they catch you in a lie, no matter how small they will find a reason to leave.
When you are lying to the car buyer about even the smallest item they start thinking what else are you lying about. They will start thinking that if you lie about the size of the gas tank or some other minor detail that you will really start lying when it comes to pricing, financing and negotiations. So if you are determined to increase you car salesman income stop lying to the car buyer.
This not something that most car salesman training programs spend much time going over, but this single car salesman tip can have a real impact in reaching a six figure income.
