The questions to ask when selling cars must include those that will provide you with the information to qualify the customer, build rapport, discover their budget, discover their “Hot Buttons” and determine how they feel about their  trade-in or if they have one. We all know that some car buyers will open up and be more than happy to tell you absolutely everything including many things you don’t want to know, but usually they are tight lipped and secretive about providing information. When we work with the tight lipped automobile customer we have to be careful what kind of questions we ask them and when we ask them so we don’t appear to be what they call the “Typical Car Salesman”.

It is very hard to come up with an exact list of questions to ask buyers when selling cars because every situation and customer is different. The skill and experience of the car salesman is probably one of the best guides of what and when to ask the car buyer. However to help some of you think about the kinds of questions to ask and when to ask them I have put together a list of general  situations and a guide to the type of questions to guide you through the process.

Types of Questions to Ask When Selling Cars

Rapport Building & Hot Button Questions:

These should be questions about vehicle likes, dislikes and preferences. Stay away from personal questions until you have built some rapport and some level of trust. Keep things light at first while trying to find similar interests or connections. Like where they live or work, primary driver, types of driving and desired options. You are trying discover information that you will use later to help close the deal while starting to build a relationship and a level of trust. The successful car salesman knows how to earn the trust of their automobile buyer and they do it by using the information they gathered by asking questions.

Qualifying and Budget Questions:

You need to be very careful about these types of questions to ask when selling cars. If you ask something that is too personal at the wrong time they will feel like you are prying and you run the risk of shutting them down which is common with the Green Pea. Your questions about qualifying and budget should assume the best and compliment them regardless of what you may be thinking. When your question or statement assumes the best your car buyer will usually come clean and tell you about any credit problems or limitations. When they start telling you about any problems they are ready for more probing and personal questions because they opened up rather than you trying to open them up.

Trade-In Questions:

The trade-in can be a very sensitive area for some customers so the car salesman needs to approach the subject gently. Some people are happy to get rid of their old car, but more of them think they are trading in a family heirloom that is worth a fortune. We know their car is not worth what they want unless it had a stack of money in the glove box. So the questions to ask when selling cars that refer to the trade-in need to be asked similar to qualifying questions until they open up and reveal their thoughts about the trade. Whatever you do, don’t talk trash about their trade. They can because it is their car, but don’t get caught telling them it’s junk.

They say that the person that is asking the questions is controlling the conversation, but sometimes you want the customer to think they are controlling the car buying process. This is done by the questions to ask when selling cars. Experience will teach you how you can control the situation while accommodating the car buyer through the use of questions and open ended statements. Of all the questions you ask do your best to avoid the questions that can be answered with a Yes or No. Try to use questions that they will answer with a Yes or provide them with two options. The more they say Yes, the more they will say Yes.  Most traditional car sales training talks about asking questions, but you usually need to change or adjust the process to accommodate the car buyer so you can close the deal. The good car salesman knows when to zig when others zag.

Later, Fresh Up on the Lot

KB

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Asking Questions Carefully A Car Salesman Tip

Most car sales training will cover asking questions of your car buyer, but they usually don’t spend too much time on the subject and that is why this car salesman tip is important. Very often you will see a Green Pea that starts firing one question after another and before you know it the customer is asking for their ticket to leave and promising they will be back. (you know they won’t)

There are some questions that the car buying customer is happy to answer; like what model they are looking for, what trim level and what type of options. They are usually open to what type of driving they do and how many miles they put on per year and general usage questions. When you get to the trade-in, price range, payment budget, pay-off amount on trade-in and credit rating you could be walking into a mine field. Asking questions of those types at the wrong time will very often put your customer on the defensive. A defensive customer is very hard to sell and can take the fun out of a car sales career.

Asking Questions – Assume The Best Car Salesman Tip

Throughout the car buying process you should be asking questions and gathering information. When you carefully ask questions and spread them out through the entire process your customer will not feel any pressure or if done properly they will tell you the answers before you ask the questions. When it comes to the point where you have to start asking those mine field questions, ask them in a way that compliments the customer and assumes the best condition for the car buyer.

For example; if you need to ask them about their credit, you would say “with your good credit I am sure we can get a reasonable payment” . When you approach the subject in this way you will most often get a honest response. They will usually say “yes, I have good credit” or they might say “my credit is not great”. Either way they opened the credit discussion and you did not offend them, from there you are free to ask credit questions without putting them on the defensive. Use the same method assuming the best for other touchy questions and you will be the good guy and not the prying car salesman. This tip of the car salesman tips of asking questions properly can be a great boost to your car sales career and have a positive impact on your car salesman income.

Later, Fresh Up on the Lot
K.B.

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