I have said it before and I will say it again, selling cars for a living is like running a business inside a business. If you want to succeed in a big way and earn a handsome income then you should become a celebrity car salesman or car saleswoman. People buy from people and if you want to be the person that car buyers want to see when they need to purchase a vehicle then you need to take the steps to become that salesperson.

We all know that the Internet has impacted the way we sell cars in a big way and that’s not something that we are going to be able to change. With that being the case we need to embrace those changes and use it to our advantage by becoming a sales celebrity in our chosen field and our local area. One of the ways that Internet has changed the car business is how easy a customer can go out to several websites and complain or praise an experience they had at a local business (car dealerships). They can post comments and name names for the entire world to see in a matter of minutes with a computer and an email address. These comments or complaints can impact our showroom traffic, our business and our commissions.

Why Be A Celebrity Car Salesperson

The most recent research says that approximately two-thirds of car buyers read online reviews of car dealerships posted on the Internet. These potential customers make decisions on where to go based on these reviews. They also consider other dealerships that are farther away from them if they have more favorable reviews than a dealer that is located close to home. Remember, over 90% of all car buyers use the Internet in some way when it comes to researching and buying an automobile and if 2/3 of them are reading reviews you can benefit greatly if you were a celebrity car salesman.

You Should Become a Celebrity Car SalesmanMany dealerships across the country are still dragging their feet when it comes to putting policies and procedures in place for getting online customer reviews. These are the same dealers that are complaining about showroom traffic, slow sales and profit and whether they realize it or not online customer reviews are to blame. You, as car sales professional have an incredible opportunity to create more traffic and attract more sales if you would become a car sales celebrity. I have talked with many salespeople that have had customers walk into the showroom looking for them because their customers wrote online reviews complimenting and praising their customer service. These were customers that they never knew or sold before, but because their name was included in online reviews some customers requested them.

You can tell people about how good you are and how you take care of your customers, but that will only go so far. However when you tell them and other people that posted online tell them the same thing you have third party proof and now you are believable. Face it car sales people don’t have the best reputation in the world today, but when people are talking about how great you (you=celebrity) are and how well you treated them when they bought a car people pay attention.

They will seek out a celebrity car salesman rather than take a chance. They don’t like going to dealerships and dealing sales people, but the idea of buying a car and working with a car salesperson that other people recommend sounds like a very good alternative to taking their chances with their pre-conceived notion a car salesman. They will do anything to reduce the stress and make the car buying process less painful.

How to Be a Celebrity Car Salesman

Ok, it’s time to take your car sales career to the next level, the level that will bring your more customers, more sales and ultimately more sales commissions. It’s time for you to become a car sales celebrity. You probably figured it out by now, but if you didn’t I will make it clear. Get your customers to write online reviews about how well your took care of them when they bought a car from you. Sounds simple, right?

Getting customers to go home and get online to write reviews about their car sales experience sounds easy, but it’s not. Even the customers that are over the top thrilled about their purchase and your service have a difficult time actually sitting down and writing a review. It’s not because they don’t want to, it’s because it’s not convenient and they don’t know what to say. You can provide with a card or sheet of paper that tells them where to go, but it usually ends up with their paperwork and it doesn’t happen.

Become a Car Sales Celebrity and Stand Out From the CrowdFirst of all, in order to get your customers to make you a sales celebrity you need to ask them to do it for you. When all is said and done and they are about to drive their newly purchased vehicle home without a hitch it’s time to ask for a favor. Ask them to do it for you and tell them it would mean a lot to you. If you don’t ask them to do this for you, they won’t. You need to ask them and make it easy for them. Tell them that they don’t need to write a book or even a paragraph. Ask them to write a sentence or two about how you took care of them and that they are happy.

When you are doing the delivery ask them to do you this favor for you and then when you follow up the next day or so ask them again. Tell them where to go or hand then a card or sheet with the recommended websites. On average you may only get 2-7% of the customers you ask to do this, so you need to make it even easier. Increase your reviews by sending them an email with a short note asking them to write the review and in the email put links that they can click on that will take them right to the page when they can write a review. When they open the email on their computer all they have to do is click and write. The email can be changed for each customer to direct them to sites where you want reviews and now you have made it easy for them.

Make this process a regular part of your delivery and follow-up and you will get more reviews. Online reviews will help the dealership and make you a celebrity car salesman that will increase your sales, referrals, ups and commissions. Customers will start to look for you when they want to buy a car. This needs to be an ongoing process because customers like to see recent reviews and a history of good reviews. It may take a little while until your customers get your name out there, but it will happen and you will be the celebrity that car buyers want to sell them a car.

Later, Fresh Up on the Lot

KB

Car Sales Celebrities Get More Referrals and Prospects