car sales negotiation tips

It’s no secret than most people don’t like negotiating the purchase of their car. In fact most people will do practically anything to avoid the whole process. Sure there are those car buyers that enjoy and happily embrace the process of trying to match wits with the car salesman, but this is a rare occurrence. These car sales negotiation tips are for car salesmen and the majority of their customers.

Most car buyers want to buy a car without negotiating with a car salesman, but they don’t want to pay sticker. The best car sales negation tip is to tell your customer that sticker is quicker, but they aren’t happy about that either so what is the answer? CarMax thinks they have the answer and that’s why they do so much business (maybe they do). It seems to work for them and many new car dealers are advertising one-price car sales, but they rarely do a good job convincing the average car buyer.

So what is the real answer and what about us car salesmen that are selling cars for a living on a commission basis that have to negotiate with car buyers on a daily basis? The answer is the car salesman; the car salesman can make the difference in how the customer perceives the car buying experience. The most important car sales negotiation tips I could give you are that you must make the customer feel like they didn’t have to negotiate to get a good deal.

If you have been selling cars for any length of time you know that you can treat 2 customers exactly the same way. Yet one of them will think you are the greatest car salesman in the world and the other one will think you are a typical sneaky and dishonest car salesman. So how do we fix that so that both customers feel that they had a good experience buying a car? Lets start with some basic car sales negotiating tips for the car salesman.

10 Basic Car Sales Negotiation Tips

  1. Negotiation is a bad word. Most car buyers don’t like the word and the use of it conjures up negative images and feelings. Stop using the word forever and change your vocabulary. If you look up the actual meaning of the word negotiation in the dictionary you will find: a mutual discussion and arrangement of the terms of a transaction. The meaning of the word negotiation is less terrifying than the actual word. So stop using it and use softer words like “finalize the details”, “go over the details” or “cover the particulars”.
  1. Vehicle Selection: During the negotiation discussion of the details you must confirm the vehicle choice; make sure it’s the one they want. You must confirm the vehicle as many times as it takes. For some customers once is enough and for others it might take 10 times. Remind them about all of the features, colors, bells and whistles they said wanted and everything they liked about the car. If they aren’t 100% sure about the car don’t waste you time. If there is any hesitation about the car either verbally or through their body language stop and go back a step. A car sales negotiation tip: you are not going to close the sale on a car they don’t really want. I have closed more sales for car salesmen by changing the car than for any other reason including price.
  1. Don’t insult your customer. When you present the numbers to your customer and they come back with a ridiculous number don’t tell them they are crazy or that they are dreaming. Look them in the eye, wait a few seconds and then ask them where they got that number? Don’t look away and don’t say another word until they answer your question.
  2. Compliment your customer when appropriate. Don’t just blurt out a bunch compliments, but when it’s appropriate tell them that you can see that they have done their homework, you can tell that they are an educated consumer, it’s obvious they have done this several times before. Compliment them about their vehicle choice, their knowledge, their experience and their negotiating abilities. Let them feel like they are calling the shots.
  1. Critical car sales negotiating tip: Don’t flinch, react or change your direction when they tell you that they got a cheaper price across town. Keep moving as if they never said a word, if they got a better price they wouldn’t be siting in front of you. This is a classic car sales negotiation tip for the car buyer. They want to throw you off your game by using this technique and drop your price. However your ability to completely ignore this gives you control. They want to buy the car from you otherwise they would be at the other dealerships so move on.
  1. We aren’t buying today, we are not sure, I am not ready yet and any other excuse means you need to tell them why they should. No doesn’t mean no, it means tell me more, educate me or help me buy this car from you. They are not going to tell you that, but they can always come up with a weak excuse so unless you are going to buy their excuse you need to keep working. Remember, two people meet and one gets sold.
  1. Negotiating car sales doesn’t mean giving up and giving them what they want. It means you need to defend your number, show them and sell them the value, the vehicle, the dealership and yourself. You must be sold in order to sell them. They must believe that you believe this the best car for the best price for them.
  1. Use more than your mouth when negotiating car sales. Some people learn easier and retain more information by hearing and others must experience it firsthand and others need to see it. You need to use all your tools to make sure they are following. Use your pen and paper and do the math, spell it out, list the things they wanted, show them the math to recondition their trade-in, add up the repairs and expenses they will have to do to their current car if they don’t buy now. For some people they need to see the numbers in black and white before they truly comprehend them and they won’t buy if they don’t understand.negotiating car sales
  1. Rule of thumb for car sales negation: They always want a better price. You could start your negation at MSRP or you could start at invoice less holdback and they still want more. The car buyer just naturally assumes that no matter what price you start with you will give them more so don’t give away the store to start the process. When you do give in on price or trade value you must do it in small increments. The larger the increment the more they expect you to drop.
  2. Car salesman back and forth. I have invested lots of time and energy over the years talking to car buyers and those that didn’t buy about the car buying process. The one thing that comes to mind when you talk to car buyers that annoys them about the car sales negotiation process is the car salesman going back and forth to the sales manager. An important car sales negotiation tip for Green Peas because they are the worst when it comes to this, but many salesmen continue to annoy their customers with this behavior. I understand you need to go back to the desk, but have you done everything you can possibly do before leave. Have you covered every possible scenario and detail before leaving? Did you tell your customer why you were leaving and where you were going? Did you give away all your power and make the customer think you are nothing more than an errand boy or girl.Don’t tell them you need to check with your manager because they will want to talk to your manager. Tell them you are going to check the numbers, check the computer or check the book. Tell them how long you will be gone and give them something to think about or talk to each other about. Don’t leave them alone any longer than absolutely have to or they will find something to do like get on the cell phone, call another dealer or go to other dealers websites. Maybe even submit leads or request price quotes. Keep them busy and focused on what you want them to focus on and don’t give them hope. Tell them that you doubt there room or that you don’t think there is any money left. We you leave to go to the desk don’t give them hope or they will expect more than you will give every time, so don’t give them much hope if any.

Successful car sales negotiation tips are the ones that work, but not all of these tips will work on every customer. The car salesman is the key to successful car sales negotiation. The way the customer perceives the process is everything. The car salesman needs to use the right words and the right tools at the right time for each individual customer. The key to being a great car salesman is being able to fully adapt to every type of customer that you work with regardless of your personal thoughts and opinions.

Later, Fresh Up on the Lot
KB

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