How to sell and more importantly: Close the Deal!

[DoItBestDetail]

Very informational topic. I'm sure many newcomers and people starting up will be able to benefit greatly. Thanks!

[rustytruck]

You need to always be selling yourself. This is not really a hard sell type of business tho. If someone is searching your service via the internet then they need a detail. If you are a mobile detailer than they are specially calling you for convenience. They may need a detail because they have a spill, stain, scratch, taking the toy out of storage, taking the van on vacation or whatever.

What you need to do is SELL CONVENIENCE. Tell them you can do it this week or you can do it while they are at work or you can pick up the car while they are away and have it ready when they get home. I am not selling price I'm not even selling the idea that I'm the most technically skilled detailer around. What I am "selling" is a professional level service that is CONVENIENT to the customer.

I will let you guys fight over who has the best prices and who has the most skills. I know why my phone rings. Convenience.

[dwaynesworld]

One of the hardest parts of closing a deal, is listening to the customer. First sell them on what they want, then start with add on sales.

[Hoytman]

Let me share another concept.

It's called "customer for life"

The Carnegie methods have been worn out in the business world, by hordes of MBAs trying to get the maximum out of each deal.

The Sandler approach is to get your customer to decide what they need, not what you want to sell them.

If I were going to do this for a living, I would arrange my portfolio in order from least to most, including at least approximate pricing for each level of results.

Some people will go right to the back. Others will start at the beginning, and stop when they reach their maximum willing expenditure. Your job is to get them what they need, not what you need. It's always about the customer, not what you would like to do.

Most of the people who would contact you are probably successful in their own business endeavors. They want to look successful as well.

It's easier to push someone a step higher than they were willing to go than it is to get them at the top of your game.

Making them decide what to purchase gets you repeat customers and referrals.

Jim

Now these are topics that interest me at this point in my life. Earlier in my life all I was ever interested in was hard manual labor in construction work. When I went back to college I was busy getting prereq's out of the way in preparation for this type of learning. Life got in the way and I had to drop out of college for the time being, but I've never lost that zeal to learn.

Jim, I really appreciated the phone calls and conversation. I also really appreciate the time and effort made in two great posts. I really lood forward to future threads you may start. You are going to fit in nicely on this forum and be a big asset to many forum members. There are lots of good people that are willing to help each other by sharing information and ideas...making us all better. Thank you, Jim!!!

[jgg85234]

I would prefer to do this series on an interactive basis, rather than output only. The best ideas aren't confined to one person. Everyone has a point of view and ideas about how to do things.

So, let's start with where did your current customers come from?

Warm market? (That's family, friends and acquiantances)
Advertising? (Including Craigslist, newspaper ads, radio and television)
Attending events? Car shows, etc.
Getting a contract with a dealer to do bunches of cars on a regular basis?
The Internet? (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.)

I'm going to put up some statistics here, that we'll talk about in a later post.

This is my LinkedIn profile.
Who's Viewed Your Profile
4 Your profile has been viewed by 4 people in the past 90 days.
12 You have shown up in search results 12 times in the past 15 days.
Your LinkedIn Network
107 Connections link you to 4,663,285+ professionals
158,916 New people in your Network since May 2

Besides the connections you are already making, what other ideas do you have for finding new customers?

Jim

[Vegas Transplant]

This doesn't always work, but it get the prospect thinking of end results.

http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/...it-switch.html

[Flatlander]

Obviously, the most effective way to learn the Sandler System is to go to one of his training locations. Short of that, this book is a GREAT start. When you read this, it will blow your mind and change your perspective completely. Why have I been doing things wrong for SO long??
- Mike