Back to Basics - Transmission Digest

Back to Basics

I know this much: Managers who sell on the phone make less money than managers who contact-sell. I have tried it both ways. When I call on the phone, the customer is sitting in his environment and all he has to do is hang up and I am finished. He may be distracted and not able to focus on my service recommendation. He may not be able to take personal calls at work. Bottom line, the customer has control of me and can easily postpone his decision. I don't know about you, but when it is my money on the line, I like to be in control of the transaction. If you can do it over the phone, my hat is off to you. I just don't get that warm and fuzzy feeling over the phone.

A. Little Help

  • Subject: Selling through personal contact
  • Essential Reading: Shop Owner, Center Manager
  • Author: Art Little

When sales are down in the shop you have to look for the reason why. When I was a manager I would always just get back to basics. Usually I was short-cutting one thing or another, so I would just get back to basics and do what I know works. I know that contact sales works. Some managers believe in separating the customer from his car ASAP and selling everything over the phone. As a salesman, that never made much sense to me. I was taught that you have to put on a thousand-dollar pitch to close a hundred-dollar sale. That is hard to do over the phone.

I know this much: Managers who sell on the phone make less money than managers who contact-sell. I have tried it both ways. When I call on the phone, the customer is sitting in his environment and all he has to do is hang up and I am finished. He may be distracted and not able to focus on my service recommendation. He may not be able to take personal calls at work. Bottom line, the customer has control of me and can easily postpone his decision. I don’t know about you, but when it is my money on the line, I like to be in control of the transaction. If you can do it over the phone, my hat is off to you. I just don’t get that warm and fuzzy feeling over the phone.

The contact sale involves selling to the customer eyeball to eyeball. It takes more work on the manager’s part, but when sales are down you just have to get back to basics and work a little harder. Remember, nobody works until someone sells something. It starts by getting up off your rear end and getting the customer involved in the sale. Contact selling takes more work but gives the manager more control over the sale.

Contact sales is all about control – controlling the sale from the time we make contact with the customer through car delivery. This type of sales approach is based on patience and is driven by the willingness to go the extra mile for the customer.

Instead of talking with your customers on the phone, invite them into your sales environment. Take the time to get to know your customers. Take the first road test with them. Take them under the lift and do a minor adjustment diagnosis with one of your technicians. Invite them into the building room to see their transmission being dismantled. Let them see, touch, hear and smell the work going on. Do a final road test with them when you return the vehicle. Engage your customers. Make them feel as if they are part of the repair every step of the way. It makes the customer feel good. He ends up feeling as if he had some control over his $3,000 repair. You cannot get that done over the phone.

Rule No. 1 in contact sales is to be available to your customers when they need your time and expertise. In other words, make yourself available to them when they need you. Don’t make them wait until it is convenient for you. That’s what managers who sell on the phone do. You have to look at this as your opportunity to earn their business and give them the service they are asking for when they ask for it. Don’t ever make them wait if you can keep from it.

When customers call on the phone, take control by making it like a personal phone call from one of your friends. Listen to them. Make a recommendation for a free diagnosis, and as soon as they get there get up and drive their vehicle with them. Don’t just sit there and tag their keys and say, “We will call you later.”

Ask the customer to take a road test with you before he drops it off. This is a perfect opportunity to contact-sell. Get in the vehicle with the customer and make friends with him on the road test. Put his mind at ease. Neutralize the selling situation. Listen to what the customer says is wrong and experience it with him. Ask him, “Is that what you are talking about?” If he says yes, in the customer’s mind he now knows that you know what the problem is. Taking 10 minutes of your time to do that when he gets there is a big deal to him. He leaves more at ease than if he had just dropped off the keys. You owe that to your customers. Now he likes you and is starting to trust you. You are not just a voice on the phone. That’s a big deal.

You cannot be lazy. You have to be willing to earn their business. Set up some sales tools at the shop to help you educate your customers. You might have some samples of burned fluid and clean fluid for the customer to look at to help explain when a fluid change is required and when an overhaul is required. You might have a better business pamphlet that you can pull out and read quotes that help you in different situations. Pictures of a million parts inside the transmission are always a good sales tool. There are some really neat cutaway transmission and torque-converter samples that are great sales aids. You can get creative with all sorts of sales tools at the shop if you start thinking about it.

Always try to get the customer in front of you before you give a price. If you find an internal problem, get with the customer and try to get him to the shop. If you are selling a transmission using an inspection service, sell the inspection over the phone and set a time for the customer to come to the shop and see his internal diagnosis. Wait until the customer arrives so he can watch you dismantle the unit. Believe me, when you let the customer see one piece turn into 500 in 15 minutes, you will have the customer’s attention.

The bench sale is the most dynamic and effective sales tool we have in the shop. I have no idea why a manager would not use that on every sale. How do you describe that over the phone? It should be our goal to get every customer to the bench to see his transmission dismantled. Although that goal is not possible, we want to invite them all to come to the bench. When we do that we are showing the customer that we have an open-door policy and are not hiding anything from them. Customers like that and it builds trust and credibility.

The bench is where the job is sold. It is the last step of the contact sale. For those of you who are new to contact sales, here is a procedure I use that works pretty well.

  • Set a time for the customer to come in
  • Ask him to have a seat in the lobby while I get the builder ready for him.
  • Tell the builder we have a customer waiting
  • The builder finds a stopping point on what he is working on and gets set up to dismantle the transmission.
  • When he is ready he lets me know and I go get the customer.
  • Introduce the customer to the builder and tell him that the builder is going to dismantle the transmission and tell us what caused the problem and what parts will be required for the repair.
  • Go over the external diagnostic report to put everybody on the same page
  • The builder dismantles the transmission
  • The builder explains what caused the problem
  • The builder explains exactly what parts are going to be needed
  • The builder asks the manager whether he can think of anything else
  • The manager confirms the diagnosis and asks the customer whether he has any questions.
  • Thank the builder and take the customer back to the lobby while I figure the price.

You have driven the vehicle with the customer and witnessed the problem with him. The transmission was taken apart while he watched. You explained to him what caused the problem. Because you took the time to listen to him when he came in, drove the vehicle with him and offered a clear, concise recommendation, he now knows what caused the problem inside his transmission and the parts needed to fix it. Taking the time to educate the customer makes the sale much easier for you. That is the payback on the contact sale.

You invested the time with the customer early in the sale when he needed you to. You made him feel special by showing concern for his problem and taking your time to perform a road test with him and identify his problem. Then you took the transmission apart while he watched and did not try to hide anything. You diagnosed the problem and explained it to him in a way the layman would understand. You earned the right to ask for top dollar on the repair.

The last step is to work up the price while he waits and close the sale at the shop. Do not do a bench presentation and let the customer talk you into calling him later. That defeats the purpose of the contact sale. When logic and emotion peak that is when you close the sale. You are there. Before he leaves, solve his problem so he does not go home and shop you.

If you have laid the proper groundwork, you can expect a high closing ratio and an increased repair-order average using the contact sale. By being patient and going the extra mile for your customers, you have closed every door they could walk out of before you asked for the money. Here is the selling situation you have created:

  • You have the customer in your shop, out of their comfort zone
  • You have built credibility by going the extra mile
  • You have confirmed the external diagnosis
  • You know what caused the problem so it won’t happen again
  • You have the cost calculated
  • The customer now knows how difficult the work really is by watching the builder.

The price is not as big an issue in this selling situation, because customers have less resistance when they know what they are buying and believe they are getting their money’s worth.

When you see the advantage you build for yourself by using the contact-sales technique, calling the customer on the phone and trying to sell a $3,000 transmission repair to someone you briefly met when they dropped off their keys seems a little dicey to me. I like my chances with the contact-selling technique. It is just common sense.

Here is my point: You can increase sales without spending any money. There usually isn’t any money when sales are down. Trying out the contact sale doesn’t cost you anything. It is not an app on your smart phone. It is not a new Internet lead generator. It is basic customer service. Maybe that is what’s missing at your shop.

There is an old saying, “If you want to make a living you’ve got to put on a good show.” Maybe if you quit selling everything over the phone, sales at the shop will go up without your having to spend any money on advertising. Sometimes the best way to increase your sales at the shop is to just put on your selling britches and sell your way out of it.

Art Little is the founder and CEO of TransTeam. He has been a professional manager, trainer, multiple-shop general manager, owner and a business consultant for transmission-shop owners nationwide. TransTeam used Internet technology in 1997 to create the National Employment Headquarters for the transmission industry. The TransTeam website has more than 3,000 members. All industry professionals are invited to visit the website to recruit nationwide or find a job. Visit www.transteam.com.

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