The Art of the Close: Best Closes for Car Sales

Closing a deal on a car sale is an art. However, sales closing doesn’t have to be a difficult or stressful process for either you or your customers. 

Anyone working in car sales knows that the vehicle market shows no signs of slowing down. For example, in 2019, there were almost 17 million car and light truck sales in the US, compared with 10.4 million in 2009. 

If you want to stay ahead of the game and regularly close your car sales, read on for the best tips to follow. Our simple tried and tested steps take the mystery and uncertainty out of the sales process.

1. The Pre-Sale Pitch

Your customer has walked into your dealership because they’re interested in buying a car. Knowing how to engage with that person without scaring them off is essential.

It’s your job to set the tone when you approach them. Ask how you can help and listen, show enthusiasm without pushiness, be friendly and helpful. 

2. Know Your Stuff

While no customer wants their salesperson to sound like an automated version of the car manual, they do expect you to know what you’re talking about when it comes to the car’s features, price levels, and fuel consumption.

Show that you’re knowledgeable without overloading your customer with too much information.  

Another way of engaging your customer and establishing trust is by showing you’re aware of the latest car sales trends. This is particularly important if you have someone in front of you who has really done their homework. 

3. Ask Questions and Listen

To continue building engagement and trust, ask a mix of open-ended and closed questions. An example of the former is “what can I do to help you?” and the latter “what’s your budget/what size downpayment can you afford?”.

A good salesperson is also a good listener. Much has been written about the importance of listening to your customers.

By listening to what your customer wants, what they can afford, why they want the car, and any problems they’ve had with previous cars, you’re identifying their pain points.

Reflecting those back to the customer will build trust further and show that you’ve listened to what they’ve just told you. 

4. The Detail

Having listened to your customer’s list of wants and expectations, it’s time to present the car that best fits that list. 

By walking them towards the right car, you’re demonstrating that you’ve listened to their pain points and have found the perfect solution.

Ideally, you’ll present them with a few choices, rather than just one car. Remember to maintain eye contact to keep engagement levels high. 

At this point, you run through a quick demonstration of the advantages of each of your choices. You can further build trust by being open and honest about the car’s pluses and minuses and history if it’s a second-hand car. 

5. Time to Test Drive and Close

Here’s the fun part. If you’ve got this far, you’re close, but not close enough to sales closing. It’s time to give your customer the controls by offering them a test drive on a route you’re familiar with. 

By driving the car, your customer forms an attachment to it and imagines how it’d feel to own that car. 

Now is an ideal opportunity to move in to close the sale. 

Since you’re on a familiar route, ask the customer to stop the car at a suitable and safe spot. Once they’ve done that, both of you can step outside of the car and look at it.

At this point, turn to the customer, make eye contact, and ask them how they’d feel if they were able to take the car home with them that day. Alternatively, pull over and ask the customer as they’re seated in the car and still at the wheel.

At this point, you can choose several techniques. For example:

• Tell the customer you can give them a one time deal on the car
• Use language that assumes the customer wants the car, and act like you know they want the car
• Try a gentler approach by summarizing the car’s benefits and why it’s the perfect fit for your customer

Experience and your listening skills will help you sense which approach is best for each customer. This isn’t a one-size-fits-all technique but requires a certain level of instinct, experience, listening, and understanding of your customer’s needs. 

6. The Finances

This is an essential step to sales closing. Be honest and transparent about the car’s cost, any added extras, the size of the down payment, and what, if any, interest rates your dealership is charging over what period. 

Again, listen to what your customer tells you about their financial situation and offer them the best possible solution for their circumstances. 

7. Stay in Touch

If your customer gets jittery at this point and wants to sleep on it before committing, get their contact details. That way, you can follow up on the car they’ve already test-driven or a different vehicle you believe better suits their needs. 

Are You Ready to Up Your Sales Closing Game?

So now you know all about the best sales closing techniques. We hope you can adapt these to your sales environment and make them work for you.

For more information on sales closing and how to run a successful part of a profitable car dealership, contact us today.