Dealer Consultants

Preparing for the price question

Steve LemcoThere are two things that salespeople can pretty much count on hearing from customers. They will say, “Just looking,” when greeted and soon after they will ask the price of a particular motorcycle.

Many times when this happens to me, five minutes later I am sitting down with the customer filling out the write-up sheet. I often wonder why customers have said they were just looking when really they came in to buy. I was just lucky enough to have been the salesperson that greeted them. I got a lay-down deal. I always felt those sales were to make up for the deals I worked very hard on but did not close the purchase for one reason or another.

Most deals don’t happen in a five-minute period. We should always take the time that it takes to work each step properly. Normally, it does take some quality time to get to know someone and gain his or her confidence. I always want that to happen before we discuss price, but sometimes the customer asks the price before we have built a solid relationship. We never know when the question is coming we just know that it is coming.

Every dealership has their own way that they like their salespeople to answer the price question. Because I am writing a generic answers to the question there will be times you will want to tweak what I say.

I am going to start with price ranges and then I will switch to a beginning retail price in order to make the role-play shorter.

When your salespeople are asked for the selling price of a model, a really good answer would be to give a price range. For example, if the base price of a particular motorcycle was $15,995 they might answer by saying something like, “The price ranges from fifteen nine to seventeen five. It just depends upon how you have it equipped … let me pull it out so you can have a seat on it. How long have you been thinking about a new motorcycle?”

I never think salespeople should stop talking after they give the price. Most people will focus and respond to what was last said to them. We most certainly don’t want the customer focused on the price. It is much better if they focus on the joy of riding a new bike. Even if it is a pre-owned motorcycle, it is still a new bike to the customer.

Sooner or later an exact price comes into play. In the following posts in order to simplify things, I am going to use a starting price so that I can make some valuable points clear. I am confident that you will know how to mix my information into your price quoting procedure.

The one thing that I feel some dealerships do very wrong is that they don’t want their salespeople to be up front about the price. It is a very fair question from a customer and deserves an honest answer. If we dodge, bob and weave around the question then how can we gain the trust of the customer? It also can make the salespeople very uncomfortable preventing them from giving their best show.

Knowing that almost every customer is going to say ‘just looking’ and ask the price the salespeople should become great at the replies. It sounds simple because it is. The entire sales system is simple. The key to making it work is that the salesperson is in game mode taking it one step at a time.

This is the 22nd part in a series of blogs about hiring new salespeople. To read the previous blogs in this series, click here.

Steve Lemco is the youngest brother of the late Ed Lemco and has been doing sales training and hiring for motorcycle dealers since 1983. He is the author of three sales books, the new “Training and Hiring New Salespeople,”  “Motorcycle Sales Made Easy” and “You Gotta-Wanna.” Steve has trained in every state in the U.S., as well as England, France, Australia and New Zealand. Steve incorporates motivational boards and games along with his training and hiring because he believes the best way to get the job done is to make it fun. 

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Contact: stevelemco@aol.com


Website: www.stevelemco.com


Phone: 253/826-6110

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