This week I’ve been helping my 16 year old son try to find his first car. Actually, his first truck. He’s very specific in what he wants. In the process I’ve watched many a used car salesman use techniques that I know are sales techniques, but they WORK.  So, here are a few things that I noticed and that I’ll share here with you.

1. Create urgency. Every car dealership we visited had the same sign in it. This sign said “The car you found, and like today, that you are going to think about until tomorrow, may be the same car someone else looked at yesterday and is thinking about until today”. They were selling the idea that you don’t have time to think about your decision, or the car that you like may be gone. For the most part, this is crap. Just sales technique, but I still found myself, and my son, worrying that the vehicle may not be there when we go back.

As performers, we can use our calendars to create this urgency with phrases like “I’ve had other calls about that date, but nothing is in concrete yet, though that could change at any minute.” For me this is true. I’ve had people call about a date, and need to get with a group of people to make a decision, then five minutes later someone who could make a decision called and booked the same date. Be honest, but stress to your prospects that, in most cases, there is only one YOU to fill a date, and once it’s booked, they’ll have to settle for less.

2. Give a reason for a discount. Every car we’ve looked at started at one price and then that price lowered during negotiation (not yet to a level we wanted it to be at or he’d be driving now), but there was always a reason given for a discount (repairs needed, title problems, been on the lot a while, end of the month closing out the books, haven’t had it worked on yet… but if you take it now… and so on).

As performers, we can seldom raise our fees after one has been quoted, but you can always lower the fee if there is a need. However, there should be a reason . For me personally, the only reason is routing – for example, if I’m traveling across the country to do a show in California, I may be willing to give a discount to another client who’s doing a show in California the next day or two days later because it saves me money and time on travel. The clients I work with understand the idea of coop buying. You can negotiate your price, but always get something in return – permission to videotape, a video testimonial, a letter of recommendation, something in barter (hotel room nights, meals, gift certificates etc.).

I personally prefer working from a published price list and not negotiating on price, but when I am flexible on price, there is always a reason given and there is always something either given up from the contract or an added perk given in return. I recommend the same.

3. Ask for the sale.  In my book More Shows! More Money! I tell a story about another car buying experience. It’s reprinted here:

Ask for the Sale

Recently I was in the market for a new vehicle. I saw an SUV I really liked, the new Nissan Xterra. I checked out the vehicle on the Internet and discovered it was very reasonably priced and well within my budget. I went to my local dealer (actually to all three local Nissan dealers) and expressed an interest in the truck. Then I test drove one. And even though it was obvious I was interested in the vehicle and gave every signal I was ready to make the deal, the so-called salesmen never asked me to buy it. Zig Ziglar calls these people “Professional Visitors”, as they cannot, in good conscience, be called salesmen.

On a whim I stopped at the local Isuzu dealer to look at what they had. I noticed they had just dropped the price of the new Troopers by $5000 which made a vehicle I liked a lot more than the Xterra very close in price. I hadn’t looked at them closely before because I didn’t want to spend that much on a vehicle. This time the salesman recognized I was a serious shopper and helped me fall in love with the Trooper, took me inside and asked – “Do you want to fill out the papers and see if we can get it financed for you?” Why yes, I do, thanks for asking. He sold me a new SUV because he asked me to buy it, a mistake that the previous three tour guides (Oops, I mean incompetent salesmen) had not bothered to do. Had even one of these previous people asked me to buy an Xterra I’d be driving it today instead of the Trooper.

The point don’t forget to ask for the sale, if you don’t ask, someone else will and you’ll be wondering how they got so lucky.

END EXCERPT

I hope this makes sense and I hope it helps.

‘Til next time… C.J.