You know it's going to happen. A customer who's interested in a motorcycle you have for sale asks the question, "What can you do for me? Can you take something off the price?"

I won't belabor the price-off issue here, we've written and spoken about it fairly extensively, but I do want to give you a new bit of strategy. As you know, I'm a big fan of categorizing motorcycles and determining which ones you're willing to move on and which you're not. I'm also a big fan of offering other value, not reducing the selling price, i.e. tires for life or additional years of extended service coverage or free tuition for a rider's education course are all viable alternatives.

But before you just throw those items to close the deal, try another piece of negotiating strategy. Include your value added items as you would but now do a "quid pro quo," Latin for something given for something received.

Try this:

Customer: "What can you do for me? Can you take something off the price?"

You: "We can't take anything off the price, but what we can do on this particular motorcycle is offer you two years of the extended service plan for no charge. But there's a quid pro quo. Would you like to hear it?"

Customer: "Yeah."

You: "If we throw in two years of extended service coverage at no charge, you in return introduce us to two of your friends who might like to ride."

Then pause for a second, stick out your hand and say, "Deal?"

(Ok there are really three options. Above is the East Coast Close. The West Coast Version would be, "So like if you think that's cool, we could like you know talk about it some more. For those in the Midwest you might say, "So what do you think?")

You could also use other items as your quid pro quo, like writing a testimonial letter, speaking to your HOG club or taking brochures to their office. I like referrals but any of these are positive marketing actions.

Why is this effective? It capitalizes on the "moment of power," the split second when people are in face to face negotiations. It keeps you in control of the deal and it increases the likelihood that the customer will say, "yes" because they feel they have "traded" well.
Try it. Bet it works.

All too often dealerships are focused on just their internal sales process, i.e. what do you do when then customer is in the store. As shown in the diagram. If you think about it your sales process should really work more like a closed-loop fuel injection system.

A closed-loop fuel injection measures different variables pre-combustion (ambient air temp, engine temp, throttle positioning) sends that information to an electronic control module (ECM), and then based on that information the right amount of fuel/air mixture is injected into the combustion chamber.

And in a closed-loop system, after combustion, the exhaust gasses are measured and information sent back to the ECM for a continually checked and adjusting fuel delivery system.

Your sales process can and should work the same way. See the closed loop sales system illustration below. Your pre-combustion activities should be your prospecting activities and your post combustion activities should be your referral work, as in the diagram below.

Want to really have a better burn in your sales combustion chamber? Once you have your sales engine built, concentrate on the two most powerful components of leverage: prospecting and referrals.

Silver-Tongued Devil: Winning words and how to use them. Dramatically improve your sales, management and customer service effectiveness by knowing what to say and how to say it. Your career success hinges on your superior use of language. Don't miss this opportunity!

Do you ever wish you had just the right response for those difficult situations? Do you ever think of what to say, after the irate customer has left the store? Never again! In this content packed session you'll discover how to instantly qualify a customer, disarm sales objections and how to use language to dramatically increase your sales, management and customer service success.

• Tele-Seminar Length: Approximately 45 minutes
• MP3 Download e-mailed within 72 Hours of Recording
• PDF Transcription e-mailed within 7 Days of Session

Can't Attend the Live Event? No problem, enroll in one of the options and we'll e-mail you all the materials so you can learn on YOUR schedule.

LIVE Tele-seminar will be held on Friday April 10th

•   9:00 a.m. PST - Pacific Time Zone
• 11:00 a.m. CST - Central Time Zone
• 12:00 noon EST - Eastern Time Zone

Pick from any of the packages below.

Big Bore Kit: $ 250.00

• Conference Room Call In - Have as many people participate as you'd like.
• MP3 Download after session - Listen repeatedly to internalize the skills, use to train new employees.
• PDF Transcription of Tele-Seminar - Some people learn best by reading the material.
• One week unlimited e-mail access - Email follow up questions about the topic and have Mark Rodgers personally advise you.
• Due to consulting offer above this option has limited availability; if already SOLD OUT when you sign up we'll contact you for options.

Racing Cam Kit: $ 100.00

• Conference Room Call In - Have as many people participate as you'd like.
• MP3 Download after session - Listen repeatedly to internalize the skills, use to train new employees.
• PDF Transcription of Tele-Seminar - Some people learn best by reading the material.

Nitrous Oxide-Injected: $ 50.00

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• MP3 Download after session - Listen repeatedly to internalize the skills, use to train new employees.
• PDF Transcription of Tele-Seminar - Some people learn best by reading the material.

Click here to sign up today!

Just when you thought you've heard it all, Chris Housh from Stutsman H-D has a new one. As a Business Manager (F&I Manager) he's heard many objections but this one really takes the chrome cake.

Chris says that some customers state they can't complete their final paperwork because they don't have their reading glasses! Being a creative problem solver, Chris realized exactly what he had to do.

One of the dealership's customers just happens to be a local optometrist so Chris asked for a listing of the most common reading glasses prescriptions. He then went immediately to Wal-Mart and selected several pairs of attractive reading glasses in a range of prescriptions.

It worked like a charm. Now when customers comment about not being able to do their paperwork because of not having their glasses, Chris merely pulls out his selection of readers and lets the customer choose which work best for them. Customers are happy, the bike deal is done and everyone is seeing things clearly.

"It has in fact worked too well," says Chris. "When the deal was done, "customers would push the loaner readers upon on their head and walk off with them!"

We told you Chris Housh was creative and he had a solution for this one as well. Now instead of going back to Wal-Mart and picking out some attractive reading glasses, he now went to the Dollar Store and bought the "ugliest and biggest pairs of flowered-grandmotherly looking reading glasses" possible.

Now when customers say they can't sign Chris pulls out these beauties which solves both issues. Customers look at the glasses in disbelief and say, "Really?" But after a few seconds of shock, they chuckle, grab the glasses and sign the docs.

And they return the glasses as quickly as possible!

Hi Mark,

Have a question for you.  We have recently brought in a new F&I individual, lots of successful automotive background and a long time rider.  It's proven to be a win-win to date.  That being said, something he does, with seemingly great success is "If I could, would you......" 

I could give you examples of how he uses it, but I'm sure you've heard them all.  I know you greatly frown on this, but with his soft-spoken demeanor it seems to work.  Can you please elaborate on your dislike of this approach? 

Thanks,

West Coast Dealer

__


Dear Dealer,

Great question, here are some thoughts. It will take some time so read carefully!

Our "mission" when working with dealers on sales processes: Ethically and profitably sell our motorcycles in a manner which positively differentiates the motorcycle purchase experience from negative automotive industry practices.

There are some great things done in the auto industry; technology, accountability and some process stuff. So those things should be adapted. Others should be left behind. (We'll detail this in the next newsletter in a piece called 7 Deadly Sins).

The question, "If I could, would you...," is often used during the negotiation of the motorcycle purchase and/or in the negotiation of the back-end protection products (F&I).

If used poorly it seems to come across like the plaid-pants wearing used car guy saying, "So what do I have to do to put you in this van today?" Now if used well during the sales process it can range from harmless to effective (which it sounds like your person is doing).

Because people are so familiar with this phrase, it has the potential to raise red flags, if you are going to use it, try and change it just a bit.

For example, when closing the F&I transaction, if the customer pushes back on the monthly payment, use something like "So if I hear you correctly we selected the bike you want and have included the protection that you need and all we need to do is get you between 350 and 400 per month." This can be very effective. It's a rhetorical question, but the customer is usually shaking their head, "yes!"  

Notice we didn't suggest, "If I could get you between 350 and 400 we have a deal?" The former makes it seem like we're just refining a nuance of the transaction (the monthly payment) which will be easily ironed out, the latter makes it seem like the entire bike purchase may still be up in the air. That's a fairly significant difference.

In the final equation it's a detail, but as you can tell from our "mission" statement above we are constantly looking for ways to positively differentiate the motorcycle purchase process from negative auto stuff and this is one way I believe to do it.

Most dealers have much larger issues in their sales process to work on ... so it's cool to see you're paying such attention to detail.

OK my friend quid pro quo ... we wrote so much I'm going to have to use this as newsletter article fodder!