Selling one's self. Post your best tip here.

[10degreesbtdc]

I'm looking for ideas, and I think I'm not alone, to make selling services to the public (one stranger at a time) more effective and hopefully easier and less stressful. I don't like selling, but it's an important part of the business equation where I need improvement.

How to you approach the first 60 seconds of a sale?

Here's some examples from a member in another post that he found helpful to put potential clients at ease:

What is your favorite sport?
Favorite athlete?
Hobby?
Favorite actor/actress?

How about some tips, let's say, in five words or less. (keep it simple simone )

Here's a question I like to ask and I'm sure it's not original:

What is your favorite car?

Also, how do you politely tell them their car is in bad shape and they need your services in the worst way without offending them?

[Tuck91]

Re: Selling one's self. Post your best tip here.

Also, how do you politely tell them their car is in bad shape and they need your services in the worst way without offending them?

I would say:

Your car looks good, but dont you want it too stand out from the rest of the crowd?

[ClearlyCoated]

Re: Selling one's self. Post your best tip here.

OMIGAWD! Who did that to your paint??? (OK, that's like, what, 7 words?)

Seriously, I would compliment some aspect of their vehicle (car owners love to talk about their cars - it's an emotional attachment) and somehow nudge the conversation over to how much a paint correction could do for their pride and joy. (Nice Stang! Great color for it!) I would emphasize defect removal and explain the differences between removing and hiding defects.

What hooked me into detailing was receiving a little impromptu education regarding paint, clear coats, and the nature of paint defects. My detailer had a whiteboard handy to demonstrate the cross section view of basecoat/clearcoat layers and how different defects penetrate one or both layers. I would perfect that little routine and just try to keep a small notebook and pen handy to sketch it out. Maybe a notepad with a header listing your business and contact information. No hard sell, let the lesson soak in and have the potential client contact you.

[john m.]

Re: Selling one's self. Post your best tip here.

I wanted to put something funny but dont wanna get in trouble

Seriously, this is what I did at a recent small car show here in my town. There was a group of guys with a bunch of T-birds and some bel airs and such. I was with my dad but while looking at it I would comment out loud how nice it was than asked whose it was to ask a few questions about the car.

After getting them comfortable I asked who details their car and they said they did it themselves. So not wanting to say something like "well you have ruined your paint! What did you do!" I said it looks really good man, have you ever polished it before? Well for this guy he said "no, only wax. What does a polish do?" This was my move to come in for the kill

That is when I did like Clearly said and sort of gave a mini lesson describing what I can do. He is friends with my family so I gave him my number and told him when I finish my summer class if he would like to set up an appointment we can go over his car and get it looking really good! And with this guy he has a big group of friends so I should get them too if I do a good job!


Basically, when approaching anyone with a car you want to get dont be rude, start off by compliments to pull them in. Also, if you can get some car club guys or forum car guys you should get a ton of his friends with some good work :thumbsup: Hope that helps

John

[CieraSL]

Re: Selling one's self. Post your best tip here.

Whatever your pitch, let the customer know you really care about their car and you're not some money-grubbing hack.

[PaintPolisher]

Re: Selling one's self. Post your best tip here.

It's great to see that everybody has the right idea about what we are attempting to do. Helping each other out.

Steve and I were laughing so hard we had tears talking about what almost everybody thinks is boring stuff - the business end.

Some of our comments are similiar to yours or worse and we could not post them up here but they sure were funny come backs to the clients that we wished we could say.

Here is one mistake many sales people made during their presentations to me in my past career as a corporate buyer - ask for the sale. They go through all the hoops to get an interview with me and my company and fail to ask for the sale.

Post up the various objections you have recieved when trying to sell your services. This way we can attempt to overcome their objection or like the pro sales people redirect the conversation down another avenue.

How many of us can within 3 seconds go into their 30 second sales pitch with out missing a beat? How many times did you practice this 30 second resume of what you and your service are and include.

I am going to check around my corporate files and see what I have saved that could spark constructive discussions.

[Mr Mustang]

Re: Selling one's self. Post your best tip here.

present yourself as a car guy, not a business man, and always try to have a great example of your work (car you're driving, pics on phone, w/e), just be personable, and dont immediately start on "here's what i do, here's my price"

[AeroCleanse]

Re: Selling one's self. Post your best tip here.

I introduce myself as a professional detailer then list off some examples of what I can do for them, such as taking out scratches or those swirls caused by bad washing technique. Sometimes it helps to brag about a high end car you have done, these can make them feel more at ease. So if you say I recently polished a Porsche for example then they feel that since the Porsche owner trusted you enough to work on their car, working on the potential new customers car would make them feel like you know what your doing.

[Details]

Re: Selling one's self. Post your best tip here.

First question I always ask is "how many miles does that have on it?" Most of the time I can recognize what car it is, what year, and some of the specs, etc... That gives them the sense of "ohhh this guy knows cars" so by asking "how many miles does that have on it?" followed by a breif run down of the car, you have now engaged in a conversation of what kind of condition it is in without really saying "it is in good or bad shape" usually mileage reflects the condition of a car. So if their response is "100,000 miles" I usually hit them with something like, "its very possible to bring this back to looking new again" and then thats when I bust out the knowledge of detailing, and hit them with the procedures, business name and contacts, portfolio and so on. Now if they say " its only got 300 miles on it" I tell them "good well lets keep it looking that way, 3 or 4 years down the road" or something along those lines. Ill be honest it works alot, you just need to know your cars, and have knowledge of what kind of cars are out there, and the detailing specs on those types of cars. You can always tell when somone deosnt know what they are talking about, especially when they are trying to sell you something!!!