Strategy & Tactics

WORDS BY ROSA SOPHIA

Selling is nothing more than teaching, according to Vincent DeStefano of DeStefano & Associates. During one of his presentations at KnowledgeFest. Live—“The Ancient Secrets of Retail Selling”—he underscored the importance of the salesperson teaching the customer to trust them, teaching them about the product and teaching them “why your store is the best one to do business with.”

People learn through hearing, seeing and touching, he added, noting, “Talk about it. Show them the product. Put it in their hands. The more you incorporate all of that, the more successful you will be in getting them to buy.”

According to DeStefano and other presenters who discussed sales during December’s KnowledgeFest.Live, salespeople must learn the art of the sale and how to turn clients into repeat customers. DeStefano said the secrets of retail selling aren’t really that secret, though retailers should always remember to sell their brand and their store so that customers come back.

Experts agree the first step in a successful sale is properly greeting the customer. A good greeting can be the first step in qualifying them, according to DeStefano. “Qualifying involves finding out who they are,” he said. “This is more important than what they want. How basic does your presentation have to be? How much do they already know?”

While many customers have wants— such as a desire for an expensive car or a stellar high-end sound system—he noted that people will still buy what they need. And when a salesperson qualifies a customer, this translates to finding out what they need.

“To find out what they want, ask them. To find out what they need, listen. Listening shows your customer that you aren’t just interested in selling something, but finding out their true needs,” DeStefano explained.

Andy Wehmeyer of Audiofrog delivered a presentation entitled, “Selling With Your Brain and Your Mouth,” which touched on similar points regarding qualifying the customer. Wehmeyer said the

salesperson’s job is to introduce the client to something they need even if they don’t know how to ask for it. He described a scenario in which a customer comes into a shop asking about a Bluetooth handsfree speaker for an older vehicle.

When the staff at the store hear “older vehicle,” Wehmeyer said they might make the mistake of assuming the vehicle is a mid-90s Taurus wagon, when instead it turns out to be a 1968 Camaro SS which has just undergone a detailed, expensive restoration. Making assumptions without first looking at the car can be an easy mistake to make, according to Wehmeyer’s presentation.

Instead of going out to look at the car, he said the salesperson could have easily sold a $99 Bluetooth hands-free speaker. “But if we look at that car, and it isn’t initially what we assumed, now we have something else,” he said. “What’s the coolest thing we can show this guy?” That small sale can instead become a CarPlay radio installation with a custom console designed to match the factory style of the vehicle.

To make these discoveries, DeStefano recommended asking questions that work from the general to the specific in order to narrow the qualifying process. For example, “What kind of equipment have you owned before? This tells you how basic your presentation needs to be. What are you trying to improve? This can tell you what they really need. What kind of

system do you have in your home? They might be there for car audio, but this can tell you how serious they are about sound quality,” he added.

Listening gives the salesperson everything they need to close the sale. “Qualifying is good selling and demonstrates your expertise,” DeStefano said.

When it comes to building trust between the salespeople and the customers, retailers return to branding and consider the best way to reach their core demographic. Dean Beyett and Fernando Lopez of Five Star Car Stereo in Clearwater, Fla. presented “Digital Business Cards” at KnowledgeFest.Live, during which they discussed how retailers can reach a target demographic using online promotion and videos.

“Videos give you the ability to control the situation,” Beyett said. “You set the tone, you tell the story your way and show people what you want them to see. You create the environment.”

Beyett invited attendees to imagine a customer coming in with only 15 minutes to spare. “You don’t have time for the sales pitch you want to do. What if you had a playlist to continue the conversation?” he suggested. “You might say, ‘Let me get your email, and I can send you videos on that so you can watch them.’” A retailer can create videos on subjects such as services offered, a store tour or

new products. If a potential customer views a video before coming into the store, Beyett said, “They already know who we are. This is about building trust. If they trust you, they’re more willing to open their wallets.”

To begin building that trust in a virtual environment, Beyett and Lopez recommended first cleaning up the area and considering what the camera shot looks like. When filming a vehicle, use seat covers, steering wheel covers and fender covers. Beyett said Five Star Car Stereo will even put a kids’ sock on the gear shifter. “You can get a pack of them. When customers see this, it helps build

trust because they can tell you care about their vehicle.”

DeStefano recommended tailoring the presentation to the customer’s knowledge, and always remembering they are more likely to make the purchase if they have the product in their hands. “When you put that thing in their hands, hold on to it for just a second longer,” he said. “If you’ve done a good job and you slightly tug back, and they don’t relinquish it, they’ve just told you something important. That product is theirs now.”

During the presentation, DeStefano

said salespeople should get the customer involved by offering an experience. “Have them choose the music. Let them work the equipment. Continue to ask them questions and use their feedback. Let them make decisions on their own.” It’s important to concentrate on tangible benefits, he said, and to remember that customers don’t buy things—they buy benefits.

DeStefano also taught an education workshop on first impressions, advising retailers to keep their stores clean. “A guy once told me, ‘I don’t want my store to be too clean because my customers will think I’m too expensive and won’t buy from me,’” he said. “That store is no longer in business. Clean stores help create more sales. Check your displays. If it’s broken, fix it. If it’s missing, replace it.”

He recalled a creative solution for missing product in a display: A store that didn’t have a replacement product instead posted a sign over the hole in the board, stating, “Future attractions coming soon: Look for it.”

There are many mistakes salespeople can make that will cause them to lose a sale, according to Wehmeyer. He explained that salespeople may feel the need to further establish the value of a sale. “Instead of waiting for the customer to ask questions, we offer answers they may or may not need,” he said, adding that contrary to some commonly held beliefs, there is no one sales process. “Sales processes are about using the tools you need to help a customer be comfortable.”

However, the salesperson will sometimes default to acting in the interest of their own comfort rather than the comfort of the customer. “Every time we offer more information, we offer more opportunities for objection,” he explained. “If we just use a flat price—a package price—he can ask questions, and we can answer them.”

Creating an itemized, detailed list offers too many opportunities for objection which can wear out the customer. “Often, we do this because we’re trying

to justify charging this person a lot of money and we’re anticipating he won’t pay for it.”

Instead of offering an itemized list, Wehmeyer advised retailers to write a lengthy description of everything they’ll do with the vehicle, highlighting the things that matter most to the customer. It details “all the times we listened to him.”

DeStefano agreed that packages should be created from the very beginning of the presentation. Once the salesperson finds out everything the customer needs—a head unit, an amp or speakers, for example—they should create a package tailored to that customer. “It makes buying easier,” he said, “and it limits the amount of choices they have to make,” which minimizes confusion “and brings us to closing the sale.”

If a salesperson really believes in the product they’ve offered to the customer, DeStefano said it’ll be easier for the customer to make that purchase. They see the salesperson’s passion, and it makes them believe in it, too. He recommended using assumptive closes, such as by asking “Which credit card do you plan to use today?” or inquiring about the customer’s schedule so the car can be dropped off.

“This assumes the customer has already chosen to buy and puts it on them to say no,” DeStefano explained. “From my experience, ‘no’ sometimes means ‘just not that.’” The objection can be related to either the price or the product, and the easiest way to find out is to ask.

Wehmeyer stated that it’s important to take a customer away from all the other options and props in order to close the sale. “Take them away from the demo board. Use an office or a designated place for closing sales,” he said. “If the customer has gone with us away from the sales floor, he’ll likely be ready to buy. Writing the ticket becomes the way to close the sale.”

DeStefano added that it’s important to always have fun. “Life is too short. This is passion made real—when you have fun in your store, with your fellow employees, and with your customer, that’s where the passion begins.”

Finally, he noted, not every customer will be the right one. Some potential customers will have unrealistic expectations that a salesperson or a 12-volt specialty retailer can’t possibly meet. “A wise salesperson knows how to tell the difference,” DeStefano said. “My best customers stopped being my customers and became lifelong friends—because we had fun together.”

An important aspect of the art of thesale is distinguishing yourself from thecompetition, according to Jayson Cook,sales manager of Columbus Car Audioand Accessories in Columbus, Ohio. Cookis also the founder of the 12Volt Sales ProsFacebook Group, which is focused ongrowing the industry in the sales sector.

He explained during his presentation atKnowledgeFest.Live that he feels there’sa lack of professionalism in the industrywhen it comes to selling. “A lot of usare passionate about installation, and wewant to see the cool cars, but we don’talways know how to get there—and that’swhere professional sales come into play,”he said. “Don’t be afraid to be the mostexpensive, but the key is to create theexperience. If you just have an expensiveproduct, they’ll go to the cheapest shopinstead. Sell the solution, not just the box.”

Cook said this involves demonstratingto the client the benefit of “purchasingfrom you,” adding, “You’ll get a warranty.I can show you how it works. I can takecare of those things for you.” He notedthat if a customer purchases a productonline, and it doesn’t work, they have toreturn it, hope they get a good replacementand pay again to have it installed asecond time.

Cook described a situation in which apotential client discussed a project withhim, then visited another shop to compareprices. When he quickly returned to bookan appointment, the client explained itwas because the salesperson at the othershop hadn’t taken the time to go out to hiscar or ask him about his experience.

“Create a unique buying experience,”Cook added. “If they shop around, andyou’re the most expensive—make sureyou’re creating an experience they can’tget anywhere else.”