Read the previous installment: The ‘Walk-Around’ Part 1: Create Excitement on the Way to the Close
It’s important to start the walk-around at the front of the unit and end at the front. If you randomly start pointing out features, you will miss something that was important to the prospect or confuse them.
Before we continue, I wanted to take a moment and emphasize the importance of practicing the walk-around when no one is around. To your co- workers, you may look a little silly. However, none of the people who work for the dealership will ever be your customer, so it’s not important what they think. You are practicing for you and your future customers.
Now, at this point, you have made your opening statement and you need to look at two things as you stand in front of the product. First, specifically what has been designed into the front of this product that would be important to the prospects. For instance, if you are talking with a husband and wife, the front of the product might represent two different things and you will want to discuss both.
With the husband, you might touch on the automotive style paint or the suspension. Your goal is to bring up one of the features, share the benefit and ask a question that will have them saying “yes” to you. You also need to think about what would be of interest to the wife. Consider talking about the safety features or the ease of operation.
Again, your job as a professional is to keep the husband and the wife engaged and saying “yes” as you point out the features and benefits to each of them. Now that you have some momentum, begin moving to the side and stop at a point where you can talk about the tires, the wheels and frame or operator features.
Every aspect of the product is designed to offer some benefit to the owner and it’s your job to highlight those features and get a “yes” from your prospective buyer. This indicates that they understand why the feature is built into the unit and why they would want it.
Continue Building Momentum
Since you are at the point where your prospects can see the operator features, it is a great time to say something like, “Lean down for a moment and let’s take a close look how this has been designed with people like yourselves in mind.”
I didn’t say, “Would you like to lean down?” I just told them what I needed them to do and 99% of the time they will follow. If they don’t follow your direction, it could be a warning sign that you are beginning to lose them. You may need to back up a bit and work to regain the rapport necessary to close the sale. Let’s go ahead and assume that you are doing a great job and now the three of you are looking at the operator features.
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Base this part of your presentation on the prospect’s level of interest. If you are talking about a feature and the husband yawns, but the wife shows interest, slow down and spend time focusing on that feature for her. If your prospect is looking everywhere but where you are pointing or if they look bored, you are going too slowly or you haven’t touched on their interests. Pick up the pace and move on to something that interests them. Let the customer dictate how fast or slow each step of your walk-around takes to cover.
Again, tailor your hot features and points to your prospect’s level of interest. Understand that some will be more interested in safety, others styling and still others in performance.
After you’ve made your way around the entire unit, the last part of your walk-around will be to invite one of your prospects to take the seat as you share the features of the driver controls and operate the unit safely. Let them start it and begin their test drive. If you have done everything correctly, they should leave and return with a big smile on their face and ready to make a purchase.
Show & Tell
The walk-around is not rocket science. In fact, it’s more like show and tell. You don’t need to be a genius and you don’t need to memorize every detail, capacity, and specification of every product you sell. However, you do need product knowledge to make a great impression so you can build value in the brand, the product, and you as their salesperson.
Never forget, the prospect sees you as the expert and they like to be educated, but that doesn’t mean that you need to bore them with details. Talk about things that will interest your prospect and build value in your product for them. Every buyer is different, so customize your walk-around to their interest.
The most important part of enthusiasm. When you demonstrate and present the features of your products with enthusiasm, it will become contagious. Before you know it, your prospect is enthusiastic. People that are enthused about your product typically want to buy your product. Make your presentation informative, interesting, entertaining and enthusiastic. And keep it moving!
