I wanted to do a bit of an experiment. I write this blog and I want to drive traffic to it I will be honest. So, I chose a highly global searched keyword of which I thought may bring the type of reader to my site I desire. One like you who may be interested in buying a car. In this case I chose the keyword(s) "auto sales." I wanted to see who was on top of google for this and what they had to offer. I was surprised to see it was a used car dealership in Ocala Florida. Kudos to them! Prestige Auto Sales is the store and I want you to check out that link. Auto Sales is a very general term and and while it may not be very beneficial to them to rank so high on a global level , they're still rockin' it.
Now before I get started I did not write this article to deter anyone from going Prestige Auto Sales AT ALL! I wrote this article based on this store to shamelessly leech on to some of that fantastic SEO they have going for themselves and because they just so happen to be first, and they just so happen to give me something to write about, which is one of the first things I learned about selling someone a car. That is finding "common ground" with the buyer. While there is nothing unethical or even insincere about this tactic. Remember that which it still is, a tactic. You see one of the first things I would look for in the first few minutes in talking with a customer was any little thing I possibly had in common with this person. Whether it be a hobby we shared, a belief we shared, or just something we were both passionate about I could resort back to any time I needed. If it ever turned out we knew the same people, oh man that was one of the best. Connected through friendship can help earn trust quickly. The purpose of this is to side track or slow the customer down and try to gain their trust. Once I discovered any common ground with the customer I would use it to "mow over" or avoid anything I simply didn't want to talk about or reveal too much. For example : Jane and John Doe start asking me a bunch of questions about what their interest rates are going to be when they get into the finance office. I then say I will ask a finance director the next time they walk by and quickly ask about their dogs again to which they so eagerly told me about before since I told them I loved dogs. Jane and John then tell me about their dogs for five minutes and poof, the finance manager is ready for them now. I bought myself five minutes and didn't have to answer their question, leaving everything on the table for the finance manager to do his thing. It really is not a salesman's job to quote any finance rates but I just wanted to give an example of how common ground can be used to divert a buyers attention. Now let's get back to Prestige Auto Sales and I will explain what they have to do with this example.
Prestige Auto Sales has a very attractive easy to use website. However, by merely skimming the home page I quickly found that these folks are using the common ground of family values. Pictures of the family to let Central Florida know we are "just like you." This is where we all say "awwwww" and get the warm and fuzzies inside and quickly think "this guy would never screw me over." If the family picture isn't enough, upon further looking through the site you will learn they are NASCAR and NFL followers. Further scroll down the home page though and you will find a video of one of Joel Osteen's sermons. POW! These folks went right for the jugular of Southern marketing! Now if you know anything about the south. God is king. I live in Illinois and visit family in Florida. One thing I know for sure. Church on Sunday is quite a bit more of a necessity to the Southerners. Jesus and God are endlessly displayed on billboards in the south to promote about everything besides a strip club. Then again who knows on that one. I think the use or religion is a pretty low way of promoting a business though. That's just an opinion of mine. However, from a marketing standpoint it is very effective and yes I even hate to say, is probably working well for them. If there is a heaven or hell though I think it would be a sure ticket to the latter of the two.
So before you have even set foot on this lot. You know that the owner of Prestige Auto Sales is a loving Christian man (we're assuming) with a wife and two girls at home to support. Crap, who wants to haggle with this guy? After all. He looks so nice. He looks like such a great family man. He trusts in God. God......dishonesty.......God.......dishonesty. We have been led to believe the two cannot be found in the same place. That is what makes it such a great gimmick. This guy probably gets little resistance from any of his fellow church goers out of fear of insult on their behalf.
I personally witnessed the effectiveness of this marketing strategy with a gentleman I used to sell with. He was a middle age man. He had even attended bible college (which he quit to sell cars of all things). He went to church every Sunday and was very active in his church. He even prayed on the phone with his wife every day at 9 AM for a half an hour. Needless to say he repeatedly knocked people's blocks off on pen and paper. He was one of the most successful salesman we had. I always attributed it to his kind, harmless, and even biblical aura. Once you knew what the guy was all about, you didn't want to offend him. You didn't want to hurt his feelings. You didn't want to ever argue with him. My point is it REALLY set the stage for how people acted toward him. I am not a religious person and he even found common ground with ME! Not many people want to argue or debate with a man of God. Heck I even found myself considering putting on the same act, not that this guy was putting on an act (it just happened to work in his favor), but just never had the balls to go for it.
The moral of this whole story is to put your blinder's on when it comes to this kind of stuff. It's purpose is psychological warfare and is only meant to give you that feeling inside like they are your buddy. Never mind if your salesman went to school with your uncle. Never mind if you both have a buddy that races motorcycles. Never mind that Christ is both of your saviors. Good deeds don't pay mortgages, profits do. Just don't let them use these tactics to make you feel TOO comfortable. Laugh and joke, just don't let it throw you off of your A game.
In closing I hope the folks at Prestige are good people and do treat people right. Although I don't believe in selling anything in the name of God. I wanted to make the point that a dealer really holds no discretion when it comes to finding common ground and earning a potential buyer's trust. I don't think using them for my example is any more ruthless than when they posted the Joel Osteen link on their homepage.
Monday, September 5, 2011
Keyword : Auto Sales - Which brings me to my next lesson
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