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Many golf cart dealers also deal with maintenance and repairs. Sometimes this means you’re maintenancing a 20 year old golf cart that’s on its last legs. Sometimes it means you’re repairing a golf cart someone drove into a pond. Whatever the case, it’s an opportunity to interact with customers about new customized golf carts. What are the rules of moving a repair to a golf cart sale?
You don’t want to be rude, but you do want to help customers be aware of new options. If there is a sale there, you don’t want to overlook it because you were timid. At the same time, you don’t want to undercut the quality of your repairs (or your repair department).
1. Avoid undercutting the customer. If you insult the customer’s taste or put them down, they’re not going to want to deal with you. They’ll leave with a sour taste for your dealership, your repairs department, and will likely tell their friends about their negative experience. This can lose you sales well beyond the potential one standing in front of you.
2. Avoid undercutting yourself. What if the golf cart they brought in is a three year old cart they bought from you? If you criticize the golf cart, they’ll doubt that the sale your dealership made three years ago was honest. They’ll feel taken for a ride. It makes sense to create a separation of quality between old and new golf cart, but if you do it by casting the old one as bad, then they’ll view the new one as potentially bad.
3. Reassure customers so that they know they’re safe. Customers today aren’t prepared for hostile sales environments, and they’ll shut down quickly if they face them. Reassure them about their choices.
- Is there a golf cart from your dealership that you’d like them to upgrade? “Yes, your old golf cart was a great choice, you’ve got a good eye for quality!”
- A 20 year old golf cart they’re attached to? “Yes, it’s lasted a very long time – what great craftsmanship!”
- A repair being made because of an avoidable mistake? “Yes, it survived a nose dive into a pond really well!”
By reassuring customers, you create trust. Don’t betray it.
4. Customize a new golf cart based on established strengths. You’ve reassured them about what works. Build a sale off of that.
- “You made a great choice before, and this is my absolute favorite today. I thought you’d want to see.”
- “You value a golf cart that’s going to last a long time, right? This model is the most durable I’ve ever seen.”
- “A golf cart that would’ve stopped before going into that pond would’ve helped, right? This one can be programmed to avoid specific areas.”
5. Turn “you and I” into “we.”
Old sales techniques sometimes relied on cutting someone down so their approval relied upon you building them back up. That could go into territory of making people question themselves. People see through this now more than ever, and they’re much more willing to call it out and object to it. That’s not a bad thing.
New sales techniques should be built off of reassurance, transparency, and trust. That’s what’s valued more and more. Be on the same side as your customer, and mean it. It’s a lot easier on you, too.
Sit down and design new customized golf carts together, shoulder-to-shoulder. Use a regularly updated customization app to customize a new golf cart with them. This allows you to utilize whatever manufacture you sell – Club Car, EZ-GO, or Yamaha. It also allows you to delve into custom parts, including Lake, Madjax, and Nivel.
Recap
Here, you’ve helped customers build off of a strength you’ve reassured them they have. In some ways, they take the lead on closing the sale, and you support them through it. The sale will often be quicker, surer, and sell higher. It will also encourage better word of mouth and good reviews online. Develop your own sense of it, and rely on tools like a customization app. You’ll find that using an app like this often leads to the customer closing the sale with you, rather than the other way around.