Whose occasion is it anyway?

The time has never been better than it is now to start thinking about referrals.  With the market place being the way that it is, we need to maximise every potential sale that is available to us in the business.  And as you know, every successful sale to a customer could generate another one, to friends and family.  And let’s not forget the scrappage scheme which still stands and provides a unique opportunity for us to be able to sell more cars, more profitably, to more customers.

The start point for the referral is the hand over. This is the platform from where you will get all of your referrals from in the future.  It is important to remember that the hand over is the ‘customers occasion’. You may do this on the daily, but the customer will only do this once every three years or so.  The focus needs to be on the customer and the car, however, don’t misunderstand the opportunity that is in front of you … this is the start process … for referrals.

The whole occasion needs to be special.  The paperwork should be ready (this seems obvious), make sure the car is in tip top condition (which would also seem obvious), but also, make it special for the customer.  Can you present them with a bouquet of flowers every single time? Simple ideas like this present a positive perception to the customer of you as a Sales person, a Dealership and a Brand.  Be creative, can you learn about the customer pre handover to make it more personable (for example, tuning their favourite radio stations in, taking this knowledge from their old car).

What we really need to do at this stage, is create a happy memory, so that the customer feels as though they would like to recommend you to their friends and family.

“Oh Laura, this is old news, we all do this these days!” I hear you say…

Unfortunately, you are mistaken if this is your view … don’t drop the ball, the great news is, it doesn’t take a lot to be 1% better than your competitors!

Let us know if you decide to experiment with your hand over ….. have fun with it!

Laura