Points of Difference

Today I had a discussion with several people about distinguishing yourself from your competition. Each of us had had an experience where we had observed how similar the appearance, manner, habits and behaviour of many automotive salespeople are. Another similarity is that they have a tendency to focus on price-selling, instead of presenting value for money.

I have often seen a new salesperson join a team and experience peer pressure from the rest of the team to fit in to the team's average performance and sales habits. The new salesperson becomes and outsider if the rest of the team think that he/she is working too hard ( or smart ). Because of this pressure, many salespeople settle for average performance and they take on the sales habits of the other sales team members. As this is repeated in many dealerships, a similar low level of service with an lazy focus on price can be seen throughout our industry.

The good news is that this represents a great opportunity. Many clients will gladly pay at least a little more money if they can see positive differences from which they can benefit. Furthermore, even a slight positive difference will stand out when it's surrounded by average.

A salesperson recently asked me: 'Why don't manufacturers supply salepeople with complete evidence manuals?' In responded: "If all your competitor dealerships ( of the same marque ) were given exactly the same extensive sales resources as you, what competitive advantage would that give you? The light came on and he realised: None!

If you invest the time, thought and effort to prepare an evidence manual yourself, you create another competitive advantage for yourself and another way to demonstrate to your clients that there are positive points of difference to dealing with you. Some other ideas for positively standing out include: appearance, attitude, enthusiasm, humour, knowledge of product, a fun experience for your client, presentations with impact, enjoyable test drives, effective follow-up, and many others, all of which are in the category of personal service. All Auto clients are welcome to contact us for more information and ideas on this.