Dangerous Intersection Ahead

on May 29 in Devotions by al about sales

At the intersection where “informed buying decisions” meet” responsible selling practices”, there’s often head on collisions between “If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is”, and “greed.”

I recently met a lady who’s worked the gate at the Daytona 500 speedway for the past 16 years. She shared that this year counterfeit tickets were haunting the field.  The look of horror on the father’s face, as he was informed that the $700 spent for tickets, yielded him only worthless paper, is one she will never forget.

In the last blog, I challenged you not to be a Captain Chilidip.  I attempted to persuade you to take the high road using honest and ethical selling practices.  In response were statements of how taking the noble path was desired, but how can one possibly compete against competitors tilting the playing field in their favor, by using deceptive practices?

I was selling used automotive parts in a time long before there was a tool like Carfax®, that allows someone armed with a vehicle identification number to retrieve nuggets of valuable information.  As a purchaser your sole source of information was the seller.

Perhaps the best illustration is the transaction involving the sale of a used automotive engine in those days.  Being a major purchase decision, customers wanted as many details as possible in order to make a correct and informed choice.  As you may expect, mileage was one of the most important pieces of desired information.

Sadly, some competitors were less than forthcoming when it came to disclosing accurate mileage of the donor vehicle.  I remember one competitor who bragged about being able to “wash away” thousands of miles off his products by detailed cleaning and polishing.

(Note: The overwhelming majority of operators was then and is now honest and above board.  It’s only that one or two in the marketplace that cast the dark light on the rest)

The dilemma often came when I “asked for the sale” (fundamental practice – they have a need – I have a solution – logical assumption should be a sale).  That’s when I would be informed that competitor X offered the product for lesser cost, and even had lesser mileage.

That would place me at the corner of “if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all” and “I really need this sale.”

My response would be shared excitement over their good fortune. Confused? Keep reading.

I’d reinforce just how lucky they were. With mileage that low, that meant the previous owner of the donor car only drove X number of miles per year.  With such low usage, they must have had some bad luck, as it’s a wonder they were involved in an accident that totaled their car. But they did, and it ended up at a wrecking yard, so good for you!

Then I would convey my amazement at just how affordable it was priced. I’d state that if I ever was fortunate enough to have one to offer with such great mileage, I’d surely value it at a much higher price. I’d state again, just how lucky they were.

Hopefully at this point, without any negative comments, I’ve planted a few seeds of doubt.  Now, it was time to add a little water.

I’d make a statement that I’m sure with such low mileage they were offered an extended warranty period, right?  With such low mileage, there shouldn’t be any issues, so why not?

Then I’d land what often would be the deal killer for my competitor.  As I’m about to let them go, I offer up some sound advice.  I state that they most likely want to get some official documentation of the mileage.  I suggest that perhaps you may decide to sell the car one day, and you will have proof that the mileage on the engine is far less than what the odometer shows.

Plus if you ever were involved in an accident you would have something to show to the insurance company in order to hopefully receive a higher settlement.

I’d wrap the conversation with stating that if for some reason the other one gets sold before they purchase it, or something else happens, my engine does have more miles, but it has a great warranty and all the documentation to accompany it.

Often (not always, but fairly often), I would wind up making the sale.  Sometimes the “it’s too good to be true” instinct would kick in.  Other times, once they asked for documentation from the seller, they found that the engine “was just sold” and no longer available.

In some cases, I’m sure the competitor’s offer was legit, and the customer got what they should and that’s great.   In those cases I just forced them to be transparent, and that’s OK.

I hope you take away that you can be successful by doing the right things, and you can overcome a Captain Chilidip Competitor without using negative campaign ads.   Try it, it does work.

Oh…  The Daytona 500 worker….  She also shared that she will never forget the look on the father’s face when someone with authority stepped in, took the father and his family inside the track and placed them in an area they could see the race.

Have fun and “Sell” away.