Road to a Sale Step 11

In the road to a sale step 11 is about properly vehicle delivery. As a reminder, you can review any of the previous steps by clicking here.

In order to insure you make a proper delivery use the delivery checklist that your dealership has developed or the one automobile manufacturers provide with each new vehicle. Familiarize yourself with the items they include.

Many dealerships have a dedicated delivery coordinator. This individual is charged with the responsibility of delivering the vehicle to the customer. This is to insure your dealership's customer satisfaction ratings remain at or above the standards established by the manufacturer.

If your dealership has such a person it does not relieve you of the responsibility of knowing what the road to a sale step 11 is all about.

You are required to make follow-up calls to your new owners at prescribed intervals. Knowing what is on the delivery checklist will give you a guideline to follow when making these calls.

If your customer has a concern address it now and make the necessary arrangments to correct the problem...do not wait.

Making a proper delivery during the road to a sale step 11 and receiving great customer satisfaction scores are a vital part of your job description. Here are the elements that lead to achieving those great scores.

  • Is the vehicle clean and free from defects?
    This is the number one cause of poor scores. Do not leave anything to chance. After the vehicle leaves the clean-up area inspect it yourself. Act as if you are the buyer. Is it up to the standard you would expect?
  • Is it full of gas?
    In the rush to deliver the car this is often overlooked. Number 2 cause of poor scores, by the way.
  • How about the radio? Many dealerships ask the customer to list their favorite radio stations. While the customer is in the finance office they pre-set the stations for the customer. A really nice and memorable touch.
  • What arrangements need to be made for additional equipment?
    If your customer purchased dealer installed or after market equipment they will want to know how soon they can get the work performed. While they are in the business office talk to your service department or vendor to schedule the work.

I want to take a side step here. This is important enough to stop and talk about right now. Anything made by human hands is subject to breaking or malfunction. The new vehicle you are delivering may unfortunately experience one of those problems. You and your dealership are anxious to see they are corrected; after all the road to a sale step 11 requires you to cover the manufacturer's warranty, right?

IF YOU HAVE A CUSTOMER WHO IS EXPERIENCING A PROBLEM STOP AND THINK BEFORE YOU DO ANYTHING ELSE

I learn better when someone uses an example so let's use one here. You are paged to the phone. It is a customer who recently bought a vehicle from you. Something isn't working or needs to be repaired. You assure the customer your dealership will get it taken care of, right? Of course. Here is where the problems start.

Most salespeople say to the customer, "Mr. Customer, no problem. Just bring it in and we'll take care of things."

You have just created the conditions for a potential disaster.

Why? Because now your customer is going to get in their vehicle and come to your dealership. How does that cause a potential disaster? Simple. When they get to your dealership they will go directly to the service drive.

The service advisors are caught completely off guard. The customer says, "My new car has a problem. The salesperson told me to bring it in." What happens next is commonplace. The service advisor says, "What is the problem?" The customer says, "I told the salesperson. Did he not tell you I was coming?" The advisor says, "No and as you can see we have a full schedule of work, it may be a while before we can even look at it." Now the customer is irritated. Not only is no one aware they were coming, now they have an unanticipated wait before anyone even looks at the car.

You can see where this is going, right? Now the customer comes to the showroom floor to find you.

I will stop here, it doesn't get any better. The road to a sale step 11 is about proper delivery. It is also about proper customer service.

How to avoid the problem? It's easy if you will think before you act.

Let's go back to when you got the phone call. Instead of telling them to "just bring it in" do this instead.

  1. Tell them you are sorry they are having a problem
  2. Assure them they will be taken care of
  3. Ask them when would be convenient for them to come to the dealership
  4. Tell them you will go directly to the service department and inform them of the problem
  5. Ask them what number you can call them back at
  6. Tell them to give you a few moments
  7. Go to the service department and tell a service advisor
  8. Call the customer back from the service drive
  9. Tell them you are with the advisor who will be taking care of them
  10. Hand the phone to the advisor


Your dealership pays service advisors to take care of customers, let them do their job. It provides for a better customer experience.

A proper job in the road to a sale step 11 will make your life easier when the time comes to follow up after the sale and ask for referrals.

Make sure you never miss an update to the StayOnTarget training series. All you need to do is let me know where to send it.


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