Doubt, worry, and FOMO. These are three of the many emotional roadblocks that can kill a sale even when the pen is poised above the paper (or tablet.) These are the villains in every sales representative’s story, but with TradePending’s monthly payment calculator, these emotions can be greatly diminished before shoppers step into the showroom. The Payments plugin allows shoppers to calculate vehicle-specific monthly payments for a potential purchase using a variety of factors, including creditworthiness and interest rates. It shortens the pre-qualification process and gives shoppers the knowledge they need to shop with confidence.
Five Customer Doubts That Can Kill Car Sales
Vehicles are big purchases that can consume anywhere from a few hundred bucks to well over a thousand dollars of a car buyer’s monthly budget. With a price tag that big, there’s bound to be some inherent doubt, and every advice column, blog, and financial guru tells buyers to think thrice before making such a purchase. By the time a customer is standing in your showroom or scrolling your online inventory, they’ve already overcome the first hurdle – deciding that they are going to purchase a vehicle. The challenge is making sure they purchase a vehicle from you, and that means guiding your customers through the churning waters of five additional doubts.
- Lack of trust: Let’s face it, your website and your salespeople’s main goal is to make a sale, and everyone knows it. Consequently, that knowledge breeds distrust. Customers will naturally doubt their expertise, credibility, and the advertised claims of your product.
- Doubts about their needs/wants: Uncertainty about whether your product will meet their specific needs and solve their problems. Does the vehicle have enough seats, horsepower, torque, and off-road capability to match their lifestyle?
- Fear of missing out (FOMO): Can they get a better deal elsewhere? Is there a car with better features in their price range?
- Fear of the unknown: There are a lot of things that can go wrong with a vehicle purchase, so customers want as many facts as possible.
- Analysis Paralysis: A good dealership has a variety of alluring options meant to serve a diverse customer base. However, sometimes, car shoppers are overwhelmed by the number of choices, causing inaction and indecisiveness.
Conquering Car-Shopper Doubts
Your sales reps and your website’s user experience can conquer doubts and uncertainties by bolstering trust with a policy of transparency. A good sales rep knows that meeting the customer’s needs shouldn’t be secondary to making a sale but rather conducive to it. Many of our tools at TradePending make communicating with the car buyer easier.
- Provide authentic guidance: In-person car shoppers don’t want a best friend; they want a guide to help them find what they need.
- Active listening and needs assessment: Understand their specific situation, concerns, and goals to personalize their car shopping experience. The Payments plugin built into their online shopping experience provides personalized monthly payments.
- Focus on value proposition: Reps should be relatable but focus primarily on value proposition. Representatives can quickly calculate vehicle-specific payments for in-person shoppers, clearly demonstrating how the vehicle options they present will meet their automotive and financial needs.
- Transparency and clear communication: Address concerns honestly, acknowledge potential drawbacks, and provide evidence to support claims. In addition to tools like AutoBio, TradePending Payments gives customers a transparent view of everything there is to know about each vehicle, creating more purchase-ready leads.
- Risk-mitigation: Reduce perceived risk and encourage action. Payments reduce the nagging feeling of FOMO and the number of paralysis-inducing choices by allowing customers to shop according to their budget.
How TradePending Payments Can Help
The car-buying journey usually begins online, and the Payments plugin is there to help the moment a user lands on your site. As a standalone tool, Payments reduces the need for customers to use third-party tools hosted elsewhere. So, they stay on your site longer, and the longer they stay, the more likely they are to make a purchase.