Let’s assume you have a customer who is sincere and she tells you, “I want to check with a friend.” Remember: Always clarify the objection first just to make sure you’re on the right track...

Salesperson: “When you say you want to check with a friend, are you checking with them to make sure this is the right car for you or is there some other reason?”

Customer: “Well, I don’t buy many cars and my neighbor has helped a couple other people I know get their new car.”

We could say, “Let’s get your friend,” but that usually doesn’t work out very well. So let’s rephrase her objection to a “good decision” and then to “budget.”

Salesperson: Betty, it sounds like you just want to make sure you’re making a good decision on your new car, am I right?

Customer: Yes.

You have changed it to a good decision, now clarify and rephrase that to budget:

Salesperson: When you say you want to make sure you’re making a good decision, are you concerned about something I said, is it color, equipment, or is it the price?

Customer: Price.

Now just change price to budget.

Salesperson: It also sounds like you’re on a budget, am I right?

Customer: Yes, I am.

Now just isolate budget with ‘other than fitting this into your budget, etc.’ and wrap up this sale.

Remember: 72 percent of customers say they’re ‘just looking' but 78 percent end up buying!

Want to sell more cars? When a customer says, “We’re just looking,” don’t question it - just respond positively and move on. It’s just a reflex objection and it doesn’t matter. If you challenge it or try to commit them to buying anything today at this point, you’ll most likely end up losing the sale.

Why? Because “just looking” is simply a reflex objection and has no bearing on whether they plan to buy. It’s just something all people, including you and me, have learned to say when we’re approached by a salesperson who greets us with, “Hi, how can I help (assist) you?” Just learn to work with it!

The wrong way:

Salesperson: Can I help you?

Customer: No thanks, we’re just looking.

Salesperson: If you find something you like, are you ready to get it today?

Customer: No, we’re really just looking!

Salesperson: We have 0 Down, 0 percent Financing, AAA and Costco discounts, a $5,000 rebate and a red-tag sale today.

Customer: Like I said, we’re just looking!

The more effective method:

First, change your greeting to eliminate ‘just looking’ . Then if you still hear it, respond with the following:

“Great, when you get a little closer, are you leaning toward new or used?”

Or

“Congratulations, who’s the lucky one, who gets the new car this time Bob, you or Betty?”

Or

“Great, you folks sure picked a nice day for looking at cars, sure is nice out, isn’t it?”

You’ve acknowledged and bypassed their ‘reflex objection’ and now you can move to the next step in the sale.