“Just Discovered! The Secret Way To Make It Impossible For The Customer To Say “No”.

Oh sure, we’ll get to the economy….ads and a few surprises in a minute. But this is easily a $1,000 idea. Let’s get to it!

Two days ago, Cheryl & I went to a car dealer to buy her a new car. We saw the ad...decided it was what she wanted…(Now we have two PT Cruisers)...and we called the dealer to make sure the price was accurate, and that it was in stock. After we closed our store we went to the dealer.

Joe (my new dealer friend) met us at the door with the car already washed & pulled out front. We got in, Cheryl drove it for a mile, and we went back to the dealer showroom.

It was really a great deal already. I asked for $300 off, knowing it would be easily done. Now here is the genius…..

The salesman...Joe…..came back with a few things for us to sign…

“This says I gave you a test drive”

“This is to verify the mileage””

“This is the offer you made”

Then he disappeared. Walking like a man on a mission.

Then he comes back & asks about financing. We say we’ll write a check. He says “OK, write the check, and I’’ll submit the offer.”

We write the check...he disappears. More things to sign.

The car is making a dinging noise. It’s under warranty, and they will take care of it before we pick up the car.

He comes back. “Did you want two sets of keys?”

I noticed a couple of things;

He didn’t try to upsell us to a higher priced car. Which would have been pretty easy.

At no time did he ask us is we really wanted the car,

There was no place where we could actually say ““No” to buying the car.

I’m sure it was the way the salesperson was trained to sell. Although I think the reason there was no up-sell, was that the salesman wanted a sale, and didn’t want to risk us having to “Think about it”.

But here is what he did…..he gave us several little tasks...each furthering the idea that we were buying...but not one task that was the defining moment when we were buying.

Years ago, when I was selling vacuum cleaners in people’s homes...I had a salesman who used this method.

He never actually asked the people to buy. He would just assume they were going to buy...and started filling out the paperwork.

About half the time, the husband would look at the wife (or vice-versa) and say “Are we buying this?” or “Well, I guess we just bought it.”

But he would also get occasionally “Hey! I never said I was buying this!”.

This method frankly isn’t my style. But if I were going to use it in my store, selling vacuum cleaners...this is the series of questions I would ask;

“If you were going to get one of these two vacuum cleaners, which would you prefer?”

“Now, if you decided on this one...how would you pay for it?”

“And would you get it with the attachments, or without?”

“And who’s name would you want the warranty to be in?”

“Would you want one in a box, or should I put it together for you, free of charge?”

See, how at no time, am I actually saying that they are buying it?

See, how at no time, they are saying that they are buying it?

You can actually close more sales this way than with a more direct approach. There are some people that will just follow your lead, because they can’t quiet figure out how to say “No”.

You can use the principle of “circular selling” to generate more sales. I would certainly try it out. It has worked for me...and it certainly works for my car salesman.