A positive and effective customer greeting lays the groundwork for a good customer interaction. When done right, it can even lead to a successful sale.

The purpose of an effective greeting is to begin the process of building rapport by showing the customer how important their business is to the salesperson greeting them and the dealership. A good greeting should establish a strong foundation which makes the rest of the sales process easier.

Here are four steps your salespeople should take in order to make the customer greeting process more effective.

THE WELCOME

The first thing your salespeople should do is welcome the customer to your dealership.

It’s critical that they greet each customer who comes to the dealership with enthusiasm and positive energy. This will help start to break down any mistrust the customer may have with dealerships and salespeople in general.

Tell your salespeople to visualize themselves as a host—they should welcome customers to your dealership the same way that they would welcome someone to their home. Make sure their welcomes are warm and inviting.

Addressing all people in the party is also an important aspect of creating a welcoming atmosphere. Some salespeople make the mistake of only talking to the man in a group or ignoring the kids completely. Don’t let your salespeople do this, make sure they greet everyone. After all, when welcoming couples or families to your home, do you only welcome one member of the party or everyone?

After they’ve welcomed the customers to the dealership, they can move on to the second component—introducing themselves.

THE INTRODUCTION

Introductions can be tough because your salespeople don’t have any common ground with their customer yet. That means they need to cut through the awkwardness and immediately establish a reason to be remembered.

The best way we’ve found to do this is by having your salesperson introduce themselves and immediately answer one specific question:

Why Do Customers Choose To Do Business With You?

Ideally, the answer is a clear and simple statement that hinges on what benefits they’ll get from working with your salesperson and how their experience will be better than what they’d get by working with another salesperson at another dealership.

In some circles, this might be called your elevator pitch. But the typical elevator pitch is outdated. It used to be all about you and what you do. The real elevator pitch should give them a reason to continue talking to you after the elevator ride is over.

Think of it this way: your salespeople have roughly 3 seconds to get permission to keep building the relationship. Help your salespeople create a convincing and natural introduction that convinces your customers that they’re the right salesperson to help them.

The goal here is to start building trust with your customers.

THE NAME GAME

Most people are inherently bad at remembering other people’s names. Have you ever been at a party where you met someone and five minutes later, you’d already forgotten their name? Of course you have! We all have. But why does this happen, especially at the most inconvenient time?

The reason is actually pretty simple: the brain is really bad at remembering one-off pieces of information without a reason why or something to connect the information to. You see, names don’t actually tell us anything.

That’s why it’s so important for your salespeople to show why customers should do business with them upfront during the introduction. Because let’s face it, they could sell them a car whether their name was

A great way to help your customers avoid the awkwardness of forgetting your salespeople’s name is by having them play the name game.

In other words, they should have a quick one liner or joke for customers to associate their name with. It’ll help them stand out and make a memorable first impression.

Here are some examples to get you started:

  • “Hey there! I’m Adam. They call me Adam and EASE because I make car buying easy and stress free. What’s your name?”
  • “Hi, I’m Katrina. Yep! Like the hurricane.”
  • “Nice to meet you! I’m Randy, the HANDY car guy.”
  • “Hi, I’m Ken…like Barbie and Ken. Can’t you see the resemblance?”

Encourage your salespeople to be as creative as they want with this. The most important thing is to reference something customers can connect their name with, so it is easier to remember later.

GET CUSTOMER NAMES 

Also, during their greeting the salesperson should get the names of all the customers in the party and write them down.

This is important because writing them down demonstrates that they care and that the customer’s business is important to them.

When all four of these steps combine it creates the perfect greeting, and your salespeople lay the groundwork needed for an easier sale.

Looking for more ways to help your salespeople close more customers and grow your profits? Check out our eBook A Quick And Simple Idea That Will Revolutionize Your Sales Team And Increase Sales This Month—Guaranteed. Download it here now.