PODCAST TRANSCRIPT
Keith Cosentino: Hey guys, Keith and Shane here, we’re just gonna share a short little show with you. You know, once in a while when we’re out in the field, we’ll come upon a scenario where we really wanna share that with everybody else. So what we’re doing is just taking a quick note on our phone, and then, we’re gonna play it back here on the show. And talk about it for a minute or two. And make sure when those key points pop up that they don’t get missed, and we can share them with you guys, here. So I’m gonna play my notes, here, deal with the audio. It’s not the best because it’s coming from my phone. But let’s have a listen.
I want to take a minute and make a quick recording here from the car, while I’m working. So forgive me if the audio quality is not up to par. But I just had a situation, and I wanted to share with you guys. I had a gal call me, she was a referral from a body shop. Now, here’s the interesting part. She was not referred to me. She was referred to one of my competitors. She had a 2012 5-Series with a quarter, nickel-sized ding in the door. And she brought it to the body shop, and she thought the paint was gone. They removed the paint transfer, and said, you need to go call a PDR company.
Well, the company they gave her, like I said, was one of my competitors. And something enticed her to call around a little bit more. So she called me. And then, we talked a little bit about the car. And that’s how I know the stats on it. Then I told her the average repair for us was around $150.00. And that’s probably what hers would be, left rear door of a 5-Series, below the handle, 4 inches back from the back door, so relatively easy spot to do.
And she said, well, I did call another company and their quote was a lot less. It was $90.00, but she said something really important. She said, I just didn’t feel confident with him on the phone. She said, this is the quote she used, she said, it seemed to me like he made the appointment on a piece of paper and then, put it on the bottom of his shoe. So I talked with her for another minute or two. I gave her some more stories about my experience, and what I could do to help her. And that was it. She decided to make an appointment right there.
So here we are, what, 70 percent more expensive, or something like that. And she made the deal with me, even after she got the cheaper price first.
So I want you to remember when you’re talking to your customers. You’ve got to instill confidence. You’ve got to speak with authority. And tell them that you are the guy for them. Sometimes that literally means telling them, you are the guy for them. With this gal, I was able to share some unique stories about her particular model that I had worked on. And I knew the materials it was made out of, etc. etc. But I spoke to her like I knew what I was talking about. And she could feel that through the phone. The other guy was shifty, or he did something that didn’t inspire confidence. And it made her keep shopping.
When you hang up with that customer, you want that to be the last thing they do, just waiting for you to show up after that. So please remember that. If you’re unsure of what to say, take some time and make yourself some notes about what to say. It’s the first contact they’re gonna have with you. Have some good ammo. Get them in the book, fellas.
All right, so that’s my lesson from the road, is when you’re speaking to somebody, speak with confidence. Inspire them to make the appointment with you because that guy who got ahold of that gal first, he failed. He was the first call she made. If he was nice, spoke with confidence, and said, we can fix your dent, there’s no reason she wouldn’t have made that appointment. It was cheap. She didn’t even know how cheap it was.
But he did something that she didn’t like. And I couldn’t tell you what it was because I wasn’t on the phone with her. But I could – I’d be willing to bet that he had a lot of ifs, ands or buts. He wasn’t sure about the car. He wasn’t sure about a lot of things. And it made her unsure of him. So she continued to shop until she got ahold of me. And I locked her up the way that I do almost everybody. So remember, if you don’t close the first time they’re on the phone, they’re going away.
Shane Jacks: That’s right, Keith, you said something that struck me there, when you said, had he acted like, had he presented himself like he should have, he would have closed it on the phone. And you said, she didn’t even know it was cheap at the time. Most of your customers are gonna be that way. If you get in front of them, or get them locked up on the phone, immediately do the right things, like Keith did here. Then, they don’t know that you’re higher than everybody else, if you’ve got them locked down. They don’t know.
Keith Cosentino: Shane, that is so true. And it’s a big myth in your minds, guys that people are calling 40 companies and shopping. They aren’t, they’re not, if they call you first, and you lock it up, they’re done. They don’t wanna shop anymore, they’re just waiting for you to get there. That is the truth, I promise you that.
I mean, it’s not true for everybody. You’re gonna have one or two out of 50 people that are gonna make an appointment with you, and hang up. And continue to shop. It happens to me once in a while. And I’m fine with that. I just had one last week that cancelled after we had an appointment. It was some dumb story, his wife already got it taken care of.
Fine, like, I knew he was price sensitive in the first place because we talked about that. And I made the appointment, but I had a feeling we were gonna have to do some negotiating. And he just went away before I ever got there. And that’s fine with me. That’s okay because I’m not gonna waste my time driving out and back for something that’s not gonna pay. I was able to move on and do a job that paid three times as much.
So yeah, it happens once in a while, but generally, they call you, you talk. They like what you’re saying. They make an appointment. They’re done shopping. They’re just waiting for you to show up guys.
Shane Jacks: Yup, for sure.
Keith Cosentino: So if you don’t have a phone script, put one together. It’s very important. Don’t just say, yeah, that’s a good idea, I should do it. Do it, it doesn’t take that long. Just write down the things that you want to tell people in handwriting. Don’t print it on the computer, write it out by hand, so you can cross it out and write some new stuff. And rewrite it, and rewrite it. And the act of just writing it by hand, you can basically take that paper and crumple it up because that act of writing it will help you engrain it in your mind.
Shane Jacks: Now, how do you instill that confidence, Keith, in a phone call? There’s one big one that I’ve failed to do in the past that I do really well now. And it is absolutely massive. We talked about the body language. You can’t – we did body language on a past episode not too long ago, a few episodes ago. You can’t convey body language over the phone. But one thing you can is voice, how you’re saying it, and your inflection and everything else.
If you go, that’s a shame, which I’m guilty of doing at times. That does not instill confidence. It doesn’t instill interest, even. So what are some other ways besides voice and how you are actually speaking to the customer?
Keith Cosentino: Well, here’s the main way, you have to be confident. If you’re not confident, good luck acting like you are.
Shane Jacks: Zig said it best, if you’re confident in what you’re selling, you believe in what you’re selling, you can sell it.
Keith Cosentino: Yeah, you can sell it without trying to sell it. So if you’re not confident in your mind, you gotta work on, okay, we’re doing Zig quotes. He would say, you got stinking thinking. You gotta work on your mind, your mind game. If you don’t believe you can do it, maybe you need to get out of the business. But if you think you can do it, you better start believing you can do it, and telling people how great you are, and conveying that through the phone. So you gotta believe it first. Once you can believe it, just like Shane says, the voice inflection and everything will come with it.
If you have any friends who are police officers, take a look at the way they talk about things. They’re very authoritative when they’re talking about a subject. They don’t say, well, kinda, maybe, I don’t’ know. They’re decisive, and they’re, I’ll even say, abrupt. But they get to the point. And when they tell you something, they say it with confidence because they have to. It’s part of their job. It keeps them alive.
But it’s a good model to listen to, to determine how you should be speaking. And I’m not saying be rude to people, and that kind of stuff. But when they speak, they know what they’re saying, and they’re confident in the things they’re saying.
Shane Jacks: Like, get on the ground, now.
Keith Cosentino: Stop resisting. Don’t tase me, bro. No, that was the other guy. It wasn’t the cop.
Shane Jacks: That was the other guy. That’s pretty authoritative, too.
Keith Cosentino: That’s a request, it’s not an order. Don’t tase me, bro is a request. Stop tasing me this instant, maybe you would be speaking their language. All right, fellas, just keep that in mind. Go make some money.
Shane Jacks: Get better.
[End of Audio]Duration: 10 minutes
