Overcoming Auto Buyer Fatigue

Buyers are confronted with a huge number of choices when considering their next car purchase. Jeff Kershner's post, How much choice do consumers want?, brought out a lot of great discussion about the resulting fatigue from TMI (Too Much Information) syndrome. (Or, as Joe Pistell calls it - SIF - Shopper's Information Fatigue - thanks Joe!)

In order to stem the bleary-eyed, aimlessness that results from this information abundance, perhaps there are a few things you can do to help.

Selling a Car has become a complex sale. Aside from deciding on a brand or model, there are a tremendous amount of options available with cars these days. Everything from windshield holograms to double sunroofs to electrical outlets to automated liftgates to gauges that tell you how much viability is left in your oil to the pressure in each tire.

Our clients report that their buyers are often so confused by the information that they've drawn incorrect conclusions. Part of their salespeople's job has become clarification. Learning what their potential buyer is fixated on and then helping them to simplify that information to a point that it can be put into a usable context by the buyer. This consultative style of selling takes more time, but many of our clients have found it to actually bond them more closely with their customers as they shine the light of expertise to clarify the confusion.

One way to do this is to become proficient in the competition. Learn which models your customers are comparing your vehicles to and develop key insights that you can use to sway favor in your direction. Perhaps your buyer's are fixated on one feature that your model is lacking, but by asking the right questions you learn that their number one goal is child safety and your model is better. Plus you have several other features all about safety that their fixation is keeping them from seeing.

Thanks to Ryan Gerardi who posted this comment: "If dealer sites were better equipped with on-demand informative material versus sales material, retention levels on dealer sites could reach new heights." He's right on the money. Given the amount of research your customers are doing, going beyond standard inventory listings and manufacturer' hype with the kind of contextual information that can help your buyer's clarify and simplify what they're learning can help you overcome auto buyer fatigue.

What if you were to create and post a buyer's toolkit to help your buyers compile information about the cars they have on their list? If you know the top 3 reasons why people choose a particular model, you could create a different toolkit based on their interests, for example.

In this blog post, we talked about different types of buyers. By creating a tailored auto buyer checklist that puts information into context, based on their primary motivators, you can position buyers to see your dealership as the expert. So if you're creating a toolkit for family and safety values, list those options these buyers find appealing down the left side. In the first column put your model and how it answers those needs. Include a few other blank columns they might fill in with the alternatives they're considering.

By giving them a format for consolidating the information they're going out there to find, branded for your dealership, you just might find that you're increasing your dealership's expertise, service ethic and perceived value for that prospective buyer.

Create as many as you can. Format them in PDF for downloading and printing, or ask them for an email address and fill it in for them if they tell you which two models they want to compare your vehicle to in regards to the specifics you've outlined on your checklist. (You'll know the answers already, so this won't be difficult, right?) And, be creative. If it's specs stuff, they can do it themselves. Go for the features they may be overlooking because specs are the norm. Give them new ways to compare cars that are relevant to them.