Car Sales Closing Techniques for Dealerships

For a customer, choosing and purchasing a new vehicle can be a long and winding road. They must determine the type of vehicle that would fit their lifestyle, narrow down the options, research online, compare prices, and maybe eventually end up at a dealership where they will have more hoops to jump through. Car sales closing techniques of the past no longer cut it when it comes to today’s tech-savvy, digital customers. But where there is challenge, there is also opportunity.In this blog, we’re talking all about the best car sales closing techniques for the modern dealership to become the go-to, trusted choice of your customers.

Car Sales Closing Techniques: Best Practices

Even the best tools and technologies are only as good as the strategies behind them. A big part of creating effective car sales closing techniques is having the right attitude. Here are some effective practices to help you close more sales.

Build and Maintain Engagement: From the first click to the final sale, keep your interactions engaging. Use regular follow-ups, keep communications informative, and make sure each touchpoint adds value for the potential buyer.
Educate Your Team: Your sales team needs to be familiar with your dealership’s car sales closing techniques—both online and person. Continuous training in digital tools, online communication etiquette, and lead management practices will empower them to perform better.
Foster Transparency and Trust: Be upfront about pricing, financing, and any policies that affect the buyer. Todau’s buyers are savvy, and they’ll appreciate (and favor) a dealership that does business transparently.
Address Concerns Proactively: Don’t wait for objections; anticipate them. Whether it's concerns about financing, vehicle history, or warranty information, addressing these proactively in your descriptions and communications can help smooth the path to sale.

Closing Starts at the Beginning

Have you ever heard the saying, “the journey is more important than the destination?” While it may be intuitive to push toward a sale at every cost, your buyer isn’t going to complete their purchase if your initial interaction is off-putting. So, it is crucial to think of car sales closing techniques starting from the very first contact with an inbound lead.

Understand and Leverage Data Insights

Inbound leads are the highest quality, with phone leads being slightly stronger than online leads, according to research by FourEyes. However, you should have a plan in place to communicate on a variety of mediums—any lead could eventually be a customer! In order to make these connections, real-time analytics can help you understand which approaches are working and which aren’t. You need a trustworthy CRM to keep track of conversions and preferences from your customers. Many dealerships collect data as part of their car sales closing techniques, but few master using this data to make informed decisions and outreach.

Engage Actively and Promptly

When a potential buyer shows interest online, time is of the essence. Quick, personalized responses make buyers feel valued and help establish trust. We highly recommend personalizing your first response to a lead. That means using all the information you know about a customer (which you should store in your CRM): their name, preferences, interests, etc.Check out this video to learn more about the benefits of personalization:

However, we know you can’t personalize every interaction. Automation can help here, especially when handling after-hours requests. Whether it's through CRM-triggered emails or texts, make each communication uniquely tailored to their interests and inquiries. But be sure to follow up with more personalized communication afterward.

Sealing the Deal with the Right Technology

Turning online leads into loyal customers begins with personal connections. Sure, a robust online presence is key, but how do you make that connection feel as real and heartfelt as a handshake used to be? There are numerous digital tools you should incorporate into your car sales closing techniques.

Use Video to Bring Cars to Life

Imagine you’re a customer scrolling through car listings online. What catches your eye? Is it the list of features or the vibrant, engaging video that shows those features in action?Dealer Inspire found car buyers typically watch 19 videos before making their purchase. Videos can simulate in-person experience. Personalized video messages, quick video tours, and walkarounds can make your interactions feel more personalized and engaging.Check out our great library of video examples to see how real dealers engage customers using Covideo.

Tools for Greater Transparency

You may be catching on to the fact that today’s buyers are more informed, more tech-savvy, and more confident than ever before. In some cases, there may be so many options on a lot that a customer comes in knowing more about a vehicle than the salesperson working there.However, with the right car sales closing techniques, this is nothing to fear! Customers may have completed much of their research online, but it is still a salesperson’s job to guide them through the buying process and arm them with as much information as possible. A Cox Automotive Study found 76% of dealers believe digital retailing tools improved customer relationships and made it easier to close a deal. We recommend auditing your digital tools that can help you retrieve and communicate information fast, including:

Digital Showroom Tools: Software like iPacket keeps a VIN-specific record of a vehicle’s history and features, providing easy and transparent access to everything your customer needs to know.
A Functional, User-Friendly Website: There are so many components of an effective website: ease of use, accessibility, attractiveness, loading speeds, etc. Look at your site and consider if someone unfamiliar with your dealership would know how to navigate and access key information on your site.
Online Financing Options: With more and more purchases happening online, it’s common sense that online financing would be part of your car sales closing techniques. Allowing customers to complete all or some of their purchase online not only saves time at the dealership but also allows them to have more control over the buying process.
Live Chat: Dealerships who have live chat enabled on their websites typically have greater customer satisfaction. Combining live chat with automation when you
Authentication, Credit Report, and Compliance Products: Technology like 700Credit which can help you pull credit reports for customers and help them get pre-qualified for a vehicle can speed up the sales process and streamline your financial compliance.

Final Thoughts on Closing the Deal

As you can see, car sales closing techniques exist throughout the entire lifecycle of a sale—not just the end. The road from an online lead to a loyal customer is paved with personalized interactions, swift engagements, and a deep understanding of individual needs and behaviors. With the right approach, attitude, and tools, a salesperson can elevate their customer interactions and close more deals.At every step of the sales process, video should be a major part of your car sales closing techniques for a personal touch any customer can experience digitally. Covideo is the #1 video messaging solution for dealers, and we’re happy to schedule a demo with you!

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