Whether you’re a fan of the Rolling Stones or not, you have to give them credit for their longevity. In business, you too are hoping for staying power. Though, between inventory shortages and deadly viruses, the show you have put on for customers needs to change. Want to keep moving metal during this downturn? Listen to Mick Jagger.

It is in the Rolling Stones’ hit song “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” that Mick shows us the way. Inventory on the ground has dried up. We’re selling vehicles, not just right off the truck, but long prior to their arrival. Without vehicles to show or to drive, consumers are growing frustrated. (This is another reason dealers should look ahead and make it a point to keep one model of every make they sell available for test drives, without selling it).

The Mick Jagger Sales Approach

However, to keep business moving, we cannot solely be an order taker as I had written about in the past. Your team, with all of their worldly inventory knowledge, must be exercising their needs assessment muscles and identifying if the shopper’s vehicle of interest is one of want or one of need. Now, more than ever is a time to double down on your sales training best practices for the needs assessment and sales qualifying questions.

Customers tell us what they want right from the get-go, but are we asking the right sales questions to determine if what they need is readily available and on the lot. Comparable units and alternative vehicles to consider can give you that quick transfusion that Keith Richards likely gets daily.

As Mick Jagger sings,

“You can’t always get what you want…

You can’t always get what you want…

You can’t always get what you want…

But if you try sometimes

Well you just might find

You get what you need.”

How you can get satisfaction

Understand, needs assessments don’t only have to come in person. If your inventory doesn’t show what the shopper is after, or they submit an inquiry on a vehicle already spoken for (or no longer available), a Mick Jagger needs assessment is so much better than telling them it’s gone and hanging up. Without this, you cannot switch to an in-stock unit or something comparable that also would meet a customer’s needs.

By asking the right sales questions, increasing a shopper’s consideration set, understanding your on-the-ground inventory, as well as detailing comparable units, you are building a long-lasting legacy of meeting customers’ needs. That’s what we should be expecting from today’s salespeople.

Anyone that has seen Mick Jagger dancing in concert, especially recently, knows how energetic and enthusiastic he is on stage. Do you put on a show for the customers in front of you? Can you get excited about other available inventory and vehicles to consider when the vehicle they want is gone?

This is the part of our performance that must be strengthened if we want to have a long career. You don’t just want to sing them the song they know, you want to open their ears to other tunes. If moving one of the few available units puts money in your pocket, it never hurts to strut them out to that vehicle and take a peek. Taking orders is ticket sales. Switching and selling in-stock with energy is a concert. Without the sales skills to do both well, you can’t get no satisfaction.

Once they’ve mastered this, they must also champion these two skillsets if they hope to be prepared for this inventory crisis.