There are a few ways to approach a customer relationship.

You can:

1. Acknowledge that it’s a short-term relationship and take a transactional approach
2. Act as if you care about the long game yet still take a transactional approach
3. Take a fake long-term approach
4. Take an authentic long-term approach

Car shopping is a good way to show each of these in action.

The first salesperson is clear about their intention. They work with you because you walked in the door and they do what’s needed until you make a purchase decision, but it’s obvious that they don’t care to go beyond the surface level. Communication stops after that purchase decision and they don’t make an effort to get to know you as a person.

The second salesperson has the same motivation as the first, and ends up behaving the same way in the long term, but they put up a facade in the short term. They typically use your name a lot and act as if they care about you, but that all falls away as soon as you decide whether you’re buying a car from them. I’ve had this type of salesman turn from showing me pictures of his kids to looking at me like he wanted to kill me within seconds once I didn’t fall for his attempts to pressure me into making a purchase.

The third salesperson is probably the most common. They’re generally nice enough to work with and they make some effort to stay in touch. These are the people who do little things like sending automated birthday wishes each year. They make a decent effort to stay in the front of mind and to show that they took the time to think beyond the few days during the initial contact.

The fourth salesperson takes it a step further. Whereas #3 utilizes tricks to stay in touch, #4 comes from a genuine place of interest. They share interesting information even when they don’t have anything to gain in the short term. They remember useful information (when my other car lease will be finished, what I had wanted when we first talked, etc.) and they make the effort to build a long term relationship. Rather than sending an automated email that was “sent using …” they make a personal effort when they have something useful to say.

These types of approaches apply to much more than car sales. And it isn’t “one size fits all.”

In some situations, approach #1 is the best. It’s genuine and results focused.

I can’t think of any situation in which I would recommend #2. It might result in some sales in the short term, but it’s a slimy and ill-advised long-term approach.

Approach #3 works in a lot of situations. That’s why it’s the most common.

But when utilized properly, nothing beats #4. It needs to come with some type of screening process and careful planning because this takes effort, but the authentic long-term approach results in a deep customer relationship that can’t be built any other way.

-Brandon