Service for elderly people
Last week I did
help my mother to buy a new car. In a few months she will become 80 years old,
so the roles are reversing. I.e. I am helping my mother as she did help me when
I was a young boy.
She really needs that car as she is still doing quite a lot
of volunteering work.
She did go by herself to the dealer of her current car
(Toyota). Apparently the salesperson had one car, which he wanted to sell to
her, and immediately gave her a quote. He totally didn’t ask her what she wanted
and –more important- why she wants a new car. So, she came to me with the
quote. And I asked her the questions, which a ‘normal’ salesperson was supposed
to do. Then I did show her some other brands on the computer and we went off to
some dealers.
At the Renault dealer the salesperson was very polite and
especially very patient. He took a lot of time to explain to my mother and was
totally not pushy. So, we planned to have a test-drive the next morning. On our
way out, there was a car which caught my mothers’ eye and she immediately ‘fell
in love with that car’ as my mother said. This was an occasion and not a new
car. The salesperson was very flexible and planned a test-drive in this car
(instead of in the new car) the next morning.
Then we did go to the Peugeot dealer to see another car. In
the showroom there was nobody who greeted us although there were plenty of
people. I even saw a salesperson sitting behind his desk, but took no action at
all. So, we quickly had a look at anew car and left. My mother didn’t like it
all as she said that those people were totally not interested in her.
The next day, we had the test-drive and again the
salesperson was very patient and made my mother feel very comfortable and not
nervous. You would say t’ big deal’, but imagine that you are 80 years old and test-driving
a ‘strange’ new car. That did even make me nervous, as I was sitting in the
backseat. My mother liked the car very much and she was very excited, so she
did buy the car!
These are three examples of salespeople dealing with elderly
people. If you are aware of this very large (and growing) target group then you
will have to make sure that you can relate to the needs of these elderly
people. Otherwise you will miss a large opportunity, as many of these people
have enough funds to buy new cars.
Is your service tailored to elderly people?
Enthusiasm drives
Excellence!
