This is a major show. The manufactures ship cars to different dealers and we take them to the show. We usually get two or three and after the show, they are ours.
I'm sure there are bigger shows elsewhere but ours is pretty immense.
my kids did say she had blond hair. i remember the 'hse' and the vertical fins in the front fender. i did go the lr site to see the msrp before making my original post. 80k was the number! i guess i'll have give them the dad speech that goes, 'if you work hard enough and that's what you want, that could be you in driver's seat.'
2024 Ford F-150 STX, 2023 Ford Explorer ST, 91 Mustang GT vert
I posted this on another Forum but I'll repeat it cause it's unusual and funny.
Two years ago a guy (let's call him Rob) buys a Civic but doesn't like the salesman so he starts asking me questions and i eventually end up helping him out, making sure the delivery goes well and so on. He was a high maintenance customer.
About 2 months later I see Rob, his girlfriend, and her family on the lot. I end up dealing with them, we grind for a couple hours and I sell his GF a new car.
Two months go by and they're back. This time her dad buys a new car from me.
In the span of another 4 months Rob sends me three of his friends to me, and they all buy cars. Pretty good referral base when you get 5 customers within a year from one source.
Fast forward to last summer when Rob and his GF break up after 5 years together. Then she calls me because her dad was having issues with his car. I do them some favours here and there, and tell her as a joke that she owes me a dinner.
We go on a first date a month later. 11 months after (1 month ago) we're engaged, and getting married next year.
Rob stopped sending me referrals after he found out I was dating his ex.
Madmanmoo, nice story. BUT, maybe you should have taken more control, kept them on your 3.5 mile test route (you already knew that , a) they weren't going to buy this week, and b) they weren't even the decision makers), and tried to get them to commit to a family visit with the old man? A little more control would have saved you the most precious thing you have: your time. Do you think an attorney, CPA , a kitchen remodeler, or even a golf pro would have wasted a free hour on them?
Your story reminds me of the Saturday I was killing an hour at a Dodge dealership. After about 5 minutes of back and forth the salesguy asked: "What did you want to accomplish today?". Bingo! He got me to focus.
My biggest gripe about autoshows is the access to vehicles. I go to the shows to get product information and often, even on less popular cars, you cannot get into the car since the place is crawling with kids.
In the future, I will grab a couple of tickets to the show, invite the boss and head down in the morning on a school day.
The mom and daughter probably needed to hear your point of view. From your description of their identical outfits I bet they were too self-absorbed to understand or care.
I went to college in Washington DC and remember hearing a story about some lucky guys who got invited to an embassy party. As the party was ending they hung around, enjoying the food and drink too long. Eventually, a diplomat invited them on a tour of the embassy. The tour lasted a few minutes, and ended at the front door with the diplomat graciously wishing them good night. They had been asked to leave, thrown out really, and didn’t realize it until it had already happened.
I’m sure you will be reflecting on other ways to extricate yourself from unpleasant situations. How did your sales manager handle them? What did he say to you afterwards?
"Eventually, a diplomat invited them on a tour of the embassy. The tour lasted a few minutes, and ended at the front door with the diplomat graciously wishing them good night. They had been asked to leave, thrown out really, and didn’t realize it until it had already happened"
So what you are saying is that dealerships should hire diplomats instead of sales people?
I see we must be coming from different planets. You must be planet "If you dare to show up in my place, you better buy today - don't even think about trying our competition - your money is already my money". I'm from the planet "Mr. Saleman, you are here to serve me, Mr. Customer, show me your product, patiently answer my stupid questions and moreover try to win my trust so when I'm ready to buy I will come to you".
You say you're commissioned, so a stroke is a loss. I say - tough luck. It's part of your job description to cope with people like that. If you can't take couple of customers "wasting your time" by daring to ask about the product, it's time to change a career. And having most of your customer base in deep contempt is not helping, either.
Or perhaps we should make a constitution amendment saying that anybody who steps into a car dealership is obliged to buy a car within five minutes. Would that be acceptable for you?
Was channel surfing last night and saw the new Mr. T "reality" show on TVLand called (I think) "I Pity the Fool". In this show he was doing a modivation thing at a car dealership. He did a sales pitch which included getting into the trunk of a car to show how much room it had (have any of you done this?).
I was wondering if anyone else saw this and what your impressions were.
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D
Its interesting ... I've actually seen pretty good behavior at most displays when I'm at the auto show (been to the NY one about 5-7 times and the Philly one once [i'll never go back there]).
Anyway, I usually see people being pretty respectful and careful. Maybe its the times that I go? Maybe its the booths that I spend time at? oddly enough, I couldn't hang out at the Honda booth this year because it was so darned crowded. I couldn't even get close to the Fit. So maybe it is a demographics thing. Over at the Volvo booth, I was able to try out several cars and they were all in perfect shape with no signs of being beat up (this last show I was there on the last day).
Maybe Aston Martin had the best idea, although it would take forever to get everyone through. They had their cars within a fence and families were let in one at a time with an attendant showing them the way. It kept me at bay, that's for sure. I would have loved to get in one, but the setup made me feel like I'd be wasting both my and the attendant's time since there's no way i could ever seriously consider buying one.
'11 GMC Sierra 1500; '98 Alfa 156 2.0TS; '08 Maser QP; '67 Coronet R/T; '13 Fiat 500c; '20 S90 T6; '22 MB Sprinter 2500 4x4 diesel; '97 Suzuki R Wagon; '96 Opel Astra; '11 Mini Cooper S
You did the dealership, customer, and yourself an injustice. The situation would have been handled better if you would have found another staff member to immediately assist. That way it would have given you more time to judge customers and address your nicotine habit.
I thought this story might stir up some thoughts. I thought my disclaimer would stop that from happening. If you have sold anything in retail, you can understand the frustration. It wasn't appropriate behaviour. We all have bad days. That's my point. This was an isolated incident that I thought I might share.
Hood and trunk = your walkaround on the vehicle when you demonstrate and feature
When the Mom when to talk to my manager, she was so angry that the only thing she could get out was that she had never been treated this way before and that I had tried to charge her $50/test drive. As for my manager, he tried to tell her that I was joking. He said this is one of my top guys and I know that he was joking. She told him, oh no he wasn't. I saw his face.
Somehow this situation never made it my GM. Situation handled. I agree there were a number of things I should have done differently, but that's how it went down.
Doesn't anyone else have any meltdown stories to tell? After all, we're only human, and it's only a job!
Relax, you're taking this a bit too seriously. Think back over your life. Have you ever made a mistake? Ever made a bad decision? Ever thought after the dust settled from your bad decision that maybe there was a story to be told from it?
Perhaps I should be clearer, this was definitely a learning experience. But please don't play the high moral ground and act as if you have never made an 'Oops'.
And don't read too much into the story. I was as mad at myself for losing control of my customer as I was at the 2 ladies for being poor humans.
Can I tell a story? Would that be acceptable for you?
Props for having the guts to tell your story and admitting your mistake. But, the mother and her "ugly" daughters didn't really do or say anything mean or derogatory. Not trying to play the "high moral ground" here, but what exactly did you learn from this experience? Not from a professional perspective... but from a personal one.
That's allright, man. I guess I didn't read carefully enough to see a self-depricating joke there - took it literally, hence my outburst.
I understand - we all get bad days and sometimes behave the way that's out of character. Believe it or not, I also understand the frustration with "strokes" - they don't pay the bills, yet you have to tend to them. Being a one (a stroke) once in a while, I still try to respect salespeople's time and keep things in balance. If I'm just coming to check the market, but am far from the decision, I try to be not too demanding and show real appreciation for the sales person's courtesy and time. I tell them the truth upfront and comply with all their requests. Perhaps it does not really matter, as the bills are not paid, but like to think as chances are not lost on either side.
On the other hand, how else could I get idea what would I like to buy if not by looking and driving bunch of vehicles, from which only one will be chosen?
So point was, all jobs have their frustrations, so tending to strokes is a part of a job and should be taken as such. As long of course as it is not all you do. I guess successful sales people are those who can turn the strokes into either instant or future purchases.
Moo, I have sold cars at the same dealership for the last 7 years. As you can expect I am a dinosaur. I am 40 and have grey hair and always wear at least a nice shirt and tie to work. This makes me look somewhat of an authority figure. I allow myself one retort to a customer per month. Most situations/nastiness can be turned aside with humor and good grace and a deaf ear. However sometimes you just gotta give it back. Walking across the lot one day to say Hi to a middle aged lady, I asked how I could be of service to her. She replied, very nastily, that I could hurry up the blanking rental lady because she was taking forever and she had to leave NOW! Well, I replied the blanking rental lady is pretty blanking new and it is a bit of a blanking long process so if youll be please be patient she will be right blanking with you. Im sure by my second use of the bad word she realized that I was blanking with her....
I remember not too long ago that GM was running an event where you got to test drive their cars in a controlled area (i think they even had corvettes) and you could also drive hummers on an obstacle course. Not sure if they are still doing that.
Yes, they have a somewhat 'no haggle' pricing. It used to be something like $319 or $349 over invoice for 'usual' Hondas. In other words a great 'walk up' price for Hondas.
But since it is a small dealership, they don't have a huge inventory that has to be 'unloaded' at yearend, where I see on Edumund message boards the large Honda dealers are selling under invoice. They pretty much stay at the same price all the time.
And won't budge on the $40 document fee. At least for me.
The previous owner build the enclosed building for all inventory after a hail storm took out the rear windows of all the Hondas on the lot. Seems like Honda rear windows are somewhat 'soft'. This also was Dodge - Honda dealership, and none of the Dodges had glass damage like that. The dealership insurance reduction might pay for the cost of the building over time.
I took a Lincoln MKX on a test drive on Labor Day weekend at a Lincoln sponsored event. Wasn't even on a closed course, took it right onto the streets.
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D
You're right. I didn't include a ton of their dialogue because frankly I can't remember much of it and also because my short story would turn into a novel. They were both very snooty and condescending. Think of the last person who thought they were better than you and you were forced to serve them. That's the picture I should have painted.
As far as what I learned, there were both professional and personal things that I took from the episode.
Professionally - Keep control of your customers. I let them dictate way too much of the process. (I was still relatively new in the game.) If they are being overly rude, I should have flipped keys to them and let them take their joy ride and then given them a brochure. I've also learned, I just can't sell everyone. In fact, there are certain demographics that I will walk away from. You might say, well you are losing a potential sale. That's correct, because they might kill you on a survey, they might negotiate such a minimal deal that it will hurt my bonuses for the month. There are any number of reasons why I might pass on someone, but I'm just being realistic. I cannot sell everyone and I certainly don't want to.
Personally, I need to learn to leave some of my personal issues at home. Actually, that might be more of a professional learning experience as well. I don't believed I discovered anything new about myself on a personal level besides that I may need to evaluate my attitude towards domineering woman.
Let me clarify, as salespeople we have a nasty habit of prequalifying ups (people how pull up the curb). The sad part about it is that after several years of doing it, I'm right about my inital judgement by about 90% of the time.
Imagine when you pull up to a dealership and you see people walk away from you. They are prequalifying. You get swarmed?? Prequalification. We have to be masters of it because this job is all about time management. If the dealership is on an up system, where each salesperson stands in a queue and must meet the next person, then that reduces the amount of qualification that you can use.
Okay, all of that to say... I have 'zero' problem with someone comparing different vehicles and gathering information. There is no question that this is part of my job. Sometimes, you know that someone is a stroke and a complete waste of time. I've been doing this for four years now and you just get a feeling. Compare this situation to my story earlier about the 2 guys wanting to take a test drive. You develop a sixth sense and you know.
I'll correlate this with another test drive story when I get a little bit of extra time. I also better come up with a positive story as well or I'm going to get flamed out of this forum!!
Had a lady come in yesterday wanting to buy tires. I run out, get the size, start looking up prices. She sees a used Malibu sitting in the service drive. 'How much is that?' she asks, 'How many miles?'. A little while later, she drove away in the Malibu, having traded in her old Cavalier.
I have a question for the Chevy people out there... My friend says that a 2006 Aveo sedan and a 2007 Aveo sedan are the same in interior size and I say that the 2007 is larger. I have not checked the interior volume statistics as I am posting this yet, but just off the top of your heads, am I right? And to whoever posted earlier about the auto show questions that you get constantly, I'm sure this one will be asked a lot.
Yes, thanks for your response and clarification of the situation. We all have moments of human weakness that we regret. You are one of the few salesmen/forum members here to share a personal, not so shining of a moment.
I'm sure our other salesmen friends here have many... many!... many!!!... similar stories they would like to share.
Imagine when you pull up to a dealership and you see people walk away from you. They are prequalifying. You get swarmed?? Prequalification
I experienced both. Once I came to a Volvo dealership - it was early saturday, no living soul anywhere close and no one would come out of the place. As much as like to be left alone for a little bit, just to look around, something didn't seem right. Then Eureka - I came on feet (parked my car away from their sight). On top of it, I'm still young for most Volvos (I was interested in V50), so they chose to ignore me.
Most other times, someone would be with me shortly, unless they are visibly busy with other customers (which I could see right away).
Your story frustrates the hell out of me. It seems like you guys, the salespeople, expect customers who come into your store to buy the first car we look at within an hour, otherwise we are wasting your precious time. With hundreds of models available, and each model comes in a dozen of different trims, and when you have to spend hours to determine what the street price of a particular car is, we have no choice but to waste salespeople’s time.
Our lease on 2004 Odyssey expires soon. My wife is the day to day driver, but this is the primary family vehicle that I drive on long distance trips with kids in the back. As the result, there are four opinions that have to be considered. My wife is the type of person that has to be dragged to a dealership. I am lucky if she would go once to pick out the color, and even that takes weeks to schedule with her. So I am the one who has to do all the leg work and research, and present her with options.
Last winter I decided to be proactive and took her to the car show to show her all the available options. She landed on Lexus RX, because it is not as big as a minivan and “it’s so quite”. Come this fall I wanted her to test drive it, but she had to go shoe shopping instead, and I ended up going by myself. I came back and told her that the cargo area is not large enough for all of our crap when we go on vacation, and we will have to use a turtle on top. Her reply was that would not be safe because the SUV is more likely to rollover with additional weight on top, and told me to find her a midsize SUV. One salesman’s time is wasted.
Next, I drove the MDX by myself and the Pilot with my kids. Kids hated the Pilot because it doesn’t have as much space in the second row as the minivan where they can spread their toys and the video game consol around them. They talked to my wife and she told me: “well maybe the SUV doesn’t make sense, it’s just as big as a minivan, but it doesn’t have as much passenger and cargo space and it uses more gas, maybe we should get another minivan.” Duh, it took an 11 year old to explain it to her. Two more salespeople’s’ time is wasted.
Next, I go to test drive the Odyssey and Sienna. The Odyssey test drive was fine. However, the Toyota salesman put me in a Limited AWD when I specifically asked for XLE FWD, and he only gave me a 3 minute test drive. I had to go to another Toyota store to test drive the XLE. I decided on the Sienna. I take my wife back to the second Toyota store to pick out the color. She gets inside, sees all the glossy interior plood trim and says that she doesn’t want it. Three more salespeople’s time is wasted. Now she is saying that maybe we should keep the Odyssey that we have. They reason we leased it to begin with was because she couldn’t make her mind up the last time. Now if we buy the lease out, it’s going to cost us about 4K more than if we bought it to begin with.
See, I want to be considered of salespeople’s time, but sometimes I have no choice but to waste their time and mine.
Did you read any of the other messages I posted? I thought I had addressed this. I know people need to look at different vehicles. Most every salesperson enjoys helping the customer find the exact vehicle that will suit your needs and wants.
When I first went shopping for my wife and I's first house, I went by myself. She owns a restaurant and has very limited time to get out. I thought that I would be able to do the legwork and land on a house that we might both be interested in. I spent a day running around with my agent looking at different houses and landed on one that I thought would be perfect. When my wife came to see it, she politely told me that perhaps we should keep looking.
All that to say, I never go shopping without my wife unless it is a purchase that I will be making for myself. There was a statistic given to us a couple of weeks ago about the decisions made by our buyers. The statistic was that approximately 84% of the buying decision is done by the woman....... Wow. With all due respect, it sounds like you could have used an awesome salesperson to narrow things down and having brought your wife along would have been great as well.
So you might respond, when the woman has that much power, why did you blow these 2 ladies out the door like that? Read my other post. ISOLATED INCIDENT.
You'll probably find that most salespeople these days will give a lot of respect and attention to the ladies in the group. Two bad days collided and hence the story.
Yes, I have read all your messages, and I understand that it was an isolated incident FOR YOU. However, I feel this type of attitude from many different salespeople.
I drive a late model Acura. When I pull into a dealership, salespeople jump out to help me. However, after they prequalify me, and I tell them that I am a month or so from purchase, and I am comparing their car against another, and that my wife is the final decision maker, they loose interest. They either try to dump me off on somebody else, or they hurry through the test drive and walk away when we are done.
Other sales people I am sure can relate to this. Man and woman come into a dealership and pick out and demo a car. It appears to be the one they want. Man is doing most of the communicating, ie; we want this we need this I want this etc etc etc. All of the time the wife will be silent. Set down at the desk to negotiate and the man continues to be the lead communicator. When we get to the offer stage the man will almost never just accept an offer without first getting " the nod" from the wife. In anticipation of this maneuver I will excuse myself for a cold drink while the man does relationship repair in private. Its funny but any man who has even an inkling of common sense will not do anything without " the nod".
We've been talking about customers and our interactions with them. How about some thoughts on some fellow salesman? I've met some incredibly interesting and completely messed up folks in this business.
Some of the best stories may come from them. Any stories?
Its funny but any man who has even an inkling of common sense will not do anything without " the nod".
No not always, if we are buying the wifes daily drive she has the final say (she is going to be driving it) I have little say in the matter. But if its my daily drive its reversed.
We have a budget and as long as we are under that budget one does not need the "nod" from the other. FWIW When I bought my current daily drive she wasn't even there.
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D
I guess what I was saying applied to family car type of thing. And I was really poking fun of all of the men who posture like they are solely in charge.
Well even if it was for the family type car, one where both would drive I would hold far more say in the matter than my wife. Not that I wouldn't get her input and/or wouldn't consider her wants and needs but the final say would be mine.
That being said I might turn to her and get the "nod", but it wouldn't be for her approval but to make sure I was getting the things she wanted.
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D
What's the common denominator here? If the shoes fits....
So what are you trying to say? Am I supposed to go into a store on the day that my lease expires, let the salesman pick the car out that meets our needs, because the salesman has my best interest in mind, pay whatever he thinks I should pay, and drive away happy because the salesman didn’t waste his time?
My wife would not go to a dealership because she can’t stand all the games and lies that she was exposed to when she shopped with me previously. She just wants to see what I choose and decide if she likes or not. She won’t even stay around for negotiations.
I guess my options are to either keep my wife happy, or make the salesman happy.
How do you think I should shop for a new car given my constraints, because I am just as sick of this process as the salespeople I deal with?
as a former salesperson, i didn't really have an issue with people looking at their options - i don't think of that as wasting my time. what was wasting my time is people who came in to test drive completely opposite types of vehicles (like moo's example, a pathfinder and a Z aren't even remotely close) or everything we had in stock. and while he didn't put it in his story, he did mention later that they were being condescending and rude. if you cant use the internet to help narrow your search down to one or two cars that we have in stock for what you are looking for, then im not gonna take all day to show and test drive everything we have in stock. as much as i'd like to, i have to earn a living, and spending that much time with someone just doesn't pay off...even if they DO buy a car!
personally, if someone was rude and inconsiderate to me, i don't care how serious they are about buying a car, i wouldn't help them. there's no reason to treat a salesperson like crap. i've dealt with inconsiderate people before, and i would excuse myself, tell my manager, and he'd ask them to leave, regardless of their protests and exclamations that they were there to buy a car and we should sell them one.
so yes, shop around, let your salesperson know that you are doing so, and if they still don't treat you with respect for your honesty, find someone else. a good salesperson will realize that you need to see whats out there, and do his/her best to meet your needs.
I'm don't want to turn this into a personal attack, so bear with me here. You say "she can't stand all the games and lies" that you were exposed to on a previous shopping trip.
In this day and age, the internet has EVERYTHING available to you. Invoice, real pricing, safety ratings, options, pictures of the vehicle, comparisons among competiting vehicles, financing rates..... What other product do you have this much information available to you?
With all this information available, couldn't you spend a bit of time together poring over the internet to get an idea of what might be good for you? Has every salesperson you've ever run into lied and cheated you? My gut instinct says no. There are good and bad people in every line of business.
I've run into a number of customers who have their guards way up. By and large, these are older customers. There used to be a bit of a lawless attitude in the car business during the 80's and before when they didn't even have the Monroney labels, but that has certainly been changed now. Pricing is completely available online. In my state, you can't gouge the financing rate because there is a cap on how much you can charge. Exactly how are you getting lied to and cheated then? Consumer protection is strewn throughout our buying process. You even have a lemon law protecting you.
Tell me if I'm on mark here or if I missed completely. Do you give the salespeople attitude? Is it apparent that you don't have any respect for their profession? Subtle signals shine through. Your salespeople pick up on that and some just aren't interested in dealing with another customer who doesn't trust them and think that we are all out there to destroy their lives.
After you've picked the vehicle you want, the buying process for an automobile is one of the simplest available.
What's the common denominator? I believe that's you.
Beautifully put, thanks for that. I guess I've been assuming that most of the folks who would be responding would be salesguys who understand the situation.
Thanks for the info. I see from your profile that you also live in OK.
The Bartlesville dealership must be doing something right because I've read posts on some of Edmunds forums about out of state fly-ins and drive-ins to purchase cars, particularly from the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex in Texas. If nothing else, their posted prices give the buyer a reasonable starting point to negotiate with other dealers. There inventory may be small by comparison with some Honda dealers, but it is huge compared to my local one.
After you've picked the vehicle you want, the buying process for an automobile is one of the simplest available.
Really? When was the last time the clerk at the quicki-mart pushed the extended warrantee on that bottle of coke? Or when they were pushing the mop and glow on that book you bought?
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D
In this day and age, the internet has EVERYTHING available to you. Invoice, real pricing, safety ratings, options, pictures of the vehicle, comparisons among competiting vehicles, financing rates..... What other product do you have this much information available to you?
All of that information is no substitute for the 'seat of the pants' feel. When I bought my car, I test drove three different Mazda 6's, the 4 cyl, the 6 cyl and one with leather seating, from the same dealer. Unfortunately the dealer i took the test drives with couldn't agree with me on the numbers, so I guess I wasted his time.
Comments
Did the front end have head lights that looked like this...
Or like this
Did the tail lights look like this...
or this...
I'm sure there are bigger shows elsewhere but ours is pretty immense.
i did go the lr site to see the msrp before making my original post. 80k was the number!
i guess i'll have give them the dad speech that goes, 'if you work hard enough and that's what you want, that could be you in driver's seat.'
If it was three fins then it was a 2006 and it was the wife of on of my clients or the daughter of one of my other clients.
Two years ago a guy (let's call him Rob) buys a Civic but doesn't like the salesman so he starts asking me questions and i eventually end up helping him out, making sure the delivery goes well and so on. He was a high maintenance customer.
About 2 months later I see Rob, his girlfriend, and her family on the lot. I end up dealing with them, we grind for a couple hours and I sell his GF a new car.
Two months go by and they're back. This time her dad buys a new car from me.
In the span of another 4 months Rob sends me three of his friends to me, and they all buy cars. Pretty good referral base when you get 5 customers within a year from one source.
Fast forward to last summer when Rob and his GF break up after 5 years together. Then she calls me because her dad was having issues with his car. I do them some favours here and there, and tell her as a joke that she owes me a dinner.
We go on a first date a month later. 11 months after (1 month ago) we're engaged, and getting married next year.
Rob stopped sending me referrals after he found out I was dating his ex.
He went on to sell cars himself.
2016 Audi A7 3.0T S Line, 2021 Subaru WRX
Your story reminds me of the Saturday I was killing an hour at a Dodge dealership. After about 5 minutes of back and
forth the salesguy asked: "What did you want to accomplish today?". Bingo! He got me to focus.
In the future, I will grab a couple of tickets to the show, invite the boss and head down in the morning on a school day.
The mom and daughter probably needed to hear your point of view. From your description of their identical outfits I bet they were too self-absorbed to understand or care.
I went to college in Washington DC and remember hearing a story about some lucky guys who got invited to an embassy party. As the party was ending they hung around, enjoying the food and drink too long. Eventually, a diplomat invited them on a tour of the embassy. The tour lasted a few minutes, and ended at the front door with the diplomat graciously wishing them good night. They had been asked to leave, thrown out really, and didn’t realize it until it had already happened.
I’m sure you will be reflecting on other ways to extricate yourself from unpleasant situations. How did your sales manager handle them? What did he say to you afterwards?
So what you are saying is that dealerships should hire diplomats instead of sales people?
You say you're commissioned, so a stroke is a loss. I say - tough luck. It's part of your job description to cope with people like that. If you can't take couple of customers "wasting your time" by daring to ask about the product, it's time to change a career. And having most of your customer base in deep contempt is not helping, either.
Or perhaps we should make a constitution amendment saying that anybody who steps into a car dealership is obliged to buy a car within five minutes. Would that be acceptable for you?
2018 430i Gran Coupe
I was wondering if anyone else saw this and what your impressions were.
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D
Anyway, I usually see people being pretty respectful and careful. Maybe its the times that I go? Maybe its the booths that I spend time at? oddly enough, I couldn't hang out at the Honda booth this year because it was so darned crowded. I couldn't even get close to the Fit. So maybe it is a demographics thing. Over at the Volvo booth, I was able to try out several cars and they were all in perfect shape with no signs of being beat up (this last show I was there on the last day).
Maybe Aston Martin had the best idea, although it would take forever to get everyone through. They had their cars within a fence and families were let in one at a time with an attendant showing them the way. It kept me at bay, that's for sure. I would have loved to get in one, but the setup made me feel like I'd be wasting both my and the attendant's time since there's no way i could ever seriously consider buying one.
'11 GMC Sierra 1500; '98 Alfa 156 2.0TS; '08 Maser QP; '67 Coronet R/T; '13 Fiat 500c; '20 S90 T6; '22 MB Sprinter 2500 4x4 diesel; '97 Suzuki R Wagon; '96 Opel Astra; '11 Mini Cooper S
'11 GMC Sierra 1500; '98 Alfa 156 2.0TS; '08 Maser QP; '67 Coronet R/T; '13 Fiat 500c; '20 S90 T6; '22 MB Sprinter 2500 4x4 diesel; '97 Suzuki R Wagon; '96 Opel Astra; '11 Mini Cooper S
I thought this story might stir up some thoughts. I thought my disclaimer would stop that from happening. If you have sold anything in retail, you can understand the frustration. It wasn't appropriate behaviour. We all have bad days. That's my point. This was an isolated incident that I thought I might share.
Hood and trunk = your walkaround on the vehicle when you demonstrate and feature
When the Mom when to talk to my manager, she was so angry that the only thing she could get out was that she had never been treated this way before and that I had tried to charge her $50/test drive. As for my manager, he tried to tell her that I was joking. He said this is one of my top guys and I know that he was joking. She told him, oh no he wasn't. I saw his face.
Somehow this situation never made it my GM. Situation handled. I agree there were a number of things I should have done differently, but that's how it went down.
Doesn't anyone else have any meltdown stories to tell? After all, we're only human, and it's only a job!
Relax, you're taking this a bit too seriously. Think back over your life. Have you ever made a mistake? Ever made a bad decision? Ever thought after the dust settled from your bad decision that maybe there was a story to be told from it?
Perhaps I should be clearer, this was definitely a learning experience. But please don't play the high moral ground and act as if you have never made an 'Oops'.
And don't read too much into the story. I was as mad at myself for losing control of my customer as I was at the 2 ladies for being poor humans.
Can I tell a story? Would that be acceptable for you?
Thanks for sharing. Someone else is human here!
I understand - we all get bad days and sometimes behave the way that's out of character. Believe it or not, I also understand the frustration with "strokes" - they don't pay the bills, yet you have to tend to them. Being a one (a stroke) once in a while, I still try to respect salespeople's time and keep things in balance. If I'm just coming to check the market, but am far from the decision, I try to be not too demanding and show real appreciation for the sales person's courtesy and time. I tell them the truth upfront and comply with all their requests. Perhaps it does not really matter, as the bills are not paid, but like to think as chances are not lost on either side.
On the other hand, how else could I get idea what would I like to buy if not by looking and driving bunch of vehicles, from which only one will be chosen?
So point was, all jobs have their frustrations, so tending to strokes is a part of a job and should be taken as such. As long of course as it is not all you do. I guess successful sales people are those who can turn the strokes into either instant or future purchases.
And please tell more stories.
2018 430i Gran Coupe
Moo,
I have sold cars at the same dealership for the last 7 years. As you can expect I am a dinosaur. I am 40 and have grey hair and always wear at least a nice shirt and tie to work. This makes me look somewhat of an authority figure. I allow myself one retort to a customer per month. Most situations/nastiness can be turned aside with humor and good grace and a deaf ear. However sometimes you just gotta give it back.
Walking across the lot one day to say Hi to a middle aged lady, I asked how I could be of service to her. She replied, very nastily, that I could hurry up the blanking rental lady because she was taking forever and she had to leave NOW! Well, I replied the blanking rental lady is pretty blanking new and it is a bit of a blanking long process so if youll be please be patient she will be right blanking with you. Im sure by my second use of the bad word she realized that I was blanking with her....
But since it is a small dealership, they don't have a huge inventory that has to be 'unloaded' at yearend, where I see on Edumund message boards the large Honda dealers are selling under invoice. They pretty much stay at the same price all the time.
And won't budge on the $40 document fee. At least for me.
The previous owner build the enclosed building for all inventory after a hail storm took out the rear windows of all the Hondas on the lot. Seems like Honda rear windows are somewhat 'soft'. This also was Dodge - Honda dealership, and none of the Dodges had glass damage like that. The dealership insurance reduction might pay for the cost of the building over time.
In order to drive Corvettes and Hummers you had to drive a few other vehicles. Also, you could only do the Corvette and Hummer drive once.
www.autoshowinmotion.com
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D
You're right. I didn't include a ton of their dialogue because frankly I can't remember much of it and also because my short story would turn into a novel. They were both very snooty and condescending. Think of the last person who thought they were better than you and you were forced to serve them. That's the picture I should have painted.
As far as what I learned, there were both professional and personal things that I took from the episode.
Professionally - Keep control of your customers. I let them dictate way too much of the process. (I was still relatively new in the game.)
If they are being overly rude, I should have flipped keys to them and let them take their joy ride and then given them a brochure.
I've also learned, I just can't sell everyone. In fact, there are certain demographics that I will walk away from. You might say, well you are losing a potential sale. That's correct, because they might kill you on a survey, they might negotiate such a minimal deal that it will hurt my bonuses for the month. There are any number of reasons why I might pass on someone, but I'm just being realistic. I cannot sell everyone and I certainly don't want to.
Personally, I need to learn to leave some of my personal issues at home. Actually, that might be more of a professional learning experience as well. I don't believed I discovered anything new about myself on a personal level besides that I may need to evaluate my attitude towards domineering woman.
Did that help?
Let me clarify, as salespeople we have a nasty habit of prequalifying ups (people how pull up the curb). The sad part about it is that after several years of doing it, I'm right about my inital judgement by about 90% of the time.
Imagine when you pull up to a dealership and you see people walk away from you. They are prequalifying. You get swarmed?? Prequalification. We have to be masters of it because this job is all about time management. If the dealership is on an up system, where each salesperson stands in a queue and must meet the next person, then that reduces the amount of qualification that you can use.
Okay, all of that to say... I have 'zero' problem with someone comparing different vehicles and gathering information. There is no question that this is part of my job. Sometimes, you know that someone is a stroke and a complete waste of time. I've been doing this for four years now and you just get a feeling. Compare this situation to my story earlier about the 2 guys wanting to take a test drive. You develop a sixth sense and you know.
I'll correlate this with another test drive story when I get a little bit of extra time. I also better come up with a positive story as well or I'm going to get flamed out of this forum!!
A little while later, she drove away in the Malibu, having traded in her old Cavalier.
Came in for new tires, left with new wheels!
So the anwer is - they are the same.
Yes, thanks for your response and clarification of the situation. We all have moments of human weakness that we regret. You are one of the few salesmen/forum members here to share a personal, not so shining of a moment.
I'm sure our other salesmen friends here have many... many!... many!!!... similar stories they would like to share.
Sooo, with this successful switcheroo, are you going to try to convert future tire sales into car sales?
If you can do it again, that's real salesmanship. Anybody can do it once.
Might be worth a try and the payoff is probably better.
jmonroe
'15 Genesis V8 with Ultimate Package and '18 Legacy Limited 6 cyl
I experienced both. Once I came to a Volvo dealership - it was early saturday, no living soul anywhere close and no one would come out of the place. As much as like to be left alone for a little bit, just to look around, something didn't seem right. Then Eureka - I came on feet (parked my car away from their sight). On top of it, I'm still young for most Volvos (I was interested in V50), so they chose to ignore me.
Most other times, someone would be with me shortly, unless they are visibly busy with other customers (which I could see right away).
2018 430i Gran Coupe
Our lease on 2004 Odyssey expires soon. My wife is the day to day driver, but this is the primary family vehicle that I drive on long distance trips with kids in the back. As the result, there are four opinions that have to be considered. My wife is the type of person that has to be dragged to a dealership. I am lucky if she would go once to pick out the color, and even that takes weeks to schedule with her. So I am the one who has to do all the leg work and research, and present her with options.
Last winter I decided to be proactive and took her to the car show to show her all the available options. She landed on Lexus RX, because it is not as big as a minivan and “it’s so quite”. Come this fall I wanted her to test drive it, but she had to go shoe shopping instead, and I ended up going by myself. I came back and told her that the cargo area is not large enough for all of our crap when we go on vacation, and we will have to use a turtle on top. Her reply was that would not be safe because the SUV is more likely to rollover with additional weight on top, and told me to find her a midsize SUV. One salesman’s time is wasted.
Next, I drove the MDX by myself and the Pilot with my kids. Kids hated the Pilot because it doesn’t have as much space in the second row as the minivan where they can spread their toys and the video game consol around them. They talked to my wife and she told me: “well maybe the SUV doesn’t make sense, it’s just as big as a minivan, but it doesn’t have as much passenger and cargo space and it uses more gas, maybe we should get another minivan.” Duh, it took an 11 year old to explain it to her. Two more salespeople’s’ time is wasted.
Next, I go to test drive the Odyssey and Sienna. The Odyssey test drive was fine. However, the Toyota salesman put me in a Limited AWD when I specifically asked for XLE FWD, and he only gave me a 3 minute test drive. I had to go to another Toyota store to test drive the XLE. I decided on the Sienna. I take my wife back to the second Toyota store to pick out the color. She gets inside, sees all the glossy interior plood trim and says that she doesn’t want it. Three more salespeople’s time is wasted. Now she is saying that maybe we should keep the Odyssey that we have. They reason we leased it to begin with was because she couldn’t make her mind up the last time. Now if we buy the lease out, it’s going to cost us about 4K more than if we bought it to begin with.
See, I want to be considered of salespeople’s time, but sometimes I have no choice but to waste their time and mine.
Did you read any of the other messages I posted? I thought I had addressed this. I know people need to look at different vehicles. Most every salesperson enjoys helping the customer find the exact vehicle that will suit your needs and wants.
When I first went shopping for my wife and I's first house, I went by myself. She owns a restaurant and has very limited time to get out. I thought that I would be able to do the legwork and land on a house that we might both be interested in. I spent a day running around with my agent looking at different houses and landed on one that I thought would be perfect. When my wife came to see it, she politely told me that perhaps we should keep looking.
All that to say, I never go shopping without my wife unless it is a purchase that I will be making for myself. There was a statistic given to us a couple of weeks ago about the decisions made by our buyers. The statistic was that approximately 84% of the buying decision is done by the woman....... Wow. With all due respect, it sounds like you could have used an awesome salesperson to narrow things down and having brought your wife along would have been great as well.
So you might respond, when the woman has that much power, why did you blow these 2 ladies out the door like that? Read my other post. ISOLATED INCIDENT.
You'll probably find that most salespeople these days will give a lot of respect and attention to the ladies in the group. Two bad days collided and hence the story.
I drive a late model Acura. When I pull into a dealership, salespeople jump out to help me. However, after they prequalify me, and I tell them that I am a month or so from purchase, and I am comparing their car against another, and that my wife is the final decision maker, they loose interest. They either try to dump me off on somebody else, or they hurry through the test drive and walk away when we are done.
We've been talking about customers and our interactions with them. How about some thoughts on some fellow salesman? I've met some incredibly interesting and completely messed up folks in this business.
Some of the best stories may come from them. Any stories?
I'll share some in time.
No not always, if we are buying the wifes daily drive she has the final say (she is going to be driving it) I have little say in the matter. But if its my daily drive its reversed.
We have a budget and as long as we are under that budget one does not need the "nod" from the other. FWIW When I bought my current daily drive she wasn't even there.
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D
That being said I might turn to her and get the "nod", but it wouldn't be for her approval but to make sure I was getting the things she wanted.
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D
So what are you trying to say? Am I supposed to go into a store on the day that my lease expires, let the salesman pick the car out that meets our needs, because the salesman has my best interest in mind, pay whatever he thinks I should pay, and drive away happy because the salesman didn’t waste his time?
My wife would not go to a dealership because she can’t stand all the games and lies that she was exposed to when she shopped with me previously. She just wants to see what I choose and decide if she likes or not. She won’t even stay around for negotiations.
I guess my options are to either keep my wife happy, or make the salesman happy.
How do you think I should shop for a new car given my constraints, because I am just as sick of this process as the salespeople I deal with?
personally, if someone was rude and inconsiderate to me, i don't care how serious they are about buying a car, i wouldn't help them. there's no reason to treat a salesperson like crap. i've dealt with inconsiderate people before, and i would excuse myself, tell my manager, and he'd ask them to leave, regardless of their protests and exclamations that they were there to buy a car and we should sell them one.
so yes, shop around, let your salesperson know that you are doing so, and if they still don't treat you with respect for your honesty, find someone else. a good salesperson will realize that you need to see whats out there, and do his/her best to meet your needs.
-thene
In this day and age, the internet has EVERYTHING available to you. Invoice, real pricing, safety ratings, options, pictures of the vehicle, comparisons among competiting vehicles, financing rates..... What other product do you have this much information available to you?
With all this information available, couldn't you spend a bit of time together poring over the internet to get an idea of what might be good for you? Has every salesperson you've ever run into lied and cheated you? My gut instinct says no. There are good and bad people in every line of business.
I've run into a number of customers who have their guards way up. By and large, these are older customers. There used to be a bit of a lawless attitude in the car business during the 80's and before when they didn't even have the Monroney labels, but that has certainly been changed now. Pricing is completely available online. In my state, you can't gouge the financing rate because there is a cap on how much you can charge. Exactly how are you getting lied to and cheated then? Consumer protection is strewn throughout our buying process. You even have a lemon law protecting you.
Tell me if I'm on mark here or if I missed completely. Do you give the salespeople attitude? Is it apparent that you don't have any respect for their profession? Subtle signals shine through. Your salespeople pick up on that and some just aren't interested in dealing with another customer who doesn't trust them and think that we are all out there to destroy their lives.
After you've picked the vehicle you want, the buying process for an automobile is one of the simplest available.
What's the common denominator? I believe that's you.
Thanks for the info. I see from your profile that you also live in OK.
The Bartlesville dealership must be doing something right because I've read posts on some of Edmunds forums about out of state fly-ins and drive-ins to purchase cars, particularly from the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex in Texas. If nothing else, their posted prices give the buyer a reasonable starting point to negotiate with other dealers. There inventory may be small by comparison with some Honda dealers, but it is huge compared to my local one.
Gogiboy
Really? When was the last time the clerk at the quicki-mart pushed the extended warrantee on that bottle of coke? Or when they were pushing the mop and glow on that book you bought?
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D
All of that information is no substitute for the 'seat of the pants' feel. When I bought my car, I test drove three different Mazda 6's, the 4 cyl, the 6 cyl and one with leather seating, from the same dealer. Unfortunately the dealer i took the test drives with couldn't agree with me on the numbers, so I guess I wasted his time.