Did you recently take on (or consider) a loan of 84 months or longer on a car purchase?
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Stories from the Sales Frontlines
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We bought a new car recently and already had agreed to the amount we would pay for the car and it was approved by sales manager. Then, the sales guy excused himself for a minute and then came back and introduced us to a person and sales guy left. The person then pitched us for paint sealant and fabric protector for 400+ dollars. I clearly stated that I "enjoyed" cleaning/waxing my car and did not want his product/service at any price. This person persisted and then finally gave up. Have bought from this car dealer in past and they are really great in every aspect of buying, servicing, relations, etc. BUT, this was one poor practice that they do and presumably every new car customer gets pitched in similar fashion. Suppose that having had time to think about this issue, should try to talk to dealer owner(s) and give my input.
How you handle this and move on will go a long way in letting you know how you will handle adverse situations for the rest of your life. From what you have said, it looks like you have already landed on your feet.
Good luck.
jmonroe
'15 Genesis V8 with Ultimate Package and '18 Legacy Limited 6 cyl
~Jessie
'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
The fact that your dealership sold 35 units last month and there are 9 sales people, .. That is less then 4 cars per.
Are you close to Metro Area where you could get a job some place with some lot traffic. Unless you are
A. Personal Friends with all 26K people in your town
B. Getting paid a hefty salary
It will be tough to make a living in that scenario
Want some honesty? Your biggest struggle is going to be being a woman in the car business. Unfortunately for the fairer sex, this business tends to be a boy's club. That means that you will be treated like a man OR if you're hot, you'll be hit on constantly.
The other obstacle will be, most of the time, women salespeople are TOO nice. You have to have an edge to you to survive in this business.
Stop reading these forums, meet some people and start selling cars. Judging by the turnover rate at your store, there may be some struggles in management. Of course, it maybe just a low volume dealer as well. Keep your head up, don't make too many friends there and remember why you're working.....to make money. I wish I would have started in this business that young, I'd be rolling in dough.
-Moo
seems like you got away easy. really. this upsell is part of the territory.
DON'T TALK TO THE OWNER! just give them a good survey.
The 35 cars a month you mentioned was that new only or new and used? If it's new only and the dealership does an extra 20 or 30 a month used, you might be ok.
How much gross the deals retain and how much commission you get paid will also have an effect of your happiness there.
Keep one thing in mind though. I worked for a couple of months at a small family ran dealership in a small suburb (almost a town) of Vancouver.
The salesmen ratio was good, commission structure was also good, but most people that came in to buy knew the owner, or a manger, or a salesguy who's been there years because of the small town factor. So for me I sometimes waited a whole shift to get a "fresh up". Therefore in mind that many ups that you might get could already be taken before they even step foot in the dealership.
But otherwise good luck.
2016 Audi A7 3.0T S Line, 2021 Subaru WRX
One thing I'll miss about the place is the 10 minute commute. My new commute will be about 30-40 minutes. And I'll miss the fact that we had delivery co-ordinators who delivered cars for us.
2016 Audi A7 3.0T S Line, 2021 Subaru WRX
But it probably didn't help if someone was reviewing my file and the worst survey of my life came in with unfounded comments like that.
2016 Audi A7 3.0T S Line, 2021 Subaru WRX
Extremely bad advice! IMHO.
tidester, host
SUVs and Smart Shopper
A big key to success in sales - any kind of sales - is network, network, network. This is especially true in small towns. Are you an active member of any clubs, church organizations, neighborhood associations, whatever? Any place you go, have your business cards with you. Buying some new clothes for work? Tell the sales woman in the dept. store what business you're in and give her your card.
Do your neighbors know where you work? Don't be a hard sell type, but let them know you're in the business and would love to help them if they're in the market. Make sure they have your business card.
Are you a member of any women's groups? Again, let it be known what you do. Maybe you could even coordinate a talk about car safety or some such "neutral" issue and make more contacts that way.
And as was said above - it's great to read stuff and be informed, but it's better to get out there and meet people! Don't spend too much time on-line. You'll learn some stuff, for sure, but you'll learn more by doing than by reading.
And good luck!
The only way for a greenpea to succeed is to practice, practice, practice in front of customers. Always stick with the basic road to a sale and you will be successfull.
-Moo
anyways, don't get discouraged - i didnt sell a car the first month i was at the dealership. it takes time - just be yourself - listen to what your customer's have to say, and do your best to find the right car for your needs. you'll do fine!
-thene
DON'T TALK TO THE OWNER! just give them a good survey.
You are right. Thanks. Got car for Invoice (realize there are hold-backs and other), paid for floor mats, mud guards. Have been very satisfied with all aspects of this dealer. Service people and sales staff are very cordial, respectful and professional. The paint protector/interior pitch is a minor issue. Have been giving them 10's and they have earned this rating.
Last time I was sold extended warranty on pretense that it was "new car" deal. I was 99% sure it was not the case and 3/36 eligibility applied to the deal, but caved into that one percent uncertainty. The deal on the car was sweet, the sales guy was good, trade value was in pair with expected. The dealer is know for being very curteous and professional (multibrand, upscale mostly, Subaru/VW are their lowest brand). It's been 4 years and it is what I remember the most - pushy guy misstating the facts. It was one of those "white lies" - half truth (as the price may and will go up over time, but not due to ineligibility of the vehicle, but due to inflation adjustments).
2018 430i Gran Coupe
1) Get to know your cars, so that you can talk a few technical details with customers who are more savy. The more you know, the less chance a potential customer gets turned off because he/she thinks a) you don't know the car, or worse b) you misrepresented any features/specs of the car. If I catch a salesman lying to me, even if it might be an honest mistake on his part, I'm gone. Saying, "I think..., but I need to check on that..." is perfectly fine in my book.
2) Try to always keep a sunny disposition, while also using good grammar and vocabulary. I'm sorry to seem so sexist, but I think many of us male customers feel a little more at ease with a female sales rep versus a young male rep, as long as she isn't too "pushy". On the other hand, use good judgement if it becomes obvious that a customer is wasting your time.
3) What brand of dealership is it? Does that brand have some models that are great sellers in your area? ...in general? Will they remain good sellers if gasoline prices continue to rise? I agree with some others that you might consider a dealership serving a larger population if things don't seem to go well there..., but give it some time and learn from your experiences. Try to be ready for anything!
One "No" is all it takes from us. Maybe they take us senior citizens more seriously.
1.) Be on this forum as little as possible. You should always be in a selling mode looking for the next sale, can't do that on a forum. Down time should be used for #2.
2.) Network as much as possible and keep in touch somewhat with your customers. This may just be calling them up a few months later to check on them and/or sending a card much later on.
3.) Know your product, nothing will kill a sale faster than being caught telling the customer something that is not right.
4.) Know your competition and use what you can against them.
5.) Never ask for a sale, presume you have the sale.
No go out there have fun and good luck.
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D
1). Now you can drive over to that terrible old lady driver's house and tell her off good for the bad CSI.
2). On your way home you can stop at the DMV and report her bad driving.
3). You can hope that something big and heavy falls on your previous place of employment.
4). You can have great success at your new place of employment. In the end, living well is the best revenge.
2019 Kia Soul+, 2015 Mustang GT, 2013 Ford F-150, 2000 Chrysler Sebring convertible
Corallary to that: If you don't know something then just say you don't know. Don't guess just say you are not sure and you need to look it up. To make this more effective make sure you know where to look things up and find them quickly.
I have come to the fact for every peson who does not like the stories we post that 10 people do. So my advice to the ones that don't is to not read this thread. Then every one is happy
We just had a couple trade in an '07 Range Rover HSE? 6026 miles. Black on white with chromed out wheels. Beautiful vehicle. Local store put $68k in the vehicle. I wish I was a Rover salesman tonight. Someone is going to turn that vehicle quick. How much do those go for brand new?
You guys discount much?
-Moo
Did it have air conditioned front seats? If so that is for sure a Lux car.
That car would carry a MSRP of 82,250. If it had the DVD package for the rear seat headrests then it would have a MSRP of $84,750. If it had the 20 inch wheels instead of the 19 inch wheels then it would a MSRP of 88,750.
Most dealers won't discount more then 2-3k off of MSRP.
Dang, 3 of those is about what my house ran me
2018 430i Gran Coupe
I hate when salespeople do that, as I think it rude and somewhat sneaky. Makes me more inclined not to buy.
Salesperson: "When would you like your new Whooptiemobile delivered Mr. Jipster?"
Jip: "Man, I've told you 3 times already... I'm just out here for the free hotdogs and coke."
2018 430i Gran Coupe
Times change.
Me, not so much.
Can't even touch them. There definition of fully loaded must be based off of what fully loaded was in the 70's PL PW PM TC AC PS I was wrong though top end Explorer is $40K $36,800 cost.
Fully loaded Expeditions are are mid $40's cost
So - what exaclty costs $50K at a Ford dealership today
F-450-650's blow by $50K at mid trim level
F-350 Diesel Lariats are all over it
Shelby's
GT's
I wouldn't take them even if they were free (no big fan of anything that size), so don't really care anyway. Just remember seing a $50K sticker on Expedition Eddie Bauer in 2000, so that low 30s seem to be an indicator of condition and appeal of Ford, as a company. Nothing personal, Joel - but they must be in deep trouble if their dealers go that deep.
2018 430i Gran Coupe
Same here...almost to the penny.
jmonroe
'15 Genesis V8 with Ultimate Package and '18 Legacy Limited 6 cyl
As far as Ford being in trouble??? I don't know YTD we have 5 of the top 20 selling vehicles. The only manufacture to do so, we continue 31 years of truck domination, though are Explorer has dropped out of the top 20 we have the Escape in there and two out of four of are 4 door line is on the list. Actually two out of the three we market, the Crown Vic is like a horse with a broken leg, someone needs to shoot it and take it out of its misery. Other then the police there is not great demand for a car like that anymore. The generation that loved it is almost done buying cars. So I guess if you go by the doom and gloom the media likes to report on us it looks bad. But as long as we keep building the absolute greatest truck in the industry we will be just fine. It is also just the tip of the iceburg with the Fusion, its sales and popularity will only grow and I excpect great things again next year when we release the new Taurus. So like I have said before, I will just keep riding this wave and have a sack full of "told you so's" ready when its time
Following is a list of the top-20 selling vehicles, ranked by total units through March .
1 Ford F-Series P/U 171,651
2 Chevy Silverado-C/K P/U 152,715
3 Toyota Camry 105,863
4 Honda Accord 92,590
5 Dodge Ram P/U 91,313
6 Toyota Corolla 88,195
7 Chevrolet Impala 80,705
8 Nissan Altima 74,029
9 Honda Civic 68,140
10 Dodge Caravan 52,889
11 GMC Sierra P/U 47,790
12 Honda CR-V 47,572 32,351
13 Ford Econoline/Club Wagon 46,506
14 Chevrolet Cobalt 41,949
15 Toyota-RAV4 41,405
16 Ford Focus 39,837
17 Toyota Prius 39,682
18 Ford Fusion 39,678
19 Ford Escape 39,317
20 Honda Odyssey 37,346
Perhaps a better way than assuming would be to ask all the right questions. Solicit information and you'll know exactly what your customer is interested in doing.
-Moo
A little over two of that $88,750 for mine.
What good does a sale make if it brings tons of losses? Perhaps Ford dealers are doing well (or at least some), but if the company posts consistent losses for, what - two or even three years now, sales figures as number of units sold don't mean zip. Zilch.
But lets forget about that for a minute and look at your list as units mattered the most. F-series sales is obviously a combination of individual, working and fleets. I also notice your first passenger car is Focus and - probably also sells to fleets in big numbers (don't say no retail - just that fleets are probably a good share). Fusion claimed as a smashing success by Ford aficianados sells in numbers equal to 40% of Accord (which is almost 100% retail), half of Corrollas and Altimas and a few units less than Priuses (huh?!!)
No Joel - drink your Koolaid all you want - For a "second/third" company in the world the unit numbers may be there, but the mix is not healthy. It looks awfully close to a "fleet provided" with a side business of retail sales.
I'd like to be fair - I see more efforts on Ford's part than say GM to honestly improve their product appeal, not just marketing mumbo-jumbo. But the world is working against them. They simply may run of time and resources (like patience of the investors and creditors) to survive the downturn. Plus, they also had more than a fair share of misfires and blunders - to name murdering promissing design (Lincoln LS), starving the enstablished names to death (Taurus and Explorer), putting wrong engine (500), skimping on equipment and getting the safety wrong (Fusion). And what's up with Mercury? Who needs them? They have nothing going for them except perhaps that hottie in their commercials
I think it may come to investors deciding they need to sacrifice somebody to let Detroit survive. DCX may likely go private, which means it will get sold off to pieces and the rest will be fixed emerging to a minor niche market player. So the choice for the survival will be between Ford and GM. As much as I dislike GM products and business philosophy, I see them surviving just because their investors may give them chances they won't to Ford.
I may be wrong, of course - your salesfront perspective may be different. But that's the way I see it.
2018 430i Gran Coupe
I am not talking about jumping on someone who just walks in the door saying "we can have your car ready in a half hour lets go into the F&I's guys office" or even when you are talking to someone who has indicated that they are not buying yet. But someone who has shown interest in buying very soon and that you have spent time with.
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D
I don't want to beat a dead horse but do you ever look at the Ford Motor Co. financials? Losing billions on down sales. And the Ford financial statements are filed with the SEC by Ford so it is not just somebody bashing Ford.
Personally, until they get a leader who is more concerned with correcting the company's course than with being the reincarnation of Al Gore, they will have continue to have more problems.
Back to the topic. I looked at the Fusion and the Focus when I was looking for a car earlier this year. The Focus was disappointing. It was no better than the Corolla that I ended up with and the local dealer wanted $2k MORE for the Focus than I paid for the Corolla. HINT to dealer: I am NOT paying anything close to sticker for that car.
The Fusion was a nice car and a real upgrade to the Contour and the Taurus. In fact, my father bought one. However, the salesman at the local dealership was a greenpea and new very little about the vehicle.
Hint to dealer: I test drove two vehicles at that lot which could have had maybe a half gallon of gasoline in them TOTAL. it might be good to put a little gas in in case the customer want to drive ten miles on a test drive.
Also, the salesman kept telling me that "ALL Fusions come with AWD." That was new to me.
Ah, the good old days.
I will put you down on my "Told You So" list
You sound like like a doom and gloom talking head on the TV or writing in paper. Everyone likes to kick the big dog when it is down. Thats OK. Did they really think we were going to turn the corner in a 3 month time span since we have done are closures and shut downs? The Way Forward plan will work. I don't even want to get started on the Import Bias in the Media. But I will give you my opinion as to why we fell.
Up until 2000 we were rolling, everyone was making money and in the spirit of Corporate America Ford was passing out titles in MI like they were Ice Water. Everyone was a SR VP or Head of something. Whoever the idiot was that negotiated the Labor Agreement with the UAW should be hung.
The labor agreement was set up so that Ford guaranteed to keep XX number of union employes working and XX number of plants open for XX number of years. No one saw the Firestone fiasco coming or 911 and the big shots thought the gravy train would run for ever.
So here comes the slow down in 2001, Ford says to the UAW. hey if we want to stay profitable or at least keep are head above water we need to cut back here. UAW waves the Labor Agreement. Between that and plant automation we have had plants open we have had no need for and people on the line that really had no purpose.
Well the labor agreement came to an end and now we are able to get rid of the water we have been carrying. We have hurt some feelings along the way and gotten some bad pub. But hey thats business. Put that with the fantastic product we are and will be offering and soon it will be nothing but Blue Sky again. Not to mention the way we are kicking butt in Europe and China. To bad that other country that sells so many cars in the U.S wont let us in there back yard to even the field a little. :shades:
BTW you can twist those truck numbers all you want but that is are Bread and Butter and 31 years is not from fleet sales. We build the best truck on the planet, and if Toyota thinks there catchy marketing is going to get them in the game there crazy. That might work with Tim from the Burbs but the real truck buyers know the deal.
I really respect that you are enthusiastic about your company - it is definitely helping and it would be great for them to have more people believing and voicing that. I'm not here to kick them - rather I just call it as I see it. I do not share your optimism, but I hope I'm wrong. I'd rather see Ford surviving than GM, if had to choose only one. But I really think the task is more difficult to them than to the other guy. They made more mistakes and had more bad luck as well. More, it looks they dependeded on F-150/SUV even more than GM. That only means the hole is deeper, especially in respect to their size.
Did I mention my second car was an '97 Escort? Very basic, a little crude, but reliable for time I held it (50-85K miles). Seat botom cuchion caved in under my (then) 280+ lb
2018 430i Gran Coupe