That would be the Sales Manager in most dealerships. I don't know how many large dealers do owner follow up, but we work with a sales contact database, so it is easy to do electronically. But then, we have only lost 1 sales person in the last few years.
We didn't have enough walk-in traffic to come close to justifying the number of salespeople they kept on hand.
Seems like a lot of dealerships do this. How does the dealership benefit? A friend sold cars briefly. He said dealerships will hire a bunch of salespeople, who will in turn sell to their friends and family. When that dries up, most end up quitting, due to not enough ups... too many salespeople. Then the dealership will hire in a bunch of new greenpeas. Keeps the top salesguys happy I'm sure. Tough crackers for everyone else though.
The Johnson's are happy driving their new Sienna. We went to eat at the Overnight Cafe and had some onion rings while waiting for Gina to park the van. She kept hitting the curb but finally parked it. Journey's "Don't stop believing was playing on the juke box. A shady looking character got up from the bar stool and looked at me. He headed into the men's room and then the door bell rang and Gina walked in. I looked up and everything went blank.
And what's with this shady character getting up from a barstool, looking at you and going into the men's room? This dude sounds like someone you don't want to make eye contact with... if you know what I mean.
"...to justify the number of salespeople they kept on hand..."
That sounds like the "fight promoter" style of management. This is where the management puts multiple salespeople in the same territory (store), sets unobtainable goals, and then sets the employees against each other to fight it out.
I once asked a business owner why he did this as it was causing havoc with morale and was reflecting badly with the public. He said "I'm like a fight promoter who has two contestants beating the hell out of each other in the ring and I own them both. I can't lose."
I guess he felt that employees in a constant state of anxiety would work harder.
2019 Kia Soul+, 2015 Mustang GT, 2013 Ford F-150, 2000 Chrysler Sebring convertible
It doesn't cost dealerships anything to flood the floors with sales people. Sales people work by commision. It can be a double edge sword though. As discussed it can make everyone fight it out. But it does give the management a headache because the new sales people will make a lot of mistakes and management will have work double.
Also when stores flood the floors their CSI ussualy goes down for a month or two. That's when management will start to get upset because then they might be losing bonuses because of CSI.
When ever the floors are flooded here I ussualy sit back and enjoy the show?
Greenpea68 hit it right on the head. It's happening at my store as we speak. We had three salespeople quit last week, three the week before, and 2 the week before that. Not to mention the one that quit the week before the week before that. At our store it's the current pay plan that's causing a lot of dissatisfaction. We have to jump through a lot of hoops to get bonus money such as unit bonus, finance money, csi money, you name it money. I've thought about leaving a few times and become a free agent. I got another store that I could go to but the problem is not all my customers will follow. Some are loyal to me and some are loyal to the dealership. It's just a fact of car sales and sometimes you just have to ride out the storm. :sick: Mackabee
This story begins in 1997. The Camry was in it's 4th generation and was on its way of becoming the numero uno in the country. It was my first full year in the car biz and I was selling those Camrys like hot cakes! A lady with great looking gams stopped in to test drive one. Within a matter of hours she was gone in her new Camry.
9 YEARS LATER
It was a cool spring morning and I was out front of the showroom when a Dodge mini-van pulls up to an empty customer parking space. A woman gets out of the van and starts walking towards the inventory. I head out to greet her and when she turns to look at me I recognize who she is and exclaim. "Patrice, it is you!" She smiles and is amazed that I remember her name. "Wow! You remember me." she says. "How could I forget such a beautiful lady." I respond. "What happened to the Camry I sold you?" I ask. "I made a dumb move. I traded it on this van." she replies. "I want to get out of this and get into another car. Something not too expensive. Maybe a Corolla?" she says. "Let's take a look at what I got." I tell her and begin walking down a row of cars. She spots the new Yaris and asks me about it. "It's our latest addition. It replaced the Echo." I tell her. "It's kinda cute. Can I look at it?" I open the car and go over the features. She likes it and asks if she can test drive it. "Sure. Let's go for a ride." As we get on the boulevard I start some small talk and aks about her husband. She tells me she is now divorced and taking care of a son too. "I'm sorry to hear that. I hope it was an amicable split." I comment. "It was rather ugly. He's an SOB." she says. We get back to the showroom and I get the mileage off her van and begin the appraisal process. We also do a credit check and things aren't as rosy as nine years ago. "It's bad isn't it?" she asks. "Yeah, it is bad." I reply. "My husband ran up all the credit cards and left me with all the bills. Is there anything you can do?" she asks. "Not much. You have a lot of negative equity and with no cash to put down there's nothing we can do." I tell her. "Ok, I guess I'll have to wait." 18 MONTHS LATER
It's a Saturday afternoon and our dealership has hired an out of town sales crew to run an onsite sale for the credit challenged. The home sales force is not too happy about this event and decide to sit the weekend off by just looking at the spectacle unfolding in front of their eyes. I came to work so I decide to split away from the crowd and start looking for customers elsewhere. We have not seen anything like this before so we are not in awe but rather ashamed that our store would stoop to something this low. I spot an older couple getting out of an Oldsmobile Alero and wonder how they made it by all the sharks that are roaming the parking lot and attacking every customer before they even get out of their car. :mad: I see the lady is carrying a newspaper and I approach her and ask what I can do to assist her. "I want to look at this car." she points to an ad in the paper. "Where's the gentleman that was with you?" I ask. He's parking our other car she says. "Ok, let's wait for him." I say. Mr. Shue is walking around looking for Mrs. Shue and I wave to him to let him know she's with me. He comes over, we shake hands and we start looking for the car in the ad. The car is a 2006 Corolla pre-owned certified listed for $16,990.00. We walk the entire lot looking for the car and can't find it. I get a light going off in my head and ask them. "Mr. and Mrs. Shue, that car is probably sold." and before I finish Mrs. Shue goes "I knew it, the old bait and switch." :mad: At this time we have $500.00 cash back on new Corollas so I ask her. "What if I can get you a new one for less than the one in the paper?" I ask TO BE CONTINUED.............
You got it! But try and telling this to the owners, managers, and you keep running against the wall! I've never understood that mentality. :lemon: Mackabee
What is funny is when I have worked where the occasionally flooded the floor, I actually made more money. The training program was liner/closer and I would get half the deal for 15 minutes work.
That is one of the bennefits for me when they flood the floors. You do 15 - 20 minutes of work and get half the deal/ commission. No CSI, No delivery. SO I enjoy it also. :shades:
Can we start a new incentive pay plan where you get extra cash for having only two parts? and the pay goes down if the number of parts goes over 5?
That sounds good but since he knows he's in for a 'mini' with us, I don't think it will work. The best we can hope for is that we'll get some take-out so we don't starve waiting for the finale.
jmonroe
'15 Genesis V8 with Ultimate Package and '18 Legacy Limited 6 cyl
We now continue with this week's saga. Today's episode: "I should have bought a Toyota!"
Mrs. Shue looks at me with a :confuse: look on her face and says "Can you do that?" to which I respond "Sure! I have a rebate that can be applied to the price of the car to get the price lower. c'mon, follow me." I start walking to the back of the dealership where our overflow lot is. We have an excellent selection and I tell her to pick one out. "I like the gold one." she says. "Ok, let's take it for a test drive." Before she gets in the car I go over the controls with her and then she gets behind the wheel. We go out to the boulevard and right away she makes a U turn. "Whoa, where are we going!?" I exclaim as she makes the turn and slams on the gas. "I want to see how much pick up it has." she says and we are hauling butt down the boulevard. "Alright wild woman. Let's get back to the dealership before we have a wreck." I tell her jokingly. We head back to the dealership and she tells me she wants to trade her Alero and has the title for it. "Great!, How much do you want for it?" I ask. "As long as I can get $3000.00 for it I'll be happy." I don't want to pay more than $15,000.00 for the car." she says. "You mean 15,000 plus your car?" I ask just to clarify my thinking. "Yes. That's what I mean." she replies. I ask her for the keys and fill out an appraisal form and take it to the used car manager. TO BE CONTINUED :shades:
Here's a preview of the next episode: "Will the Shue's get their new Corolla for $15k or will the trade-in spoil Mack's deal? And what happened to Patrice? What are the other sales people doing? All this and more! In our next episode: "Family comes first!"
Hint to everyone...when you read the previews, be sure to read to yourself in that guy's voice that does all the voice overs for the commercials for tv shows and movies!!
"Will the Shue's get their new Corolla for $15k or will the trade-in spoil Mack's deal? And what happened to Patrice? What are the other sales people doing? All this and more! In our next episode: "Family comes first!"
The Rocky & Bullwinkle show would usually end a segment with two possible names for the next episode. Both names would typically be silly, cornball puns. Using that example for mack's story:
"Stay tuned for our next episode! Will it be The Shue Fits! - or - Co-Rolla on Down The Highway?"
Last month at the dealer rocked! This month, the first week was great, now we are so slow that if any of my sales guys call their customers again there will be hits put out on them. We now pass our time by throwing a football around the showroom. I've never see such a dead month!
wait. can you be a bit more clear as to if the lady is hitting on you or not? i sense some tension, a little play, some potential for mischief...
and another thing... i'm confused, shue's test driving what trim corolla? CE, S, or LE? Do any of the 3 MSRP above 15K for goodness sake? So she's telling you to sell her the car starting at 3K above MSRP? Wow.
i think she's trying to toss money at you because you remembered her. no wait, Patrice is the one you remembered... Dang, I'm confused.
See this multiple thread story !@#$%^ is mixing me up, just like all the numbers you might try to throw at me when I sit down at the table. You're good. :shades:
Since it's such a slow month why don't you guys in the biz go on vacation? If you go to the beach you can sell umbrellas and make some big bucks and you probably won't miss a single episode of Mack's story.
For confirmation of the umbrella thing talk to 'jip'.
jmonroe
'15 Genesis V8 with Ultimate Package and '18 Legacy Limited 6 cyl
Yeah, the owners of those beach chair/umbrella rentals make a fortune. They pay minimum wage to a couple stoned out surfer dudes to set the rentals up and run things, then they come around to collect the money and drink margarittas in their beach front condo.
I got a pretty good umbrella sales story for you guys...(to be continued)
Don't worry, the last few days of the month all the Edmunds posters will be out looking for deals. You guys will be swamped with grinders looking for below invoice with free floor mats.
2019 Kia Soul+, 2015 Mustang GT, 2013 Ford F-150, 2000 Chrysler Sebring convertible
Years ago I was working at a dealer and we had a salesman who was much older than I am now. I know that is hard to believe, but it is true. Anyway, we had 8 used cars that had so many days on them that management, in their infinite wisdom, had removed all the spiffs from. Anyway, Old Harold managed to sell all 8 of these cars. For him, it was a good month. Unfortunately, all were $100 mini deals. All that effort for $800. Such is the life.
You flatter me. Actually, Harold's first job in the transportation industry was renting boats (and umbrellas) to the Revolutionary Army to cross the Potomac.
It seems as though the car business is on vacation with the rest of America. So... what is selling on your lots? Is it just economy cars? How about SUV's? Is anybody still buying large V8 trucks (Exp's, Tahoes, Armadas, ect..) Have the hybrids cooled? How about someone trading in that Excursion for a Civic and they're upside down $8,000 with a 500 beacon. Let's hear more...
Everything is selling at Toyota. I'm delivering a Sequoia tomorrow afternoon. Sold a Corolla yesterday and a Tacoma today. Have a lady on the fence for a Sienna and another one for a RAV4. We got the 08 Highlander yesterday. That's going to be another hit for Toyota. :shades: Mackabee
So much to read here and NOTHING motivational. Makes me wonder why I stay in the business.... seriously!
Are you saying since the members here don't motivate you enough, that you are thinking of leaving the car sales business? That's an odd statement to make. :confuse:
Sounds like you may need one of those vacations jmonroe and I just got back from. Take a trip to the nearest warm and sunny beach. Get you one of those chair/ beach umbrella rentals that are oh so popular. Then just sit back and relax... drink ya a few crown and cokes... enjoy the scenery. :shades:
Right now we have a $1000.00 flat on an 06 NEW Highlander. Yep 2006 NEW Highlander. :confuse: Somehow this vehicle was dx'd in from a store up north and ended up getting lost in the shuffle.
That reminds me once back in 2006 i stopped at a Ford/Mercury dealer (a small one in a small town) and was looking at their new car inventory. I happend to notice that they had an unsold 2004 Mercury Grand Marquis (still had the original window sticker). I thought to myself how is that possible? Especially at a small dealer. A month later I stopped by a Chevrolet dealer in another small town and they had an unsold 2004 (new) full size pickup. Does this happen often? How are these cars getting passed by?
Comments
Seems like a lot of dealerships do this. How does the dealership benefit? A friend sold cars briefly. He said dealerships will hire a bunch of salespeople, who will in turn sell to their friends and family. When that dries up, most end up quitting, due to not enough ups... too many salespeople. Then the dealership will hire in a bunch of new greenpeas. Keeps the top salesguys happy I'm sure. Tough crackers for everyone else though.
2nd Place.. Set of steak knives
3rd Place.. You're fired!
and below
Edmunds Price Checker
Edmunds Lease Calculator
Did you get a good deal? Be sure to come back and share!
Edmunds Moderator
1st Place - One week in Detroit
2nd Place - Two weeks in Detroit
3rd Place - Transferred to Detroit
What's that mean? You passed out?
And what's with this shady character getting up from a barstool, looking at you and going into the men's room?
This dude sounds like someone you don't want to make eye contact with... if you know what I mean.
Nope, never seen it.
I'm guessing then it would have to mean Gina was a knockout... or she shot mac(whacked). :sick:
'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
That sounds like the "fight promoter" style of management. This is where the management puts multiple salespeople in the same territory (store), sets unobtainable goals, and then sets the employees against each other to fight it out.
I once asked a business owner why he did this as it was causing havoc with morale and was reflecting badly with the public. He said "I'm like a fight promoter who has two contestants beating the hell out of each other in the ring and I own them both. I can't lose."
I guess he felt that employees in a constant state of anxiety would work harder.
2019 Kia Soul+, 2015 Mustang GT, 2013 Ford F-150, 2000 Chrysler Sebring convertible
Also when stores flood the floors their CSI ussualy goes down for a month or two. That's when management will start to get upset because then they might be losing bonuses because of CSI.
When ever the floors are flooded here I ussualy sit back and enjoy the show?
:sick:
Mackabee
A lady with great looking gams
9 YEARS LATER
It was a cool spring morning and I was out front of the showroom when a Dodge mini-van pulls up to an empty customer parking space. A woman gets out of the van and starts walking towards the inventory. I head out to greet her and when she turns to look at me I recognize who she is and exclaim. "Patrice, it is you!" She smiles and is amazed that I remember her name. "Wow! You remember me." she says. "How could I forget such a beautiful lady." I respond. "What happened to the Camry I sold you?" I ask. "I made a dumb move. I traded it on this van." she replies. "I want to get out of this and get into another car. Something not too expensive. Maybe a Corolla?" she says. "Let's take a look at what I got." I tell her and begin walking down a row of cars. She spots the new Yaris and asks me about it. "It's our latest addition. It replaced the Echo." I tell her. "It's kinda cute. Can I look at it?"
I open the car and go over the features. She likes it and asks if she can test drive it. "Sure. Let's go for a ride." As we get on the boulevard I start some small talk and aks about her husband. She tells me she is now divorced and taking care of a son too. "I'm sorry to hear that. I hope it was an amicable split." I comment. "It was rather ugly. He's an SOB." she says.
We get back to the showroom and I get the mileage off her van and begin the appraisal process. We also do a credit check and things aren't as rosy as nine years ago. "It's bad isn't it?" she asks. "Yeah, it is bad." I reply. "My husband ran up all the credit cards and left me with all the bills. Is there anything you can do?" she asks. "Not much. You have a lot of negative equity and with no cash to put down there's nothing we can do." I tell her.
"Ok, I guess I'll have to wait."
18 MONTHS LATER
It's a Saturday afternoon and our dealership has hired an out of town sales crew to run an onsite sale for the credit challenged. The home sales force is not too happy about this event and decide to sit the weekend off by just looking at the spectacle unfolding in front of their eyes. I came to work so I decide to split away from the crowd and start looking for customers elsewhere. We have not seen anything like this before so we are not in awe but rather ashamed that our store would stoop to something this low.
I spot an older couple getting out of an Oldsmobile Alero and wonder how they made it by all the sharks that are roaming the parking lot and attacking every customer before they even get out of their car. :mad:
I see the lady is carrying a newspaper and I approach her and ask what I can do to assist her. "I want to look at this car." she points to an ad in the paper. "Where's the gentleman that was with you?" I ask. He's parking our other car she says. "Ok, let's wait for him." I say. Mr. Shue is walking around looking for Mrs. Shue and I wave to him to let him know she's with me. He comes over, we shake hands and we start looking for the car in the ad. The car is a 2006 Corolla pre-owned certified listed for $16,990.00. We walk the entire lot looking for the car and can't find it. I get a light going off in my head and ask them. "Mr. and Mrs. Shue, that car is probably sold." and before I finish Mrs. Shue goes "I knew it, the old bait and switch." :mad:
At this time we have $500.00 cash back on new Corollas so I ask her. "What if I can get you a new one for less than the one in the paper?" I ask
TO BE CONTINUED.............
Mackabee
2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,
Other than th cost of training, the costs of alienating customers, the cost of stupid mistakes made by newbies ...
Mackabee
That sounds good but since he knows he's in for a 'mini' with us, I don't think it will work. The best we can hope for is that we'll get some take-out so we don't starve waiting for the finale.
jmonroe
'15 Genesis V8 with Ultimate Package and '18 Legacy Limited 6 cyl
2nd Place.. Set of steak knives
3rd Place.. You're fired!
and below
It's all about the leads.
"I should have bought a Toyota!"
Mrs. Shue looks at me with a :confuse: look on her face and says "Can you do that?" to which I respond "Sure! I have a rebate that can be applied to the price of the car to get the price lower. c'mon, follow me." I start walking to the back of the dealership where our overflow lot is. We have an excellent selection and I tell her to pick one out. "I like the gold one." she says. "Ok, let's take it for a test drive." Before she gets in the car I go over the controls with her and then she gets behind the wheel. We go out to the boulevard and right away she makes a U turn. "Whoa, where are we going!?" I exclaim as she makes the turn and slams on the gas. "I want to see how much pick up it has." she says and we are hauling butt down the boulevard.
TO BE CONTINUED
:shades:
Here's a preview of the next episode: "Will the Shue's get their new Corolla for $15k or will the trade-in spoil Mack's deal? And what happened to Patrice? What are the other sales people doing? All this and more! In our next episode: "Family comes first!"
2013 LX 570 2016 LS 460
Keep writing Mac, it's awesome!
The Rocky & Bullwinkle show would usually end a segment with two possible names for the next episode. Both names would typically be silly, cornball puns. Using that example for mack's story:
"Stay tuned for our next episode! Will it be
The Shue Fits!
- or -
Co-Rolla on Down The Highway?"
Mackabee
July is just a bad month all around so you got to take what you can get.
This has been my slowest year so far. Had a great month a couple months ago. But this is July. JULY!!
and another thing... i'm confused, shue's test driving what trim corolla? CE, S, or LE? Do any of the 3 MSRP above 15K for goodness sake? So she's telling you to sell her the car starting at 3K above MSRP? Wow.
i think she's trying to toss money at you because you remembered her. no wait, Patrice is the one you remembered... Dang, I'm confused.
See this multiple thread story !@#$%^ is mixing me up, just like all the numbers you might try to throw at me when I sit down at the table. You're good. :shades:
For confirmation of the umbrella thing talk to 'jip'.
jmonroe
'15 Genesis V8 with Ultimate Package and '18 Legacy Limited 6 cyl
I got a pretty good umbrella sales story for you guys...(to be continued)
Don't worry, the last few days of the month all the Edmunds posters will be out looking for deals. You guys will be swamped with grinders looking for below invoice with free floor mats.
2019 Kia Soul+, 2015 Mustang GT, 2013 Ford F-150, 2000 Chrysler Sebring convertible
There would be nothing to talk about unless they were coming up with about $15,000
What's Selling you ask? COmpacts and hybrids :shades:
Mackabee
You just had to go and say that knowing full well we have some Honda sales guys that hang out here?
Well, at least two of them are now pushing Nissans (I don't mean that literally, I hope). So I guess things could be even worse.
jmonroe
'15 Genesis V8 with Ultimate Package and '18 Legacy Limited 6 cyl
For the Free coffee?
Are you saying since the members here don't motivate you enough, that you are thinking of leaving the car sales business? That's an odd statement to make. :confuse:
Sounds like you may need one of those vacations jmonroe and I just got back from. Take a trip to the nearest warm and sunny beach. Get you one of those chair/ beach umbrella rentals that are oh so popular. Then just sit back and relax... drink ya a few crown and cokes... enjoy the scenery. :shades:
That reminds me once back in 2006 i stopped at a Ford/Mercury dealer (a small one in a small town) and was looking at their new car inventory. I happend to notice that they had an unsold 2004 Mercury Grand Marquis (still had the original window sticker). I thought to myself how is that possible? Especially at a small dealer. A month later I stopped by a Chevrolet dealer in another small town and they had an unsold 2004 (new) full size pickup. Does this happen often? How are these cars getting passed by?