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Stories from the Sales Frontlines
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The more you demand of people, the more dissatisfied you will be living in our society.
When I was in the military they told us respect is earned never given.
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D
The more you demand of people, the more dissatisfied you will be living in our society.
In life and death decisions, respect is a must. If the people who work for me did not respect me, bad things could happen, therefore, I demand, for their safety, and mine, that they show me respect, and in return I do the same. You spend almost two years driving around Iraq, and you will demand people respect you too. If my driver or gunner did not respect me enough to obey my orders without question, people would have definately gotten hurt in many different situations. Anyone who has ever been in the military understands this.
Part one
Ok so when we last left our adventure a vehicle that is never sold at a discount let alone X-Plan has just been promised to someone at X-Plan.
Our centre manager just tells them to pick any of the three Supercharged Range Rover Sports we have in stock.
I am still just dumbfounded but hey it is one more sale twowrds a bonus level.
For those that don't know X-Plan is 4 percent over invoice plus destination and RAG(regional advertising Group) fee. Depending on the SC Sport they picked that would have put their purchase price around 70,000 dollars plus tax, tags and reg.
I am not sure if they just didn't understand how X-Plan worked but they were not that happy with that price...
They go outside to think it over.
After about 10 minutes I go outside to talk to them. They have come to grips with the price of the vehicle which is good. So I ask for a deposit to hold the vehicle of their choice.
Father: We are not leaving a deposit.
ME: Uh ok well I cannot hold one of the vehicles without one and once these are gone we will not have anymore till December.
Son: Oh I am sure all three won't be sold by Monday. We just want to check on insurance and financing.
Father: Yeah I want to see how much our insurance rates will go up because of the car. We are already prequalified for 4.9 percent loan through Capital one so we are not interested in your financing.
ME:(Alarm bells going off in my head because no one buying our cars care about insurance rates.) Ok so we will wrap this up on monday then.
Son: Yeah I will call you Monday and we can set everything up for later in the week.
ME:Ok as long as none of them sell before monday.
They both leave I explain what happend to my boss. He has a similar reaction at first but says he thinks they will go through with everything. I am still skeptical.
Towards the end of the day our other sales guide does sell one of the Supercharged Sports.
Monday comes and goes they never call me.
Tuesday I call the son and he tells me he about has all of the bank stuff set up and will call me back in the afternoon.
Hmhh I thought they were already prequalified. :P
I say ok.
He never calls me back.
Over the next few days I leave a couple of messages and they are never returned.
One of the other SC Sports is sold.
Finally next monday rolls around over a week since they said they were going to buy a vehicle.
I finally reach the son directly and he kind of stalls and hems and haws.
I just ask him point blank if he still plans to purchase the vehicle.
Son: Well it turns out I am not being transfered into the area so I don't need a vehicle right now. I still want one but will probably buy one later when the 2007s come out.
ME:(thinking about all of the time I have wasted with these people) Good luck rover has seriously cut back on production for the 2007 MY vehicles. We have only been allocated one 2007 SC Sport from now till January and it is already sold.
Son:Ok well thanks for your help. (Hangs up)
Man I was mad what a waste of time.
I've stated that several times myself deserth8r, and couldn't agree more. Now if presented in a respectful and kind manner...I would have less problem with the bobst method. But the "I'll buy that car for XXX...if not agreeable I'm walking", is offensive IMO.
As for respect, I believe you give a fellow human being respect until they do something to relinquish it.
Nonetheless, I have really enjoyed reading the stories here, thanks for sharing them with us!
Stated like that, yes it is offensve. But I think most of us here can use a little more tact than that.
As much as I love to pay less and want a low price, I also refuse to subject myself voluntarily to company of people I have no basic confidence or trust. Besides all the moral reasons, there is one practical - if you can't build a basic trust with the guy, there is no reason to believe that the lower price that he agreed upon is real. There is still a lot of time from their verbal OK to actual contract signing or even the letter from bank. Meanwhile I have to read things ten times, defend against all the garbage products they sell, and still worry if they switch the paperwork afterwards. No, thank you - I'd rather stay with the guy who may charge me couple of hundreds more (if even that), but I have some confidence that the deal is real.
2018 430i Gran Coupe
I would presume that the deposit would have been refundable. Am I correct? If yes then what was the big deal?
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D
Why is that? If you walk into a store wanting to buy something and it costs more than you wanted to pay and walk out didn't you just do the same thing abet more passively?
Its not really offensive to walk into a business and offer to buy something at a reasonable price, that is why a store is in business.
Look at it this way, is it offensive for a dealership to put a price on a car saying "I'll sell that car for $XXX...if not agreeable then don't buy it"?
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D
Of course, that's true. I only go to medical professionals that I trust, especially the guy who did my colonoscopy a couple years ago.
Fortunately, that's as close as I get to a life or death situation.
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D
All well and good....but how many realize that there is a 50-50 chance that their doctor was graduated in the bottom 50% of his/her class.
I am standing in the showroom talking to our other sales guide where goes, "hey what the hell is going on here look at that."
I turn around and there is this toyota tacoma driving across our off-road test track. We both do a double take and just stare at this complete idiot.
He just crossed the 45 degree incline/decline hill and is about to hit the 34 degree side slope. Luckily he took it low as it gets more severe farther up and I don't think it could have made it otherwise.
He makes the turn into the ditch at the front of the track which is about eight feet wide from crest to crest and a little over three feet deep at the deepest point. Now the trick here is to hit that ditch at an angle so that you don't scrape the corners of the truck.
That is why you start at the ditch so that you can line up properly before you start the track.
Well this guy does not hit the angle right and even if he had I don't think this truck had the right approach and departure angles to clear the ditch. He drops the nose into it going to fast scrapes the driverside front corner somewhat. Then the back end comes through and he drags the passengerside right corner for several feet. The rear axel does not have enough articulation to keep both wheels on the ground so the drivers side tire is chirping and spinning as he tries to power out of the whole. Scrapping the whole way through.
We were just too shocked to get the plate number off this idiot.
:mad:
And with an addendum at the end.
And maybe it will shed some light on how us sales professionals have to deal with our *cough* _anagers.
Husband and wife come in looking for a small truck for her. He recently purchased a new heart. Yup. Running a new ticker for two months now. Looks pretty good considering.
We demo a 05 Colorado and then an 06 Dakota. Dakota wins out this time. Start photocopying and pulling invoices, getting ready to put them in finance, and he just winds down like Big Ben clock. Goes out to his car (wife was driving) and falls dead asleep in the passenger seat in like 60 seconds.
I say good-bye, see ya in a couple of days (hopefully), and walk back in the showroom.
Owner was fumed! Says I should have seen he had a medical condition and qualified him faster. Worked him harder, faster, louder. I even did a speed turn to the sales manager before he left and passed out to cover my reason for the lost sale. LOL
Oh yeah, he had a biopsy about two hours before he walked in, too.
Every manager and salesperson in the building came up to me later and told me I did the right thing. Not that I seemed upset at hearing that earlier malarkey.
I think the hardest part of the job isn't finding a vehicle or a price, it's putting up with THAT! And my grosses and numbers are way good (super-good). Am I thinking about changing my handle from mopar_chris to honda_chris or highline-chris at this point? You are darn tootin!
And my shop is pretty decent. I picked it out because they don't have closers and they don't turn and turn and turn.
I am putting my shop on 30 days probation.
ADDED: 99% of this shop is awesome. And everyone in the shop, management on down, came up later to say that what was said to me was dumb, so not the worst group to work for. I guess. I have yet to find a shop that runs the way I would run one from top to bottom. Any one know of one, tell me where. I am on number shop #4 in two states as it is and this one is the best I have found.
I really like this gig a lot. And FWIW maybe ten years from now I can open my own shop and run it the way it should be run. And from what I read here from the other salespersons, they seem to adhere to a very respectful and professional way of doing business. Heck I would even buy a Yugo shop if they had a franchise available. Could probably buy one of those after saving for a year.
Our July has been a beat down and we have been beat down by our managers.
In months that are not so stellar, what do you all do to stay motivated?
Also, carsalespeople are some of the most superstitious people? Any car sales superstitions?
(I knew some old sales guys on the line who would throw pennies on the lot and another who swore if he listened to Loverboy's greatest hits on Saturday we would have a good day.)
I get the urge to try it in my CR-V.. :surprise: I can't imagine how strong the urge would be if I had a Land Cruiser or Wrangler..
In fact, there is no way that I'd buy a Land Rover without them giving me multiple chances to try it out...
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If that's the case then I'd guess that the owner was either having a really bad day, or he has little input into the way the place is run and just sits back and collects the profits. Either way, it's probably worth your while to stick around.
OTOH, could the owner be out to dump you? Whatever you'd done in that situation would have been wrong in the eyes of the owner, though FWIW I think you did the right thing.
This folder was cursed it just had to be. We tore it up into little bits and then burned it.
I think it is a reasonable assumption that people will haggle during the purchasing of an automobile. Whereas it is not assumed(or allowed) in other retail purchasing areas.i.e groceries, retail/discount stores, gas stations, doctor exams/surgery.
I also think it reasonable that most people don't like demands being placed on them from strangers. i.e "take it or leave it". But, as posted before,if worded properly in respectful manner...should be okay.
My personal superstition is I will get all the paperwork done on a delivery but I will not put it in a folder until the customer walks in the door.
As long as you tell the salesperson up front..."I'm only going to make one offer......it's either acceptable to both of us, or it isn't". I would also explain that it won't take much time at all to either have a deal or not.
If we're confident enough in our research, we've go a number in mind, anyway. Why not make that THE ONLY OFFER made? Seems simple to me.
My nephew was in Afghanistan and the stories are amazing. After six years in the service, he is out now.
mark156
Not everyone looking at a car will purchase as you know... that's the nature of the beast.
Mark
There are two different types of respect you can have, respect out of fear, and respect from someone earning it. I do not really care how mt soldiers respect me, but the job requires one of these two types.
Buying a car is a little different than the situations I am put in out here, but if there is no trust or respect, on both sides of the table, it will never work. I could not use the bob method because to me there is no trust given. If they tell you they cannot sell for a certain price because it is too low, and you leave, you are saying you do not trust them.
Like I said before, it works for some, and there is nothing wrong with it, but it is just not a way I choose to do things
But we get those demands all the time from strangers, as I said before it may be more passive but its there. I really can't see it being offensive to place a value on something and refuse to pay more than that. Granted that is if the value is reasonable. I wouldn't expect to go see British Rover and say I will give you $10K for this brand new Supercharged Range Rover Sport or no deal, that would not be reasonable (however if he is willing to sell me one for that price I am open to it
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D
People haggle because there are salespersons with negotiating authority in the Automobile dealership and there are none in the grocery stores.
eg. You can buy fashion jewelry from a Cart in a Mall or the Big Dillards / Macy's storefront. You will never haggle when buying from Macy's but I will be darned if you can resist haggling when buying from the cart.
I agree.
On one of my earlier vehicle purchases, I "asked" for the salesperson's best price, indicating if I was satisfied with it I would buy, "right now". I didn't say anything about "walking", but that's what I ended up doing as we were about 3 grand apart as to what I thought a good deal was.
Walking in, making the offer and then actually walking when the offer is refused is much less likely to be construed as offensive especially if the parting statement is something like. "Ok, have a nice day."
The sellers always want you to make the first real offer anyway. Remember their first offer is right there on the sticker.
BTW, I saw a Supercharged Range Rover Sport today in the mall parking lot. I was able to tell my wife how rare and precious it was.
That's 'pretty much' the way I do it. By 'pretty much', I mean, once I've done my research, I NEVER increase my offer. However, I will give the salesperson 2 chances to get it right (maximum time limit of 30 minutes). I don't tell them they are 'on the clock' because I don't want to pressure them into screwing-up the sale, otherwise, I'm down the road looking at another 'piece of sheetmetal-on-wheels'. Sorry, I know I've said this before (you know, about the 'sheetmetal-on-wheels' thing) but that's the way I do it and it works for me.
jmonroe
'15 Genesis V8 with Ultimate Package and '18 Legacy Limited 6 cyl
Thats because the one who makes the first off is at the disadvantage.
Remember their first offer is right there on the sticker.
Lets not forget that 99.99% of the time sticker is meaningless, so in reality its not their first offer.
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D
I don't agree. I have purchased several cars (32 plus) at X - under, X-over invoice. The disadvantage you have is it takes the dealer a while to realize THIS IS YOUR FIRST AND ONLY OFFER, and if they choose to accept it. If you do your homework you know what they will accept.
If anybody out there really believes that the 'sticker' is an honest-first-price, I have a bridge that I would like sell them.
Where do these guys come up with this stuff (please note,'stuff', wasn't my first choice of a word to use here but it's one of a few that I can get away with) !!!
jmonroe
'15 Genesis V8 with Ultimate Package and '18 Legacy Limited 6 cyl
Agreed. The previous generation Suburbans when they (GM) were closing them out were a perfect example.
Sticker $45,000.00
Street Price $29,000.00
Yea, go figure! If you didn't know and got 10 grand off sticker you thought you were doing real well!
You don't have to agree. But it is a fact that once you make an offer you just presented a floor which the price will not go under. Conversely if the seller mentions a price then s/he sets a ceiling.
I have also bought many cars at X - under, X-over invoice. I have done my homework as much as you have done. You would be surprised at the number of times I negotiated prices lower than my research suggested.
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D
Back home in Britain, supposedly 70% of medical school students are only there because they failed to get into veterinary school!
it is someone with local knowledge. try to figure out which way they came in.
hey aren't you closed on sundays?
Oh please tell me you told them you would after you could take an X5 around the track.
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D
If you want a ride sometime stop by and I will take you around.
Could I bring my buddies Willys?
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D
Every time I see one of those Commander commercials where they say, "The Jeep Commander the most capable Seven passenger SUV ever," I just laugh. The approach and departure angles on the Commander are horrible. A Disco would stomp a Commander offroad and a LR3 would just embarrass that trail rated badge right off the back liftgate.
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D