I have a sales story (non automobile) to relate. It's long...
I'm with a large propane company and have dealt one-on-one with all types of customers. We had a large account ($3+M) that would put us through the steps each year during pricing contract negotiations. The head buyer was (is) a nice enough guy, but very elusive and very tight with the penny (or piece of penny).
The year before I was promoted to the position that dealt with him, we lost about $250K on this account. Yes, negative margin of $250K. My predecessor wasn't fired, he was promoted. Anyway, as I prepared for my first contract session with this customer, I wanted to make sure that I didn't lose the company $250K.
I built a huge (complicated) spreadsheet that had our most up-to-date product costs as well as our known delivery costs. The only variable was the daily market cost. I placed that cell in A1 and in C1 was my bottom dollar price for this customer.
Well I sure impressed my RVP, VP, President, and CEO. However, I didn't get their business that year or in any of the following four years. I was close every year, within 2 to 2.5 cents per gallon of the winning bid. Each year my Area made more money and gained more customers.
Each year the winning bid company for this customer went out of business. (Did I mention that we're a big company that could take a $250K hit even though it hurt?) The smaller companies that won the bids couldn't take a loss. I was promoted and my successor continued using my method to bid the account.
After the third year, he refused to bid as they were wasting our time. The competition finally caught on as they also refused to bid the account. Now our buyer is in a quandary as he needs product, but none will play by his rules. He decides that he's learned enough from us and our competitors, so he purchases his product direct.
I'm sure he could see my smile as he called to ask what was going on with my industry. I asked what he was talking about. He stated that he purchased product at $x, but the market was rising and he didn't secure enough product to cover his requirements. He was now being forced to pay market prices that were substantially higher.
He received a quick class on how natural gas effects propane. There was a NG shortage and propane is derived from NG and oil by products. In the end, they didn't go out of business and he still has his job, but to this day, we won't place an annual bid with him. We've offered two and three year contracts, but no more annual bids. It cost us to much in people and vehicles to hire/move them one year and then lay them off the next as we don't have the business.
Moral of story is that sometimes it's in your best interest to drop or pass on some customers.
I'm with a large propane company and have dealt one-on-one with all types of customers.
Is that Strictland Propane? Do you stand in your alley with your friends drinking beer? Do you have a son named Bobby? Are you proud to be a Texan (even though you were born in New York)?
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D
Have any of you ever SOLD a car where the customer knew that you were priced higher than your competetion?
I've sold so many customers at 3 cents to 8 cents per gallon higher than any competitor. My favorite was when I sold a guy 2K gallons and he knew that he was going to pay 17 cents more per gallon than his neighbor.
Provide/exceed the customer's service expectations and sometimes that bottom line gets kind of fuzzy.
I'm with the same company, but I now start new locations for us. I work with a small team that hired 30 Hank Hills last year and began each business from scratch. It's a great challenge! We're actually looking for another Hank in the Hartford and Boston areas. Interested?
maybe if he was physically speaking to you, you would have understood it was a joke. however over a message board, sometimes its tough to figure if its a joke or not.
so yes, i understand the concern, but he wouldn't have known that you didn't take it as a joke until you called him out on it.
no reason to fight about it here anyways, i just wanna get back to the sales stories...thats what this forum is about, right?
Hmhhh actually I kind of am interested but my wife would kill me.
She hates that my income is in her words, "Just so unstable."
I have no problem with it but she does sometimes. For example I will make over three quarters of my yearly income between the middle of October and middle of March.
The summers are kind of lean but it means I don't miss much when I take a vacation.
Have any of you ever SOLD a car where the customer knew that you were priced higher than your competetion?
I have BOUGHT a car from a higher priced dealership.
Look if I am buying a sedan that is competitively priced, and ABC Motors is a place that I have had good realtionships with and XYZ Motors is a grinder joint, I will pay $100-200 more. Over the course of the 8-10 years I own the car, the difference is minimal.
If the price delta is $2k, all bets are off and I will go to the other place.
Excellent story, Gasman. I like that. You reap what you sow. Sooner or later. Thanks for sharing.
Provide/exceed the customer's service expectations and sometimes that bottom line gets kind of fuzzy.
Very true, however that line is not quite as defined on the first time around car sales. It's when you start to sell to the originating customer's family and friends, that's when the gross doesn't count as much as the customer service.
I imagine your sales are put together over a long period of time and require excellent educated advice. Our sales are a bit different in that there is an immediate gratification. We can put together a deal in an hour or so. Customers don't always need our expertise either.
I agree but I'm not so sure that you aren't helping to perpetuate it either, judging by your posts here.
I think that you have to take anything a car salesman says with a grain of salt...and if the grains are too big you can go pound it....Nyuck nyuck nyuck. ( notice the laughy type words used to denote sarcasm)
Thankfully, I don't work this job anymore. However, about 15 years back I was running F&I at a new car dealership. One of my all time favorite memories happen one Sat. morning. I had just disclosed the bank contract to a middle aged man. His young son, about 7 years had tagged along with Daddy to purchase the used truck. When the man reached for the pen to sign the child blurted out..." Don't do it Daddy, you know he's lying to you". At first, we both were stunned and motionless. Then I spoke. "Children say the craziest things. I wonder where he got that from" ? The man chuckled and started signing the contract. I'll never forget it.
By the way, I was just about to sell a car to someone who offered me invoice. But then I decided I hated him and threw him out the door. Nyuck nyuck nyuck.
A couple of nights ago a fellow salesman had a couple looking at New Jeep Liberty. They come inside, agree on numbers and the salesman takes a credit application. Their beacon score was fairly low but the sales manager thought he could get the loan approved. Primary F&I manager was off for the evening and the sales manager was filling in. Sales manager asked if the terms were agreeable and the customers would like us to finalize ( get approved) the loan the next day. The customer agrees, hands are shook and its a done deal. Next morning the regular F&I guy comes to work and gets the loan approved asap. Salesman calls the customer and leaves a message at approx 10 am. Customer doesnt return calls and salesman tries throughout the day to get in touch finally reaching him around 5. " Hi this Joe salesman and I have been trying get in touch with you, we got your loan approved and wondered when you were going to come in and finalize the paperwork." "um we already bought a car." At this point I gained a lot of respect for the salesmans self control. " Oh, ok well thanks for your time."
Credit challenged customer comes in and gives his word to buy a car and then the next day plays hide N seek with the salesman while he breaks his promise. I would have been a little more "stern" in my convo with the lying customer.
carhag2000, I have been reading this interesting disccussion, but haven't posted yet. Just a question, and observation based on my past....(WAY past) We didn't you (your dealership) deliver the car right then and there if it was likely your manager thought he could get financing for the buyer? It seems that every car I bought on terms in my younger days always had a clause that indicated the car was going back if the financing couldn't be secured.
A few years ago one of our very patient salesmen spent, literally an entire Saturday with a family. We were swamped that day too. They had two bratty whiney kids along, they must have driven five different cars.
FINALLY, they landed on a car and a MAJOR grind session began. An hour later, a deal was struck and they shook hands. By this time, it was around 5:00 and the kids were out of control. They said they wanted to go down the block to a restaurant to get the kids fed. O.K., they would be back in a half hour. We had the car washed and the paperwork done...no cutstomer. Finally at 6:30 the salesguy called their house. No answer. At 7:00 he went home ticked!
After calling their house and leaving messages for two days, a kid answered the phone and let him know that had, indeed, bought a new Honda that very night from another dealer!
They knew what they were doing. They took our price and shopped it! They probably "saved" 50.00 in the process.
The husband and wife emerged from the office happy and content with thet new car purchase. I was in the showroom as another manager was running F&I at the time. The lady approached me and I smiled in a polite welcome manner. Once she locked eyes directly on me she burst into tears. I calmed the woman and asked what was wrong? She replyed " I had no choice in the color this new car and I don"t want the red one, I want the green one." I called the salesman over and we re-contracted the people on the color car she desired. Both left happy the second time.
The dealership was located near a nature preserve, so any type of critter could and would enter the facility. The couple asked me, " Is that the lowest payment?" I told them yes it was indeed. Then they asked, " Is that a small dead baby possum on your floor"? Startled, I looked around and sure enough, there it was back in the corner of the office. I told them, yes indeed it was a dead possum and then they signed right up and left. At present, no news on fate of customers or removed deceased possum.
An excellent question. I don't know. After the buyers left, I requested clean up help to remove the possum. The possum could have been living up to it's namesake.
Weird.. 60-70% of our income is from March to Sept. Unstable is the key word in this business. One had better be a good budgeter and be willing to 'live lean' for a couple of months a year.
The possum could have been living up to it's namesake.
For clarification Possums do not play dead Opossums are the ones that play dead. There is a world of difference (Opossums are in North America, Possums are in Australia).
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D
The summers are kind of lean but it means I don't miss much when I take a vacation.
I think a lot of people outside of commissioned sales don't comprehend that. In fact, not only is there no income, but any sales you would have made, and the referrals that they generate, have gone to someone else. It's not like when you work in an office and they save your work in a big pile on your desk for when you come back.
I have just finished up another deal and I have a moment while they are in F&I. Yes, I'm still in cars sales.
I apologize for not being snarkier. I will attempt to ooze sarcasm when I'm using it.
That post about me being in waste management was a little misleading. I was responding to a post that was yanked. As usual, I was being very sarcastic. I'm not quite sure why they left my post and took the other, but whatever.
My customer who picked up a new CRV brought all of us at the dealership cake and a thank you card. She got a nice discount on the car but wasn't a grinder by any means. Just like Isell was saying the people that pay more are happier than the grinders.
Story 2: A few months ago a family pulls in late saturday and wants to look at a Pilot. Since I got engaged a week before, we had an engagement dinner with our families planned at 7 pm. It was about 5:15pm, so I quickly show them the car, send them out on a drive and appraise their trade in. They return from the test drive, and we start looking at numbers.
It was getting really late we gave them a huge discount right off the top to get the deal done, but this guy wanted accessories for the car. He was deciding for 20 minutes what to get then said he wanted another $3000 in free accessories.
It was already 6pm and I really had to go, so I went up to the manager and he told me to give him a $1000 in freebies and that's it. I thought it would have been the end of it, and the custmer would say yay or nay, but now he's looking over the accessories again, to see which ones he'll take and which ones he won't.
I'm getting frustrated but keep my cool. At that point I don't care for the deal because it would be a mini, and we'd have to locate the car anyways (Sept, year end, low rates etc, no inventory).
6:20pm he makes another counter offer (about $250 away), so since I'm here already I go back to my manager he agrees and we do the deal. I tell the customer ok, we print a worksheet, sign it, get a deposit.
After all is said and done his wife says she wants free tinted windows. I told her the Pilot already has tint. She says "no it's not dark enough" (the Pilot in the showroom had it's doors/hatch open, and sun was at a low level so it was shining through, and the windows didn't seem that dark).
She said she wanted the windows as dark as in their Odyysey cause it's not safe for her kids :confuse:
The window tint was exactly the same shade as in their van but she didn't care to hear that.
I got fed up said no, and told them they can have their deposit back, cause we'd be below cost on the car if we'd give them anymore freebies. (and it was 6:40pm, we closed at 6pm).
We did a refund, and I was so ticked off I was going to tell her off, but I just kept my cool, and kicked them out nicely.
I was choked at them for wasting my and my manager's time, and for making me being late for my own engagement party. :mad: :mad: :mad:
Tomorrow we take delivery of a new G6 for my daughter. (She's finishing college in 4 years, not 5 and is still single and childless. She held up to her end of the deal, so now I get to pony up.)
We made the deal 3 weeks ago on a hand shake. No deposit was asked for. They had to wait for a Vibe to come in for their dealer trade. They trailered the Vibe 330 miles to swap for the G6. They added the accessories we wanted and even took the car to Goodyear to swap the 24K mile Hankook tires for 80K mile GY Triple Treds as I requested.
I've done a lot of deals on a handshake, but none that involved this much faith on the dealer's part. They offered to let me have the car a few days ago and sign the paperwork when my daughter comes home Friday.
A few years ago I purchased another car in this area on a handshake and had the car for three days before the credit union check arrived to pay for it. I'm in Iowa, but we have about 80K people in Iowa City/Coralville plus the UI students.
Thier F&I guy met my Credit Union's 5.74% APR through a local CU. He was also able to work the loan so that she will receive the loan history credit. My CU wouldn't think of doing that.
BTW - It's real nice to see how the board has gone today. We're starting to cook with gas on the stories. Please keep it up!
Weird.. 60-70% of our income is from March to Sept. Unstable is the key word in this business. One had better be a good budgeter and be willing to 'live lean' for a couple of months a year.
Makes sense as our busy time is flip flopped compared to every other brand since we only sell four wheel drive SUVs. Also our launch schedual for new product is screwy too. We don't normaly get our next Model Year vehicles until november or october. Only when they are launching new models or doing a major redesign do next model year vehicles come out at another time.
For example the drive train upgrade of the 2006 MY Range Rover was upgraded in April of 2005. In June of 2002 the Range Rover was redesigned for only the third time in 32 years.
The Sport was launched in July of 2005. The new LR2 will come out in April of 2007.
think a lot of people outside of commissioned sales don't comprehend that. In fact, not only is there no income, but any sales you would have made, and the referrals that they generate, have gone to someone else. It's not like when you work in an office and they save your work in a big pile on your desk for when you come back.
Vacations are expensive in salesland!
Yup the only positives to vacations are you tend to get a few splits from people you worked with previously who bought that week.
You made me laugh and that is all that matters. If anyone believed the story about the woman driving 200 miles then they need to lighten up. How many times do we need to go over the "Bobst" method anyway? By the way, you promised us a story a long time ago.
Come on jmonroe... lighten up on the snide remarks. If need be I'll fly a e-mail at my buddy kirstie(host). She's got an itchy trigger finger with that new Delete-O-Matic 5000 she just bought at Walmart.
If need be I'll fly a e-mail at my buddy kirstie(host). She's got an itchy trigger finger with that new Delete-O-Matic 5000 she just bought at Walmart.
Oh how well I know that.
She is the one that axed a few of my recent posts without your help. So please don't remind her and stay out of this. OK ?
jmonroe
'15 Genesis V8 with Ultimate Package and '18 Legacy Limited 6 cyl
I manage a sales team (as well as a marketing and tech support team).
While my industry isn't even remotely related to car sales, I hear the same concerns from my sales team. Commissions are up and down. When they take a week's worth of vacation, it takes them as much as a month to get back on even footing.
I believe it's the nature of the beast, however. I've approved some commission checks that equals their entire yearly salary. The old 80-20 rules apply....
--20% of their customers provide 80% of the sales people's income. One of those 20% customers drop out of their base, and they're going to have a bad year, income-wise. So, it's a good thing to keep those 20% happy, and to mine others to take their place if one does drop out. --20% of our sales people generate 80% of our revenue. Those 20% who are stars in our biz have a great income, regardless of the month/qtr. The bottom 20% either quit or are asked to leave because of their performance. They aren't bad people, per se. Sales just isn't a good career for them. --The middle 60% muddle on, year in-year out posting "not bad-not great" revenue numbers, with modest incomes....and they're happy with that. They're the ones who do just what we ask them to do....no more (but sometimes a little less).
I got fed up said no, and told them they can have their deposit back, cause we'd be below cost on the car if we'd give them anymore freebies. (and it was 6:40pm, we closed at 6pm).
We did a refund, and I was so ticked off I was going to tell her off, but I just kept my cool, and kicked them out nicely.
I was choked at them for wasting my and my manager's time, and for making me being late for my own engagement party.
Reason No.37 why I'm glad I'm not in your biz.
Just couldn't take this stuff.
jmonroe
'15 Genesis V8 with Ultimate Package and '18 Legacy Limited 6 cyl
You know, it is very hard to tell what kind of personality a person has by their posting when you can't see a person's facial expressions and hear their tone of voice.
I like humor, I just didn't know how to take your postings at first and knowing if you were joking or not!
I think Bobst has a very funny and dry sense of humor, which I gravitate to.
And no, I'm not in the "bidness"... I'm an Accountant. I've been a car nut since the age of five when my sister taught me to shift her 1963 new Plymouth Valiant 3 speed on the column. (she worked the pedals, I moved the lever)
Looking forward to more stories!
Mark156
2010 Land Rover LR4, 2013 Honda CR-V, 2009 Bentley GTC, 1990 MB 500SL, 2001 MB S500, 2007 Lincoln TC, 1964 RR Silver Cloud III, 1995 MB E320 Cab., 2015 Prevost Liberty Coach
Only once. It ended poorly. Customer wanted pricing. I told him to go pound himself. He complained. I was fired and moonlighted in the red light district for a short time period.
I think today I'll be able to post some. It's raining cats and dogs. I'll have a little bit of time later.
I think I'll post some more stories about that psycho salesman. He's crazy and everyone feared him, but he could also get a laugh out of us. I think he was bipolar. You never knew if you were going to get the "eat poop" crazy dude or the "wildly funny" crazy dude. He's a bit out of control. You love and hate him. But mostly hate.
Thanks for returning to stories. You know, I've heard from a ton of folks who read this discussion religiously but who never post here, so you're entertaining a lot more of the masses than you think.
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Here's a Halloween themed story for ya, entitled 'Snakes in a Dealership'. Yup, it's gonna be just as campy as the movie.
Psycho salesman was notorious for snaking people. If he knew there was a way to get around having to split a deal, he would. Psycho is very interested in one person, himself. So the salesmen know this and the sales managers know this. For some reason, very little was done about it. So little that it looked like nothing was EVER done about it. So the salesmen fend for themselves.
I knew he had personally snaked me on 2 separate occasions. So I was wary.
One afternoon I'm walking through the lot and I see one of the customers I had been working over the course of the last month. He was standing in the Titan line and I went and greeted him and started talking about what he was doing. As I was getting an idea of what he was looking for, Psycho salesman walks up with a key in his hand. I immediately think that I'm in the process of being snaked.
I take the key from Psycho's hand, thank him for getting the key, and tell him that I've got the customer taken care of. Oh my. That was one unhappy salesman. I figured I'd give him a little of his own medicine back since he had snaked me before and was in the process of doing it then.
As I was walking back to the dealership to get another key, Psycho salesman sees me approaching. He had been sitting outside on the bench. He stands up and walks toward me. His face is completely red and he grabs me by my lapel and snarls, "Don't you ever @#$%ing do that again." I stand there staring at him with absolutely no clue as to what I'd gotten myself into. He said a couple of other choice words. I know I had one of the most puzzled looks on my face. I didn't respond, but went inside and continued working my deal.
It's hard to write and describe just how angry he was. We all knew he was on medication for depression. We knew that he had anger problems, but you just don't know something until you see it. He was as mad as I've ever seen anyone and I was uncertain if I was going to live through the day.
I finish up the deal and the next day I go talk to VP of the company. I tell him about what happened and let him know that there are many things that I can put up with, but someone putting their hands on me....it just won't work. If you remember, Psycho salesman is 6'4" and 220. He trains in mixed martial arts and is ripped. At 5'10" and 180 lbs. I'm no match. I'm not gonna fight this guy.
The VP looks at me and says.... "That wasn't right of him. But, the rules are a little bit different for some folks here." And that's when I knew I wasn't long for staying with the dealership. Ya, psycho was the best salesman we had there at the dealership. As long as he was selling cars for them, they didn't care that he was freaking out half the staff.
Psycho walks in the next day and he acts like we were best friends. :confuse: The guy is crazy.
Comments
I'm with a large propane company and have dealt one-on-one with all types of customers. We had a large account ($3+M) that would put us through the steps each year during pricing contract negotiations. The head buyer was (is) a nice enough guy, but very elusive and very tight with the penny (or piece of penny).
The year before I was promoted to the position that dealt with him, we lost about $250K on this account. Yes, negative margin of $250K. My predecessor wasn't fired, he was promoted. Anyway, as I prepared for my first contract session with this customer, I wanted to make sure that I didn't lose the company $250K.
I built a huge (complicated) spreadsheet that had our most up-to-date product costs as well as our known delivery costs. The only variable was the daily market cost. I placed that cell in A1 and in C1 was my bottom dollar price for this customer.
Well I sure impressed my RVP, VP, President, and CEO. However, I didn't get their business that year or in any of the following four years. I was close every year, within 2 to 2.5 cents per gallon of the winning bid. Each year my Area made more money and gained more customers.
Each year the winning bid company for this customer went out of business. (Did I mention that we're a big company that could take a $250K hit even though it hurt?) The smaller companies that won the bids couldn't take a loss. I was promoted and my successor continued using my method to bid the account.
After the third year, he refused to bid as they were wasting our time. The competition finally caught on as they also refused to bid the account. Now our buyer is in a quandary as he needs product, but none will play by his rules. He decides that he's learned enough from us and our competitors, so he purchases his product direct.
I'm sure he could see my smile as he called to ask what was going on with my industry. I asked what he was talking about. He stated that he purchased product at $x, but the market was rising and he didn't secure enough product to cover his requirements. He was now being forced to pay market prices that were substantially higher.
He received a quick class on how natural gas effects propane. There was a NG shortage and propane is derived from NG and oil by products. In the end, they didn't go out of business and he still has his job, but to this day, we won't place an annual bid with him. We've offered two and three year contracts, but no more annual bids. It cost us to much in people and vehicles to hire/move them one year and then lay them off the next as we don't have the business.
Moral of story is that sometimes it's in your best interest to drop or pass on some customers.
Is that Strictland Propane? Do you stand in your alley with your friends drinking beer? Do you have a son named Bobby? Are you proud to be a Texan (even though you were born in New York)?
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D
BOBBY...
Since I am from Midland, TX originaly I have actually been to Arlen, TX.
I've sold so many customers at 3 cents to 8 cents per gallon higher than any competitor. My favorite was when I sold a guy 2K gallons and he knew that he was going to pay 17 cents more per gallon than his neighbor.
Provide/exceed the customer's service expectations and sometimes that bottom line gets kind of fuzzy.
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D
so yes, i understand the concern, but he wouldn't have known that you didn't take it as a joke until you called him out on it.
no reason to fight about it here anyways, i just wanna get back to the sales stories...thats what this forum is about, right?
-thene
Duh.
She hates that my income is in her words, "Just so unstable."
I have no problem with it but she does sometimes. For example I will make over three quarters of my yearly income between the middle of October and middle of March.
The summers are kind of lean but it means I don't miss much when I take a vacation.
I have BOUGHT a car from a higher priced dealership.
Look if I am buying a sedan that is competitively priced, and ABC Motors is a place that I have had good realtionships with and XYZ Motors is a grinder joint, I will pay $100-200 more. Over the course of the 8-10 years I own the car, the difference is minimal.
If the price delta is $2k, all bets are off and I will go to the other place.
Provide/exceed the customer's service expectations and sometimes that bottom line gets kind of fuzzy.
Very true, however that line is not quite as defined on the first time around car sales. It's when you start to sell to the originating customer's family and friends, that's when the gross doesn't count as much as the customer service.
I imagine your sales are put together over a long period of time and require excellent educated advice. Our sales are a bit different in that there is an immediate gratification. We can put together a deal in an hour or so. Customers don't always need our expertise either.
Thanks for your thoughts!
I'm pretty sure that I did not personally build this 'repretation' by myself.
I agree but I'm not so sure that you aren't helping to perpetuate it either, judging by your posts here.
jmonroe
'15 Genesis V8 with Ultimate Package and '18 Legacy Limited 6 cyl
I think that you have to take anything a car salesman says with a grain of salt...and if the grains are too big you can go pound it....Nyuck nyuck nyuck. ( notice the laughy type words used to denote sarcasm)
tidester, host
I shall henceforth use this in every post.
By the way, I was just about to sell a car to someone who offered me invoice. But then I decided I hated him and threw him out the door. Nyuck nyuck nyuck.
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"um we already bought a car."
At this point I gained a lot of respect for the salesmans self control. " Oh, ok well thanks for your time."
Credit challenged customer comes in and gives his word to buy a car and then the next day plays hide N seek with the salesman while he breaks his promise.
I would have been a little more "stern" in my convo with the lying customer.
A few years ago one of our very patient salesmen spent, literally an entire Saturday with a family. We were swamped that day too. They had two bratty whiney kids along, they must have driven five different cars.
FINALLY, they landed on a car and a MAJOR grind session began. An hour later, a deal was struck and they shook hands. By this time, it was around 5:00 and the kids were out of control. They said they wanted to go down the block to a restaurant to get the kids fed. O.K., they would be back in a half hour. We had the car washed and the paperwork done...no cutstomer. Finally at 6:30 the salesguy called their house. No answer. At 7:00 he went home ticked!
After calling their house and leaving messages for two days, a kid answered the phone and let him know that had, indeed, bought a new Honda that very night from another dealer!
They knew what they were doing. They took our price and shopped it! They probably "saved" 50.00 in the process.
Nice, huh?
For clarification Possums do not play dead Opossums are the ones that play dead. There is a world of difference (Opossums are in North America, Possums are in Australia).
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D
I have to say that it is very difficult for me to tell if you are joking or not.
You even said in a few hundred posts back that you weren't in the car business anymore and that your were working for Waste Management...
I take it you were kidding and that you are still in the car business.
I've been shocked by a few of your posts because I didn't realize that you were a joke-ster... now I know.
Are you still a car salesman? :confuse:
Mark156
I think a lot of people outside of commissioned sales don't comprehend that. In fact, not only is there no income, but any sales you would have made, and the referrals that they generate, have gone to someone else. It's not like when you work in an office and they save your work in a big pile on your desk for when you come back.
Vacations are expensive in salesland!
I have just finished up another deal and I have a moment while they are in F&I. Yes, I'm still in cars sales.
I apologize for not being snarkier. I will attempt to ooze sarcasm when I'm using it.
That post about me being in waste management was a little misleading. I was responding to a post that was yanked. As usual, I was being very sarcastic. I'm not quite sure why they left my post and took the other, but whatever.
I'm glad I'm shocking!
Are you in the business as well?
Fondly yours,
MadManMoo
Story 2: A few months ago a family pulls in late saturday and wants to look at a Pilot. Since I got engaged a week before, we had an engagement dinner with our families planned at 7 pm. It was about 5:15pm, so I quickly show them the car, send them out on a drive and appraise their trade in. They return from the test drive, and we start looking at numbers.
It was getting really late we gave them a huge discount right off the top to get the deal done, but this guy wanted accessories for the car. He was deciding for 20 minutes what to get then said he wanted another $3000 in free accessories.
It was already 6pm and I really had to go, so I went up to the manager and he told me to give him a $1000 in freebies and that's it. I thought it would have been the end of it, and the custmer would say yay or nay, but now he's looking over the accessories again, to see which ones he'll take and which ones he won't.
I'm getting frustrated but keep my cool. At that point I don't care for the deal because it would be a mini, and we'd have to locate the car anyways (Sept, year end, low rates etc, no inventory).
6:20pm he makes another counter offer (about $250 away), so since I'm here already I go back to my manager he agrees and we do the deal. I tell the customer ok, we print a worksheet, sign it, get a deposit.
After all is said and done his wife says she wants free tinted windows. I told her the Pilot already has tint. She says "no it's not dark enough" (the Pilot in the showroom had it's doors/hatch open, and sun was at a low level so it was shining through, and the windows didn't seem that dark).
She said she wanted the windows as dark as in their Odyysey cause it's not safe for her kids :confuse:
The window tint was exactly the same shade as in their van but she didn't care to hear that.
I got fed up said no, and told them they can have their deposit back, cause we'd be below cost on the car if we'd give them anymore freebies. (and it was 6:40pm, we closed at 6pm).
We did a refund, and I was so ticked off I was going to tell her off, but I just kept my cool, and kicked them out nicely.
I was choked at them for wasting my and my manager's time, and for making me being late for my own engagement party. :mad: :mad: :mad:
2016 Audi A7 3.0T S Line, 2021 Subaru WRX
We made the deal 3 weeks ago on a hand shake. No deposit was asked for. They had to wait for a Vibe to come in for their dealer trade. They trailered the Vibe 330 miles to swap for the G6. They added the accessories we wanted and even took the car to Goodyear to swap the 24K mile Hankook tires for 80K mile GY Triple Treds as I requested.
I've done a lot of deals on a handshake, but none that involved this much faith on the dealer's part. They offered to let me have the car a few days ago and sign the paperwork when my daughter comes home Friday.
A few years ago I purchased another car in this area on a handshake and had the car for three days before the credit union check arrived to pay for it. I'm in Iowa, but we have about 80K people in Iowa City/Coralville plus the UI students.
Thier F&I guy met my Credit Union's 5.74% APR through a local CU. He was also able to work the loan so that she will receive the loan history credit. My CU wouldn't think of doing that.
BTW - It's real nice to see how the board has gone today. We're starting to cook with gas on the stories. Please keep it up!
Makes sense as our busy time is flip flopped compared to every other brand since we only sell four wheel drive SUVs. Also our launch schedual for new product is screwy too. We don't normaly get our next Model Year vehicles until november or october. Only when they are launching new models or doing a major redesign do next model year vehicles come out at another time.
For example the drive train upgrade of the 2006 MY Range Rover was upgraded in April of 2005. In June of 2002 the Range Rover was redesigned for only the third time in 32 years.
The Sport was launched in July of 2005. The new LR2 will come out in April of 2007.
think a lot of people outside of commissioned sales don't comprehend that. In fact, not only is there no income, but any sales you would have made, and the referrals that they generate, have gone to someone else. It's not like when you work in an office and they save your work in a big pile on your desk for when you come back.
Vacations are expensive in salesland!
Yup the only positives to vacations are you tend to get a few splits from people you worked with previously who bought that week.
Tomorrow should be very busy so I doub't I will have time then.
If I am wrong then I will try to post at least one tomorrow.
Are you still a car salesman?
Mark,
What makes you so sure that you can believe the answer?
Almost like the little boy crying WOLF, WOLF really WOLF !!!
jmonroe
'15 Genesis V8 with Ultimate Package and '18 Legacy Limited 6 cyl
Now get in there right now and let her know whose boss.
Then you can use the Emergency Room computer.
Now get going,
jmonroe
'15 Genesis V8 with Ultimate Package and '18 Legacy Limited 6 cyl
Oh how well I know that.
She is the one that axed a few of my recent posts without your help. So please don't remind her and stay out of this. OK ?
jmonroe
'15 Genesis V8 with Ultimate Package and '18 Legacy Limited 6 cyl
While my industry isn't even remotely related to car sales, I hear the same concerns from my sales team. Commissions are up and down. When they take a week's worth of vacation, it takes them as much as a month to get back on even footing.
I believe it's the nature of the beast, however. I've approved some commission checks that equals their entire yearly salary. The old 80-20 rules apply....
--20% of their customers provide 80% of the sales people's income. One of those 20% customers drop out of their base, and they're going to have a bad year, income-wise. So, it's a good thing to keep those 20% happy, and to mine others to take their place if one does drop out.
--20% of our sales people generate 80% of our revenue. Those 20% who are stars in our biz have a great income, regardless of the month/qtr. The bottom 20% either quit or are asked to leave because of their performance. They aren't bad people, per se. Sales just isn't a good career for them.
--The middle 60% muddle on, year in-year out posting "not bad-not great" revenue numbers, with modest incomes....and they're happy with that. They're the ones who do just what we ask them to do....no more (but sometimes a little less).
Is it the same on the car sales side?
2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D
nyuck nyuck nyuck
We did a refund, and I was so ticked off I was going to tell her off, but I just kept my cool, and kicked them out nicely.
I was choked at them for wasting my and my manager's time, and for making me being late for my own engagement party.
Reason No.37 why I'm glad I'm not in your biz.
Just couldn't take this stuff.
jmonroe
'15 Genesis V8 with Ultimate Package and '18 Legacy Limited 6 cyl
You know, it is very hard to tell what kind of personality a person has by their posting when you can't see a person's facial expressions and hear their tone of voice.
I like humor, I just didn't know how to take your postings at first and knowing if you were joking or not!
I think Bobst has a very funny and dry sense of humor, which I gravitate to.
And no, I'm not in the "bidness"... I'm an Accountant. I've been a car nut since the age of five when my sister taught me to shift her 1963 new Plymouth Valiant 3 speed on the column. (she worked the pedals, I moved the lever)
Looking forward to more stories!
Mark156
Nyuck nyuck.
I think I'll post some more stories about that psycho salesman. He's crazy and everyone feared him, but he could also get a laugh out of us. I think he was bipolar. You never knew if you were going to get the "eat poop" crazy dude or the "wildly funny" crazy dude. He's a bit out of control. You love and hate him. But mostly hate.
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2015 Kia Soul, 2021 Subaru Forester (kirstie_h), 2024 GMC Sierra 1500 (mr. kirstie_h)
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Here's a Halloween themed story for ya, entitled 'Snakes in a Dealership'. Yup, it's gonna be just as campy as the movie.
Psycho salesman was notorious for snaking people. If he knew there was a way to get around having to split a deal, he would. Psycho is very interested in one person, himself. So the salesmen know this and the sales managers know this. For some reason, very little was done about it. So little that it looked like nothing was EVER done about it. So the salesmen fend for themselves.
I knew he had personally snaked me on 2 separate occasions. So I was wary.
One afternoon I'm walking through the lot and I see one of the customers I had been working over the course of the last month. He was standing in the Titan line and I went and greeted him and started talking about what he was doing. As I was getting an idea of what he was looking for, Psycho salesman walks up with a key in his hand. I immediately think that I'm in the process of being snaked.
I take the key from Psycho's hand, thank him for getting the key, and tell him that I've got the customer taken care of. Oh my. That was one unhappy salesman. I figured I'd give him a little of his own medicine back since he had snaked me before and was in the process of doing it then.
As I was walking back to the dealership to get another key, Psycho salesman sees me approaching. He had been sitting outside on the bench. He stands up and walks toward me. His face is completely red and he grabs me by my lapel and snarls, "Don't you ever @#$%ing do that again." I stand there staring at him with absolutely no clue as to what I'd gotten myself into. He said a couple of other choice words. I know I had one of the most puzzled looks on my face. I didn't respond, but went inside and continued working my deal.
It's hard to write and describe just how angry he was. We all knew he was on medication for depression. We knew that he had anger problems, but you just don't know something until you see it. He was as mad as I've ever seen anyone and I was uncertain if I was going to live through the day.
I finish up the deal and the next day I go talk to VP of the company. I tell him about what happened and let him know that there are many things that I can put up with, but someone putting their hands on me....it just won't work. If you remember, Psycho salesman is 6'4" and 220. He trains in mixed martial arts and is ripped. At 5'10" and 180 lbs. I'm no match. I'm not gonna fight this guy.
The VP looks at me and says.... "That wasn't right of him. But, the rules are a little bit different for some folks here." And that's when I knew I wasn't long for staying with the dealership. Ya, psycho was the best salesman we had there at the dealership. As long as he was selling cars for them, they didn't care that he was freaking out half the staff.
Psycho walks in the next day and he acts like we were best friends. :confuse: The guy is crazy.