Stories from the Sales Frontlines

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Comments

  • sterlingdogsterlingdog Member Posts: 6,984
    That was delicious! :P
  • sterlingdogsterlingdog Member Posts: 6,984
    You're right. When we get a Bentley or RR salesman on this site, we'll talk luxury. :D
  • nthenthe Member Posts: 414
    if that customer was such a great salesperson, he should of been able to figure out which dealership was the one, and not had to ask!
  • madmanmoomadmanmoo Member Posts: 2,039
    How about 3! Thanks, Joel!

    -moo
  • lrguy44lrguy44 Member Posts: 2,197
    Just got 3 Westmister Special edition RRs - $105,600 ++

    Is that higher end than a Saab?
  • oldfarmer50oldfarmer50 Member Posts: 24,530
    "...Why should the customer worry about polishing his shoes?..."

    Oh oh. The best pair of shoes I own are a 15 year old pair of Hush Puppies. Will I get the broom when I show up at the dealer wearing those? Do salespeople really qualify you by the condition/style of your shoes? Maybe I should hang 100 dollar bills on them to let the guys know I have the ability to buy. :cry:

    2019 Kia Soul+, 2015 Mustang GT, 2013 Ford F-150, 2000 Chrysler Sebring convertible

  • oldfarmer50oldfarmer50 Member Posts: 24,530
    "...beg that you guys not fall for her whining..."

    I suggest that you buy that nice couch she mentioned. If she reads your post you will be sleeping there for a long time. ;)

    2019 Kia Soul+, 2015 Mustang GT, 2013 Ford F-150, 2000 Chrysler Sebring convertible

  • manamalmanamal Member Posts: 426
    Do you look at things on the buyer to size up how likely they are to be able to afford the car? I have noticed that in some high-end arenas, I get better service when I wear one of my nicer (~$4000) watches than I do when I walk in wearing a Seiko. (That is particularly true at jewelery/watch stores). So, if I walk into a mid-luxury dealer, say SAAB, Audi or even BMW, and I am dressed casually (khakis and a wrinkled or Hawaiian Shirt) might I get better service with a nice watch?
  • cotmccotmc Member Posts: 1,081
    I think you might bet better service if you walk into a dealership looking like Jennifer Garner or Julia Roberts. :P
  • manamalmanamal Member Posts: 426
    That may be true, but it ain't gonna hapen with me.,....
  • mackabeemackabee Member Posts: 4,709
    "I am the guy everyone goes to when their is a"

    GP you missed one! Their is possessive like "their car, their house, their dog. etc.etc."
    There is there, "I went over there," "no matter where you go, you are there" ;)
    just keeping you honest.
  • mackabeemackabee Member Posts: 4,709
    Joel, see my post to greenpea above. That should clear up the confusion about their and there. :shades:
    MACK
  • mackabeemackabee Member Posts: 4,709
    Same thing happens to me. It takes me back four or five pages.
    :shades:
  • mackabeemackabee Member Posts: 4,709
    You probably get the same service, it's just that you feel better when wearing the 4k watch. I know some sales people that pre-qualify customers as soon as they drive up.
    If they drive up in a Hyundai most salespeople run away as they mistakenly think everyone that drives one is buried in it.
    If someone drives up in a luxury brand then they fight over who's going to assist them.
    Me, I don't care if you're driving a bicycle. If you're on the lot it tells me you are looking for a car since we don't sell hamburgers at my dealership. :shades: I treat all customers as buyers until they prove me otherwise. ;)
  • jmonroejmonroe Member Posts: 8,989
    If you have had the dining room suite since you were married, it is now an antique. Why not sell it to an antique dealer and let MrsJMonroe buy the new one? She has good taste…

    I hardly know where to begin. Just because the set has a few years on it doesn’t make it an antique. The kids weren’t house wreckers and every time the table was used it had a pad on it like most people do, so it’s still in show room condition.

    As far as her taste goes, she does have good taste…she picked me from a cast of thousands. ;) Now, for the brand, I didn’t get that far. As I said, I was having enough trouble keeping my balance on that damn escalator as it was. I didn’t need any justification as to why those sets cost what they did. :confuse:

    jmonroe

    '15 Genesis V8 with Ultimate Package and '18 Legacy Limited 6 cyl

  • jmonroejmonroe Member Posts: 8,989
    Same thing happens to me. It takes me back four or five pages.

    I have no idea what you guys are talking about. I haven't had any problems other than this site seems to be a little slow at times, like tonight.

    Maybe you guys should pay your dues on time and get premium service like I have. :D

    jmonroe

    '15 Genesis V8 with Ultimate Package and '18 Legacy Limited 6 cyl

  • elsidelsid Member Posts: 1
    how can a salesman judge a customer by just his clothing or the car they drive up in? Remember, the founder of Walmart was seen often driving an old pickup truck. If you have money, maybe you do not have to dress up to impress people.there was a neat line in a movie called "Making the Grade" that was " I'm rich , i don't have to be nice". Turn it around and you have " I'm rich, I don't have to dress up to buy a car".
  • sterlingdogsterlingdog Member Posts: 6,984
    Talk to me! What year are they? Color? If trade-ins, what did the customer buy? Now there is a dream car---excuse me, automobile.
  • sterlingdogsterlingdog Member Posts: 6,984
    Better hang $1,000 bills on THOSE shoes. :P
  • sterlingdogsterlingdog Member Posts: 6,984
    I beat you to it with Post 24392. ;)
  • sterlingdogsterlingdog Member Posts: 6,984
    "...she picked me from a cast of thousands."

    Everyone can make a mistake now and then. When she got you home and took off the wrapper, the sticker read "All sales final. No refunds." :P
  • tidestertidester Member Posts: 10,059
    I would prefer the folks at Edmund's to be working on the problem that throws me back 8 pages ...

    We do have our people working on that. It's one of the most stubborn bugs they have been up against. It's a bit like a software equivalent of the problem that the dealer cannot reproduce when you take your car in for repair at which point the problem temporarily and mysteriously disappears.

    On the bright side, the hosts love reading these stories so much that reading them again and again and again ... is such a joy! ;)

    tidester, host
    SUVs and Smart Shopper
  • snakeweaselsnakeweasel Member Posts: 19,624
    On the bright side, the hosts love reading these stories so much that reading them again and again and again ... is such a joy!

    No offense but the hosts really need to get a life. ;)

    2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D

  • joel0622joel0622 Member Posts: 3,299
    I don't think we do it intentionally, it is just human nature. Think about your selves when you are out shopping and how many times you make a knee jerk assessment of people you have just seen for the first time.

    There are as many people running around who look like they can buy but can't because they are in debt up to the [non-permissible content removed] and living beyond their means as there are people who look like they can't buy due to their appearance.

    When someone pulls up in a 20 year old car with smoke blowing out of the tail pipe and no brakes we joke about the fact that if they could trade they would have done it by now. But when it gets right down to it in todays world you ring every up out to the bitter end to make sure you are not missing something.

    Maybe the guy is a whale who can buy anything he wants and he has held onto this old piece for sentimental reasons because it is the car he drove to get through medical school and his new wife finally told him to get it out of the drive way.

    On more then one occasion I have helped a "Good Ole Boy" who looks like they couldn't finance .50 cents if they had a $1 in their pocket and have it turn out that they write a check for $55K truck.
  • jescuejescue Member Posts: 521
    When do you get the 2009 F-150? I really like the looks of that, and the sync is pretty cool. No gas cap is pretty slick too. I guess the redisign will really help the resale of mine too. ;)
  • madmanmoomadmanmoo Member Posts: 2,039
    Mine keeps popping back to some comment about DVD's.

    Hopefully the bug will get worked out soon. Speaking of bugs in the system, where did that originally come from? Anyone know the origination?

    -moo
  • greanpea68greanpea68 Member Posts: 1,996
    Depends, first thing you need to do is make sure that the odometer is working when the lights are off. If the odometer is working then it is probably a guage cluster fuse.

    Thank you. I thought it was a fuse. When the lights are off the odometer works off and on, Sometimes if you wack the dash it will come on. Now this is happening to my 200 Ford f150 but I have noticed it on trade ins too that I have seen. I am assuming it is a common problem.

    GP
  • greanpea68greanpea68 Member Posts: 1,996
    make sure to take some pictures and post them on the website with you shovelling snow next to one!

    Yeah I am going to have someone show me how to do that stuff one of these days. Hopefully by the time they come out I will have my carspace up and running.

    GP
  • greanpea68greanpea68 Member Posts: 1,996
    Do salespeople really qualify you by the condition/style of your shoes?

    Yes :blush:

    For what ever the reason is people that wear sandals are never a good up. It is a regular thing around here. The boss will ask me if I have a buyer and all I have to say is he is wearing sandals and he ussualy knows it isn't a deal. But is always good practice.

    GP
  • joel0622joel0622 Member Posts: 3,299
    Hopefully the bug will get worked out soon. Speaking of bugs in the system, where did that originally come from? Anyone know the origination?

    Something to do with a moth plugging the lines in the cooling system of the old school computers. Can't remember the exact story though.
  • joel0622joel0622 Member Posts: 3,299
    We will start getting 09 F150's in August. The first 09's we will get this year will be the Flex, sometime in the early summer.

    If you trade your best bet would be to get one of the guys you do most your wholesaling with to bid the truck for you, or ask you UCM to run it across the block. If you get a wholesaler to buy it we will show it as a trade for taxes and just bill it to him.
  • mchappellmchappell Member Posts: 52
    "Hopefully the bug will get worked out soon. Speaking of bugs in the system, where did that originally come from? Anyone know the origination?

    Something to do with a moth plugging the lines in the cooling system of the old school computers. Can't remember the exact story though. "

    Close. The original mainframes didn't really have software, as we do today. Instead, they had to be rewired every time they wanted to reprogram them. Bugs, literally, would get into the wiring, and cause the programs to malfunction. As we moved to true software, the word stuck.
  • madmanmoomadmanmoo Member Posts: 2,039
    Winner!

    I thought that story was pretty cool when I first read it. Simple and straightforward.

    -moo
  • imidazol97imidazol97 Member Posts: 27,749
    Bug

    In the early days of computing the systems were thousands of vacuum tubes and relays. A moth actually was trapped in the contact points of a relay causing the system to malfunction. Grace Hopper (any Navy person worth their salt knows who she was) was working at Harvard (Mark II Aiken Relay Calculator) on a system and attached the moth to the log entry.

    image

    2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,

  • oldfarmer50oldfarmer50 Member Posts: 24,530
    "...Better hang $1000 bills on THOSE shoes..."

    Dang richard, THOSE shoes have gotten me through three weddings, a bunch of funerals and church every Sunday. They still got plenty of life left in 'em. I'll just have to trust that I get an understanding salesman.

    Besides, if I spend a lot on fancy shoes, I won't have anything left for a down-payment. :cry: Maybe I'll just wear my work boots.

    2019 Kia Soul+, 2015 Mustang GT, 2013 Ford F-150, 2000 Chrysler Sebring convertible

  • joel0622joel0622 Member Posts: 3,299
    Speaking of shoes, if ya ever wantto mess with someone just look dowen at there shoes, get a worried look on your face and say

    "Damn, how long did the doctor say you had to wear those shoes?"
    :D:D
  • lrguy44lrguy44 Member Posts: 2,197
    They are new 08s, Black. Special interior and trim. The one we have sold was a BMW 7 Series trade
  • lrguy44lrguy44 Member Posts: 2,197
    Grace Hopper

    I haven't heard her name in years - what a asset she was to the Navy. I can't remember if she or Adm Rickover had the longest active duty service.
  • alamocityalamocity Member Posts: 680
    Adm Rickover with 63 years of service., 1918-1982.
  • dnmanndnmann Member Posts: 8
    I work for/own a general contracting business and buy vehicles for senior staff every 2 years or so. I shopped for an Acura and bought it from a chain dealer in Va Beach, VA 2 years ago. The sale went okay, but the F&I guy lied to me and they gave me the “you have to come back and sign a new lease with new terms” phone call. I was not happy and said no. I returned the car that night. They were very unhappy and rude. I ended up buying an Avalon from a different dealer.

    I am shopping for another Avalon for me, my current lease will be bought out and given to another employee, and I know that dealerships keep computer records of customers and shoppers.

    If I go to back to the chain dealership, will they bring up the record and hold that against me? Will it make any difference?
  • madmanmoomadmanmoo Member Posts: 2,039
    That's a really tough one to answer. It all depends on the folks who are still there, what the circumstances of the previous 'deal' were and the make up of the store.

    Could it happen? Absolutely. No way to find out except go over there and get a feel for it!

    I'm missing a connection though. You're now shopping for an Acura for yourself?

    Sidenote: It's snowing here in GA. The entire city of Atlanta is shutting down. Why you ask? Is it because there is a foot of snow on the ground? No. Is it because the roads are so icy that everyone is sliding off? No. It's just because it's snowing. Nothing is sticking, the entire city just feels like Armageddon is around the corner. Never seen snow before I guess.

    Save us Jebus!

    -moo
  • joel0622joel0622 Member Posts: 3,299
    If you are going back to the dealer you bought the Avalon from they should be happy to see you I would guess
  • snakeweaselsnakeweasel Member Posts: 19,624
    When someone pulls up in a 20 year old car with smoke blowing out of the tail pipe and no brakes we joke about the fact that if they could trade they would have done it by now.

    That might be me years down the line. But that would only mean that I have 15 years of cars payments (plus interest) for that bright shinny new car. For me its just a case of I want to see how far it will go before being to much trouble. Mainly because its a Hyundai and everyone told me I needed to get rid of it before it fell apart at 100K miles.

    2011 Hyundai Sonata, 2014 BMW 428i convertible, 2015 Honda CTX700D

  • mackabeemackabee Member Posts: 4,709
    I doubt it. They will only remember you if you were a "jerk" or cussed somebody out at the dealership which I'm sure you didn't.
    I know which dealer group you're talking about. The F$I guy was probably named Dennis. Little short guy that looks like a gremlin. He can be abrasive at times. Sales manager, Jim, not there anymore.
    You would do good to shop the other Va Beach Toyota dealers. ;)
  • epineyepiney Member Posts: 462
    Any of you sales folks have assistants or helpers?

    I took delivery of my car about a month ago and since then I have received 3 calls from the salesperson, or should I say sales person's helper. One call the day after delivery and then usually a few weeks in between. All three times I missed the calls, but the voice messages usually go like this,

    "Hello, this is isell0622 pea calling from moomack rover's office at iwannabebest car dealer. I'm calling to follow-up on your vehicle purchase to see if everything is alright and if you had any questions about the vehicle or if we could be of any help. Please feel free to call us back at 555-555-5555."

    The calls were professional and well scripted. Also, when I picked up the car, the walk around was done by a helper as well. This was not another salesperson helping as he was not on the "board" or the staff website. I asked him what he did and he said he helps moomack rover. The person who called me was another woman.

    My salesperson has a team working for her!
  • joel0622joel0622 Member Posts: 3,299
    I wish I had enough to need one :D

    Some dealers hire delivery folks and have the BDC (Business Development Center) do follow up calls for them.

    There are wives tales of some sales person out in California years ago that would sell 6-10 a day and had a staff of 5 people. When he showed you the first pencil he would turn over a 3 minute egg timer, if you had not decided by then he would thank you for coming in and move on to the next customer.

    I guess if you had 3 people lined up waiting to talk to you it would be pretty believable.
  • gogiboygogiboy Member Posts: 732
    "You're right. When we get a Bentley or RR salesman on this site, we'll talk luxury."

    Richard--

    My youngest brother's next door neighbors write a syndicated car column that is (or was) published in a variety of large US newspapers. As a result they had a constantly changing parade of automobiles in their driveway and garage that are easily visible from my brother's house. A year or two ago they asked if he would like to tag along to the local A & W drive-in so they could continue a test drive. The car they had was some kind of Rolls Royce. My brother said the looks they received both driving, and at the drive-in in this small town were priceless. Since neither the neighbors or my brother had to invest even a nickel (unless you count buying root beer) to achieve this momentary notoriety, it was doubly sweet.

    My brother drives an Audi and he had a BMW and a couple of his friends own Porsches so he has some experience with near-luxury. Riding in the Rolls was a completely different experience. Actually, he and my other brother each got a ride in my folk's backyard neighbor's 30s Bugatti roadster. The owner/rebuilder restored three back in the 60s/70s. He had his own tool and die shop and could fabricate all of the missing parts.

    Gogiboy
  • imidazol97imidazol97 Member Posts: 27,749
    > One call the day after delivery and then usually a few weeks in between. All three times I missed the calls, but the voice messages usually go like this,

    I remember one salewoman calling after I bought an Olds from her a month or two earlier. She tried to sell me a Corvette.

    2014 Malibu 2LT, 2015 Cruze 2LT,

  • jmonroejmonroe Member Posts: 8,989
    Everyone can make a mistake now and then. When she got you home and took off the wrapper, the sticker read "All sales final. No refunds."

    That sounds a lot like what I've heard many times. I usually do a pretty good job of whacking all the flies on the wall paper in our house but it's obvious one got away. :mad:

    jmonroe

    '15 Genesis V8 with Ultimate Package and '18 Legacy Limited 6 cyl

  • mackabeemackabee Member Posts: 4,709
    "living beyond their means as there are people who look like they can't buy due to their appearance. "

    Holy Mackarel! Joel's got it right this time! Whoo Hooo! Group hug! Cumbaya! :shades:
This discussion has been closed.

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