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Smart Shopper Stories from the Sales Frontlines
48021 messages, Last post on Dec 01, 2009 at 8:07 PM
You are in the Smart Shopper Forum. Your Hosts are kirstie_h & tidester
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Had this guy drive up and park in a late 90's Jaguar. He was in the market for a new car. Wanted something mid to high $40's, 4 door sedan, all mod cons, etc. He let me know he'd been to all the other high-endish places on our auto-mall and ours was the last. He wanted to be shown a car straight away and only had 10 minutes for a test drive. Luckily, my own M45 was parked right there and the keys were in my pocket so off we went. He liked the car well enough that he would buy one. The deal was that he wanted a 3 year lease, 15,000 miles a year, 0 down and no trade. He gave me his card and asked me to fax him our numbers by 6pm that evening and he would make a decision in the morning. He made it clear it was once chance, he didn't want any 'phone calls, assume best credit and he wouldn't be contacting the losers. Apparently he gave the other dealers (Lexus, BMW, Caddy, Jag and MB) the same instructions. Within 20 minutes of turning up on the lot he was gone. I spoke to my SM about it and he decided we'd write up a pretty strong deal. I put it all together and faxed it through around 4:30pm. Got the call the next morning. I got the sale, not because of the deal but because I was the ONLY one who had actually done as he asked. He asked for all the paperwork to be prepared and the car to be made ready. Lucky for me we had an identical car to mine in stock or I would have been walking home. He came in that afternoon. Signed the papers, looked over the car, shook my hand and was off. Probably 45 minutes in total. I got a 100% survey from him, a glowing letter to my GM and at least 4 referrals that I sold to, including his wife and son. I just wanted to balance out a bad customer story with a good one! 
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Replying to: cluedweasel (Jul 25, 2006 1:42 pm)
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Replying to: capitano (Jul 25, 2006 2:16 pm) One Sunday morning, two ladies of a certain alternative lifestyle turned up, driving a Toyota that had seen better days. They were both dressed pretty scruffily but so what? So do I when I'm not working. Went out and introduced myself, asked them what they were looking for, tok them on a tour of the lot to see what we had and picked out a nice silver G35 sedan. After the test drive, they told me about their other experiences that morning. The Lexus guys ignored them completely. Jaguar showed them a used Pontiac and a Saturn, both trades for under $6K. BMW asked them to leave the premises. Anyway, it came to negotiation time and there was none. They were happy to pay full sticker (they offered, I didn't ask for it) because of the way I treated them. It turned out that one of them was the senior partner for the largest law firm in town. Needless to say, that deal led to another 100% survey, a good few referrals and a very nice letter to the GM.
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Replying to: cluedweasel (Jul 25, 2006 2:36 pm) Anyway seems to me that a senior partner would have understood how much appearance counts in business and legal transactions. |
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Replying to: capitano (Jul 25, 2006 3:14 pm) Perhaps, but a couple of dealers lost sales because of their sartorial prejudices. tidester, host
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Replying to: tidester (Jul 25, 2006 3:35 pm) The sales guys talk about qualifying people and one of the tools they have to use is appearance. If that partner had shown up on a busier day, would he have worked with her if there had been a couple of guys in suits browsing the lot? |
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Replying to: capitano (Jul 25, 2006 3:14 pm) Beleive me, I can look extremely grungy sometimes
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Replying to: cluedweasel (Jul 25, 2006 4:03 pm) |
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