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Smart Shopper Stories from the Sales Frontlines
36722 messages, Last post on Dec 01, 2008 at 8:16 PM
You are in the Smart Shopper Forum. Your Hosts are kirstie_h & tidester
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Replying to: jmonroe (Jun 13, 2008 10:32 am) You will market the book as the only negotiable priced book ever sold. MSRP for the book will begin at $29.95 with an invoice of $9.95. Like "Mop and Glow", we'll add a fancy book jacket, a lovely bookmark, and a CD of the book for an extra $15.95. We will accept trade-ins of old books---only if they are car related. Salesmen will be on hand to "test drive" or read portions of the book to the customers. A "service department" will be maintained to answer questions about the posts in the book. The book will have a limited warranty covering the book jacket, book cover, and worn pages. There will be a yearly depreciation on the book of $5.00 per year. The "Parts Department" will replace book bindings, book marks, CD's, etc. for a nominal fee of $10.95. The design of the book jacket is as follows: Our two illustrious Hosts surrounded by all of the regular posters, standing in front of a child's red pedal car. After the initial sales of the book to the public, it will then be sold to universities for use in their Psychology 101 classes---as a study on abnormal psychology. Then it will be sold to the English departments---as a study in new language patterns. Each poster will serve as a visiting consultant to tell students about their individual chapters---at a rate of $1,000 per hour plus expenses. Greenpea will be in much demand by the English departments, and jmonroe will be in much demand by the Consumer Finance departments. Mack will be needed by the Public Service departments, and Joel will be invited to appear before the ROTC classes. Oldfarmer can talk to the transportation departments, and Moo will do presentations before the political science classes regarding diplomacy issues. Isellhondas will be needed to promote the book before car manufacturers, and snakeweassel will convince accountants that the book could be a tax deduction under the right circumstances. Everyone will have a job to do. I will not proof the book. It will serve the public better in its raw, natural, colorful state. A portion of the profits will be donated to the charity called TROUAB---The Rehabilitation Of Uneducated Automobile Buyers. (I really should make better use of my Friday afternoon.  ) Richard
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Replying to: dhamilton (Jun 13, 2008 12:25 pm) Edmunds.com estimates that the domestic automakers offered an average of $3,268 on each vehicle sold in June as they tried to clear out the supply of 2007 models to prepare for the new model year. That was up $113 from June. European brands overtook the U.S. automakers, as they upped incentives by $350 to $3,292 per vehicle. Older story I know but you see what I mean. link title I saw some incentive breakdowns at some Land Rover training last year and it gave the dollar amount various manufacturers were spending to get their lease payments down to a certain level. For BMW they were spending over 10,000 dollars in enhanced residuals and money factors to buy down the lease payment for a X3. It is not something the dealer sees really or even something the customer sees but they are there. Honestly I think it is a better way to put the incentives in then how the domestics do it because it cuts down on the fire sale mentality and protects resale. It is very hard to compete against too when your brand doesn't have the volume and/or cash to support that kind of incentive spending on a lease.
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My Highlander is being delivered to my house tomorrow between 11 and 1:00. The price was as agreed and I'm paying with a personal check. The dealership is located about 100 miles from my house. Discounting the dealer contacts which were for comparative purposes, this experience has been outstanding and, while others may well have a different experience with CarsDirect, it was terrific for me. Here's wishing all you sales reps a steady stream of "timid, uninformed and ignorant customers", providing you with high margins to help you weather the recessionary sales slump. All the best.
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Replying to: montalvo (Jun 13, 2008 12:46 pm) Oh man you really don't like us do you? Those are the worst customers for several reasons... 1. They are timid so they can't make a decision and drag the process out for much longer then it can take. 2. They are uninformed which normally means they think they can buy everything for invoice which is just not the case with many vehicles. 3. They are ignorant which means I have to spend two hours going over the most basic features that anyone who has bought a car in this century should know. |
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I don't want ignorant/uninformed customers. I want educated customers, it makes my job much easier. Again, you may have a different mindset sitting on my side of the desk. Congratulations on the new ride. Toyota makes a wonderful trouble free unit. I wish you safe and happy motoring for years to come. |
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Replying to: montalvo (Jun 13, 2008 12:46 pm) It sounds like you don't mind paying for that service and that's a good thing. Hope it all works out well for you.
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But I just saw that Tim Russert Died about an hour ago of a heart attack. link title I don't know what to say he was one of my favorite journalists and just seemed like an overall great guy.
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Replying to: isellhondas (Jun 13, 2008 1:01 pm) So I guess at a minimum, I paid negative $1,200 for this trouble-free service. That's the easiest service fee I've ever had to pay! Oops, I almost forgot. I discovered I'm getting an additional bonus. The sales tax in the county where the dealership is located is .5% lower than where I live. Life is good! |
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that is related to the Carsdirect discussion. I am sorry if this gets long, I have been reading the line of posts and they made me think of my last 2 car purchases made in the past several months. As internet savy consumers, we do our research on models, comparisons, and pricing. When we buy appliances, we know the price at the big box store and know that the one down the street will match if we ask. Pricing for the most part is know and competition has price matching guarantees. This leads me to buying my last to cars. We narrowed down the models and options, did our homework and were ready to buy. Now over the part few days, I have read comments about asking for a salesman's best offer and making a decision on where and whom to buy from based on those responses. These are the types of comments that cause me to scratch my head (with what little hair is left). I have read comments here that basically stated that the dealerships' numbers were too high, too insulting for me to talk to them further... Why should we leave it to the dealer to tell us what their best offer is? What is so wrong with, and I believe this is the modified Bobst method, of being up front when talking with the salesperson, internet manager though e-mail or whatever - my offer to by xyz with options abc is $XX,XXX? If I have done my research correctly, I will have determined the price for the deal that I am happy with and the salesperson should be able to accept. It took one e-mail for my salesperson to agree to our proposed price for her car, which my research showed, was at the low end of prices for the car at that time. Same process for my car - 1 e-mail and a conversation over final lease terms. I tell my kids that they cannot get mad at me for not being able to read their minds, but we do get mad at car salespeople for not giving us the price we feel we want to pay the first time price is mentioned. Finally, with regards to dealer trades, I have dealt with dealers who only wanted to sell me a car from their inventory and those that traded for what I specifically wanted. When I want that brand again, I will go back to the dealer willing to go to bat for me and get me what I want. Now that this is off my chest, I feel much better. 
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