Edmunds.com | Inside Line | Auto Observer Your Account | Help | Directory
You are here:
![[F]](http://a332.g.akamai.net/f/332/936/12h/www.edmunds.com/media/townhall/webxicons/site.gif){kind=small}
Forums
Smart Shopper Stories from the Sales Frontlines
48046 messages, Last post on Dec 03, 2009 at 10:40 AM
You are in the Smart Shopper Forum. Your Hosts are kirstie_h & tidester
|
Replying to: alejandrom (Nov 28, 2008 9:21 am) Yes, they are. Some people think they know quite a bit without ever having walked in our shoes. You may have sold something before, but you haven't sold cars. It's a different world.
|
|
|
|
|
Replying to: madmanmoo (Nov 28, 2008 9:36 am) The sales managers who haven't shagged ups on the lot for over 20 years are the biggest hindrance in this business...in my opinion. If it wasn't for the SM's the whole sales process would be different. These guys are the true culprits in the whole buying process. These are the clowns who drag out the process and wear the customer down. Trust me. |
|
|
Replying to: oldfarmer50 (Nov 28, 2008 4:53 am) You should have charged him for the advice. My dad is a contractor and when I was young I worked some summers with him. Sometimes he'd have a whole family gathered around him when doing his work at their home, just staring, and making him feel uncomfortable. He got ticked off and told them if they keep staring, he'll charge them for training, and make their renovation bill more.  They quickly scattered away.....
|
|
|
|
|
Replying to: alejandrom (Nov 28, 2008 9:21 am) Bought and sold my fair share of cars that have graced my humble "estate", too. I've managed a sales staff, although not in the automotive end of things. Done some selling myself. But, same rules apply. I used to ask my sales force all the time about their forecasts (probably similar to the a.m. sales meetings at the dealerships). My biggest challenge was getting my staff (even the managers) to recognize when a prospect wasn't really a prospect, at all. They'd waste time and energy, week after week, telling me how these prospects were on the verge of closing. Yet, time after time, they lingered, no movement at all. Finally, the edict had to be made...."close'em or get them out of the funnel". Relating this back to the Scion, the price is the price posted. There's no negotiation. A prospect can't get a "better deal" at another dealership. They can try to shop your deal, but anyone who's done just a little homework will know, Scion is a one price dealership. So, it's a matter of "do you, or don't you like the car?" If they don't, there's nothing you're going to do or say to change that. You might want to find out why they don't like the car, just to gain a little knowledge. If they say they want to shop around, you might ask "for what?" A Corolla? A Camry? Step right next door....got those, too. No use making your job any more difficult than it is. As long as you can generate some excitement about the Scion, get the customer to see why it's a good choice, you're 9/10ths there. Just got to get them financed at that point. Do you really want to spend 2 hours with someone trying to soothe their nervousness? Or, if they are terminally undecided? Is that really a good prospect? Or, would you be better served cutting them loose and moving on to the next person that happens upon the lot? I'm trying to learn here. So, no offense intended. For the record, I've been filleted before....sometimes in these threads.
|
|
|
Replying to: alejandrom (Nov 28, 2008 9:45 am) Some of those "guys" are auto salesmen themselves. The sales managers who haven't shagged ups on the lot for over 20 years are the biggest hindrance in this business...in my opinion. If it wasn't for the SM's the whole sales process would be different. These guys are the true culprits in the whole buying process. These are the clowns who drag out the process and wear the customer down. Examples or stories??? Care to rebuttal joel, you're a sales manager. 
|
|
|
Replying to: graphicguy (Nov 28, 2008 9:55 am) Once I figure out that the customer is a flake (as the guy I wrote about yesterday), I'll drop them right away, nicely of course, and wilkl tell my SM about it. Our management team is pretty decent, as they don't am ek you "wear the customer down".and so on. However I have abouyt 2 full binders will past prospects that I haven't closed. Some said htye'll buyu in 6 months (so I put them in the appropraite follow up month section), some are undecided, some were nice to deal with but I can't reach them. I go through the binders once every couple weeks and keep the customers in there unless they tell me they bought, or don't want to be called anymore, at which point then I'll dump them (shred their info). I have gotten deals before from unsold customers I followed up with 6 months to even a year later. |
|
|
|
|
Replying to: madmanmoo (Nov 28, 2008 6:21 am) Have a good trip Moo! GP 
|
|
|
Replying to: jipster (Nov 28, 2008 10:03 am) Jip asked: Examples or stories??? I agree with you Al on that one, that at some dealerships the managers are thinking old school 70s and 80s selling techniques. At my old Honda place I had a sales manager who gave everyone on the spot training about selling, when in the middle of a deal. Everyone got tired of his crap as it was almost impossbile to deal with him. One time a salesman had a deal on a car, with a commitment, and went to get payments. The SM asked the salesman if the customer had driven the car yet. He said no, he didn't want to. The manager wouldn't give him payments unless he drive the car. The customer got ticked off and left without buying. Another time we received lists ofcustomers to call for our "private sales". The list was generated from the service dept, and wasn't seperated based on which salesperson the customer belonged to, it was just of recent customers in service within the last 6 months to a year. Well some people on that list were customers who bought new cars less then 6 months before who were there for their 1st oil change. Boy did they get ticked off when they received a few calls in one year to come in and trade thier new car in a "private sale". The managers didn't care, neither did the owner. The lists barely got anyone in the door, it was the unsold prospects that came back for "the sale" that bought. The owners and managers didn't want to hear it and the General Manager flipped out on me once for only having called 40 people out of the 500 on my list, when I alreayd had about 14 appointments booked from my unsold list (which were very likely to buy). Needless to say, I moved on shortly after that. That place is still a grindhouse, wehre everyone works for flats as over they years the management have been cutting into their payplans little by little.
|
|
|
Replying to: madmanmoo (Nov 28, 2008 6:54 am)
|
|
|
|
|
Replying to: boomchek (Nov 28, 2008 10:16 am) When it's slow at the dealership our GM hands out lists of service customers that have recently been through the service lanes. Cold call them and try and get them to trade their car in. Absolute. Nonsense. Full stop. |
|
You are here:
Forums
Smart Shopper Stories from the Sales Frontlines
