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Smart Shopper Stories from the Sales Frontlines
47926 messages, Last post on Nov 27, 2009 at 8:39 PM
You are in the Smart Shopper Forum. Your Hosts are kirstie_h & tidester
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Replying to: tidester (Apr 29, 2009 3:14 pm) Some say when you're a greenpea (speaking of Greenpea, where has he been?) you tend to do more deals because you don't pre judge or blow customers off, you talk to anyone and everyone, and you don't have any bad habits yet. My first ever day on the job after I got hired was to learn the inventory and the products (Honda in late 2003). I took nearly every model out for spin and it was such a joy as I love driving different cars all the time. I got frustrated however because I had zero selling expereince, other than a week long course I took that taught me basics of how a dealership runs, and how car selling works, and my manager was busy doing manager stuff and didn't have time to teach me the sales process of the dealership. So after driving every car I went from dept to dept and introduced my self and got to know all the employees. I was going to quit after 2 days cause I still had no idea what to do, as in how to do a write up, or a proper negotiation, and was getting really frustrated. But my manager finally apologized, showed me some basics (I am still in contact with him), and I started taking ups after a couple of days. My first full deal was on an older gentleman who bought a demo off the showroom floor. One of my managers took me through the steps to show me how to do an appraisal, and how to do the write up. What shocked me the most on the first few deals was the wholesale value of some beater trade ins. I mean few hundred bucks for this or that trade in, a thousand for this or that, and why we weren't keeping all of them on the lot. I soon realised that some trade ins were simply unwanted by most buyers, and hence the lousy money they pulled. The other funny thing was is how quicky I learned to read buyers who said they're gonna be back, or come in at a certain time only for them to never show up. A few months of no shows who I waited for after my work hours, and I started to be firm on setting appointments only when I was scheduled to be there. Spending 10-12 hours a day hoping that some of my ups will show up burnt me out. I actually now find that the less time I spend at work the more productive I am. My 4th month at Honda was my best when I sold about 14 cars. The months after that when I couldn't beat that figure were frustrating. Car sales people are sort of like pro athletes in a sense that one very strong month can carry you through many crappy months, because management sees that you are capable of performing, because you did it before. So during the crappy months they won't want to let6 you go in hopes that you'll have another strong month soon. But if you start off slow, and continue doing poorly, you won't last too long.
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Replying to: mikefm58 (Apr 29, 2009 5:51 pm) I had people telling me they're waiting for the Camaro, or that it'll be cheaper, but those are the type of people I had on my follow up list for a year now who say they're going to buy this or that, but never actually commit or come in. So I don't really count them as serious buyers. Talk is cheap. The Camaro might take away some sales but not a huge chunk I dont' think.
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Replying to: driver100 (Apr 29, 2009 4:05 pm)  Had 2 appointments. Both scheduled 4 hours apart. They both show up within 5 minutes of each other.  So I had to split one, so I end up with 1.5 deals. Better than nothing at least. |
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Replying to: driver100 (Apr 29, 2009 4:03 pm) 
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Replying to: richard64 (Apr 29, 2009 2:14 pm) So far all my relatives and friends are ok.
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Replying to: richard64 (Apr 29, 2009 6:35 am) Well, I'm not feeling as young as I used to.... the wife made a comment tonight about a few gray hairs popping up here and there. Oh well, what's the saying... "there might be smoke in the chimney but theres still fire in the oven?" (that doesn't sound quite right) BTW, Richard check your email. ------- Straying back to topic a bit, I will be car shopping for the wifes new car towards the end of the summer and thus, for kicks, ordered the car buying guide "Don't Get Taken Every Time" from Amazon. Nothing much there that I didn't already know except for the author's warning/paranoia about leaving computer "cookies." I know as the time nears I will have done countless inventory searches on every dealer site in the southeast looking for the right color, options, etc. on the anointed choice. Do dealers (and web masters in general) have the ability to know/track/monitor who visits their site? ....to the point that they can identify an individual computer user? I know that they supposedly can tell that I am using Embarq DSL but would they know that I have looked at stock number B4533 twelve times in the past week? "This guy is HOT on this car; let's hold firm on the price!" Great, yet another cyber threat to be paranoid about.....  (Do I hear a helicopter hovering above the house? Why does that black sedan with government plates keep circling the neighborhood? j/k  )
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Replying to: verdugo (Apr 29, 2009 6:35 pm) Richard |
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Replying to: roadburner (Apr 29, 2009 12:39 pm) FYI - there are 6 2002/2003's of this configuration on Autotrader... |
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Replying to: traindriver (Apr 29, 2009 7:19 pm) I think the quote goes like this: "Though there is no smoke in the chimney, there is still fire in the furnace." You're a long way from having to worry about that issue. Good grief. I didn't know that dealers could tell if you visit their web pages. Is that what the "cookies" thing means? I just eat them. I didn't know that I was giving them away.  What kind of car does your wife want? Richard
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Replying to: driver100 (Apr 29, 2009 4:03 pm) Richard |
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