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3219 messages,  Last post on May 19, 2013 at 1:46 PM

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Messages Page 313 of 323

#3117 of 3219 Re: Privacy Law Violations [wsb2] by Mr_Shiftright HOST

Feb 08, 2013 (1:38 pm)

Replying to: wsb2 (Feb 08, 2013 8:38 am)
Also sounds like fairly clunky management. If a person works 25 days a week, that's 28 phone calls a DAY--at 10 minutes per, average, that's over 4.5 hours a day sitting on your butt rather than addressing people who come into the showroom, learning product, and enjoying your work well enough to want to come back next week.
 
This is my idea of "micro-managing", which, in my opinion, builds an unimaginative, paranoid and dispirited sales force.

#3118 of 3219 Re: Privacy Law Violations [Mr_Shiftright] by boomchek

Feb 08, 2013 (2:09 pm)

Replying to: Mr_Shiftright (Feb 08, 2013 1:38 pm)
Usually phone calls last 1-2 minutes as people don't pick up or tell you they're not interested, or 5 minutes tops just to set an appointment and get the customer to come in.
 
There is a lot of downtime at this time of the year in the showrooms. The last place I was at, you'd be lucky if in a 6 hour shift you talked to more than one customer.

#3119 of 3219 Re: Privacy Law Violations [boomchek] by wsb2

Feb 08, 2013 (2:14 pm)

Replying to: boomchek (Feb 08, 2013 2:09 pm)
I have a 2008 A4. I service there. Four people called me in two weeks!

#3120 of 3219 Re: Privacy Law Violations [wsb2] by boomchek

Feb 08, 2013 (2:26 pm)

Replying to: wsb2 (Feb 08, 2013 2:14 pm)
One dealer I used to work at where I bought a car for myself, still calls me. It's usually new sales guys who don't know I worked there that start the pitch right away until I interrupt them.
 
The managers don't look at lists, they just print them off and divide them up between sales guys.

#3121 of 3219 Re: Privacy Law Violations [boomchek] by isellhondas

Feb 08, 2013 (3:08 pm)

Replying to: boomchek (Feb 08, 2013 2:26 pm)
The store I worked at required that we make "old owner" calls every six months for I think, the first two years after the sale.
 
I used to hope I got an answering machine.
 
Some wer happy to hear from me, others seemed to just wonder why I would call and a few (very few) seemed annoyed.
 
The idea was to keep our name in front of them. It was probably better than doing nothing but not much better.
 
I have heard that some stores have managers tear pages out of a phone book and make their salespeople cold call people. I couldn't/wouldn't do that.
 
A lot of stores treat their salespeople like little kids or like garbage. One local Ford store makes their salespeople stand outside in a row calling "Up's" as cars drive into the lot. If it's a bad " up" like someone picking up parts or selling something, that salesperson go's to the end of the line.
 
A lot of stores turn their staff over every six months. They don't care.
 
Then there are the stores where the "managers" sit in a "tower" on the showroom floor and watch everything like a strict teacher.
 
Horrible!

#3122 of 3219 Re: Privacy Law Violations [isellhondas] by houdini1

Feb 08, 2013 (3:37 pm)

Replying to: isellhondas (Feb 08, 2013 3:08 pm)
isell, I think you were very fortunate to work where you did for your whole career and have such capable management and owners. Your timing was also good, as you were able to exit when you did. The internet has made it a lot tougher on the sales folks I think.
 
Tesla, for example, does not sell through dealers at all, just direct to the consumer.
 
I sure am glad I got out of the rat race a few years ago.

#3123 of 3219 Re: Privacy Law Violations [isellhondas] by boomchek

Feb 08, 2013 (5:13 pm)

Replying to: isellhondas (Feb 08, 2013 3:08 pm)
Isell, are you still in the business? I haven't been on the forums for a few years so I lost track of what everyone's been up to.
 
Speaking of turnover, the worst place I ever worked at was a GM dealer.
 
All their ads bragged how the salesguys can make $100k/year etc....
 
When I started on the 15th, the whole dealership had all of 13 cars out for the month between the 16 salesguys there, meaning they would probably finish with 30 units for the month.
 
There are 12 guys on the floor and 4 doing their own thing.
 
Out of the 12 on the floor, 7 of them (me included) started working there the day before, 3 others have been there less than a month, one has been there 3 months, and the most senior guy about 20 years.
 
So more than 50% of sales guys are new and 90% of them 3 months or less.
 
I gave it a shot and stood outside at the dealership entrance to catch an up for the 2 days I was there, including a 9-9 shift one of those days. About 4 sales dept customers pulled into the lot over the entire 3 days, all were be backs or had appointments except 1. The rest were service customers.
 
I caught one sales call and got the guy to come in only for the management to blow him away because they didn't want to estimate payments on a used car unless he put a deposit first.
 
Edit: my sales manager told me to keep myself busy by you guessed it, calling a list of customers he gave me to see if they want to trade their cars.
 
I finished the shift and left never to return.

#3124 of 3219 Re: Privacy Law Violations [boomchek] by Mr_Shiftright HOST

Feb 09, 2013 (8:39 am)

Replying to: boomchek (Feb 08, 2013 5:13 pm)
i don't know if they still do it, but in Japan car sales were sometimes done door-to-door. Not a great business model for the USA.
 
  Ding-Dong! Hi, I'm selling BMW 3-Series today at a great discount? Care to buy one? LOL!

#3125 of 3219 Re: Privacy Law Violations [Mr_Shiftright] by kyfdx HOST

Feb 09, 2013 (11:37 am)

Replying to: Mr_Shiftright (Feb 09, 2013 8:39 am)
That would work at my house.

#3126 of 3219 Re: Privacy Law Violations [boomchek] by isellhondas

Feb 09, 2013 (12:23 pm)

Replying to: boomchek (Feb 08, 2013 5:13 pm)
Hey, it's good to have you back!
 
I decided to push the retirement button 2 1/2 years ago and I'm glad I did.
 
Yes, I got VERY lucky when I picked the store where I worked. It's family owned and we were treated with respect. They didn't rip people off or play games. We were expected to sell 20 cars a month and the top half of the salespeople usually did. It wasn't uncommon for us to sell 400 plus cars a month new and used.
 
We didn't run "screamer" ads and turnover was, I'm sure much less than other places.
 
And, did leave at a good time. I keep in touch with some of my co-workers and they tell me that. My last couple of years I lost interest and patience and my results showed. I still made good money but my heart just wasn't in it.
 
I do a lot of community volunteer work now and that keeps me busy.
 
Who knows, after a lifetime of retail sales and management I just might get bored and do something part time.

Messages Page 313 of 323

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