http://www.pinnycohen.com/2008/08/25/marketing-wisdom/car-dealers-vs-car-shoppers-a-great-spectator-sport/

The change needs to happen on the dealer level. It will mean sacrificing some sales in the short term. It will also mean having every dealer in the country getting together to act based on good dealer principles and be proactive in their efforts to provide a real quality experience. As the retailer it is your responsibility to uphold a moral standard.

Next steps include abandoning the dealer philosophy of pushing deals that simply cannot occur. I have owned a marketing company focusing on Direct Mail advertising for two years now. Initially it was almost impossible to win business because we refused to put unrealistic offers on the flyers. Lately, we have seen business rise dramatically as dealers are searching for more ways to positively brand their locations while still driving retail sales on the short term.

I applaud the stories of Janet and John, as they are clear indicators of the business making a shift in the right direction, towards an application of morals and ethics as the driving forces behind car sales. If applied properly, the business will again be robust on a consistent basis, not on again off again. Also, marketers will enjoy working with their clients more. Don’t get me wrong, I love my clients, however, you did hire us for a reason. Let us do our job.

Nick

The system is intimidating though. Having the open floor, the other people milling around… I think that robs from the experience of having a one-to-one conversation.

Re-reading it I may have gone on a bit of a rant, and being a front-line salesman instead of a marketer I was very focussed on the Customer Experience rather than the whole marketing mix.

I’m working through all the articles that you guys have written about this topic and I’m grateful that you’ve found the time to address this. I’ve gotten some great ideas from you all and if I can get any buy-in from the upper levels to implement even a single element of your suggestions, it’ll be time well spent.

My future customers thank you!

I’ve recently made the move from a semi-decent I.T. job to car sales because it’s something I’ve always wanted to do.

I love my job. I work with a prestige brand and love what I sell. Our product range is brilliant and expanding/improving continuously. The amount of car you get for your money nowadays is incredible – from a safety, reliability or technology perspective, these are amazing machines!

I meet people everyday and I try to treat them with respect and consideration. I do my best to advise them on what would be best for them and, while I do try and sell what we have in stock (what’s the alternative, send them to another dealer?), I’d never sell an unsuitable car. I believe that by selling someone the right car with a fair deal, you’ll sell them their next five cars… sell them the wrong car or treat them unfairly and you’ll never see them again!

I’ve been trained extensively. We’re taught to sell from a four step process – Qualify, Appaise the Trade-In, Demonstrate the New Car, Negotiate/Close. This is to promote consistency in the experience for all customers. If done properly it will have brought the customer and salesperson through a process that ensures the salesperson and customer are clear on what the requirements are, that the trade-in has been appraised fully and transparently and that the new car has been demonstrated to build the customer’s desire. All this must happen before the negotiation process.

In my experience so far I’ve seen customers being pressured due to targets or because a particular car has been targeted to be sold. That pressure is used rarely and is sometimes justified as the customer won’t make a decision. But no amount of pressure negates the fact that that customer can walk out at any time.

This seems unfair until I think of the number of times that customers have tried to hoodwink (or outright lie to me). When appraising a trade-in I ask how many owners the car has and has the car been involved in an accident. I’ve been blatantly lied to MANY times as people hope I don’t notice a resprayed panel…
I’ve also lost count of the number of times that I’ve spent an hour or more with someone, gone through pricing and specs, done test-drives, answered every question they had and then they went to a competitor with my quote and, for the sake of less than a few hundred dollars, they ordered a $75,000 car through the competitor. If you want internet pricing, order from the internet. I believe my customer service and extensive knowledge is worth something.

I’d love for the motor industry to change so that customers didn’t walk into my showroom with their defensive shields on full power, it would make my life so much easier.
In every other aspect of life you give a person benefit of the doubt and hope that they will exceed your expectations. You try to trust them until they do something to damage that trust. For me as a Car Salesman, you distrust me by default and I have to work VERY hard to break down that distrust. Much of the time I can’t.
I’d also love for customers to extend to me the respect I deserve as the brand expert that I am and as a human being. I can see how easy it is for a salesperson to get jaded and go down the “old style” selling route, but for us who try to stay on the higher ground it’s a losing battle as customer after customer treats us like cheats, liars or enemies.

I promise everyday to try and be fair to people and treat them with respect while doing my very best to excel at my chosen profession. If customers could make a similar effort before shopping for their cars, maybe we can ALL help to change the motor industry for the better.