SALESMEN

[lumberjim]

I have some good stories about salesmen/women. I know most of you do too. They seem to be the target of a lot of negative vibes in most peoples' minds, but there are some that don't fit that mold. I'd like to hear both kinds of stories/comments if you have any to share.


I have worked with a wide range of salesmen. Some are totally proffessional, and have huge followings, and some are stereotypically offensive. When I sold i was always the guy that knew all of the product info details, and was an easy going, no pressure, let you buy the car type of guy. I usually sold more new cars than anyone else, and handled all of the VIP customers because of this, but when it came to grinding a customer into a deal, and walloping them for 3-4K on a used car, there were better salesmen.

Don't get me wrong, a fool and his money are lucky enough to get together in the first place, and I was well aware that if i had a "lay down" and I didn't squeeze them, someone else would. So, I didn;t feel bad at all about making a large profit on someone. I always treated them well, kept them comfortable, and made sure that they 'felt' like they got a good deal and they almost always referred their friends. The assholes that beat you down to invoice, and are still sure that they got hosed were the ones that would blast you on the survey, and never refer anyone. Seemed like the less time i spent with a customer, the more money i made.

I never had to sell Wolf a car, thank god, but I've dealt with some real doozies.

wanna hear about "Electromagnetic Man?"

[perth]

Originally posted by lumberjim
wanna hear about "Electromagnetic Man?"

Yes.

[Kitsune]

When attempting to purchase my first new car, I stopped by a local dealership and walked in, knowing exactly the vehicle I wanted and what color. Because of this, the salesman felt the need to jack the price by $1,000 over sticker.

"Are you kidding? You want this for UNDER? Do you know how many kids buy these cars?" He started laughing at this point and I found it pretty fucking insulting. I ended up purchasing the car from another dealership a couple hundred miles away, but they didn't have the color I wanted. Where did they ship the green one in from? You guessed it -- the same city where I checked to begin with.

In assisting a friend in buying a car, I told him my trick and he elected to follow it: You always feel better if, after setting up the purchase, you sleep on it for a night before signing the papers. This method of 'big ticket stress management' did not please the person he had to deal with who began yelling at him in the office. "Then what the hell did I print all this up for if you aren't going to buy the damn car?"

Some people just know how to get business.

[lumberjim]

Gil Bergstrom.

Gil started calling us in february of '02. he was looking for a Concorde with a bench seat. At that time I was the Internet Sales Manager, and he was my customer. He wanted white, too. The combination did not exist in a 150 mile radius of our dealership, so i reccomended that he order the car, delivery in 4-6 weeks. He never called back, but he was wierd enough on the phone that he stood out in my memory.

I had the salesmanager order a Concorde like he wanted for stock, just in case he resurfaced. 6 months later, I had moved to new car manager, and he turned back up. John had him, again on the phone. Again, he was weird. he wanted us to ship the car to Pittsburg, and offered to pay full sticker price. John wasted 2 weeks following him up, getting quotes from shipping companies, etc. No Sale.

another 6 months goes by, and we still have this "White Elephant" concorde, which is now a leftover, in stock. This time, Gil comes in to the dealership cold. No 3 days of calls first. He gets a different salesman named Dave. I recognized the name when I heard it, but since I had moved into Finance, it was late in the game. here's dave's account of the sales proccess with Gil:

First off, he shakes hands with his left hand. OK. Oh, and he looks every bit as odd as he sounded on the phone. So, he tells Dave which car he's interested in, still a white Concorde with the bench seat. So, Dave, being one of those proffessional types, goes around and gets the car, pulls it up to the door, and attempts to hand the keys to Gil. Gill flinches as if he stuck a snake in his face. "no no. Please take that remote off of the key ring first, I have a problem with electronic devices like that. If you use it around me I'll get a pain in my groin." Eyebrows go up, but Dave's a trooper.

"whaddya mean a pain in your groin? From a remote?"

"well, they make my balls tingle"

he takes the remote off of the ring, and hands the key to him.

"Ok, I need to make a copy of your drivers license."

Now Gil turns his back to Dave, and looks back at him over his left shoulder. He hands the license up over his shoulder. When dave tried to hand it back to him, after copying it, it had to be handed back in the same fashion.

Then, he has to get the seat positioned just right, but he cannot touch it. So, again, Dave has to move the seat back and forth inch by inch while Gil walked back and forth on the passenger side, trying to eye it up. "Gil, why don;t you just get in, and set it how you want it? It's power."

"No, that never works, it has to be right when i first sit in it, or I'll never get comfortable"

" well, how did you set the car you drove up in then?

"my sister"

"ok, how's this?"

"Looks ok, can we drive it now?"

"Please"

" Oh, wait. You don;t have a cell phone on you or anything, do you?"

" I'll go put it at my desk, get in"

Dave was starting to lose his patience. The test drive was one of Dave's scarriest ever. We are on a 4 lane highway with a 45 mph speed limit, and Gil drove 20mph all the way down the hill, kept veering toward the shoulder, and once stopped dead in the left lane.

dave tells me that he had the remote in his pocket, and was pushing the button the whole time they were test driving, just to see if he was telling the truth about his balls.

Guess not.

Do you think Gil bought the car?

[hot_pastrami]

Originally posted by lumberjim
Do you think Gil bought the car?

I'd have to guess NO. Or, if he did, he paid for it with rolled-up change that smelled like fish.

I had an amusing episode when I bought my Camaro SS. I had been jerked around at one dealership-- probably because the salesman was an old fart and thought I was a kid with no money-- so I was visiting other dealerships in Salt Lake City. I had called one and they had an SS on their lot, so I headed up. Their salespeople and signage made a big deal about how their salespeople wouldn't pressure me, with banners in nice pastel colors to soothe even the panickiest idiot.

It wasn't the color I wanted (it was pewter, I wanted black), and it lacked a couple of the options I'd been hoping for, but it looked nice and the salesman was giving me a pretty good price. I had managed to get a copy of the car's data sheet (I can't remember what it's called, but it has a lt of information from when the car was delivered), and noticed that the car had been sitting on the lot for about nine months, so they were probably eager to unload it. I took it for a drive, and I was thinking I'd go with it. I told the salesman that I was leaning towards Yes, but I wanted to sleep on it first, and I'd come back tomorrow.

"Oh," he said, "that price is only good today." You ever watch the classic cartoon Transformers? You know that sound they make when they transform? I could almost hear that as I watched this nice, no-pressure, pastel-sign salesman transform into a manipulative asshole.

I chuckled, and stood up. "Then I guess I've made up my mind." I stood up and walked out the door. I drove to another dealership, who turned out to have the right car, in the right color, with the right options. I had to haggle on the price a little (they were getting a nice trade-in, so they were happy to negotiate), but I got it down to about the same price as the other dealership. After a lengthy process of turning down worthless add-ons, I had the car, I drove it home that night.

So the next morning, my phone rings. I answer, and it's the salesman from that first dealship I'd visited the day before, the pastel-transformer-asshole. He says "My sales manager told me to get you back down here, and sell you this car, whatever it takes."

"Terribly sorry," I explained, "but right after I left your dealership I went to another, and bought my car there."

"Oh, you already bought one?" I made an affirmative-response of some kind. After a moment's pause and a sigh, he offered unenthusiastically, his voice dripping with disappointment,"Well, enjoy your new car." Click.

That was a pretty satisfying outcome.

[lumberjim]

Unless a rebate is about to expire, or it's the last day of the month, never beleive the " this price is only good today" shit. Our salesmanagers do that from time to time, but usually, if the customer DOES come back, they get an even lower price. Good job walking. always be prepared to do just that when you're car shopping. As Kitsune, pointed ut, even if they have the only one around, if you play it right, another dealer can "dealer trade" the car in for you. Just don;t have them calling that same day, because, they may figure out it's you, and not release the car to the other dealer. and go far enough away to not be getting it thru their competition.

[lumberjim]

Originally posted by hot_pastrami

I'd have to guess NO. Or, if he did, he paid for it with rolled-up change that smelled like fish.

ding ding ding we have a winner. no sale...haven't heard from him since. He was probably abducted by aliens.

as for smelly money, I once collected $6000 in cash from a 21 yr old that smelled like Pot.

[zippyt]

A few years ago and 140,000 + miles we bought a NEW mini van, I don't hagel well with out info to work with ( befor we had a puter and internet access) but my wife is HELL on wheels !! She and the sales dude worked on the price for a long time , butthead got the monthly payment where we wanted , then he informes us there is a ballon payment , we DON'T do that ballon payment shit !!! About this time my pager goes off and i have to go on a service call , my wife said it was a friend from another dealer with a beter deal . I get home Late the next morning to find a new van sitting in the drive way. She went back and talked to dudes boss .


2weeks later sales dude calles and says we owe him $500 that they forgot to collect at signing . My wife and I told him "I don't think so ". 2 days later asshole chickie from collections calls saying she needs her money , smarts off to my wife , an argument ensues , with my wife saying " WELL , if thats the way it is then bring our trade-in here NOW and you can have your FUCKING van back !!!" she slams the phone down at this point .


A week later chickie calles back , same conversation .
Same hang up .

A week after that she calls again , I talk to her this time , calmly and clearly I tell her the same thing . She doesn't want to hear ANY of it . I tell her the same thing AGAIN calmly but with conviction in my voice , and hang up .


A month later sales dudes boss calls saying "How can we make this ALL go away , should we just eat the $500 ???" I say Sure that would work . He says as long as we give the dealer ship a good eval in the servey he will make it go away .

We had cought their error in the paper work right off the bat and had squireld away $500 to pay them if they called , BUT asshole chickie blew it when she smarted off !!!
We gave them a weak eval in the survey . Verry low on the customer relations mark .

[lumberjim]

shame on you

[wolf]

shame on the dealer.

[lumberjim]

that too.

i'm gonna hold my tongue because i like zippy

[xoxoxoBruce]

Pussy.:p

[jinx]

I was with you right up until the end. You should have kept your word and given them a good survey if that's what you agree to do.

[zippyt]

Jinx , we would have if they haden't been such FUCKSTICKS about the whole situation.
If sales dude had called and been all apoligetic saying " there has been a mistake " , and collections chickie hadn't been such an asshole we would have gladly given them a check and a desent eval .

Jim can tell you makeing the customer feel good is every thing , DON'T get all adverserial with them , some will slink away , and some will throw it right back in your face . We just gave what we got .

[zippyt]

i'm gonna hold my tongue because i like zippy

Bring it on Jimbo !!!!!