Rant - sometimes it's embarrassing to be in sales !

[patientlady]

So for the last 10 days I have been looking around for a used car. Up to 10,000 miles with sat nav, Bluetooth, diesel, nothing unusual...
All Four dealers, decided I needed a new car, of which two dealers have not even bothered to forward any figures. Not one out of the four has offered any figs on a used car...

Then I go to apply for a sales agency with a 1st page website company, which would fit in nicely with my current offering. Can I find there website NO! Found them on FB with a pitiful offering...

What is up with these people!

P/l ( sales agent )

 

[The Byre]

Tell me about it!

I once went with my wife to look for a good, used car for her. I asked each dealer for a petrol driven, stick-shift, medium to small car with a hatch-back and above all, it had to be quiet. We asked to see cars that were £10,000 or less.

You would think we had asked for a vintage Bristol with five wheels and wings! One pointed us a a diesel automatic and said that it was exactly what we wanted. He even started the engine and it sounded as if goblins were milling old boots in there!

Another gave us a Honda Jazz to test and it was unbelievably noisy! Another showed us yet another diesel automatic SUV from Kia that was even noisier than the first.

At the biggest dealer in town, a young man did the "Can I help you?" routine and when we said we wanted a petrol driven stick shift with a hatch-back that is quiet, he just ran away. Another young man approached us and we went though our routine all over again and he ran away as well!

Dumbfounded, we got the duck out of Fodge and I went on-line and found a Honda Accord 5-door with 42k on the clock and had not been wound back for about 4k. It was exactly what she wanted! As it was from a small indi dealer, she could even PX her previous car.

The truth be told, the only real revenue earners for franchised car dealers today are new cars sold on credit. They even try to discourage cash sales in some cases, as they need to move stock at a profit and a cash sale is not profitable.

The salesman will usually just get £100 for a new sale for cash (in some cases, they get nothing!) but it can be £1,000 for a credit sale and a few extras, such as extended warranty, bundled insurance and the jumbo-minty-nut-burger luxury comfort package.

I also learned that the reason we were shown all those lemons that no sane person would want, was because they had to be shifted off the forecourt and therefore had massive commissions on them. Shift a clocked clocker at 8k and that salesman will be able to buy that 4K telly he always wanted that month! Sell a proper car for cash and the poor sap gets practically nothing!

 

[Ashley_Price]

It's embarrassing to be in sales when you have incompetent, poor-trained or just plain bad sales people getting anyone in sales tarred with the same brush.

Selling is an honourable profession. At the end of the day, nothing happens until something is sold. But you still get those thinking sales is a route to getting rich quick and treating the customer badly.

 

[MBE1]

Agree with Ashley_Price comment above, the major blame however has to be laid at the companies involved who employ these people, if they are not suitably trained in even the basics then they shouldn't be interacting with clients.

This doesn't just happen in sales though, too many companies today want excellent staff with the least outlay of resources of training and pay, unfortunately it just doesn't happen that easily.

I have been asked on numerous occassions to go into the motor trade selling vehicles and have always refused, working 10-12 hour days six days a week is not my idea of a decent work life balance, and judging by the look of desperation in many of the salespeoples eyes, not very well paid for many either.

 

[patientlady]

My update is as follows
I went back to The Renault dealership and gave the new salesman a second chance. He blamed the day off finance mgr and proceeded to take my details again with a promise of a phone call within 2 and a half hours, not sure where the half hour came from, but I am again still waiting, now over a week.
I told the story to another Citroen dealer and he seemed very surprised at such a poor response. He forwarded that afternoon a brochure by email, and also emailed the next day that a car that might be suitable was now sold - and that's the last I have heard from him.
Wow if I had this attitude I would now be working in the poor house
I have decided to keep my Mini and have given it a service and some TLC
P/l

 

[Ian J]

The truth be told, the only real revenue earners for franchised car dealers today are new cars sold on credit. They even try to discourage cash sales in some cases, as they need to move stock at a profit and a cash sale is not profitable.

I'm not so sure as when I was looking to change my car exactly a year ago I went to a BMW franchised dealer to look at a one year old car with low mileage. It transpired that whilst BMW will subsidize the interest on new cars they don't on second hand cars so my monthly payments on a brand new car would be exactly the same as on the one year old car.

I don't see why anyone would buy nearly new on that basis

 

[Mark T Jones]

I chatted recently to an HR director in one of the big motor groups. I was interested to chat having always harboured a desire to sell cars

Basically, he said they don't recruit charisma, determination or any real selling skills, they recruit people who will follow their process to the letter. Oddly, that process doesn't include proper selling techniques

Having recently been looking for a decent second hand car I too have experienced this. As c curved ball, I looked at a Skoda VRS. Petrol. Could I get a test drive? No. 'You've driven a golf GTI? It's the same as that'

Ultimately I will get my friendly car broker to sort it, there is no joy in parting with£20k to a franchised dealer

 

[tony84]

Sandero Stepway Stepway Ambiance dCi 90
£9,500 brand new. Brand new, diesel and under 10,000 miles. Its got bluetooth but not sure about sat nav, although at £500 under budget you might be able to pay for them or someone to install one?

 

[Ashley_Price]

the major blame however has to be laid at the companies involved who employ these people, if they are not suitably trained in even the basics then they shouldn't be interacting with clients.

This of course is very true. But unless someone is fresh out of school, college or university and is led to believe it is how salespeople act, then surely it must flag up that something doesn't seem right if they're being trained to be too aggressive or rude to the customer?

 

[MBE1]

This of course is very true. But unless someone is fresh out of school, college or university and is led to believe it is how salespeople act, then surely it must flag up that something doesn't seem right if they're being trained to be too aggressive or rude to the customer?

Well coming back to motor trade sales, most are trained in the company systems and I am most suprised at the lack of telephone contact/follow up, since this is where salespeople in that genre make their money. Maybe just a couple of unlucky cases, maybe signals were completely misread etc.

I inquired about a new car a couple of years ago and the salesperson is still calling myself on a regular basis, nothing annoying but correctly attempting to build a pipeline of prospects.

Most industries these days have gone totally over to a softly softly approach, too far IMO, but I'm getting old and still believe almost anything can be sold there and then to most people. The skill comes in knowing how hard to push, or in todays language, nudge potential buyers into a decision, when required. That said, I prefer to get a client to buy, rather than be sold.

It all amounts to the same thing end of the day, but salespeople are so under appreciated in the UK it is no suprise at the lack of quality around.

 

[Ashley_Price]

I inquired about a new car a couple of years ago and the salesperson is still calling myself on a regular basis, nothing annoying but correctly attempting to build a pipeline of prospects

It sounds like s/he should read Tom Hopkins's book and learn about the "itch cycle". The salesperson should find out how often customers buy a new car (when they get the "itch" to have something new and need to scratch it) then start calling them a few months before the itch needs to be scratched.

So, if s/he found out you changed your car roughly every four years, they should be contacting you after 3 years, and keeping you up to date with the latest models, inviting in for a test drive, etc.

Most industries these days have gone totally over to a softly softly approach, too far IMO, but I'm getting old and still believe almost anything can be sold there and then to most people. The skill comes in knowing how hard to push, or in todays language, nudge potential buyers into a decision, when required. That said, I prefer to get a client to buy, rather than be sold.

I guess a lot of the softly softly approach is down to the internet. It is far too easy for people to check out lots of suppliers in a very short time. Therefore, if you come over as too aggressive the prospective buyer can easily find another 10, 50, 100 suppliers offering the same thing.

Nobody likes to be sold anything, and generally as a salesperson your job is not to sell a product or service, it is to show how that product or service will solve the customer's problem. Or, at the very least give them ways they can rationalise the purchase (especially on a high priced item). However, it's not always that easy.

So, for example, I am in the situation where I sell exactly the same type of items as a hundred other office supplies firms. A pack of Xerox paper is a pack of Xerox paper, a paperclip is a paperclip. Therefore, I cannot make out that my products are any fancier or cleverer than anyone else's. So why should anyone start buying from me instead of who is currently supplying them? I have to find other ways to differentiate myself from my competitors (and I do this through my "Personal Shopper for Office Supplies" service.)

 

[Asterian]

I have to find other ways to differentiate myself from my competitors (and I do this through my "Personal Shopper for Office Supplies" service.)

This is key IMO. I was buying a new phone recently, I did my research, I compared products, I went to brick and mortar stores (in one the SA was very nice), and in the end I went to an online delivery, saving about 30€ (and half of which I spent for BT headset at the same store because they deserved it). If you don't have anything special about you, all you have is the price.

 

[Ashley_Price]

If you don't have anything special about you, all you have is the price.

So true, and there will always be those people who are only interested in the cheapest price. So, admittedly in many cases (but not all) I cannot compete with Amazon (although often I can be cheaper for ink and toner).

However, I can beat Amazon, on customer service. You can't email Amazon and say "Can we order the same paper and toner as last time". But our customers can do exactly that and it saves them having to look up or remember product codes or even the name of the items.

Also, customers can ask me to search for a product on their behalf. So we had a customer wanted to order a specific folder, but didn't know what it was called, so they sent me a photo:

Again that's service you won't get on Amazon, Ebay, etc.

So, while Amazon, et al. might (I stress might) be cheaper for the actual item, you have to add in how much time you are spending searching and ordering products at an online shop.

 

[Ashley_Price]

To carry the point on about being able to order far more easily from an independent or small firm, compared to a service that is too automated (Amazon, eBay, etc.), here is a real email order that has just come in, with the items listed exactly as per the email:

- Black Ink (x2)
- Blue Ink (x2)
- Yellow Ink (x1)
- Pink Ink (x2)
- Black clicky pens (x2 packs)
- Q Connect printer paper (x2)
- 120mg paper, Evolution (x1 pack)
- Pukka pads (x4 packs)

That is the only information the customer has given us. However, because we have their order history, we know their preferences on every one of these items. So, by "ink" we know they mean "toner" (and we know the make and model of their printer); and, although they have said "Evolution" for the 120gsm paper, their preferred brand is actually Xerox.