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How not to make any money as a salesman

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We moved recently. From a townhouse to a 'real' house. The lawn is a wee bit big to continue mowing with the push mower so I went out today to buy a ride on.

Went to the local John Deere dealer. As far as I could tell I was the only potential customer - at noon on a Friday, the place wasn't busy...

After a few minutes the salesman wandered over. Started the spiel, then went off to get me a brochure. I start to home in on a model, and this guy decides that he wants to go talk to someone else. He turns his back on me and walks off leaving me hanging.

I gave him a couple of minutes and then walked out. As I was driving off he came out and asked me why I'd left. So I told him that I didn't appreciate someone turning their back on me and walking away while I was talking.

I bought one from Sears instead. The salesman there managed to spend the 5 minutes it took me to pick one, and it comes on Sunday. The fact that they are having a sale was a bonus.

Prime example of how not to make it as a salesman. I don't get it. I was talking to the guy for under 3 minutes, and he knew I wanted one that day...
 
I was recently getting some graphic work done for a conference display booth that needed updating. I also told them that we are in the market for a quite upscale booth within the next couple of months. I go and collect the finished graphics and took the TR4 which I parked outside. The Saleswoman saw it and was all over it (bit of overkill actually, but nice thought). She turned to a Salesman who had only started the week before and said something like, "Isn't his car wonderful". He looked up, grunted and commented out loud, "I only like big old 'merican cars" and went back to what he was doing.

That's his opinion so I didn't take offense, but I'm sure that some people might not have liked being put down like that. All he had to say was something like, "nice and I also like big old 'merican cars" even if he didn't mean it. I have a feeling that attitude won't get him very far. I certainly won't be putting any commissions into his pocket for the work that we need done soon.
 
Good for you....I had the same thing happen when I bought my last daily driver....was intent on buying from the 1st dealer...he didn't take me serious and I went to another dealer in town and bought one that very same night...he took me serious...
 
I have a story very similar to that about buying a Volvo. Let's just say we ended up with an LR instead. The same night...
 
Why is that salespeople are all over you when you
want to be left alone,but ignore you when you want to talk
to them?
We had a female salesperson follow us around the local
dealer's lot.Three times we told her that we were "just looking".Kept following us around.We didn't buy from them.

- Doug
 
Similar salesman story. I was looking at a used vehicle (truck actually) on a dealer's lot and when the salesmen approached me I pointed out the vehicle I was interested in and asked what he could do about the price. He said to make an offer and see if we couldn't come to an agreement. Now the only reason my wife (now my ex-wife) wasn't with me is because he had to work that morning. Well about a half hour later I thought negotiations were going ok, but we couldn't come an agreement on a price. At that point was getting painful so I said I didn't want to waste any more of his or my time and started to leave.

That’s when he did the "Ol' well let me talk to my boss" routine and walked over to the managers office. After cooling my heals for about ten minutes, he returned but the price hadn't budged hardly at all.

Just as I was about to walk out disgusted - the guy asked… “So is this going to be your vehicle or your wife’s.” I told him mine but we looked at the family budget and we put a cap on how much we could afford to spend on my vehicle – why?”

He then said something that totally blew me out of the water…. “I can’t believe you’re going to let your wife tell you how much you can spend on your car”.

I swear it took a second or two to compose myself into more of a controlled burn. Slamming my fists on the table and I proceeded to unload & dress down this dirt bag about being a…? a..? a jerk (Ok, not the real vernacular I used), turned & walked across the showroom floor over to manager’s office and unloaded on him too about how F’ed up his sales staff was.

It was loud, it was ugly and there must’ve been about 8 or 10 customers in there at the time standing there dead silent as I walked out.
 
Best deal I ever got on a new car was when, during negotiations, I had my then 6 month old daughter with me, tired, hungry and fussing, with a very, very stinky diaper. They practically have me the car to get me out of there.
 
Shinsen774 said:
Best deal I ever got on a new car was when, during negotiations, I had my then 6 month old daughter with me, tired, hungry and fussing, with a very, very stinky diaper. They practically have me the car to get me out of there.
Click to expand...

Must remember this strategy :smile:
 
"RENT-A-BRAT"!!!!! There's gold in them thar... ummm...

"Make negotiating a snap!"
"Complete with soiled nappy."

The mind reels. /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/jester.gif
 
Shinsen774 said:
Best deal I ever got on a new car was when, during negotiations, I had my then 6 month old daughter with me, tired, hungry and fussing, with a very, very stinky diaper. They practically have me the car to get me out of there.
Click to expand...

/bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/lol.gif /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/lol.gif
 
Sometimes I believe some of these salesmen think we need them more than they need us....especially when they're selling a brand name...John deere....for example.

Have you ever noticed they think they can size us up the minute we walk in to determine whether we'll be a waste of their time? I love to fool 'em...hehehe....remember the point in the movie "Pretty Woman" when the salesperson wouldn't give Julie what'shername any time - she got hers the next day!
 
tony barnhill said:
Sometimes I believe some of these salesmen think we need them more than they need us....especially when they're selling a brand name...John deere....for example.

Have you ever noticed they think they can size us up the minute we walk in to determine whether we'll be a waste of their time? I love to fool 'em...hehehe....remember the point in the movie "Pretty Woman" when the salesperson wouldn't give Julie what'shername any time - she got hers the next day!
Click to expand...

Makes you want to load up the mower, drive to the JD dealer and show the salesman the mower you did buy, how much you spent and how much commission he DIDN'T earn. /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/grin.gif
 
I research my potential car purchases until I'm fairly
certain what exactly I want. I drive around mall parking
lots and stop and look inside models that interest me.
I talk to owners of the vehicle I am considering.

Come purchase day, I put on old but clean shorts, tee shirt
and beach shoes. Checkbook is in my back pocket since I pay
cash for my vehicles.

The pretty guys and gals salesfolks always look the other
way and will not make eye contact with me; thinking I want
an entry level car ( if my credit is any good).

Usually a very young fellow will ask if he can help me with
a car. I tell him I want top of the line, fully equipped,
I'm paying cash and I want to drive the car off the lot
within an hour. I take out my checkbook and we get real
serious, real fast.

works for me anyway.

tin
 
Hi Folks;

Interesting Topic: I consider Myself a "Professional Salesperson" (Matter of Opinion of course):

I`ve been in Industrial Outside Sales for over 30yrs Servicing, (Key Word There), Small to Huge Consumers: Working with CEOs to Floor Maintenance Personnel (Note; I did`nt say Floor Sweeper): A little "Respect" & "Courtesy" goes a Long Way: This is something that; In My Opinion; has left this Earth! I`m a degreed ME; So What!!

The people that are out there now, (The Next Generation), just simply don`t give a [censored] about You or Anyone else they come in contact with! Its "Whats in it for them" & screw you, The Customer!

Most of the Younger Folks; since they have a BA, BS, MBA or whatever; They must feel that the majority of us more "Experienced" people are Stupid!

Enough out of me! We`ve all had similar happenings & Its not going to get any Better:

Best Wishes to All; Russ /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/smile.gif
 
Tinster said:
Usually a very young fellow will ask if he can help me with
a car. I tell him I want top of the line, fully equipped,
I'm paying cash and I want to drive the car off the lot
within an hour. I take out my checkbook and we get real
serious, real fast.

works for me anyway.

tin
Click to expand...
You can sometimes negotiate a better price on a car when they think you’ll be financing through them. I widdled down the price of one car because they figured they would get more over time than a higher priced cash deal. The expression on the saleswoman’s face when I said “Hey, that’s cheap enough to pay cash!” was pretty priceless.
 
<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:]Makes you want to load up the mower, drive to the JD dealer and show the salesman the mower you did buy, how much you spent and how much commission he DIDN'T earn. /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/grin.gif[/QUOTE]

Naah, it's not worth it for a lousy ride on mower. I did that when we got the other LR a couple of years ago. Originally I was looking for something 4wd that had space in the back for the dogs. We settled on the Volvo wagon.

I wanted the V70R, loaded. The salesman wanted to charge me full retail for a car on the lot, and still lowballed me on the tradein. Lowballed to the point where it was insulting, and wasn't particularly polite when I pointed out that he was trying to shave me on both ends of the deal.

Ended up walking out, went round the corner to the LR dealer. Got the tradein I wanted and a great deal on a new loaded LR Disco. Picked it up the next morning (it was 7pm at this point), drove back to the Volvo dealer and made a point of telling the guy that at least someone in town knew how to make a reasonable deal on a car purchase. Needless to say we went back to the LR dealer for the next car...
 
An old salsman I used to work with told me of a time when he was working in a Mercedes dealer and in walked , for all visual refrences, a bum. He was looking over the cars, and clutching his wrinkled paper sack to his chest. My friend decided after a few minutes that he'd humor the guy and at leadt shuttle him out of the showroom with a little grace. They spoke for a few moments, then the "bum" stated, "Thank you for taking the time to talk to me. I'd like to buy that one." and handed my friend his paper sack. Filled with money.
Turns out it was all a tactic this guy used to find a salesman that he felt deserved to get his profit.
Hey, when your rich, you can afford to be weird like that.
 
mailbox Makes you want to load up the mower said:
/bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/grin.gif[/img]
Click to expand...

My mom and dad have always paid cash for their cars. Recently my Mom went to pick out the car she wanted, since she was going to drive it. She found the vehicle she wanted and made and offer. The salesman told her to come back with her husband when she wanted to make a serious offer.
She went to another dealership, made the same offer and wrote them a check. Then she drove back to the first dealership, found the owner and showed him the car she had purchased as well as the name of the salesman. What a moron!
 
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