A good friend of mine walked into the car dealership the other day…..you can smell where this is going already, right?
With her, she had (1) her car (in impeccable condition), (2) a desire for a new car, (3) pink slips, and (4) cash in hand. What salesperson doesn’t LOVE that scenario?
When she sat down with her sales guy she asked what the price was that they were willing to accept for the new car, taking into account her trade.
The deal the sales guy offered was twice what she was willing to pay (of course, she’d done her homework on both her car and the new model).
She said, “That is completely out of the ballpark for what I am willing to pay.”
He said it was the best he could do.
She said, “Thank you.” And walked to her car.
You know the next part, right?
Right! He followed her to her car and revealed that he had made a mistake about the trade-in value of her car. He didn’t realize it was the superior edition, he thought it was the base model. In fact, he could do a couple thousand better.
Well, this was just a flat-out lie. She was sitting with the salesperson when he pulled up her VIN number with all the details about her car. When she pointed that out, he claimed the VIN number doesn’t give that information (but indeed it does).
His offer still wasn’t close. And now she was FURIOUS! The story gets worse, but – sadly – it’s one we all know! We EXPECT this at a dealership. We EXPECT this from salespeople.
So, here’s the thing….STOP behaving this way. If you are in sales, I don’t care what it takes, leave your job, bring dignity and honesty and take a risk in the job you currently have, do SOMETHING NEW. If you are playing games with your customers, you MUST STOP NOW.
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If you’re not careful, sales is going to get a bad reputation! (*wink*)
Truth is. You make WAY more money on the truth. This guy could have been courteous. Even asked her what her number was. Then, told her straight if they could do that or not. Then he could say straight what he was willing to do.
Salespeople feel frustrated that buyers come in with a number that doesn’t leave them room for a profit.
I promise you two things. First, buyers do this because they have been treated badly for decades. (Also, not all buyers do this). Second, if you’re straight with people and get them what they want, you WILL make money and your customers will send EVERYONE to you. Slam dunk city!
I’m just sayin’,
The Irreverent Sales Girl
