Ignorant, uninformed, lazy or ??? Dealers

[Podunkadunk]

My dealer was to install a block heater. Instead they installed an inline heater in the lower rad hose. No big deal, I let it slide. When I pointed out that they forgot to put the coollant back in the rad, the salesman told me that they were switching out the summer antifreeze for winter antifreeze.

Wow! That's statement is as stupid as one my buddy's wife made one day when we were at the pool. He and I were in the pool, she was laying out on the deck. We were splashing her every now and again. She finally got mad and said if we didn't stop she was gonna push the radio in the pool and electrocute both of us to death..................................

The radio was a battery powered walkman!

We almost drowned from rolling on pool bottom laughing our *sses off (ROPBLOAO).

 

[John D]

My dealer is nice enough and more then willing to help in any way but when I had them out on a service call for my rock shaft not working the guy could not figure out what I was talking about so he calls the service mgr at the dealership and talks to him about it. it gets to the point were he puts me on the phone with the guy and I tell him whats wrong and he asked me were I was getting my info from and when I told him from the "OWNER MANUAL" you could have heard a pin drop and the look on the service techs face was priceless. jb

 

[Bird]

A friend of mine was a very sucessfull sales man. He went to trade school during high school as he had no interest in college. He worked about ten years as mechanic, autos and forklifts. He saw that the sales people made a lot more than mechanics and wanted to sell for his forklift company. He had to beg the owner to let him try sales. Finally the owner relented and gave him a try. The first couple of years were rough but he stuck it out. He learned that if you could solve a customer's problem you could sell them just about anything and they would pay top dollar for it. He became the company 's top salesman at 33. Twenty years ago his commissions were over a 150,000 per year. He knew the product, he knew why things broke, he knew what would work, and he knew the customers , he had it all. Unfortunately he devoloped MS and has not worked much in the last ten years. The company changed hands 15 years ago and the new owners could not get rid of him quick enough. The new owners lost a valuable asset even if the guy could only give 50%. I learned a lot about customer service from him.

John, your friend sounds a bit like my youngest brother, who is the best salesman I ever knew. He had worked auto parts stores, been a mechanic, owned his own shop, and had done lots of other things before he went to work at a dealership selling RVs, Chevrolets, and Buicks. From his first month there, he was their top salesman. He later became a Matco Tool Distributor and was quite successful at that, too. I suppose I could be wrong, but I attribute his success to a few specific factors:
1) he knew his products; he'd used them himself, repaired them, worked with them, and he did a lot of reading so he could usually give good answers to a customer's questions,
2) he wasn't afraid to say, "I don't know" instead of making up an answer if he didn't know,
3) he never seemed to make any attempt to sell anyone anything. He just liked to visit, shoot the bull, etc. and he'd stay and visit with you as long as you wanted to visit. And he asked questions, as well as answering. He always seemed genuinely interested in whomever he was talking to (and of course I know that he really was interested; that's just his personality).

 

[rback33]

I'm there with ya except for one thing... you don't want kids who will not stand up to something that isn't right either... I find that because our kids are being raised in a world full of Me 1sters... you have to let them push back a little. I'm agreeing with you about not raising kids soft. But there are some REALLY bad coaches, teachers, etc. (More good than bad though) and contrary to what a lot of people believe... you can be successful without kissing up. There are too many kisser uppers in this country and not enough standing up for what's right. I too am an Xer, grew up working for farmers. Agree, our schools are not the problem, our parents are.

... Back on subject. I guess I'm lucky in that most of the dealers in my area seem to be able to answer questions I expect them to. I don't expect a dealer to know what rear-end is in a truck etc. I expect them to be able to find out if I want to know.

Not knowing what rear end it had was understandable. What I must not have conveyed was that he did not understand the question. We had to explain it to him. I can tell you that if you don't know enough about what you selling to understand a common question then you have no business doing it. I get hit with bizarre questions all the time. Sometimes I have no clue what the are asking, but I get the info and tell them, " I don't know, but I'll see what I can find out." Most just want to know you'll try and help them, even if your answer isn't what they want to here.

I here what yer saying about standing up for what is right. One of the kids that my mom watches keeps biting my daughter. If they weren't little kids then I'd tell her to fight back, but the 2 y/o is learning that biting is not OK and I don't need my 4 y/o wondering when it IS OK to hit people.....

 

[Bird]

Yep, Jeremy, I might not expect the salesman to know which rear end a truck had without checking, but like you, I'd expect him to understand the question. Back in 1988, I stopped to look at a new Ford pickup and a young salesman came out and went into his sales spiel. I asked him which engine the truck had and he said, "V-8." So I asked, "Which V-8?" and he stood there looking at me with a puzzled look on his face. He had no idea that Ford made more than one V-8 engine. And when I asked about the Gross Combined Weight Rating for towing, he went to ask his sales manager, and no one at the dealership that day knew anything at all about trailer towing. They said there was just one guy, an older salesman who was not there that day, that handled those kinds of questions. I didn't buy from them, but I did stop by a couple of days later to see if that one guy actually existed and he did.

 

[rback33]

Bird,
LOL... My wife and I are so mean that I would just sit there and not say a word. My wife would ask which engine it had, tranny, rear end etc... then get on the ground and crawl from nose to tail underneath.... All the while I just smile. They stammer a lot more when SHE asks the questions. I don't think tractor sales have drifted as far, but what happened to features and benefits? Sure I know that a 3:55 rear end would smoke the tranny for what I would be going but does your long lost cousin (BirdBrain ) know why that may be the perfect rear end for him since he just putters around town? I guess too many people have lost the art of selling. In the end isn't that what we are really noting in this thread? There seems to be no pride taken in a job well done. People want a big check for a job that is just simply done. I guess that follows the degradation of many areas of our society.

 

[Podunkadunk]

Bird,
LOL... My wife and I are so mean that I would just sit there and not say a word. My wife would ask which engine it had, tranny, rear end etc... then get on the ground and crawl from nose to tail underneath.... All the while I just smile. They stammer a lot more when SHE asks the questions. I don't think tractor sales have drifted as far, but what happened to features and benefits? Sure I know that a 3:55 rear end would smoke the tranny for what I would be going but does your long lost cousin (BirdBrain ) know why that may be the perfect rear end for him since he just putters around town? I guess too many people have lost the art of selling. In the end isn't that what we are really noting in this thread? There seems to be no pride taken in a job well done. People want a big check for a job that is just simply done. I guess that follows the degradation of many areas of our society.

rback, you are a lucky man. If your wife is that proactive in your dealings with salesmen, count your blessings!

 

[rback33]

rback, you are a lucky man. If your wife is that proactive in your dealings with salesmen, count your blessings!

It's really unfair. She WANTS to be educated and know what she is buying, but she is only 5'4" and 110 lbs. She gets stereotyped fast and the salesman are dead in the water before they know it. I can't imagine what things will be like when we actually go to buy a tractor in a few years.....

 

[rback33]

Wow.. and today's headline on MSN.....Self Centered College Students

 

[RickO]

Not knowing what rear end it had was understandable. What I must not have conveyed was that he did not understand the question. We had to explain it to him. I can tell you that if you don't know enough about what you selling to understand a common question then you have no business doing it. I get hit with bizarre questions all the time. Sometimes I have no clue what the are asking, but I get the info and tell them, " I don't know, but I'll see what I can find out." Most just want to know you'll try and help them, even if your answer isn't what they want to here.

I here what yer saying about standing up for what is right. One of the kids that my mom watches keeps biting my daughter. If they weren't little kids then I'd tell her to fight back, but the 2 y/o is learning that biting is not OK and I don't need my 4 y/o wondering when it IS OK to hit people.....

Yeh, that's pretty bad.