A fax to my dealer

Bob999 · Jul 25, 2003

Lets say a person you know and believe you can trust showed up at your door with a hundred dollar bill in his hand.

He told you that you have two choices. Either take it or he will go over to the neighbors and give it to him. Your choice. No strings attached.


Bill (Henro),

It seems to me there are "strings attached". You want an implement in return for your money. It is a fact of life that the same product is sold for different prices--you only have to drive down a stretch of highway and see that gasoline prices differ between different stations. I still don't think you are going to improve things with the message as written. Is your intent to change the way the dealer does business?? I suspect that is not achievable. On the other hand, if your objective is to give the owner one last chance for your business I think you should write a different letter--one that says you want to do business with him but are not willing to pay a premium price to do it. A short and simple letter!!

Bob

Woodbeef · Jul 25, 2003

Hey Henro,

I can see your point with your dealer,that he should shoot you his lowest price that he can make a profit on in the first place. But is it really the dealer you are talking to,or his flunky that wants to make himself look good on every sale? This flunky sounds like your typical book smart-no common sense new age salesman!! All they care about are how many points over dealer cost they made this month on sales,not how many good customers they sent elsewhere. To many dealers like that these days for everything. As soon as one tells me to look around,and come back and see them,and they'll beat the lowest price I find........Guess where I never go back to?

If it was me,what I'd do is take a trip to see the head honcho,and have a face to face with him and see how he reacts. I'd scrap the letter idea,way too impersonal. Tell him how you feel,and see what solutions he can come up with. You already know they can match the prices,if pushed. But why should you always have to beg for this price. He might say that he can only match prices on orders,or in-stock who knows his exact circumstances. He might also say that he can give quoted price -5% always for you. You'll never know till you ask him directly.

Mark_in_NH · Jul 25, 2003

( Bottom line is that it just seems foolish to me for this dealer to send me packing somewhere else )
Sounds to me like it was this Kevin guy that sent you packing, not the dealer / owner ! The dealer / owner may well agree with you 100% and also may not realise that Kevin reacted in such a manor as he did.
Now, Granted. Kevin is the dealers representive and therefore speaks for the dealer, but if he is as green to the job as you say, maybe he is just as green to the business world to.
Maybe he was speaking for himself out of anger or frustration and not for the owner or in the best interest of the dealership. I personally would not send that fax ! Nobody, likes receiving a letter like that !
I would make it my point to meet with and introduce myself to the owner, appraise him of your past relationship with his Orange dealership. Inform him of how you feel you are being treated. Let him make the decision of whether or not he values your business.
Man to Man, Face to Face. Give the owner a fair chance to show his hand. If he is intelligant enough to build 2 dealeships, he has to have something in the way of Good Common Sense.

Worksmart · Jul 25, 2003

Bill - No problem. Sometimes the written word is a little more difficult to express your "real" point. Don't worry...we're all together. /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif Chuck

JohnMiller3 · Jul 25, 2003

( take a trip to see the head honcho,and have a face to face with him and see how he reacts. I'd scrap the letter idea,way too impersonal. Tell him how you feel,and see what solutions he can come up with. ) 

I agree... face to face with the owner... even if it means driving to the New Holland dealership and talking to him...

When you write something... it's there forever for the world to see... good or bad...

Write something to praise someone or something... so they can frame it, look at it, be reminded of it, and show it off to others...

When you have a problem... go face to face or worse case a phone call... but normally not a letter/fax... unless it's the other side of the world...

A negative letter may make you feel like you got it off your chest... but that dealer will Always remember you in a bad light and will forget you ever gave him over $30K in a twelve month period...

I don't think... that is your main objective... /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif

riptides · Jul 25, 2003

Man this is a tough one.

I think what you need to look at is the fact that you can be honest and open with this dealer about the deal in the making.

This is a business, and the deal is part of the business. Talking about it, pricing, and looking are all part of the deal.

I am sure the dealer values you, and knows that you will seek him first, but I think you must realize his business is different from anothers.

Value the fact that you can haggle, value the fact that you can say, I checked and you can match it or it is somewhere else...

-Mike Z. /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

rbarker · Jul 26, 2003

( A negative letter may make you feel like you got it off your chest... but that dealer will Always remember you in a bad light and will forget you ever gave him over $30K in a twelve month period...

)

Well said, John. I find myself in agreement with those saying not to send that fax unless you are not concerned about your future relationship with that dealer. Also consider that the other dealer's costs could be lower or they could be low balling just to try and gain you as a permanent customer instead of as a "comparision shopper".

I vote for a non-confrontational request for explanation as to why Kevin felt he couldn't match the price.

gatractorman · Jul 26, 2003

A sign in a shop I saw once stated "Please dont ask me to take less because I am your friend, I must make a living off my friends because my enemies wont come in here". Now I cant imagine many people getting Woods equipment cheaper than a Kubota dealer but it may happen, if the guy down the road buys in bigger quantity he can afford to take less and still maintain his profit margin, I didn't intend to defend anyone, and certainly not the snot-nosed youngun that told you to take a hike (wherein it seems the trouble is) just looking from the other side of the fence.

Henro · Jul 26, 2003

Hi,

When I was young it took me a while to learn the value of listening to what others think and say before making a decision. I would more or less just do what I thought was best, and in the end did not always get the best outcome.

Somehow, somewhere along the way I learned the value of asking for, listening to, and considering the thoughts, experience and opinions of others. Doing this has sort of become second nature for me over the years.

Posting the content of the fax I intended to send was in effect a way of asking for advice I think, even though I did not post it feeling like I was doing that. It did [and does] trouble me that my dealer is in fact telling me to give my money to his competitor...but...

Let me clear one thing up. I was using Golfgar4's words when I said Kevin, the kid managing the Kubota store, told me "to take a hike." He was not rude in any way. He basically said their prices were higher than the other guy and indicated that was the end of it. The net affect was telling me to take a hike down to the other dealer's...but it was not done in any mean or nasty way.

So anyway, after digesting all the opinions/advice given here...I have concluded that sending that fax may offer no benefit to me and won't change anything at the other end either.

What I will probably do at most is make a phone call. I will probably also ask Kevin directly to shoot a hole in my ligic from his/their perspective. AND I am pretty sure the kid is very limited in making decisions in a lot of areas. For example, when I asked about trading in my RFM towards the BX2200, he had to call the boss and ask if that would be possible and how much he could give me for it...

At this point I feel like I already spent too much time thinking about this issue. But I still am curious about the situation...in retrospect, I may have even driven things in the direction they have gone by telling Kevin to give me his best price the first time. Rather than asking him to match a price I got from the other guy...

Oh well...water over the dam there. I imagine the phone call would go something like:

"Ken, I'm having trouble understanding something...maybe you could make it clearer for me. The other guy down the road would sell me a Wood's landscape rake with gage wheels for less than your price. You know me and I have been a pretty good customer over the last year.

Wouldn't it be better for you to sell me that landscape rake at the other guy's price, than it would for me to hike down and give my money to the other guy? I'm only buying one of these in my lifetime. Once the money is gone, it's gone...I'd rather you have it than the other guy. I like you, like Kevin, and want to support your dealership..."

Oh, by the way, I did learn one other thing along this road I've been following over the last five decades:

Don't be afraid to change your mind, even if you say there is absolutely no doubt that you will do something!

/forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Looks like I'm going to hold off on that fax... /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

MossRoad · Jul 26, 2003

Don't be afraid to change your mind, even if you say there is absolutely no doubt that you will do something!


Well said, Henro /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif