Dealer communication

[BCinVA]

I have been shopping for a new tractor for a while. I am looking to trade my current machine in on a new one. However, I am really disappointed in the dealers. I have visited a couple of different dealers, one green, and one red and had the same issues. When I walk in the dealership and find a salesperson, they seem friendly enough and somewhat interested, but once I leave and try to follow up I get no response. For example, I stopped by the red dealer a couple of weeks ago. I talked with a sales guy and described what I was looking for. He did some research for me, and there were several unanswered questions at the time. I left and he said he would call me with some answers he was working on. I did in fact get a call from him a while later. I told him I would follow up with him via email. So after some research on my own, I sent him an email. No response. A few days later I sent a second email. No response. So about a week after that I went back to the dealership. The first guy wasn't there, so I talked to a second salesman. I asked why his colleague wasn't answering email. He said the other fellow had been out for about a week and a half. He then tried to answer some of the questions I had asked in the previous emails that weren't answered. I took his card and said I would follow up with him via email after I had a chance to review the into he had provided. I sent him an email a day later, and five days after that no response. This was the same situation with the green dealer, between two guys I talked to there, a total of four unanswered emails and two phone calls where someone promised a call back that never happened. What the heck is going on? Believe it or not this is a serious question....Do the dealers have a policy of not answering potential customer emails? I would like to hear what others are experiencing. Maybe this is just a local or regional thing. I live in Southwest Virginia.

 

[rScotty]

I've been trying to ignore it, but have noticed the same lack of response in several other businesses I buy from - including the local hardware store, the auto parts store, and Home Depot.
At the Battery+ store the guy told me he was a specialist - and knew his batteries... although a moment later he said he wasn't all that good with electricity or science.

It almost seems like there has been a recent "dumbing down" of part of the work force. Is that real or just me? There just doesn't seem to be as much knowledge - and definitely way less motivation - than I think I remember from the pre-Covid days.

Maybe it's just my own local area,
rScotty

 

[Big Barn]

Maybe it's just my own local area,
rScotty

NOPE. North America for certain.

Perhaps global.

 

[bigtiller]

That's just the way people in sales work. If you walk in you get the attention. It's the opposite of the way the parts counter people work where the phone has priority.

 

[BCinVA]

That's just the way people in sales work. If you walk in you get the attention. It's the opposite of the way the parts counter people work where the phone has priority.

Yeah, you're probably right. I can tell you though, I worked my entire career for a heavy equipment manufacturer in the transportation industry. If we had people who would just blow off or ignore a customer who was genuinely interested in buying product, that would have bordered on an on the spot firing. It really seems like they don't care whether you buy their product or not. They essentially want you to come in and beg them to sell it to you.

 

[stevem5215]

Old retired people knew their stuff. And are now retired replaced by lower level others making less money. That's what I see in my industry. (Service of old fashioned big computers)

 

[ElSueno Farms]

Experienced the same thing from a dealer I had purchased 2 tractors, an RTV, and a variety of attachments from. Would not return calls, email, and did not like texting. The store mgr was the person I was trying to deal with, and I had interest in over $40k total purchase.
several people defended him, saying most tractor sales were best done in the dealership, face to face. Sorry but it’s a different day and time, get with the real world, if you are not capable of communicating electronically today, you don’t deserve the business.

 

[WADFL]

Current situation of sales of products where there are more willing buyers than available product.
The products sell themselves, and the people who are doing research, "Ill think about it overnight", or on the fence miss out on buying the product. The decisive "Yes" buyer gets the attention.

 

[k0ua]

Current situation of sales of products where there are more willing buyers than available product.
The products sell themselves, and the people who are doing research, "Ill think about it overnight", or on the fence miss out on buying the product. The decisive "Yes" buyer gets the attention.

This is the true answer. Yes, they have no interest in "selling" you a product. You are on the fence about buying and want to do research and so on. You are of NO interest to them as they have dozens of people wanting to buy a very limited supply of product. So therefore you are "flushed" from their mind, by not having cash in hand and buying the very day you entered the dealership. IF and when that situation changes, then their attitude will likely change. So yes, they do not need you in any way. This is a sellers market, NOT a buyers market.

 

[coobie]

Welcome to the new normal..Sad but true..