Dealers..Do you NOT make money selling attachments

curt1 · Feb 25, 2005

Almost all dealers have to be making a profit of some kind, or they would be out of business very soon. That is why they are in business in the first place....to make $$$. This is common sense. Seldom a dealer might sell an item at cost, but if they always say they are not making money or losing money on a sale, I walk out and never return again. Then I go give someone else my hard earned money.
This reminds me of a local woman who owned a gun store. Her prices were always marked up a good deal more than all the other local gun stores. I once asked her if she could come down a little on a revolver and she replied "Honey, we sell all of our guns for less than we pay for them." I replied "Isn't it hard to stay in business when your not making any money?" She never said a word. How ignorant do some people think we are?

Curt

johndeere2210 · Feb 25, 2005

There is a lot more that goes into a dealer making a profit other than the sales of equipment. Typically the parts and service departments are responsible for almost 100% absorbtion of the dealership expense. A very small part of the expense is actually absorbed by the sales department. The margin on new equipment is small at best (on consumer equipment). Where most dealers have room to wiggle is on used equipment. Customer service after the sale is what will make or break a dealership. Of course the previous statements are IMHO. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

Ledgemere Farm · Feb 25, 2005

I think you pretty much hit the nail right on the hammer. /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

Bird · Feb 25, 2005

( we sell all of our guns for less than we pay for them )

Before I bought my first Kubota, one Kubota dealer said he'd sell me on "at my cost". And when I asked him what that price would be, he quoted a higher price than 3 other dealers had offered to sell me the tractor for. So I assume those other three dealers must have been selling tractors for less than they paid for them. /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

HayDR · Feb 25, 2005

On tractors a dealer can sell a tractor at invoice cost and get a volume check later and they made from 2-5% on the sale. Usually on short line items there is no volume check on them unless that shortline item has the marketing name of the mainline IE: JD tiller.

willywildes · Feb 25, 2005

Ken that is a classic case of bait and switch. !! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

nomad · Mar 10, 2005

Dealer mentality is like that; At the beginning, they think themselves like bankers, as they are in "hot" money business. They dream they will become rich in a short time by exchanging money & implements. In time, they realize profit room is good, but sale volume is not as much as their suppliers (distributors, wholesalers and manufacturers.) Disappointed dealers sometime think they are only labor, service force tool of those bigger money makers I mentioned above. Especially, when these local dealers see some importer wholesalers making good money by working less than them they dive into thoughts sea. Maybe, you were there at such a thinking period of that local dealer.

Bugsy · Mar 23, 2005

Sounds like a lot of people had a bad day.

Here is the way we do things, on the phone, on the net and at the shop:
- We always ask HOW we can help.
- We always ALLOW/ENCOURAGE the customer to ask many questions as they have, past, present or future.
- The quoted price IS the price.

If a customer has taken the time to visit, by phone or in person, they WANT to learn something.

If a customer is allowed to ask as many questions as their heart desires, then they walk away feeling satisfied, and just like having a good dinner, HAPPY.

If prices are always negotiable, then maybe they are too high to start with.

All that aside, a customer will only buy if he/she likes you. These dealers forced a customer to DISLIKE them. Why would he buy, unless he HAD to.

To further the point:
20 yrs ago, I worked for a man in repair shop. He was a bonifide idiot! His pricing was 3 times that of the competition and we were always busy. Why? ----- Because he was likable, kind and pleasant.

Customers knew all of the above but they kept returning. No matter what they always defended the shop owner BECAUSE HE WAS SUCH A NICE GUY!

Had these dealers been nice, everything else would probably have been secondary.

Just my thoughts...................

KiotiJohn · Mar 24, 2005

( Customers knew all of the above but they kept returning. No matter what they always defended the shop owner BECAUSE HE WAS SUCH A NICE GUY! )
I've worked with some really bad doctors whose patients continue to see him even though he's nearly killed them at times because he is a nice guy! My grandmother did that with her doc for a long time until I finally "forced" her to begin seeing someone else. Too late, she had a massive stroke three days before the new guy was going to do the tests I wanted done that would have possibly saved her from the stroke.
Some of the best docs I know have terrible bedside manners and lose patients because of it, even though they are very good and take good care of the patients.
Go figure. Even in life or death circumstances, people like nice. John

keeney · Mar 25, 2005

In sales, there is not much else to offer other than being nice.

Sales 101:
Being nice, polite, enthusiastic, and helpful. Sell the customer what they want or what they need, (depending on what they want). Be competent to demo and present the product. Answer the questions, follow up on things, do the work to get the configuration, part numbers, etc right when you order something, maybe float a couple of comparison questions about the competition (but no bad-mouthing, thats not nice), put up with impolite customers, deal with frustrated buyers having problems, be firm but nice about the pricing, remember people's names, entertain their kids, make each customer feel like they are special, or at least important, and build a good relationship.

- Rick