The price on a motorhome, while important, is secondary to what it is you actually need to use the product for. Buying one of these things is a huge financial outlay, on a par with buying a house; if you focus on the wrong product, you’re wasting your time. This is not a car lot, nor is it a furniture store. The difference between the stereotypical car salesman and an RV salesman is HUGE. I don’t know of anyone on our staff who uses pressure tactics.
As for getting a first impression of the products, we’re talking about a price range between 10K and 250K. What impression do you think you’re going to get? Gee, that’s big. Gee, that’s purdy.
Airman Doors, if all you’re interested in is the price, then you deserve to get the fucking you get when you buy the product. In my short tenure, I’ve seen people come in and plunk down $100K on a motorhome that is absolutely too big and too expensive for what they are going to use it for. If they had bothered to let someone help them, they would be in something much more comfortable and less expensive. I actually talked a customer OUT of buying a Class A motorhome. It was just completely wrong for what he was planning to do with it. I start at the bottom of the line, with the smallest workable product, and let the customer move up if he wants to.
“Just looking” works fine for buying a book, but being uninformed on a large purchase is just plain stupid.
Most of the people who say ‘just looking’ end up coming back to start asking questions. The others wander around for a bit, end up standing in the lot looking dazed by all the models and types, then slink away without accomplishing anything at all. All the vehicles are locked because of theft and vandalism, so they can’t get inside without me. Leaving them open would be like a real estate agent leaving his houses unlocked. I have much more respect for someone who says “I’m not buying today, but I would like some information about (product).” My response to that is:
What are you going to be using it for?
How many people are you sleeping?
Where are you going to park it?
Where are you going to store it?
What are you towing it with, and what is the weight limit on the vehicle?
What features does it absolutely have to have?
What is your budget range?
With that information, I can narrow down the hundreds of products to a possible few that may fit the bill. The last question is important, because many people have no idea what these things cost. Someone who wants a new Class C with a budget range of 15-20K is about to be disillusioned.
I don’t care if people want to ‘just look’, but it’s largely pointless without a plan, and I won’t participate in guided tours of the lot.
Noone Special: You have some points. Weak, but points. The one that is glaringly off base, however, is the one about taking up less of my time. Time is what I have. Again, this is not a car dealership, where volume is critical. Our volume is MUCH smaller and we are expected to take as much time as needed for a customer to be fully informed about the product. I spent three hours one day with someone buying a $14,000 pop-up trailer; service spent another hour going over the operation of the product after the sale.
Hentor the Barbarian: Regrettably, car salesman have given all salesmen a bad name. I used to have the same opinion as you. Many (most) of the people on our staff were car salesmen in the past and quit because of the unethical practices. I don’t cajole and I don’t lie. I wait for YOU to tell ME what it is you want. It’s been my experience so far that the customer is far more likely to lie about things like credit standing, to give phony phone numbers, and even to give phony names. It’s most embarrassing for them (and amusing to me) when they suddenly decide they want to buy something and have to admit that they gave me a fake name.
Cheesesteak: I’ve seen that already, but it hasn’t happened to me yet. In fact, the customer had the balls to come in and thank the salesman for giving him all the information after buying from someone else. Most people feel no loyalty towards sales personnel, probably because of experience with car sales. It’s a hazard of the job.