But looking like a dumb ass to customers can be quite an effective sales strategy.
I sold cars for a year, back when i was only a couple of years out of high school, and before i went back to college. This was when i was still living in Australia.
One of our best salesmen made a habit of appearing like an amiable and bumbling doofus. He would constantly “forget” the prices and features of the car, especially with customers who seemed to know what they were talking about. He would let the customer correct him about things, and would scratch his head and act surprised at the price of options: “Wow, metallic paint in another $375? I thought it was cheaper than that. Oh well, let’s just write it in and see how we go.” Of course, if the occasion called for it, he could also be very smart and sharp. He sold plenty of cars.
Anyway, on the whole ad thing: we always knew what ads we were running. The sales manager would get us together and say, “OK, there’s an ad running in all the weekend papers offering these deals. Now, that car over there in the corner, stock number 4567, is the only car we have for deal number 1. And that car over there, stock number 9876, is the only car we have for deal number 2. If they want any other car, hit 'em for the full price. And if they want one of the deals, and they have a car to trade, see if you can lowball them on the trade value.”
To expand on t-bonham@scc.net’s post, you also need to distinguish between ads put together by the dealer, and ads that are part of a national campaign put together by the auto manufacturer. When i was in the business, we often loved it when the manufacturer had a national campaign, because these were often accompanied by dealer rebates, where we could sell the car for less and get a rebate from the manufacturer to cover some or all of the discount. Of course, if someone came in and didn’t know about the deal, you could occasionally score big, because you could sell them the car at or just below full price, and still get the rebate, thus making the dealer’s profit—and the salesperson’s commission—even higher.
What quite a lot of people didn’t seem to realize—and i assume that this is the case in America too—is that dealers who sell one particular brand of car (GM, Ford, Toyota, etc.) are just as competitive with each other as with dealers who sell other makes of car. There were quite a few occasions where we didn’t have the exact car someone wanted, and we told them that we’d get it in for them They would say, “Why don’t i just go down the road and pick it up at John Smith Motors? As long as i buy a Holden, that’s all that matters, right?” Well, no. This isn’t Barnes and Noble, where no-one cares if you go across town to the other store. The other dealer down the road might sell exactly the same cars as us, but he’s the competition. If you buy from him we get no commission.
Of course, none of this is the customer’s problem. The customer is in there to get the best deal, not to worry about who gets commission on the sale. It was a pretty soul-crushing job, and i only lasted a year, for a variety of reasons. Maybe one day i’ll start an “Ask the former car salesman” thread.
