I’ve decided to interview for a job as a motorhome salesman, since nobody else seems to be beating down my door. I’ve never sold anything in my life except myself and projects, budgets and the like, so this will be a complete career change for me.
The interview is tomorrow, so I thought I’d do a little market research with Dopers.
What do you like most in the salespersons that you’ve had a positive experience with?
What do you hate about salespeople?
Thanks in advance.
I think you would be better off taking advice from salespeople on how to be a good salesperson, rather than asking customers what they would prefer.
One of the really annoying things that salespeople do is push to make the sale before you leave. That is, not letting you go to “think it over”. Customers really hate that, but if you don’t do it, you will likely be losing a lot of sales, and your boss will hate that even more, and he’s the one who hires you.
A pet peeve of mine from car shopping is when the salesperson doesn’t speak to me. The first time I went out, there were a few who would only talk to my male companion, even though he referred every question to me (I was buying the car, of course).
A rule of thumb might be to look into the face of the person who asked a particular question while answering it, while occassionally flicking a glance at the other person. Never assume who the decision maker is.
Well, obviously, on your first point. However, an insight to the psychology (decision-making process) of the buyer would be invaluable, wouldn’t you agree?
Well, i’ve worked as a salesperson (cars), and i’ve been on the customer side too.
One thing that seems to me to be a no-brainer, and which benefits both the salesperson and the customer, is that the salesperson should ask the customer what it is they are looking for, and should listen to what the customer says and make appropriate recommendations based on the customer’s needs.
I know this sounds like common sense, but it’s amazing how many salespeople try to sell you what they think you want or need, rather than what you actually want or need. This happens in all areas of sales, from clothing to computers to cars.
If your customer is just going to surf the web, do email, and some word processing, they don’t need a $400 graphics cards, even if you think it’s really cool. If your customer does all of his or her driving in the city, and needs to find on-street parking, then maybe they’d be better off in a four-cylinder compact than a massive SUV.
If you are generally concerned with and responsive to your customer’s needs, that will become obvious, and will help customers to trust you and see you as someone worth doing business with. If you immediately take everyone to the biggest, most expensive item on the lot and try to convince them that it is the only thing they should consider, people will see you as a slimy bastard. In my experience, anyway.
I’m afraid i can’t give any advice about the specifics of selling mobile homes. Good luck in your interview.
Don’t be patronizing. My husband and I have bought several vehicles and several boats over they years, and the quickest way to get me out of your dealership is to assume that because I’ve got girly bits, all I’m interested in is color and mirrors and whatever else one associates with women. I remember one guy, when I asked about safety features or maintenance intervals, decided to answer by pointing out the lighted vanity mirrors. :rolleyes:
If I may repeat this for emphasis:
That’s a fair point, just don’t lose sight of the fact that your job is to sell product, not to make customers happy and comfortable while not buying.
I used to be a commission salesperson with Radio Shack. Not a real high end job, but you could tell the difference between the good sellers and guys like me. I think I was very agreeable and nice to our customers, but that didn’t encourage them to buy. It wound up being very easy for me to have good encounters with customers where they wouldn’t buy anything. Just sharing my own person pitfall, RS will keep on a good worker who isn’t a high powered salesman, a motorhome dealer may not.
As noted in several of the posts, customers hate it when you ask for the order. However, if you don’t ask, they don’t buy.
The most frequent complaint among salespeople at high-end stores is that people come in, pick their brains and then buy the knock-off product on the web or at a discount store. I don’t know how much of a problem that would be with motor homes, but you have to be able to close the sale.
One other thing. I’m not sure how much your product sells for ($30K? $60K?) but when someone buys something with that many zeroes in the price, they expect a certain amount of reassurance that they are special. You’ll want to flatter them with service aftrer the sale, owner’s clubs, etc.
The good thing about motorhomes (as opposed to cars) is that they somewhat sell themselves. People generally go looking with the idea of buying one as a retirement gift to themselves or as an alternative to a cabin. As to cost, motorhomes go from about 40K up to around $1M. That’s right, million.
Do you know motorhomes?
Do you know the difference between Kohler and Honda gensets?
What advice will you give to someone looking buy a fifth wheel and pull a toad?
And so on.
**kunilou ** - $30K is pretty much the basement-level starting price. RVs can get into hundreds of thousands of dollars. Last year, I was in one that had a $600,000 tag. Almost as big as my apartment with all the slide-outs open.
My pet peeve with sales staff is they seem woefully ignorant of their products.
You say you’re gonna sell motorhomes (not mobile homes, right?). Well learn something about 'em.
What does your customer really need??.
If I were considering spending 6-figures on a motorhome and the salesman couldn’t answer (or at least converse intelligently about) all the above; I’d tell him to take a hike.
Sorry for the harshness, but you asked. I’ve sent more salesmen scurrying over lack of knowledge, than for any other reason. Your typical motorhome buyer will be impressed more by a broad knowledge of the machines than any gladhanding or hail-fellow-well-met attitudes.
I do wish you luck, tho’ 
PS. here’s a spot for picking up some basic info…
http://www.rv.net/forums/index.cfm/CFB/1.cfm
You posted this while I was typing… Interestingly enough I DO pull a fiver with a toad. Not legal in most states, but tandems are allowed here in Tejas 
I found that it helps when the salesperson establishes some type of rapport with me. This could mean asking about the shirt I’m wearing, or my accent, or whatnot. If he finds stuff that we have in common, or things about me that he claims to find interesting, then I’m more likely to feel rapport with the guy … and the more rapport there is, the more likely I am to buy stuff from him.
Of course, this all assumes that he exudes sincerity as he seeks to establish rapport. If he comes across as all fake and snake-oilish, then I would rather turn tail and run.
The company provides a training period with a salary, which is nice. I’ve owned two motorhomes, so I’m not completely ignorant of what people are looking for. I agree: I don’t like salesmen that don’t even know the basics about what they are selling.
Just wanted to pop in and recommend two very good books, both by Tom Hopkins:
Master the Art of Selling and Low-Profile Selling
O’l Tom is considered to be one of the leading sales trainers in the country. His approach is more about how to find out what the customer want/needs so that you can help them to make a good decision. His books include a whole list of closing techniques that I found invaluable when I was in sales.
None of it is high-pressure stuff…and he does cover a lot about psychology from the customer’s standpoint.
Best of luck with the new job, if you decide to take it!
Hey, thanks! I’ll check them out.
I can not strongly enough second this perspective.
A few years back Mrs. Butler and I were looking to replace her car with a Nissan Frontier. We knew what we wanted, and we were checking prices. I went to a subset of dealers, she went to another subset.
Ready for this???
One dealer told her that he couldn’t/wouldn’t talk price/availability unless I was also present. He said that “too many times, the husband says ‘no’, so he didn’t want to waste his time.”
We never even called them back.
It was her truck, her choice, and in the end, she makes all the financial decisions anyway! (even with my new purchase 2 weeks ago, I took all the offers back to her for approval).
Another piece of advice from a recent purchaser of an automobile, if you do call them after they have left, and they say they’ve decided on another dealer, do not call them back 3 more times trying to get the business. Even if he had come up with a much lower price (which he did), I refuse to do business with someone so pushy.
-Butler (good luck btw, I once worked a few sales positions, and found I’m a better technician than a salesman)
Well, I interviewed this morning and I think it went pretty well. Thanks to all, I had some insightful things to say. Now the clock is ticking…
Just my 2 cents: I hate pushy.
Please do say your name and “if you have any questions, I will be over here.”
My SO and I like to look around - we usually know what we want before we go in, but still like to look around. When we have found what we want, we have always gone back to the salesperson who did not hover over us like we were in some freaky Venus flytrap.
I think a good salesman knows when to back off, and when to approach.
Another person to read would be Zig Ziglar.
I used his tapes to learn the most important points of selling.