True dealer story

I really can't imagine that in this day and age people are still "surprised" by inept and uninformed salesmen at auto dealerships.

That is the norm. If you go well prepared you won't need their "information" and you can just laugh about it. If you go expecting them to know what they are talking about, you will probably get disappointed or worse. Once in a while you will get surprised.

 

I think it is to do with turn over as well. You should have told the sales person that you understood and drove a Prius and you don't want a sales person that hasn't. When I purchased mine I met the sales person as he was being checked out on all the Prius features. About 30 min . after the test drive another sales person came in to tell him the car was still running outside! Hal.

 

I bought my ES350 at Lexus of Alexandria and was very satisfied too. Negotiated the whole deal on my Blackberry while I was sitting on the beach in Ocean City. Picked it up the day we got back...

My Dad bought an LS400 at Alexandria too in 1998 and was really happy also.

 

I think a lot of car salesman get into the job because they have absolutely no skills in any other area/nothing else to do. This is how you get people who know next to nothing about the very limited number of products they sell. It is pathetic to be totally frank. I very rarely have encountered a salesman who knew the brochure-level specs of the car to the degree I knew simply from a glance at edmunds before going to the dealership.

If I owned a car dealership I would have random tests on the sales force to ensure that they all know the basics of every vehicle we sell, from horse power to tow rating. I really don't think that's too much to ask. And, yeah, obviously how to start the vehicle should be in there, too. An hour or two every month would refresh anybody but they just don't seem to care enough.

I would also give them a hit list of positives on each vehicle that the competition does not have. I hate salesmen who denigrate the competition, but pointing out all the cool stuff the car does that perhaps somebody finds the competition lacks is a plus.

 

If you owned a car dealership you would leave that to your sales manager who would get overwhelmed with turnover, apathy, a lack of competent applicants and probably worry about the good sales people and hope that the pathetic ones turn into good ones or leave.

Do you think most car dealers are really stupid? I don't. They have a terrible time getting and keeping experienced sales people. Been there, done that!

 

As someone who is in sales and manages salespeople...I can tell you good salespeople are wasted on cars. If someone is really a good salesperson, empathetic enough to understand their customer's motivation, industrious enough to learn everything there is to know about their product and how it compares to the competition and smart enough to know how to put their customer together with the product that meets all their needs at a price they can afford...they are meant for better things than selling cars.

I think thats part of the issue...people who are truly gifted salespeople move on to areas where they can make a better and more rewarding living than they can in the car business. Real Estate....industrial sales...pharmaceutical sales...etc.

 

As far as expectations of sales people go?

Yeah, I know they have high turn-over. I know they often aren't the best informed. BUT...that doesn't excuse it....

If you are going to do a job, you should try to do it competently.

Not owning a Prius and doing as much research on Prius as I have done...there is NO EXCUSE...

Given the number of instructional videos on Youtube? Videos from Toyota that demonstrate the operation of The Prius and how many of the functions actually work?

I think even the most uninformed salesperson, could become minimally versed in how a Prius works, how to use the functions, and even the rudimentary basics of the Hybrid system with less than an hour on the internet.

Gee...15 minutes of hunting around this forum could teach them the basics.

Lack of training, high turn-over, whatever....if you are taking a job you should try to do it right...and there is literally TONS of information on how a Prius operates....new generation and older....

IMO...no real excuse for the level of ignorance demonstrated by "some" not "all" sales people.

 

What are we going to do about it? Bitch and moan all the time or just accept it for what it is...car salespeople in general are not the greatest salespeople in the world, nor should we expect them to be for all the reasons we've discussed above.

Most people do NO research before buying a car...and the salespeople have a leg up on them. People here do obsessive research before buying a car...and very few salespeople are going to know as much as they know. Thats a fact, no way to change that.

Find one you like and buy it from them, but complaining and expounding about how things "should be" some way and these people "should do" things some certain way is simply a waste of time. It is what it is.

 

This does make sense actually. And there's only so much room for selling Ferraris.

Hey, if we stopped with "should be" and "could be", basically every forum on the internet would dry up.

 

Yep, and thats a totally different thing. High end car sales is very personalized, its all about who you know and how you're going to find the individuals who might buy a Rolls Royce, a Ferrari, or a Bentley. That takes real sales skills...and the reward to the salesperson reflects that.

Selling Toyotas...I mean...its one step above selling appliances at Sears.

I LOVE cars, I'm passionate about them and I know a lot about cars. I'm also an excellent salesman and I have no doubt I would be very successful selling cars. However...I don't sell cars. Why? Because I can't make the living I want to make selling cars.

Thats true!

 

Who's bitching and moaning? And we are forced to deal with the reality as it exists.

But neither will I be an appologist or simply make excuses. If you are trying to make a living selling cars? How hard would it be to know how they work? You don't have to be the "best" salesman in the world...but you should know enough to be able to sell your product, correctly and without misinformation...

I also disagree with the contention that "most' people do no research before buying a car. I think that probably was true 10-15 years or more ago...but with the internet and the reality of not only every major brand having their own website, but almost countless automotive forums and the incredible amount of information easily accesible...I think the consumer is usually better informed.

There might be individual exceptions. But if I'm spending $15,000-$30,000+ on a vehicle, I'd be suprised if most people didn't at least make a cursory internet search for information at least from the brand website.

All you have to do is "Google" and you can get TONS of reviews, information...etc, etc...

And I think most consumers do avail themselves of this information.

The 1950's 60's days of consumers simply being swayed by radio ad's and magazine ads...and simply walking on the lot mostly uninformed are over.

Which is precisely why if I was trying to make my living selling vehicles, I would find it important to try to keep pace. Really shouldn't be that hard.

 

In the car selling business, it ain't what you know; it's how much can you can sell. Actually, I'm thinking today's salesperson relies on consumers being more informed than ever before. This makes the sales job easier; i.e. pre-sell. 99 percent of salespeople would just as soon forget about the details of specs and performance and just go directly to the signature line.

 

Read this:

Do car salesman make money? - Yahoo! Answers

 

On the contrary, the appliance sales staff at Sears were highly knowledgeable the last time I visited.

 

Please don't do that.

It's not as if the OP was buying a Ferrari or expensive jewelry.... it's a TOYOTA showroom.

 

Not really.

Information in the hands of the consumer makes the physical time in front of them shorter...sometimes. However it makes the consumer more knowledgable and knowledge is a dangerous thing in the hands of someone who has no point of reference to compare it to. For instance, access to information makes it harder for dealerships and salespeople to make money off of the sales of individual units because they have to discount so much to compete.

Being of value to a consumer is very important in sales. As we see here, being able to offer the customer something that they may not be able to get on their own is very important in establishing rapport (i.e. people are pissed off the salespeople don't know more than they do about their products). If the consumer has all the information without you...then you are of diminished value and it makes it that much harder to establish rapport and be successful in sales.

Sales is harder than it used to be, not easier.

Here's another good article:

http://autos.aol.com/article/car-salesman-pay/

 

I wasn't talking about quality, I was talking about it in terms of an income background.

Ever wonder why that is? Its because a lot of retail stores have moved away from having commissioned salespeople on the floor. They train their people heavily and don't compensate them based on what they sell. It attracts a different person with a different skill set.

So...those people at Sears (don't know about Sears) and definitely Best Buy aren't really salespeople at all.

 

Sorry...missed this before. I hate it when people reply to threads a bunch of time before others...but I didnt want to ignore your post...

And my point is if you have the forethought and ambition to think that way...you are too good a salesperson to be selling cars. I absolutely agree with you, and thats what separates you as a higher caliber professional than the car salespeople we're discussing here.

Saying you would do it some certain way is meaningless...because you'd never have to or choose to do it. Nor would I.

 

This is just to funny!! I just bought a 2011 Prius Two three days ago through AAA and the sales person (who I've bought two other vehicles from) was able to show me everything about the car I needed to know and more and he deals with all kinds of vehicles on a dayly basis. Learn your product and your job.

 

Man! This is EXACTLY why I ONLY purchase from CARMAX. And I am fortunate enough to have a CARMAX Toyota dealership in my city that only sells new Toyota cars! No haggle on price and never, ever any bullshit!