Wednesday, March 25, 2015

a dealership manager asked me why I chose to buy from another dealership instead of giving him my repeat business. All righty then, here's my rant why

I live in San Diego, and there are 4 Hyundai dealerships here.

The reason I bought my Veloster from you in 2011 was because your store wouldn't or couldn't exchange it with a San Diego dealership.

 So I had to drive the 200 mile round trip to buy from your store.

That wasn't cool. It won't happen again if I can help it.

 I have no animosity about this, but there is simply nothing to cause me to waste the gas, and the time, to do business with your store instead of one of the 4 I can be at in 5 minutes.

 Also, I learned that it took 5 or 6 hours to buy a car from your store, in Oct of 2011. It took me 3 hours, just a week ago, to buy from Penske in La Mesa. I am sure I have no idea why your store needed that long to get the Wells Fargo line of credit with my 720 credit score, and then print a sales contract... I'd think you have lots of experience at creating the paperwork necessary to sell cars... that would be all you do all day long, 360 days a year.... but it seems I can figure out how to get a customer in and out in 30 minutes and car dealerships need to waste the time.

 For pete's sake, the car is there, the customer says I'm buying it, where's the paperwork, now get it cleaned up, and then the finance guy seems to be a 3rd person and I don't know why, to have to step in and complicate things... I'm buying, a salesman is selling, and what does a 3rd person need to show up for?

I'd think you dealerships could train the salesman to tell the customer where to sign, but apparently they aren't capable of that. Oh, and then you had a nice young woman show me what the car features are... again, I'd suppose you could train the salespeople to do that... they have all day, every day, to learn the features of the cars they are selling, and yet all they do is take customers out on a test drive.

There are only about 6 models of cars on your lot, with maybe 4 levels of trim. That ought to take a couple days to get familiar with, and they only change maybe once every other year to a new model, with similar features to every other Hyundai sold for the past 7 years. Windows, steering wheel, and tires haven't changed much in 50 years. So what is so complicated that a sales staff can't master the details? Don't they drive the cars they sell? Grocery store employees can tell me what is on every aisle, and the product code for every vegetable, and what is on sale. Maybe you need more intelligent or versatile salespeople. And all this took 6 hours from when I arrived to when I left. Ridiculous, and twice as long as the people at Penske needed.

3 comments:

  1. As the Sales Director for a Ford dealer in Riverside just north of you I appreciate your post. Its one thing to tell my staff to remember the customers the customers point of view but the reality is that its all to easy for us to get caught up in our own bubble and forget that our customers perception of time is entirely different... Because its what we do every day the focus on maximizing our customers time spent at the dealer is at times lost and we assume that its not a big issue when it really is to our guests. Thank you for 'rant' although it isn't so much a rant as a great insight into the experience from the most important point of view, the customers. I will be making copies of this post and t will be the topic of Fridays sales meeting!
    Btw, love your site! Its a daily must check for this CarGuy, keep up the awesome work sir!

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    1. wow, I'm pleased to have made a favorable impression with this! And to a sales director.. anytime you want a load of advice from me, a guy who recently got a job at a car dealership as the photographer, and is up to here with what's wrong with dealerships and salesmen.... I'm at your service. I've been to a lot of dealerships, I bet you saw my post on Toyota of El Cajon, and 3 years ago I visited and reviewed a dozen while testing the 2012 models...and the dealerships, to decide what I was going to buy, and where I would go for the servicing. Expect to see more about dealerships in the future, they are constantly on my mind. I tell salesmen that their highest priority ought to be keeping the customer for life, not selling one damn car for commission. That customer will return every 5 years for another car, and come back for all the warranty work and 30, 45, and 60k upkeeps, plus be your free publicity for life, or, they could be the only thing that it takes to kill off your reputation and destroy your local customer base. Your dealership doesn't sell anything that every other dealership in your customers range doesn't offer. You only have one thing your competition might not, the desire to make the customer return. Everyone is selling the same cars, but no one gives a damn about impressing the customer that YOUR location is the only one they ever will want to return to. Thanks for your comment! It made my day!

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  2. Well said my friend! Totally agree and try my best to train and lead that way daily! Having started as a tech in the service dept its my love of the cars i sell that keeps me at this, more than a 'sales' thing its a passion thing but i know that not everyone shares it so it can be a challenge to lead folks in the direction that i think this business can go but i keep at it because i KNOW that this industry can be a better place than we have allowed it to and it is getting better! Would love to discuss the auto world with a cool CarGuy sometime, if you ever get up north sir the coffee is on me! Have an awesome day! :)
    Mike theCarGuy
    mikethecarguy@outlook.com
    MiketheCarGuy.net

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