Is it too easy…
Discussion
For dealers at the minute,just bought 2 cars in the last month and not one of the sellers has followed up how things were going with the cars ,I seem to remember getting a call previously but now nothing not even a bot e mail ,I suppose it’s not a real biggie but the difference from when you initially enquire about a vehicle and take delivery is stark…
My last enquiry didn't even get as far as a sale - I enquired about an M6 GC at a large BMW dealer a week or two ago. The sales guy did the usual personalised video but came in lower on the trade-in than I'd ideally have liked. I said I'd give it some thought over the weekend and to be fair he chased me on the Monday about whether I was still interested in the car. However it was somewhat moot as evidently the car had sold over the weekend as it had gone from both AT and their site which I mentioned in my reply to him. Not his fault that sort of thing happens.
However...it surprises me that I've not heard a sausage from him since. If I were in car sales and I'd had a guy looking at a £40-45k spend on a car that had JUST gone, I'd have been in touch asking whether there was scope to look at something similar - did it have to be a Gran Coupé, would I look at an M5, what were my 'must-haves' re. spec, colour etc. Talk about letting a warm lead go cold! As it happens, they have an almost identical one on their AUC site at the moment - not at the same dealership but I presume they can move stock around within the group if required?
If I were him I'd have at least rung me up to see where I'm at but to be honest it's no bad thing really; he'd barely mentioned the original car before being waaay more interested pitching finance and paint protection to me; the car itself didn't really matter it seemed!
However...it surprises me that I've not heard a sausage from him since. If I were in car sales and I'd had a guy looking at a £40-45k spend on a car that had JUST gone, I'd have been in touch asking whether there was scope to look at something similar - did it have to be a Gran Coupé, would I look at an M5, what were my 'must-haves' re. spec, colour etc. Talk about letting a warm lead go cold! As it happens, they have an almost identical one on their AUC site at the moment - not at the same dealership but I presume they can move stock around within the group if required?
If I were him I'd have at least rung me up to see where I'm at but to be honest it's no bad thing really; he'd barely mentioned the original car before being waaay more interested pitching finance and paint protection to me; the car itself didn't really matter it seemed!
vikingaero said:
Definitely.
The amount of cars I see where the only prep is a wash. The inside being stained and untouched. And if you complain they they take the car back and sell it to the next chump.
Have seen that too - one car I looked at had scum and stains in the cupholders, it was disgusting. And they actually took a photo of it and uploaded it!The amount of cars I see where the only prep is a wash. The inside being stained and untouched. And if you complain they they take the car back and sell it to the next chump.
If they can't even clean that it doesn't bode well for the care they must take with prepping the car overall.
The only follow up i've had in the last 5 years of buying cars was from Lloyds BMW in Blackpool who was very good and the only car salesman i've ever dealt with where i've thought I would actually go back to him and buy my next car.
I've dealt with a number of main dealers of various marques and they all leave me cold really and seem like they can't be bothered
I've dealt with a number of main dealers of various marques and they all leave me cold really and seem like they can't be bothered
Yes to answer the question.
As a car salesman in the current climate its easy to sell cars, the follow up call usually only happens on new cars.
having sold new and used for 17 years I personally only follow up customers on new cars because we get scored on it.
I Never follow up customers on used cars with a follow up call but i always say if they have any questions please call me anytime.
As a car salesman in the current climate its easy to sell cars, the follow up call usually only happens on new cars.
having sold new and used for 17 years I personally only follow up customers on new cars because we get scored on it.
I Never follow up customers on used cars with a follow up call but i always say if they have any questions please call me anytime.
Kuwahara said:
Surely a sale is a sale ,2 minute phone call sticks in the memory and in most cases would be appreciated,the same can be said for no interest shown in the purchase it sticks in the memory….
Depends on the customer i find.Often i say would you like a call in a few days to see how things are, And the majority will say no thank you we will call you if we need anything.
Kuwahara said:
That’s fair enough ,my personal experience lately has been phone calls/emails even old school texts during the sale after initial enquiry then total silence ,maybe just the state of the market at the moment…
Its think its a bit of everything, Salespeople being lazy, We personally at the moment are very short staffed and selling huge volumes that we cant follow up every enquiry all the way through.Its a judgement call to if that customer is ready to buy now or at a later date. i have had 3 people in today asking for a car that either doesnt exist at the budget they have asked for or a car that i just dont have available, They will go in my list for a later date but certainly not a priority
I also think a lot of these large car groups monitor their outgoing activity so text and emails are checked, Nothing beats a phone call though in my view for an enquiry
Dan W. said:
Its think its a bit of everything, Salespeople being lazy, We personally at the moment are very short staffed and selling huge volumes that we cant follow up every enquiry all the way through.
To answer the OP I think it’s just the way it is and has been over the last few years be it short staffing or perhaps limited supply of cars etc. It’s probably considered an old fashioned thing , courtesy call ‘s ,and in your case having just bought 2 cars the dealer also probably thinks there won’t be another sale soon.
Funk said:
My last enquiry didn't even get as far as a sale - I enquired about an M6 GC at a large BMW dealer a week or two ago. The sales guy did the usual personalised video but came in lower on the trade-in than I'd ideally have liked. I said I'd give it some thought over the weekend and to be fair he chased me on the Monday about whether I was still interested in the car. However it was somewhat moot as evidently the car had sold over the weekend as it had gone from both AT and their site which I mentioned in my reply to him. Not his fault that sort of thing happens.
However...it surprises me that I've not heard a sausage from him since. If I were in car sales and I'd had a guy looking at a £40-45k spend on a car that had JUST gone, I'd have been in touch asking whether there was scope to look at something similar - did it have to be a Gran Coupé, would I look at an M5, what were my 'must-haves' re. spec, colour etc. Talk about letting a warm lead go cold! As it happens, they have an almost identical one on their AUC site at the moment - not at the same dealership but I presume they can move stock around within the group if required?
If I were him I'd have at least rung me up to see where I'm at but to be honest it's no bad thing really; he'd barely mentioned the original car before being waaay more interested pitching finance and paint protection to me; the car itself didn't really matter it seemed!
That is basic salesmanship.. I work in sales (Tech not cars) and this would be seen as a huge miss. In fact we have 'playbooks' for this type of scenario. However...it surprises me that I've not heard a sausage from him since. If I were in car sales and I'd had a guy looking at a £40-45k spend on a car that had JUST gone, I'd have been in touch asking whether there was scope to look at something similar - did it have to be a Gran Coupé, would I look at an M5, what were my 'must-haves' re. spec, colour etc. Talk about letting a warm lead go cold! As it happens, they have an almost identical one on their AUC site at the moment - not at the same dealership but I presume they can move stock around within the group if required?
If I were him I'd have at least rung me up to see where I'm at but to be honest it's no bad thing really; he'd barely mentioned the original car before being waaay more interested pitching finance and paint protection to me; the car itself didn't really matter it seemed!
Letting a warm lead go cold is sales basics.
InformationSuperHighway said:
That is basic salesmanship.. I work in sales (Tech not cars) and this would be seen as a huge miss. In fact we have 'playbooks' for this type of scenario.
Letting a warm lead go cold is sales basics.
Absolutely. I think some car salesman either don’t particularly about what they do or have had it too easy the last few years but either scenario is not good for business. Letting a warm lead go cold is sales basics.
If nothing else though it just encourages the customer to find another dealership and see what there enthusiasm is like.
alscar said:
InformationSuperHighway said:
That is basic salesmanship.. I work in sales (Tech not cars) and this would be seen as a huge miss. In fact we have 'playbooks' for this type of scenario.
Letting a warm lead go cold is sales basics.
Absolutely. I think some car salesman either don’t particularly about what they do or have had it too easy the last few years but either scenario is not good for business. Letting a warm lead go cold is sales basics.
If nothing else though it just encourages the customer to find another dealership and see what there enthusiasm is like.
InformationSuperHighway said:
Funk said:
My last enquiry didn't even get as far as a sale - I enquired about an M6 GC at a large BMW dealer a week or two ago. The sales guy did the usual personalised video but came in lower on the trade-in than I'd ideally have liked. I said I'd give it some thought over the weekend and to be fair he chased me on the Monday about whether I was still interested in the car. However it was somewhat moot as evidently the car had sold over the weekend as it had gone from both AT and their site which I mentioned in my reply to him. Not his fault that sort of thing happens.
However...it surprises me that I've not heard a sausage from him since. If I were in car sales and I'd had a guy looking at a £40-45k spend on a car that had JUST gone, I'd have been in touch asking whether there was scope to look at something similar - did it have to be a Gran Coupé, would I look at an M5, what were my 'must-haves' re. spec, colour etc. Talk about letting a warm lead go cold! As it happens, they have an almost identical one on their AUC site at the moment - not at the same dealership but I presume they can move stock around within the group if required?
If I were him I'd have at least rung me up to see where I'm at but to be honest it's no bad thing really; he'd barely mentioned the original car before being waaay more interested pitching finance and paint protection to me; the car itself didn't really matter it seemed!
That is basic salesmanship.. I work in sales (Tech not cars) and this would be seen as a huge miss. In fact we have 'playbooks' for this type of scenario. However...it surprises me that I've not heard a sausage from him since. If I were in car sales and I'd had a guy looking at a £40-45k spend on a car that had JUST gone, I'd have been in touch asking whether there was scope to look at something similar - did it have to be a Gran Coupé, would I look at an M5, what were my 'must-haves' re. spec, colour etc. Talk about letting a warm lead go cold! As it happens, they have an almost identical one on their AUC site at the moment - not at the same dealership but I presume they can move stock around within the group if required?
If I were him I'd have at least rung me up to see where I'm at but to be honest it's no bad thing really; he'd barely mentioned the original car before being waaay more interested pitching finance and paint protection to me; the car itself didn't really matter it seemed!
Letting a warm lead go cold is sales basics.
Had a similar poor experience with another BMW sales guy who promised something to close the sale of my current car but which never materialised even when I chased him on it. The guy who bought a 530i 6 months ago is the guy now looking at an M5 or M6 today - guess which sales person I won't be dealing with when a suitable car pops up at their dealership...? I would actually ask for anyone but him in fact.
Maybe I'm the one who has it wrong; perhaps car sales is literally 'rinse the deal in front of you and sod any future opps' and thinking longer-term doesn't pay off? Or is it a case of 'future opps never occur because people never want to deal with them again' so it becomes a self-fulfilling prophesy?
Edited by Funk on Wednesday 10th May 17:39
Funk said:
InformationSuperHighway said:
Funk said:
My last enquiry didn't even get as far as a sale - I enquired about an M6 GC at a large BMW dealer a week or two ago. The sales guy did the usual personalised video but came in lower on the trade-in than I'd ideally have liked. I said I'd give it some thought over the weekend and to be fair he chased me on the Monday about whether I was still interested in the car. However it was somewhat moot as evidently the car had sold over the weekend as it had gone from both AT and their site which I mentioned in my reply to him. Not his fault that sort of thing happens.
However...it surprises me that I've not heard a sausage from him since. If I were in car sales and I'd had a guy looking at a £40-45k spend on a car that had JUST gone, I'd have been in touch asking whether there was scope to look at something similar - did it have to be a Gran Coupé, would I look at an M5, what were my 'must-haves' re. spec, colour etc. Talk about letting a warm lead go cold! As it happens, they have an almost identical one on their AUC site at the moment - not at the same dealership but I presume they can move stock around within the group if required?
If I were him I'd have at least rung me up to see where I'm at but to be honest it's no bad thing really; he'd barely mentioned the original car before being waaay more interested pitching finance and paint protection to me; the car itself didn't really matter it seemed!
That is basic salesmanship.. I work in sales (Tech not cars) and this would be seen as a huge miss. In fact we have 'playbooks' for this type of scenario. However...it surprises me that I've not heard a sausage from him since. If I were in car sales and I'd had a guy looking at a £40-45k spend on a car that had JUST gone, I'd have been in touch asking whether there was scope to look at something similar - did it have to be a Gran Coupé, would I look at an M5, what were my 'must-haves' re. spec, colour etc. Talk about letting a warm lead go cold! As it happens, they have an almost identical one on their AUC site at the moment - not at the same dealership but I presume they can move stock around within the group if required?
If I were him I'd have at least rung me up to see where I'm at but to be honest it's no bad thing really; he'd barely mentioned the original car before being waaay more interested pitching finance and paint protection to me; the car itself didn't really matter it seemed!
Letting a warm lead go cold is sales basics.
Had a similar poor experience with another BMW sales guy who promised something to close the sale of my current car but which never materialised even when I chased him on it. The guy who bought a 530i 6 months ago is the guy now looking at an M5 or M6 today - guess which sales person I won't be dealing with when a suitable car pops up at their dealership...? I would actually ask for anyone but him in fact.
Maybe I'm the one who has it wrong; perhaps car sales is literally 'rinse the deal in front of you and sod any future opps' and thinking longer-term doesn't pay off? Or is it a case of 'future opps never occur because people never want to deal with them again' so it becomes a self-fulfilling prophesy?
Edited by Funk on Wednesday 10th May 17:39
At my garage i have been here 7 years now and built up a nice return customer base, arnold clark over the road from us have not had a sales person last longer than 6 months in that time due to various diff reasons.
Most places / car salesmen wont think about the long term because they wont be around long enough to see it through
When I bought my Used BMW Z4 M40i in February my enquiry email was answered on a Sunday by the dealer principal, negotiations took place over the course of the day, bought the car the following week. It was delivered by a very nice retired ex Police driver, I got 2 calls over the next few days asking how the car was.
I said there was a small stone chip that must've happened when it was being delivered. They sent touch-up paint. I then got all the usual Customer Feedback emails.
It was as expected, really. Good service, nothing untoward, car is nice.
I said there was a small stone chip that must've happened when it was being delivered. They sent touch-up paint. I then got all the usual Customer Feedback emails.
It was as expected, really. Good service, nothing untoward, car is nice.
Dan W. said:
A lot of it is down to the actual car dealership, Big car groups do not think about the long term customer returning because usually the sales staff move around every couple of years so all they care about are the easy sales.
At my garage i have been here 7 years now and built up a nice return customer base, arnold clark over the road from us have not had a sales person last longer than 6 months in that time due to various diff reasons.
Most places / car salesmen wont think about the long term because they wont be around long enough to see it through
Yup makes total sense and helps to answer the OP. At my garage i have been here 7 years now and built up a nice return customer base, arnold clark over the road from us have not had a sales person last longer than 6 months in that time due to various diff reasons.
Most places / car salesmen wont think about the long term because they wont be around long enough to see it through
My eldest son sells both new and used cars and has been at the dealership for 5 years and reckons he’s part of the furniture now !
alscar said:
Dan W. said:
A lot of it is down to the actual car dealership, Big car groups do not think about the long term customer returning because usually the sales staff move around every couple of years so all they care about are the easy sales.
At my garage i have been here 7 years now and built up a nice return customer base, arnold clark over the road from us have not had a sales person last longer than 6 months in that time due to various diff reasons.
Most places / car salesmen wont think about the long term because they wont be around long enough to see it through
Yup makes total sense and helps to answer the OP. At my garage i have been here 7 years now and built up a nice return customer base, arnold clark over the road from us have not had a sales person last longer than 6 months in that time due to various diff reasons.
Most places / car salesmen wont think about the long term because they wont be around long enough to see it through
My eldest son sells both new and used cars and has been at the dealership for 5 years and reckons he’s part of the furniture now !
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