I hate salesmen
because they suck.
Due to certain complications with my car I have been looking for a cheap car that I can buy and quickly pay off. The purpose of this car is to not be fancy or sporty or anything like that. As a result I am primarily interested in things like warranties and incentives. My search led me to Hyundai.
Now, online I found the price of a Hyundai Elantra 2005 GLS to be at the Fairfax dealership somewhere around 11,863 or so. Today, I went in and sat down with one of the 'sales representatives' to speak about the car. It turns that price supposedly included the full rebates and discounts they offered. For instance that price included the Hyundai owner's loyalty incentive and the military discount. So no joke right in front of my eyes the sales representative started adding numbers to the car and before I knew it the price of the car was somewhere over 13,000. Now call me deranged but usually when you list a price, such as the one I saw online, you would typically list the rebates or discounts that get added in. I see this all the time online with various stuff you can buy. Remember stuff like "you can buy this x thing for 100 dollars with a manufacturers rebate of 50 off" or something like that. The point I am trying to make is that the rebate was listed in the price. Another thing too, how the hell can you list a price that includes discounts that dont apply to the majority of the population and not mention it? Including things like the military discount or owner's loyalty and not saying that those discounts are included already is ludicrous. Its not even ethical. For an ad to say that this x-amount is the price of it and then when I inquire about it I find out that the price includes rebates/discounts that a small segment of the population has access to thats just poor business right there.
It was funny in a way because the salesperson actually sort of threatened me with "well we will sell these cars by the end of the year anyway" hmmmm ok. Yeah hardball tactics on a customer who can easily walk down the street to another dealership is really going to work...I dont think so.
One of my favorite sales strategies I hear from these guys is "I got to talk it over with my manager" which of course is crap. These guys make money off of commission so the manager doesnt care how low they go. Its just a question of trying to shift the focus to someone else as a diversionary tactic.
Anyway, bad advertising and poor sales pitching dont win over customers. In today's economy playing this hardball crap only works if your in a position of strength. In this case I am in that position since I am the one wishing to buy and I can pick from many sellers. I am the one who decides which of these places gets my money, not some hardball "lets actually sit down and talk about buying the car" crap. I know how it works and that these guys dont want to give away too much information so I can understand their reluctance to not start hammering out a price unless I was committed. Nevertheless, if your working for a business in sales or any field you shouldnt assume the clients or people you are dealing with are fools. There is no way in hell someone wants to pay more for something when they can get it less. Unless its a luxury good and there is some degree of status associated with it (also if you have that kind of money then it doesnt really matter). The point is though that no one likes spending more money than they have to. I havent heard of anyone enjoying spending extra on something and laughing about it when the same thing costs much less somewhere else.
As a final addendum, I am not stupid enough to have looked over the webpage that this ad was on and be oblivious to any fine print. There was no fine print, at all. The price had no asterisk or any other sub-heading that would say it was dependent on whatever constraints involved.
Due to certain complications with my car I have been looking for a cheap car that I can buy and quickly pay off. The purpose of this car is to not be fancy or sporty or anything like that. As a result I am primarily interested in things like warranties and incentives. My search led me to Hyundai.
Now, online I found the price of a Hyundai Elantra 2005 GLS to be at the Fairfax dealership somewhere around 11,863 or so. Today, I went in and sat down with one of the 'sales representatives' to speak about the car. It turns that price supposedly included the full rebates and discounts they offered. For instance that price included the Hyundai owner's loyalty incentive and the military discount. So no joke right in front of my eyes the sales representative started adding numbers to the car and before I knew it the price of the car was somewhere over 13,000. Now call me deranged but usually when you list a price, such as the one I saw online, you would typically list the rebates or discounts that get added in. I see this all the time online with various stuff you can buy. Remember stuff like "you can buy this x thing for 100 dollars with a manufacturers rebate of 50 off" or something like that. The point I am trying to make is that the rebate was listed in the price. Another thing too, how the hell can you list a price that includes discounts that dont apply to the majority of the population and not mention it? Including things like the military discount or owner's loyalty and not saying that those discounts are included already is ludicrous. Its not even ethical. For an ad to say that this x-amount is the price of it and then when I inquire about it I find out that the price includes rebates/discounts that a small segment of the population has access to thats just poor business right there.
It was funny in a way because the salesperson actually sort of threatened me with "well we will sell these cars by the end of the year anyway" hmmmm ok. Yeah hardball tactics on a customer who can easily walk down the street to another dealership is really going to work...I dont think so.
One of my favorite sales strategies I hear from these guys is "I got to talk it over with my manager" which of course is crap. These guys make money off of commission so the manager doesnt care how low they go. Its just a question of trying to shift the focus to someone else as a diversionary tactic.
Anyway, bad advertising and poor sales pitching dont win over customers. In today's economy playing this hardball crap only works if your in a position of strength. In this case I am in that position since I am the one wishing to buy and I can pick from many sellers. I am the one who decides which of these places gets my money, not some hardball "lets actually sit down and talk about buying the car" crap. I know how it works and that these guys dont want to give away too much information so I can understand their reluctance to not start hammering out a price unless I was committed. Nevertheless, if your working for a business in sales or any field you shouldnt assume the clients or people you are dealing with are fools. There is no way in hell someone wants to pay more for something when they can get it less. Unless its a luxury good and there is some degree of status associated with it (also if you have that kind of money then it doesnt really matter). The point is though that no one likes spending more money than they have to. I havent heard of anyone enjoying spending extra on something and laughing about it when the same thing costs much less somewhere else.
As a final addendum, I am not stupid enough to have looked over the webpage that this ad was on and be oblivious to any fine print. There was no fine print, at all. The price had no asterisk or any other sub-heading that would say it was dependent on whatever constraints involved.