Comment

Comment by John Fuhrman on June 29, 2011 at 12:45pm

Gillon,

 

Thanks or your point of view.  Your customers are lucky to have you serve them.

Comment by Mr. Natural on June 28, 2011 at 7:28pm

Nice one John...my new friend. Well said and timely. In our business today, there is positively too much information for the customer to process. Combine that with too many choices-from color to trim level-the reality is that if we let the customer get too far into the information processing part of it, well, how can anyone make an intelligent, informed decision? Why have we given ourselves (our customers) such a myriad of choices?  I'm thinking we got a little too excited back in the product development stage.

 

I talk to a lot of people, and I make appointments like most people make a beeline for closeout isle at at-God Forbid-The Wal Mart. There is positively one thing I almost never talk about...Our product!  Nor its price, trim level, rate, term, payment, displacement, or drive train. It never serves me. Not to mention the fact that if I don’t talk about the cars, it's hard to pick up any real objections.

 

What I do talk about is how we are going to get along together. How we are going to treat them with dignity and respect. How this time it will be different and fun. We have a good vibe here, and you will be able to tell. Some customers have even told me they had a good time. For me, there's nothing like a "feel good deal” That’s when it's win/win. Something you don't hear about too much in our business these days.

 

It often goes something like this: “So Mrs. Smith, we’re really having a fun time talking about the fun things we did in our lifetimes…When on Wednesday would you like to come in? Is 1:15 good for you, or do you like 2:15 better?”  How could either time be wrong? She’s not coming to buy a car, she’s coming to meet and her new friend in the car business. What’s threatening about that?

 

I never liked cars, and I have never cared to talk about them. I remember my friends in High School as we all just got our first cars. I remember hearing all the cool stories about Randy's new Nova with the six pack Quadra squirted, and the Hurst slap stick linkage shifter.  Boring!!!  The theory was that if you wanted a girlfriend, you needed a cool car. Jeeze...I could never be attracted to a girl who thought a car was cool.

 

Sorry, I tend to ramble.

 

G~