Those 10 minutes of my insult in Porsche New Delhi (Now Resolved)

[SkyWalker]

truly commendable work from the Brand Manager. Good speedy resolution by Porsche.

[HappyWheels]

The Brand Manager truly lived up to his position! I hope the rest of the pack, especially the famous 2, there get at least some of the same passion in them.

And the effect of the forum is also not to be lost!

[maddy42]

Kudos Tbhp and Kudos Porsche.

Well if tat sales person is reading this all i have to say is Best of luck dude. Tat attitude takes you no where.

[doctorque]

I would not like to comment on the way Manish behaved. He has been with Porsche for a very long time and i am just a year old.

In just one topic we tend to generalise things so much...
Its very sad that the Bhpians generalised things and put all the sales people in one category...
There are times when you have more enthusiasts coming in the showrooms than actual clients... The number of cars, Porsche sells in India is not a huge number so the margin is not as much as a Porsche dealership elsewhere in the world.
The brochures are expensive, very expensive. So it has to be calculated by a Sales guy each time they give a brochure.
I do, I am not careless in the way i give out brochures to people. I love passing on as much information to any and every one who walks in the showroom in mumbai.
I also have found a remedy called digital brochures as giving a hard copy to every one coming in absolutely not possible considering the number of cars we sell and the kind of money we make selling them.

Advise to Sales guys - Please treat any and every one who walks in the showroom with the best you can (Applies from maruti to RR)

Advise to Enthusiasts & Team bhpians - Dont generalise things & Understand the cost proposition and Ask for soft copies.

Kunal Patwa
Sales Consultant
Porsche Centre Mumbai.

[GTO]

Originally Posted by doctorque

on the way Manish behaved. He has been with Porsche for a very long time

He obviously has a long way to go and a lot to learn. Period.

Its very sad that the Bhpians generalised things and put all the sales people in one category...

I think you need to read through the thread again. There have been several positive experiences wrt sales people posted also.

There are times when you have more enthusiasts coming in the showrooms than actual clients

I only see that as a good thing. Also, let me assure you that any showroom has more browsers than actual customers.

The brochures are expensive, very expensive. So it has to be calculated by a Sales guy each time they give a brochure.

You sell products that cost upward of 60 lakh rupees and going all the way to 2 crores, and care about the cost of some measly brochures? Dude, the services in my office start at Rs. 2,500 and I am only TOO HAPPY when people take my brochures alongwith them. Even salespersons who visit my office are encouraged to take brochures back with them. I pay for my brochures out of pocket, and the printing bill isn't small for me, but that is the least I can do. Someone has COME TO ME (not vice versa), thats the least he can take away. You are trying to tell me that an enthusiast who travels 1 - 2 hours (regular stuff in a big city), walks into your place of business, has taken all that trouble and spent HIS TIME can't get a mere brochure? Whats next? Your business cards are too expensive to hand out to them? Or you'll try to save on astronomical electric bills and only start the showroom air-con when there are "real customers" visiting? Dude, I don't know if you realised but the elitist attitude is best left behind to the eighties.

The high quality brochures of Mercedes & BMW don't seem cheap by any means either. Yet, one has to experience the way they take care of people in their showrooms. There is obviously a lot to learn in the way they handle even regular joes entering their showroom premises. Imagine the potential of those 10,000 people who walked away with a positive experience from your showroom.....what fine spokespersons for your brand they'll be. Better than a 3 lakh rupee ad in the TOI for sure (which anyways gets you only 10 calls).

I also have found a remedy called digital brochures as giving a hard copy to every one coming in absolutely not possible considering the number of cars we sell and the kind of money we make selling them.

Advise to Enthusiasts & Team bhpians - Dont generalise things & Understand the cost proposition and Ask for soft copies.

I have a fitting remedy too : maybe you should have only digital customers buying digital versions of your cars as well.

[harry10]

+1 to what GTO said.
As in my case if i want to check out an Audi or BMW i have to travel specially for around 15kms (which means 30-40 minutes in NCR traffic) and thats one way i am saying. So if i am doing 30kms and around 3 hours of my valuable times sacrifice just to see and learn about the car i love a lot am i not entitled to a mere brochure?

Honestly if i was in Sid's place i would have never stepped in any Porsche showroom again let alone thinking of buying there car any day. Its not about the ego but the respect. If you cant respect your customer you should not have any customer. Period.

Its not that a person has to buy Porsche only. Choices are plenty for anyone who wants to buy a car be it any range.

[vikram18]

Most of what i feel has been summed up by DKG and GTO and I wouldn't waste server space repeating.

One thing though, a good experience lingers, a bad one lingers longer. Were I in Sid's place, I'd never buy a Porsche, ever, period.

At last year's Auto Expo, I was looking at the Volvo SUV, primarily trying to check out the Dynaudio ICE. The sales guy saw me and was absolutely wonderful. Not only did he give me all relevant information, he was all ears when I started talking about ICE and thanked me for educating him further.
He then showed me the X5. When I said I hated it, he smiled and said, "We sell both, so anything you like is fine by me" He insisted I take a brochure and thanks to his courtesy, it's the only thing I still have from the Auto Expo.

[HappyWheels]

Originally Posted by doctorque

I would not like to comment ...
Advise to Enthusiasts & Team bhpians - Dont generalise things & Understand the cost proposition and Ask for soft copies.

Kunal Patwa
Sales Consultant
Porsche Centre Mumbai.

So Kunal, what is it that you are trying to say? Porsche wants the Indian public to spend laks on their vehicle, but Porche can't spend few thousands on the Indian public!

Pathetic attitude, mate! Not sure how many, of those who really matter, within Porsche would agree with this point of view of yours!

And, fitting response, GTO!

[blacmagic]

now I will be really digressing here but what Im about to say is somehow indicative of what happened to Sid in the Porsche showroom.

I was out and about on Holi day and roaming around, went to Cofee Day to get some of the black stuff. noticed that there were no security guards attending the parking lot. parked anyway and went in. I was waiting outside because I didnt want to stain the furniture. now because I have descended from the ape, I occasionally behave like one. this time, I parked myself on the solid steel railing outside. suddenly, there are a bunch of guards wildly gesticulating and mouthing something which essentially meant "get off the railing, you multicolored monkey". that moment, I KNEW Id get back at them.
took my drink, walked outside, started my car and revved it a little. a guard materialized out of nowhere. point to be noted is that this parking is free. you only tip the guard if you feel like it. dude begins to throw 'salaams' at me. and I say "werent you one of the three idiots who just asked me to piss away from the railing?" his began to show various shades of the color spectrum. as he was contemplating what to say, I sped away.

now this little incident clearly outlines what is wrong with our folks. everybody is frustrated at some level and wants to 'be somebody' with no clue as to how. they are merely tools of circumstance and use their circumstaitial environment to feel big or good.
apparently, the idiot Porsche salesman started to fancy himself as Hot Rod Herman and personally ensure that no filth would invade the hallowed space inside the showroom. he should have been a sweeper. not a sales guy.

doctorque. the material is expensive? really?? what about your cars? apparently you are good with math and hence, all the mental calculation you proudly mention. let me tell you, dude, there is something called GOODWILL. you cannot assign a number to it. and once you sell a car, the money you make is far more than sufficient to cover your supposed losses incurred by giving out sales brochures. you find such collectors very rarely. not everybody is passionate enough to walk into a showroom and suffer this sort of treatment.
instead of giving unnecessary advice, I suggest you act against Manish. such people do not deserve to be associated with Porsche at any level.

[sidindica]

Originally Posted by doctorque

I would not like to comment on the way Manish behaved. He has been with Porsche for a very long time and i am just a year old.

In just one topic we tend to generalise things so much...
Its very sad that the Bhpians generalised things and put all the sales people in one category...
There are times when you have more enthusiasts coming in the showrooms than actual clients... The number of cars, Porsche sells in India is not a huge number so the margin is not as much as a Porsche dealership elsewhere in the world.
The brochures are expensive, very expensive. So it has to be calculated by a Sales guy each time they give a brochure.
I do, I am not careless in the way i give out brochures to people. I love passing on as much information to any and every one who walks in the showroom in mumbai.
I also have found a remedy called digital brochures as giving a hard copy to every one coming in absolutely not possible considering the number of cars we sell and the kind of money we make selling them.

Advise to Sales guys - Please treat any and every one who walks in the showroom with the best you can (Applies from maruti to RR)

Advise to Enthusiasts & Team bhpians - Dont generalise things & Understand the cost proposition and Ask for soft copies.

Kunal Patwa
Sales Consultant
Porsche Centre Mumbai.

Usually whatever even small incidents happen with me, I just take it and forget about it the next hour. Not that time.

people may work for 1 year, and people may also work for 4 years, yet the respect any employee gains is by the way a behaviour with a customer/ enthusiast is handled.

yes, brochures cost a bomb, that i am also aware of. But, i also love to collect them, read them again and again in my free time and it takes great pain to take care of them.

if you say that it costs you a bomb to import the brochures, then, given an average of 20-50 sportscars that porsche builds sell in india every year, whats the need to import 2-3000 boxster or cayman brochures? or the need to keep a lot number of 911 gt2 brochures even tha model has a very less chance to sell in india?

now comes the issue of the rude behaviour of the sales manager (manish).
today, let me tell you the real story and if you trust me, than you have to believe it.

I have been a regular visitor every month to the porsche new delhi showroom ever since it opened in 2006 and had a rappo with the previous sales manager(can't disclose the name, and he is no longer there).

we used to discuss cars, everything possible about porsche and other sports and super cars and usually had a cup of coffee with him. I used to share my knowledge, he used to share his, and we also used to go through each and every new brochure that was available.

however, this new sales manager (manish) always USED TO ABUSE ME WITH WORDS THAT I CAN'T THINK TO DESCRIBE IN THE FORUM whenever i used to leave the showroom with a catalogue. He always thinks that he is the boss and always behaved in an arrogant manager indirectly when he looked at me.This happened not once, not twice but n number of times and i did not care about it 'cause i thought that when i do not want to talk to him than why should i even see him.

than, the day when i went to ask for the boxster and cayman brochures, i had a talk with the sales advisor, just newly joined and i confirmed the arrival. when i went there to ask, thy were on the stand and humbly asked manish whether i can take them since HE I ALSO AWARE OF MY COLLECTION OF PORSCHE BROCHURES.

he again looked at me at an arrogant manner and refused by saying-these brochures are only for prospective buyers, not for you who will not purchase a porsche car. I tried to request him again, but now, he replied with an even more arrogant manner-no.

he said, take as many model range brochures as you want but not the individual models'.

and that newly joined sales advisor, looking at me as if he was his chamcha, were indirectly making fun by seeing me at my pitiful eyes and thats when i thought that enough is enough something must be done.

i still did not know whether i did the right thing or not by sharing this experience in the forum, but after sharing, the needful happened and with the kind intervention of Mr. Evans, brand manager, the issue was resolved and I felt a bit better after that day.

My mission will only be complete after manish will personally apologize to me and will assure me that he never bother me in the future, same goes for the sales advisor who refused to even help me by crying foul.

i still stand with my promise of never ever wanting to see them again (except the brand manager) if i ever get a chance to visit porsche showroom in the never future.

I never intended to write this post as i wanted to forget whatever happened that day and progress in life, but after the above post I have quoted, I have to. its, after all, a question of porsche brand and above all, my self respect.


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[Dippy]

I remember an episode which happened at Sanghi Mercedes Benz dealership a few years ago. A man in his mid 30s walked into their Mumbai showroom wearing a casual T shirt and shorts, digicam in hand. He looked like just another passer by on the road. This guy looked around the cars and clicked a few pictures. While some of the sales guys refused to attend to him saying hes a waste of time, one young man went up to him and assisted him, replied to his questions etc. The man walked away after a while. The other sales guys made fun of this young sales guy by saying he wasted his time attending a nobody. Two days later that same guy in shorts walked into the showroom and bought a brand new E Class.

Enough said !!!

[ECM]

This reminds me of a similar incident few years ago,it was 11 am and I was in one big car showroom in one metro city who deals in various local and imported cars.
One 58-60 years gentleman appeared wearing kurta and dhoti,he looked around at cars but no one was there to attend him or rather avoiding him seeing his outlook.Then one sales guy appeared and ask him kya chahiye?
Obiously car,he replied.
How much is your budget?Till now he did not call him Sir which they generally use for their clients/visitors.
This 58 years gentleman had speech problem so he was stopping in between while speaking,during next exchange of dialogues sales guy started to coping him.Face of Gentleman started to become red and he picked up his cellphone and dialed some number and said only 1 line- Come to showroom NOW.
Suddenly owner of Showroom appeared in next 10 minutes and shouted where is that gentleman?
Sir,what happened?Same salesguy asked him.
Where is Mr.********?
Who Sir?We don't know him.
He was here and called me just few mins back,where is he?his volume started to going at sky level.
Sir,that Old Man of an age of approx .....?
Yes,do you know him?
No
He is our financer Mr.***** and what we have right now is because of him.He is a big industrialist in W.Bengal,oh my god where is he?
Khallassssss,salesguy was almost on the verge of crying.
Before he could do anything,owner came out and asked security guard,where is that gentleman?
Suddenly he looked around and found his chappal and shouted he is very much here and ran in out of showroom.
That gentleman was standing near the gate and smoking his cig standing barefoot!
Owner grabed his chappal,put them near his feet and said Sir apke chappal.
Sorry bhul gaya tha,came straight from temple so ...now age is showing on me-he smiled at him.

I saw this episode from my eyes few years back and when I look around I found that salesguy on the left of me and was looking at the floor with blank face.

Lesson:-
How big you are,never try to judge anyone from his outlook.When someone can recognise you from your chappal feel that you have lived your life in this world like a winner.

Period.

[flyingspur]

You don't have to be a rocket scientist to figure out from my username than I'm an absolute Bentley fan. No two ways about it.

This is an experience from November 2007. It was the Dubai motor show, and I was kicked as hell in anticipation of what I'd be seeing. So much so, that when my camera ran out of battery, I tore out of the exhibition hall and ran across four blocks like a maniac just to find batteries and find my way back. That day was one of the most memoriable days of my life, because I got to see Koenigseggs, Veyrons, the SSC Aero TT and everything possible. But my experience at the Bentley stand simply stood out. By the way, I was dressed in shorts and chappal.

The Continental GT Speed Coupe had just been launched, and I was quite happy to see it at the stand. They balanced it out of course, the Arnage on display was well and truly locked, but anyone could go and pop into their Conti line up, including the GTC, GT Speed and Flying Spur. I tried to get into the Arnage and a pretty lady politely told me no one would be allowed to sit inside. hence they'd locked it. Fair enough. I started clicking pictures of the GTC when another one came up to me and said taking pictures is not allowed !! I was really pissed, cause I didn't see what the big deal was, the Aston Martins were all unlocked and anyone could go sit inside, didn't understand why the Bentley chaps had to be so stuck up. An elderly white gentleman at the Bentley stand (Englishman) - he was wearing a blazer with the Bentley logo on it - was watching everything that was going on (which I didn't know at the time) but watched silently I suppose, while I just walked around the GTC. When I was about to leave, he came up to me and said "SIR would you like to sit inside the cars? I said "Sure, I would love to but I was told I couldn't". To which he smiled and said "I noticed" and beckoned me to follow him to the cars. He opened up the GT Speed and since I'm a bit of a nut and knew the specs already, I asked him a couple of things about it and he gave me a tour of all the features as well as the minute changes they had made on the Speed as compared to the "normal" GT Coupe. After which he pulled me out and asked me to get into the GTC. Again, he mentioned a couple of things between the GTC and the GT, and all through the conversation he had a very pleasant smile and an involving approach to the conversation, like he was speaking to not just a customer or an enthusiast, but both.

At the end of the conversation, I was like "I really love the Bentley brand and I wish I could afford one of these!" and was about to get out of the GTC. He cut me short, saying "Sir you can't leave just yet!". Puzzled look on my face, he grabbed my camera and asked me to smile while he walked up to the front of the car and took this photograph (well, he isn't exactly stellar at photography but that's partly my camera's fault as well. Not that that's of relevance to this story).



Now, inspite of his being so nice to me, I couldn't resist taking a potshot at him politely and said, "I thought clicking pictures is not allowed?"

....to which he laughed and said "It is irrelevant that you cannot afford the car today, who knows, in a few years time you'll have your own !! I clicked this picture so you can cherish the memory of sitting in a car you're going to buy 10 years from now. I'll be expecting you then "

That was the most hospitable treatment I've come across anywhere. His good nature, interest, enthusiasm and humour has left such inquantifiable goodwill in my mind, I've never spared a thought for those stupid ladies at the stand. And I remember every word correctly, for this is one incident I really won't forget in a long long time.

[csateesh]

Guys,

I must share this experience with you all.

The sales man who sold me the Accent CRDi is one of my good friend. He has moved to Toyota since then. He is a Senior Manager Sales in Bangalore.

This incident really changed the way this person looks at relationship. One of my colleagues wanted to pick up an i-10 through the company but no one from Hyundai was even helping him with a quote. I called my contact and he promised that this will be taken care in 10 mins. Lo and Behold it was indeed taken care of.

His take on this.. I dont really know when someone will become my customer and he really believes anyone will become his customer anyday and he doesnt want to lose even a single one..

So there are people like him and there are people like the one discussed in this forum..

Peace out

Sateesh

[harry10]

@ECM and FlyingSpur-
Nice incidents and thats exactly how a customer oriented organisation should be.
Don't they say ' Looks are deceptive'