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Old 27th October 2017, 13:20   #16
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Re: Behind the Scenes: A salesman's life in a car dealership

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Originally Posted by DriverR View Post
...
Can you clarify one point you made on non-registered cars being caught by police. Why does blame come to the Sales Person and not the person driving the car itself?
I believe the sales person is not supposed to hand over the car to the customer without permanent or temporary registration number. As he mentioned in the post, even for moving the car from stockyard to showroom, the dealer has to use a temporary registration.
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Old 27th October 2017, 13:52   #17
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Re: Behind the Scenes: A salesman's life in a car dealership

Excellent thread blackwasp! Interesting insights into the car sales process. Thanks for sharing!

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Originally Posted by blackwasp View Post
...the car has to be allotted against that booking...
Once all the balance payments are done, including the loan payment from a bank, the car can now be invoiced to the customer. ... and the file is sent to the RTO department.
Quote:
Originally Posted by blackwasp View Post
...So far in my 15 months at the dealership, only 2 customers had asked for a PDI to be done....
Have a few questions.
1. At the time of booking, is the dealer bound to give the customer any document other than just a "Payment receipt" for the amount in question? Is there any specific numbered form / document in addition to the receipt?
2. Does the allotment of a particular car to a given customer happen at the factory before dispatch or is it a process that happens entirely at the dealership, post-dispatch?
3. In case of rear variants / slow movers, can / do dealers ask for full payment before allotment?
4. What is the general attitude of dealers to PDI requests by customers? Is there a tendency to avoid it or discourage it?
5. If a customer requests PDI, when is it offered? After invoicing or before that? I am asking this because, in case the customer refuses to take delivery based on the PDI, what are the options for the customer and the dealership?

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Old 27th October 2017, 14:17   #18
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Re: Behind the Scenes: A salesman's life in a car dealership

Wonderful thread. Really gives a much deeper understanding of what goes behind in a dealership
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Old 27th October 2017, 14:54   #19
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Re: Behind the Scenes: A salesman's life in a car dealership

Timing mate, its all about timing! Having booked my car (a Ciaz auto) from Nexa and having dealt with two showrooms in Bangalore just last week, reading this write up was indeed pretty insightful!

Thanks for sharing mate!!

Last edited by vinair : 27th October 2017 at 14:55.
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Old 27th October 2017, 14:54   #20
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Re: Behind the Scenes: A salesman's life in a car dealership

I have a few questions:

1) During your 5 day training, were you given information on Ciaz's competitors like City or Verna? Like how to deal with a customer who compares Ciaz with its competitors?

2) Out of 100 customers, how many bring in gifts at the time of delivery? Did you receive any interesting gift from customer?

3) What is the approximate sales margin of a dealer on the ex-showroom price?

4) What salary can a fresher sales advisor expect? Do incentives kick in after the sales advisor closes X sales per month? Or are commissions given on every sale?
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Old 27th October 2017, 14:56   #21
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Re: Behind the Scenes: A salesman's life in a car dealership

That is a great write-up man. Shows the memories and passion towards your work even when your daily commute to work was an Abarth
Thank you again for the write up!!!

Last edited by petrolhead_chn : 27th October 2017 at 14:58.
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Old 27th October 2017, 15:06   #22
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Re: Behind the Scenes: A salesman's life in a car dealership

Rated this 5 stars. Many thanks for sharing. I have had a few experiences at some of the dealerships and I was astonished with the way some of these sales people chased me to know the decision, all this to get a sale. I know this is what they work for and this is their bread and butter, but to what extent can one go to get a sale? crossing the line has become a regular practice today, for eg. things like contacting users on WhatsApp to know how they are doing today etc.
Selling expensive insurances for commission cut, bullbars on airbag vehicles etc are a few more to name.

Last edited by aabhimanyu04 : 27th October 2017 at 15:07. Reason: spoonerism
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Old 27th October 2017, 15:10   #23
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Important question:how much is their per car margin and how is the incentive calculated?
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Old 27th October 2017, 15:16   #24
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Re: Behind the Scenes: A salesman's life in a car dealership

Excellent write up, well thought and penned, gives an insight into the going ons, also reflects your passion.
As far as Maruti Suzuki goes, they have mastered the art of dealer satisfaction and monitoring through the various exercises mentioned backed with required hype for their cars which ensures excellent footfalls and and then due to their backing you have dealers ensuring good closure rate for prospects.
Yes very true many like me won't like their cars except for a few models, but we need to appreciate and learn from what they have achieved with hard work, invention, consistent customer satisfaction and smart strategies.
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Old 27th October 2017, 15:29   #25
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Re: Behind the Scenes: A salesman's life in a car dealership

Excellent article. Many thanks for sharing this. I also have some (stupid) questions:
1. At the time of recruitment, do the management ask anything about cars or they just evaluate your communication skills?
2. During a test drive, if you happen to realise that the customer is not very good at driving (newbies), what will be your reaction? Also, how the fuel expenses for the test drive vehicle is compensated?
3. If someone gives you a token gift, would that person get any preferential treatment afterwards?
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Old 27th October 2017, 15:29   #26
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Re: Behind the Scenes: A salesman's life in a car dealership

Thanks a lot for the kind words everyone. I will answer the queries one by one as below-

Quote:
Originally Posted by JohnyBoy View Post
Good writing style. This shows the salesman in a different light.
Thanks for the kind words, my aim was to tell the story from the other side.

Quote:
Originally Posted by DriverR View Post
Can you clarify one point you made on non-registered cars being caught by police. Why does blame come to the Sales Person and not the person driving the car itself?
Ultimately, he's the person who is responsible for the formalities regarding the car. The second reason is that he's a soft target - its easy for the management to brush off the blame on him.

Quote:
Originally Posted by V.Narayan View Post
A unique insight available only on Team BHP. Please could you share some pointers for us as customers that can make life nicer for the salesman next time he deals with us. I mean here pointers beyond being polite. Also could you share examples of bloopers committed by customers.
I think the main point that we should understand is that its just a job for him. There are very few people in the industry who are as enthusiastic as us. The best way to have a good relationship with your sales advisor is by trying to understand from his point of view. For e.g. We don't give additional discounts over and above the company approved ones, or when I get a call from another customer while some other customer is there, I will disconnect the call and send a message that I'll call back. But there was a customer who used to repeatedly call - sometimes 10-15 times continuously till I picked up the call. It could be possible that I was engaged in some meeting, test drive etc.

On the other hand, not calling back customers is also wrong from the sales person. I know of one customer who always used to come for a TD, but used to act arrogant and never let me explain any features of the car. I don't mind folks who come just for a TD, but they should atleast have the courtesy to listen to the chap whose job is to just tell about the car. It is entirely possible that such a customer could refer the car to his friends / family - but there is no point in being arrogant about it. Thankfully, we never felt the need to be pushy towards a customer to get a sale, but that is not the case in majority of the other car brands.

Quote:
Originally Posted by balenopower View Post
Great write up. Its ironic how Maruti and Nexa evoke such good thoughts for some while for others like in this thread below only evoke ire.
Yes, there are always 2 sides to a coin, but it all boils down to the response of the company. There was a dealership I know that was asked to be closed down due to complaints.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Ragavsr View Post
So, how do people pay after demonetization ? Do you people still accept cash for the entire price of the car ? Has sales seen a slowdown ?
Maybe for a fortnight yes. But in the bigger picture, most of the cars are purchased on loans - so business was mostly as usual. Yes, some people who did plan to buy on cash back out, but they were few in numbers.

Post demonetization, some people do pay in cash, but that attracts a 1% TCS on the cash part if its more than 2 lakh. It's also to be noted that automobiles are the most heavily taxed as they are one of the costliest items people buy in white. You can't buy a car without a PAN card - well, you can furnish a form saying you don't have a PAN, but most dealers will ask you to buy the car in someone's name who has a PAN number.

Quote:
Originally Posted by crdi View Post
What is the MSIL policy on booking cancellation?Does the employee or dealer get remarked about it?

What incentive the dealer gets for a good show?
The company is happy as long as the customer cancels but buys another car from them. So overall customers cancelling for another brand is less. Total cancellations are monitored but some can't be avoided - e.g. car booked in one person's name, but due to loan not being sanctioned, he cancels the booking and books it in his brother's name. Or for cars with long waiting periods, customers book early, but later change the name to their company as they want to use the company car policy. In both cases, there will be a cancellation in the system, but in reality, we know that the cars were sold to the same person / family.

Incentives include foreign holidays, gifts like TVs, etc. I've also known the top service advisors / managers getting 2 wheelers.

Quote:
Originally Posted by cogWheel View Post
Have a few questions.
1. At the time of booking, is the dealer bound to give the customer any document other than just a "Payment receipt" for the amount in question? Is there any specific numbered form / document in addition to the receipt?
2. Does the allotment of a particular car to a given customer happen at the factory before dispatch or is it a process that happens entirely at the dealership, post-dispatch?
3. In case of rear variants / slow movers, can / do dealers ask for full payment before allotment?
4. What is the general attitude of dealers to PDI requests by customers? Is there a tendency to avoid it or discourage it?
5. If a customer requests PDI, when is it offered? After invoicing or before that? I am asking this because, in case the customer refuses to take delivery based on the PDI, what are the options for the customer and the dealership?
1. Depends on the policy - The receipt is always given when any payment is done. In Nexa, there used to a print out of the booking confirmation and in regular channel, we used the fill the booking form in triplicate - one copy going to the customer. When we brought our Fiat, we just got a payment receipt.

2. Post-dispatch only. This is because the cars must be unloaded, inspected and only then are they available on the stock report. For cars with long waiting periods, they are allotted in a queue system. Both happening at the dealership level, but since both bookings and invoicing of the car is done in the DMS, MSIL can easily track if the queue was jumped by the dealer to favour a particular customer.

3. Not unless the car is not available in the stockyard. But no cars in MSIL are slow movers so dealers will simply order the car. There might be a bit hesitation for cars like a yellow Celerio (now discontinued) or a black Ciaz, but if there is a booking done, the car will be ordered without full payment. There are other dealers who will insist on getting the full payment first though.

4. If it’s a busy day, it'll be turned down, but if the customer insists to drive down, it'll be entertained. After all, if a PDI will help close a deal, it will be done. But in general, PDI requests are very few.

5. PDI will be offered only before invoicing, as invoicing is done only when full payment is received. So, incase the customer says no to a particular car we will take a letter from him stating that he wants the car from next lot and dealers won't be responsible for the delay.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Mohan Mathew A View Post
Wonderful thread. Really gives a much deeper understanding of what goes behind in a dealership
Thanks.
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Old 27th October 2017, 16:06   #27
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Re: Behind the Scenes: A salesman's life in a car dealership

Great thread!

I always wanted to know if sales guys are annoyed at people who come in to TD cars with no intention to buy? I try to make it clear early on that I'm just looking but most SAs don't seem to believe that! I do feel a little guilty because their time could be spent on someone who'd get them that coveted commission.
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Old 27th October 2017, 16:17   #28
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Re: Behind the Scenes: A salesman's life in a car dealership

Great write up Kanad. It makes me wonder sometimes that an Engineer could make a successful salesman or the other way round. You have touched many aspects of what goes behind the scenes for a salesman. Your write up confirms that a good and knowledgeable salesman can make or break a customer for the brand. Pun intended for Fiat specially.

Do the dealerships have a punching bag or something where the Salesman can vent their frustration when customers keep coming to Maruti asking "Kitna Deti hai" or some unwanted demands on discounts. Also would like to know how the Sales people are rewarded not monetarily but spiritedly. Salesman are known to belittle other brands, have you in your experience done that too?

I still remember GTO's iconic thread of new car buying where the emphasis was more on the last stage of car buying that the Salesman should be duly rewarded with a gift which I feel is the ideal way to say a Thank you for all the behind the scenes efforts.
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Old 27th October 2017, 16:23   #29
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Re: Behind the Scenes: A salesman's life in a car dealership

Quote:
Originally Posted by vinair View Post
Timing mate, its all about timing! Having booked my car (a Ciaz auto) from Nexa....
Congratulations on your new car.


Quote:
Originally Posted by smartcat View Post
I have a few questions:

1) During your 5 day training, were you given information on Ciaz's competitors like City or Verna? Like how to deal with a customer who compares Ciaz with its competitors?

2) Out of 100 customers, how many bring in gifts at the time of delivery? Did you receive any interesting gift from customer?

3) What is the approximate sales margin of a dealer on the ex-showroom price?

4) What salary can a fresher sales advisor expect? Do incentives kick in after the sales advisor closes X sales per month? Or are commissions given on every sale?
1. Yes, City and Verna were bench marked. However, not all the comparisons were fair - e.g. Ciaz top model compared with second best competitor variant. But then again, there is a good price gap between Ciaz and competitors, so I guess that’s fair. Highlights of all cars are told along with counters to arguments put up but the customers. E.g. in case you point out that City offers the better, more powerful petrol engine, we were told to highlight the fact that most people drive the car in urban areas where the Ciaz is as fast as the City + Ciaz hybrid offered more advanced and fuel-efficient engine option in the diesel engine variant. We were also told to be frank - yes, the city engine is better, but does the car get other things like good leg space, MSIL service network, better resale etc.

2. Most people used to give me some cash - initially I used to refuse, but was told by the seniors to take it as customers could get offended - and some offered a lot of cash. There was a customer who was so happy with us that he was handing out 500-rupee notes to everyone who interacted with him. Some special gifts I got were a nice large box of sweets - must have packed over 2kg. of assorted sweets inside, a pen set, a nice writing pad + pen combo, etc.

3. Would say that it would be around 3-4% on an average and lesser on the volume cars like Altos, WagonRs. I'm not exactly sure about the margins on S-Cross and Ignis, but they would be pretty high considering the discounts and incentives offered on them.

Quote:
Originally Posted by petrolhead_chn View Post
That is a great write-up man. Shows the memories and passion towards your work even when your daily commute to work was an Abarth
Thank you again for the write up!!!
Thanks for the kind words.


Quote:
Originally Posted by aabhimanyu04 View Post
I was astonished with the way some of these sales people chased me to know the decision, all this to get a sale. I know this is what they work for and this is their bread and butter, but to what extent can one go to get a sale? crossing the line has become a regular practice today, for e.g. things like contacting users on WhatsApp to know how they are doing today etc.
Selling expensive insurances for commission cut, bullbars on airbag vehicles etc are a few more to name.
There are bad ones in every field - unfortunately, with the pressure from family and dealership, these chaps resort to all sorts of ways to get a sale. I was lucky to not have the pressure from home to earn more, but in sales, incentives are the key.


Quote:
Originally Posted by dhruvritzed View Post
Important question:how much is their per car margin and how is the incentive calculated?
Mentioned above. Incentives are varied - e.g. it may be Rs 500 on a WagonR and Rs 5,000 on Ciaz. It's also seasonal. The highest incentive was on S-Cross 1.6 - at times going as high as 30k. Incentive is slab wise. Ideally it should be per car sold, but in reality, dealers impose a condition e.g. 5 cars minimum to get incentive. And your exchange penetration should be 30%, insurance 75-80% and extended warranty 75-80%. If conditions are not met, incentives are deducted. However according to MSIL, base incentive is to be given on every sale + other parameters like insurance, EW, exchange etc. get additional incentive. Incentives are paid from the margin. But rarely do dealers give the recommended incentives. If they did, no one would be cribbing about it.


Quote:
Originally Posted by Sayeed View Post
Excellent write up, well thought and penned, gives an insight into the going ons, also reflects your passion.
Thank you for the kind words.

Quote:
Originally Posted by knightrider_7 View Post
Excellent article. Many thanks for sharing this. I also have some (stupid) questions:
1. At the time of recruitment, do the management ask anything about cars or they just evaluate your communication skills?
2. During a test drive, if you happen to realize that the customer is not very good at driving (newbies), what will be your reaction? Also, how the fuel expenses for the test drive vehicle is compensated?
3. If someone gives you a token gift, would that person get any preferential treatment afterwards?
1. Basic communication skills and some info about the car industry is asked. However, product knowledge is not important as trainings are given.

2. I will politely insist the customer that he is making me uncomfortable. Cars always have a tankful and if not, we get fuel coupons for the nearest pump. In Nexa, there was no restriction on the TD as we had all variants available for TD and it was more premium that regular. But in the regular showroom, we had to take prior permission if we had to go to the customer's home / office. I have two rules that I never strayed away from -
i. I have a habit of belting up always - wherever I sit in the car.
ii. I won’t accompany for a test drive unless the car is insured, or I have a letter signed from the VP / Manager absolving me for any blame - i.e. no TD on unregistered cars.
These two rules came in real handy when a customer crashed the demo Ciaz on the divider. The bumper, RHS headlamp and front right fender was gone. Airbags didn’t deploy but as I was wearing belt, it was ok. I was sitting in the front passenger seat. Customer was driving with his wife at the back - both unbelted. The lady put on the belt after coming to a standstill. Thankfully there was no other traffic or it could have been much worst. Except for a bit of adrenalin rush, all were good. I called the manager and told him. He asked me to narrate the incident and told me to go. The customer initially told that he would buy a new car, but later backed out. The TD car was repaired and I wasn’t blamed. On the other hand, another guy who crashed an unregistered car was penalized a bit from his salary.

3. No (from me personally) - it all boils down to the customer's attitude and his relationship with us. But preferential treatment may include me checking out his car when it's in for service if he calls me up and tells it nicely, or me dropping off his car home after service/delivery if there is no driver available. Rather than the gift, it depends on how he has treated me and interacted with me.

Quote:
Originally Posted by McLaren Rulez View Post
Great thread!

I always wanted to know if sales guys are annoyed at people who come in to TD cars with no intention to buy? I try to make it clear early on that I'm just looking but most SAs don't seem to believe that! I do feel a little guilty because their time could be spent on someone who'd get them that coveted commission.
Well, if you ask nicely and are polite and frank about it, I personally don't mind. I would be more than happy to give you a TD and explain all the features about the car, compare with the competition etc. Another TIP - Go in the afternoon - after lunch but before 3.30 pm and you will get a good experience. In the dull afternoon period, someone asking for a TD is a welcome relief After all, you could send your friend / colleague / family my way if you like the car.

Quote:
Originally Posted by ghodlur View Post
Your write up confirms that a good and knowledgeable salesman can make or break a customer for the brand. Pun intended for Fiat specially.

Do the dealerships have a punching bag or something where the Salesman can vent their frustration when customers keep coming to Maruti asking "Kitna Deti hai" or some unwanted demands on discounts. Also would like to know how the Sales people are rewarded not monetarily but spiritedly. Salesman are known to belittle other brands, have you in your experience done that too?
Thanks Girish for the kind words. Long ago, I did ask the sole Fiat dealer in Mumbai to give me a job, but I guess they ignored it - its their loss. No wonder many customers are dissatisfied with them.

Haha, some salesmen do badmouth customers, but not me. I know that the for the customer its his first / once a 5/6 year car purchase, so I try to stay polite unless the customer behaves abusively. Once a month, the best sales people were rewarded with a token gift like shirt material, clothes iron, a kit of shoe polish, brush and a tie, etc. But after 3 months, you start getting multiple copies of the same. But even a few kind words by the managers uplifts us. I'd specially like to thank the Vice President, now COO of that dealership for teaching me a lot and supporting and encouraging me.

I never said bad things about competitor products, however, I used to always highlight the pros and cons of a car and check if those matched with the customer requirements. I at times have frankly told the customer that this product is not for him, and he should look at other brand as his requirements were not met.

Last edited by blackwasp : 27th October 2017 at 16:34.
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Old 27th October 2017, 16:50   #30
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Re: Behind the Scenes: A salesman's life in a car dealership

Reminds me about my first job with TouchTel (Now Airtel) as a sales executive selling landline and broadband. Similar interview questions and same intent to join being a CS Engineer

Perfectly agree on the watchman (to assist in parking our 2/3/4 wheeler), receptionist - guiding us to a SA and the real hero, SA him/her self.

My experience with Sundaram Honda, Ranigunj was on the similar lines. The SA even though has now joined RJio is still in personal contact. That is how the relationship is maintained.

PS. Being Sundaram Honda, they have folks speaking our native language Tamil which was a huge plus

Is there a requisite for SA in any dealership to know more than 2 languages (Barring english and their native)?
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