[bhpfaninblr]

blackwasp: Thanks for a great thread!
You say that very few customers do a PDI, but you recommend doing the same. I did that for my recent purchase. Had to take a 1.5 ride to Kengeri to the Advaith godown. In hindsight, the only things that mattered were the odometer at 10K and the VIN number. I later found out that the VIN was below the seat and it was manufactured in October 2017 itself.

I had the Team-BHP printout for PDI checklist but most of those would anyway be done at the dealership. Can you point some cases where the customers might have benefitted from a PDI?

[WhiteFang]

Thank you for this informative thread.

I have a doubt here. Is there any strict target to be fulfilled every month for each sales representative?

VW Sales personnel dealt with me during my purchase of Polo had his previous job in a Nexa outlet and according to him he was asked to sell a couple of S-cross every month to keep his job.

[behaln]

Interesting write up. Enjoyed reading. Indeed your job is demanding but a happy customer is all you can hope.
As in any customer oriented job even customers need to respect the sales personal.
I have seen Rowdy customers at dealership demanding cars just because they have money.
Totally not justified.

[JohnyBoy]

Originally Posted by gadadhar

...
I was considering a Skoda Laura and walked in to one of the new showrooms that had just opened in Bangalore. There was no watchman to assist my parking and there was no one to welcome at the door. On top of this, I tripped on a work in progress slab and injured my fingers.

In 2014, I went to Fiat showroom to look at Avventura. Forget about watchman, there was no one in the showroom. I sat there for half an hour - for the ac as it was very hot day - and a sales manager came. He said he went for a tea to the nearby shop and didn't expect anyone visiting the showroom.

[Col Mehta]

Originally Posted by blackwasp

From booking amount to delivery

Note- Insurance is not valid unless you have a temp number (CRTM issued) or your registration number is allotted. The red plate TC numbers are just for the dealers to bring the vehicles from the stockyard to the dealership.

Never knew this . Thanks for sharing this

[blackwasp]

Originally Posted by Ithaca

1. With Maruti having bumper sales this year 2017, how different and hectic was your experience this festive season compared to previous festive seasons.
2. How many days in advance is a dealership informed about the next upgrade / face lift for the cars it sells and how many days before do you stop taking bookings.
3. Do you advise customers to wait for a while as there is a face lift coming
4. If the customer insists on taking the present iteration, then when do the discounts kick in for stock clearance.
5. I visited Ford, Toyota and Hyundai showrooms this year. Except for Hyundai, both Ford & Toyota were charging Depot charges upwards of Rs 10,000. Hyundai has its depot next to its showroom - so essentially I would be saving this Rs 10,000 if I went for the Hyundai. In your opinion how fare is it to charge customers depot charges.
6. Again during my visit to these showrooms, all 3 of them were unable to give me a proper price list photocopy or brochure for the cars I was interested in. Two of them asked me to look up the features online. Wouldn't it be wise for the showroom to keep extra copies of the brochure and price list handy to give potential customers.
7. In your experience, what is the percentage of Test drive customers who take the plunge into a purchase.

1. I am no longer working in the dealership, but my friends have reported business as usual with a small growth

2. Frankly, the sales staff is not updated about the new launched since a long time. However there are signs, like no dispatched of that model, update of the model code in the DMS, etc. Using these hints one can make out the launch date and inform the customer like wise. Also discounts on the cars leading to a launch keep increasing.

3. It's only when we get the call for training that we come to know of the launch. I try to be honest with the customer.

4. NO, discounts come into the picture only if there is stock of both models side by side.

5. Something to do with taxation. If PDI charges/ depot charges are included in the factory invoice, they will be taxed according to the tax slab the car falls in. If billed separately, it comes under service and hence taxed a bit lower. E.g. Fiat/ Renault/ etc. have always been charging manufacturer approved depot charges. If in doubt call the manufacturer helpline to confirm.

6. In Maruti, we did at times run out of brochures when new cars were launched, but they are usually replenished quickly. Also, we used to send the PDF version on customer's mail. Price list is given on mail/proforma invoice. I guess the staff got lazy in your case.

7. I would take a rough estimate at 40%.

Originally Posted by pankajn1702

Basically my question was that why do dealers shy away from selling variants with safety features such as Airbags?

Simple - There is only one customer insisting on (O) variant. When 99 ask for the option variant and 1 asks for the regular version, change will happen. For dealer, it doesn’t matter what car/model you get as long as its what the majority want.

Originally Posted by Highh5

How much prevalent is this practice among dealerships, do have any idea about it ?

So my question is, these test drive vehicles provided completely at company's cost or dealership have to pay something in order to get one ?

In case of weekends or festivals when the footfall in showrooms can be more, do the showroom hire temporary Sales guys and if yes, then how the training part is handled.

1. That’s just bad business practice - you can never survive if your business is making a fool out of your customer. And look at where Chevrolet is today!

2. Dealerships get a discount on the Demo cars. In Maruti, all demo cars must be registered. Incase of an inspection, you might be caught if using un registered cars. Some dealers - those with 5-4 dealerships will keep the cars rotating between their branches and at times even have multiple demo cars of the same model if it’s a popular one. TD cars are usually sold when the model is retired/ facelifted. In such cases, the demo cars are given to managers etc. or given to staff at a low price. If no one wants it, then it is sold outside.

3. Temporary staff is never the sales guys. They might be ushers, drivers or security.

Originally Posted by bhpfaninblr

Can you point some cases where the customers might have benefitted from a PDI?

A friend discovered that his car's fuel lid was mis-aligned. This was rectified before delivery. Remember, not all people will work on cars like it's their own.

Originally Posted by WhiteFang

Thank you for this informative thread.

I have a doubt here. Is there any strict target to be fulfilled every month for each sales representative?

Targets are given. If you want full incentive, better achieve it.

Originally Posted by niteshk_GThead

To put things in perspective my disbursement for loan was done before the end of June 2017 and the rest of the payment was done by 20th July, 2017.

My friend, you are in deep trouble. The dealership has put you in a mess. First of all, this is one of the reasons why I insist on delivering cars only after getting the number. No full payment is to be made unless the car is in the hands on the dealer.

Incase of loan, the down payment can be paid, but the loan amount must be released only after the confirmation that car has arrived in the dealer yard. The dealer gets a letter from the bank stating that dealers must release the car after ensuring the bank's Hypothecation in the registration. Since that is not done, you are free to approach the bank and tell them to speak with the dealer about it.

Originally Posted by Sankar

I think this deserves a new thread.

+1.

[Lobogris]

Thank you for providing great insights.
Two things come to my mind:

Firstly, when the customer's new car was scratched all across the side at the dealership before delivery, why did he calmly accept it? Shouldn't he be provided a different vehicle or at least a substantial discount for getting a repainted car?

Secondly, shouldn't it be a company policy to mandate that all passengers will have to wear seatbelts throughout the test drive for safety reasons and to comply with the law? In addition, obeying all traffic laws including speed limits should be mandatory. Is this matter ever discussed at the dealership or company level?

[Arjun Reddy]

You are doing what you love. Thread rated 5*.
Really unique and insightful. Well done and all the very best.

Some hilarious, some serious. The name of the game is the customer.

Thanks for the bit on temp registration. What really surprised me was the PDI checking customers. The number is dismally low.

[Ithaca]

Originally Posted by blackwasp

1. I am no longer .......... rough estimate at 40%.

Blackwasp
Thank you for taking the time and trouble of answering my queries. Much appreciated.
Cheers.

[vagabond128]

Very interesting and informative. Thanks for sharing your experience & knowledge. Thank you for replying to our queries.

I have a query:

Originally Posted by blackwasp

• Meeting with the service staff

What should be the objective of this meeting?

How to get the required information?

Please share your tips for this.

[kiku007]

Originally Posted by blackwasp

After my engineering, I didn't want to end up in a typical corporate 9-5 job, especially in a company that hires fresh engineers by the thousands. So, a friend and I ended up going to a Maruti Suzuki dealership and asked about the vacancies. We were not there for the money, just to while away our time till we figured out what we wanted to do. We had a short interview and were asked to start from the next Monday. The HR person there was very nice and repeatedly asked us if we were OK with doing this kind of job. However, we were adamant and insisted on going ahead. I started my first job as a Ciaz sales consultant..
By good luck, my team leader was one of the good ones working there and taught me lots of new things.

Respect

You guys have done something that many (including enthusiasts) would hesitate to do.

Good to know that your first interactions at the work place (HR, TL ) have been supportive and didn't discount you as computer engineers with high attrition risk.

[VivOverland]

Blackwasp you write so very well. Insightful, objective and lots of detail with which to engage the reader. Especially enjoyed your story of the mass delivery days, great perspective shared.

I see a very solid and 'aware' sales person in you, and perhaps you are following your engineering background to its logical conclusion. They say everybody is a salesperson, this outlook will take you places, even as the CEO!

Happy motoring and thank you for sharing.

[blackwasp]

Originally Posted by Lobogris

Firstly, when the customer's new car was scratched all across the side at the dealership before delivery, why did he calmly accept it? Shouldn't he be provided a different vehicle or at least a substantial discount for getting a repainted car?

Secondly, shouldn't it be a company policy to mandate that all passengers will have to wear seatbelts throughout the test drive for safety reasons and to comply with the law? In addition, obeying all traffic laws including speed limits should be mandatory. Is this matter ever discussed at the dealership or company level?

1. Franky, there was nothing to be done as the car was registered. Also it was painted to perfection and you wouldn't make out ever that it was scratched unless someone told you. Agree that the customer was nice to do this calmly, but bad things do happen and its best not to waste our energy over trivial things. If the customer would have asked for a refund at that stage, he would have to take a hit of minimum 3-4 lakhs as the car becomes a second hand one.

2. This is India. You can have whatever policy you want, but people will never do it if they don't want to. Its upto each individual to value his life. We can't be running around after everyone and ask them to belt up - I will ask once, but then if they aren't compromising my safety, I'll just shut up. Theres no use hitting our heads on a rock.

Originally Posted by Arjun Reddy

Thanks for the bit on temp registration. What really surprised me was the PDI checking customers. The number is dismally low.

Thanks for the kind words. Like I said, not all of the customers are like us enthusiasts - for majority of them, the car is just a means of transport from A to B.

Originally Posted by vagabond128

What should be the objective of this meeting?

Getting to know the service manger will ensure you build up a good rapport with the after sales department. In case of both my cars - Abarth and WagonR, both are handled only by one person in their respective ASS. So much so that I will not send the car if that person is on leave. This has helped me to get things moving faster, no delays in billing etc. After the servicing is done, they will simply call me about the bill and I'll pay it online. Meanwhile the car is already on the way back home.

Originally Posted by VivOverland

I see a very solid and 'aware' sales person in you, and perhaps you are following your engineering background to its logical conclusion. They say everybody is a salesperson, this outlook will take you places, even as the CEO!

Thanks. I feel that making the best out of your surroundings is what must be done. And sticking to your rules.

[deovrat]

Excellent information blackwasp !

I am also pleasantly surprised by Maruti's dedication to ensure the dealerships uphold their responsibilities. One of the reasons why they are the leaders.

[shinuak]

Well written and give really good insight into what happens behind the scenes. A friend of mine (another TBHPian) and myself have worn the hat of mystery shoppers and visited several dealerships including Nexa . The questionnaires are so exhaustive that we even need to get into the toilets and click pictures to show how clean/unclean it was . You gave us a new insight into how perspectives can change next time when I go as a mystery shopper !