[fhdowntheline]

Over the years, I have restricted my technical questions, especially facts and figures to a bare minimum. We know most of the SAs do not have enough knowledge. During my recent purchase, the SA admitted that I was one of the very few customers who perfectly know which car/ variant they want. And this for a fairly standard car like the Creta. So you can imagine the story.

[Floyd de Souza]

I am not sure this is a recent trend but padding up of insurance premium by dealers/insurers has become too much to endure.

[fhdowntheline]

Incidentally there was small institute Global Academy of Automotive Retail Excellence (GAARE) set up in the area where I stay in Pune, whose objective was to train automotive sales resources. Was inaugurated by no less than Mr Mujumdar ( the Symbiosis Institutes pioneer).

[Ananthang]

Lack of knowledge- Isn’t this a new trend almost everywhere . Even in IT I feel the same. No interest to learn new things, have different goals but join temporarily for the sake of doing something or a good competitive spirit.

Just do some job and waste time in social apps. Not everyone but almost 70% is like that. Organizations also do not spend time to groom based on strengths. So everyone is at fault here.

[Ananthang]

Lack of knowledge- Isn’t this a new trend almost everywhere . Even in IT I feel the same. No interest to learn new things, have different goals but join temporarily for the sake of doing something or a good competitive spirit.

Just do some job and waste time in social apps. Not everyone but almost 70% is like that. Organizations also do not spend time to groom based on strengths. So everyone is at fault here.

[raider9990]

SA plays a vital role in overall buying experience. I remember when we purchased Isuzu Vcross a year back , I had the best buying experience. The SA was very well informed and knew each and every nook of the car. He never pushed for anything extra but rather he listened to my needs and suggested things that suited my needs. He shifted from Isuzu to Toyota recently but If I need something or have a enquiry he is always there to help.

[TheHelix0202]

Originally Posted by Nalin1

I will be pleasantly surprised if a Sales Advisor turns out to be well informed, ready with answers to anything shot at him, well versed with the latest technology and so on .

I recall the story of one Mr. Srinivas. He used to be a SA at Cauvery Ford; sold two Ikon to my dad, who still swears by him and uses him as a benchmark for all salespersons.

Upon coming across a wonderful mention of a Mr. Srinivas working at Honda on our forum itself (quite a while ago), I was intrigued and asked my dad. He concurred that it was likely to be the same Ford Srinivas who was worth his salt, and with whom he had the pleasure of interacting with, all those years ago.

[saikishor]

Ever since I received my driving license, I began visiting bike showrooms to zero down on one. I have plans to get one in March-April 2022. The worst sales advisors were from Yamaha and Honda. They were super lazy, and strictly follow a take it or leave it policy. Suzuki sales advisors were far better. They were enthusiastic and pretty knowledgeable about the bike. And then KTM, hardly had any sales advisor. But they had plenty of motorcycles on display, and even offered a Duke 390 for a test ride. And then comes Royal Enfield. I feel these guys are desperate to make sales. I mean, how do they expect one to book a motorcycle without even seeing it? They hardly have motorcycles for display. Test rides are available but not at all times. They never had an Interceptor(except for the test ride), and Continental GT was only available if booked. Royal Enfield really needs to set up display bikes, so that one can look and get a feel of the bike.

[aneesh2M]

Interesting thread i must say. My opinion goes as below for this.
1) To Start with SA is a person who is not so handsomely paid. his max earnings comes from commissions. whenever offered slightly higher pay he will move to other brand so years of experience in a single brand is not something very often seen in this profile.
2) Very Few SA's work as SA in showroom by choice and passion for automobiles, for many its just a job which they may or may not like as its not handsomely paid, so they will cut corners and may not be very eager to update knowledge. (IMO one takes his job very seriously and keeps him updated only when either the job is his Passion or the job is paying him handsomely and he sees it as his future)
3) Cars today have too many variants and combinations of options so expecting an individual to know everything on back of his hand is little too much. one will make mistakes.
4) internet has opened a wide door for everyone and even an average buyer has lot f knowledge of product which he wants to buy so SA may fall short on his expectations in terms of info he has.
5) Quality of training by OE to SA is not top notch its just a superficial training given for each new model or just a document released to update the feature added or deleted from currant model. one to one training the entire team on each new model release or a feature is a difficult task for OE.
6) Finally he is a human being and will make mistakes, so as long as the intentions are not to cheat you we will have to forgive and in some cases even educate the person.

[ArTigor]

Back in 2017 when I was looking for a new car had some really unexpectedly sad experience at Maruti Kharghar, While I was looking for a Dzire LDI, the SA was very reluctant to offer a test drive. I was there with my wife and it felt very strange as if I were begging him of r a test drive. They made me wait half n hour just to alott a SA. When I asked him for quote he was like sir LDI will have a minimum waiting of 4 months, If you want the car earlier go for the ZDi (he was trying to upsell as LDI in reality had only 45 days waiting). I told him I have a budget and I can not stretch it, after which he just lost interest. Finally when I was looking for maximum on road loan, the SA was very arrogant. He lost a customer who was keen on the car.
Talking of Ignorance, even the Nexa guy told me there is no difference between the 'Ignis Automatic' and 'Baleno Automatic' just that Baleno automatic is costlier as it is just a premium car, I nodded my head to him, generally whenever buying cars I let the SA spell out all the mistakes and then correct them, its fun big fun!
The worst SA experience I had was a long time ago in Royal Enfield showroom while buying my classic 350 the SA had no clue on the difference between 500EFI and 350 carbureted engines, he is like sir both of the bikes have same engines just that 500 is larger hence more power! I asked him what about the EFI and how does bad fuel affect it (as that time I was in a tier 3 town and a known person had converted his 500efi to carbureted just because of fuel issue) the SA was clueless.
Last year when I was looking to replace our K10 visited Panvel Maruti showroom the SA was royally confused on the variants on offer for 1.2 and 1.0 CNG variants of the New Wagonr. Also they were stressing so much on the "safer Heartect" platform as if it is epitome of safety, the narration was like this "Maruti now has Heartect platform which is much stronger body and other manufacturers still use normal steel for body construction" believe me many rural customers over there who have no idea of automotive jargons were buying into this narrative, and I was like what crap!

[ADFreak8322]

The same incident happened to me too...

I went to test drive TATA Punch and we were discussing the safety aspect. The Sales advisor started bragging about how the alpha architecture is the best and it underpins all the TATA cars below harrier.

I simply asked him to that NEXON, Tiago, Tigor do not have alpha architecture but they have underpinnings of an old platform of TATA Indica vista. There the SA was shocked and he kept saying that it's not possible, all the platforms are from landrover and TATA is not fooling that they would put different chassis in different cars. Like the engine is shared, the platform is also shared.

I think we bhpian's are a nightmare to these SA's who think themselves as they know everything, but what differentiates us from them are we are enthusiasts and would love to know about stuff which is car-related, but SA's are doing it for their jobs.

I feel that the Sales, as well as service advisors, should be enthusiasts so that they can effectively communicate with the owners.

[tchsvy]

Originally Posted by aneesh2M

Interesting thread i must say. My opinion goes as below for this.
1)
2)
4)
5)

I completely agree with these points, I have briefly worked with a major two wheeler manufacturer in sales department, I was asked to attend a three day training program which was arranged for the sales executives from various dealerships in the region. Basically, the trainer will equip the sales executives with few marketing mumbo jumbo, more than that the sales executives are trained to answer one question in particular "how does this product compare with the market leader in the segment", thats about it.

During my initial days I was asked to sit in a dealership and observe how the sales executives were dealing with the customers. The principles were simple i. Receive, ii. Understand the need, iii. Explore the options, iv. Close the deal and if required v. Follow up. But, the SEs taught me there that it was important to understand the customer first. SEs have to keep the conversation plain and simple, if a layman walks into the showroom and the SE gives him lots of info, the customer will get confused and he will walk away. So, most of the time SEs play dumb until the customer starts asking them technical questions. Then there are customers who think they know everything and start to ridicule the sales executives, they only want to hear what they already know, its hard to deal with these people, but the sales executive has already termed the customer as 'cold' in his mind and will try to avoid answering further questions.

So, yeah, most of the SEs are non-enthusiasts who are always looking to get out of the job. They are there for the incentives, so only sales numbers are on their minds, and yes they play dumb from time to time, and most importantly they are trying to understand you more than your requirements.

We BHPians would like the SEs to be well trained and well informed, but we are only a fraction of the population, most of the people who turn up at the dealership have already made their decision and they only want the SE to confirm what they already know about the product.

[Ritz2010]

Lies will come back haunting or its results in paying huge price should be taught as part of training.

All the reasoning not everyone can know everything, too many products, the SAs are human too, they also have performance ratings are just not fair reason for them take potential customers for a ride.

I totally agree it's a fine line and can't be mastered in one day - but companies which go by Customer is King mantra will definitely do all it needs to master that art.

[armumbai]

I’m in the market for a Nissan Kicks Pre 1.3 CVT. The SA at Etco Andheri West is quite good and knowledgeable. His senior one Mithun is either not updated or just disinterested. I’ve been negotiating the price and he is monosyllabic and even worse unresponsive. Between yesterday and today I’ve been sending texts and making calls to understand exactly how much the Extended Warranty and Service packs would cost. I’d expect him to have these figure at his finger tips but he said he would have to check and would WA me. After 24 hours of pursuing him the SA sent in these details an hour or so back.
I find this throwing of shade by this Mithun strange given how much this Kicks is struggling to survive. So what if Nissan has a hot seller in the Magnite, unless they have two decently selling cars in their bag, they could well follow Ford on a flight out of Mumbai airport.
More than being ill informed it’s the malaise of diffidence that pervades Indian society at large and that is most annoying to deal with, especially when the spend runs into 10s of Lakhs

[KPR]

For all pre TD, post TD, prospective sales, after sales there's an all/any car detailed information in English at a website called www.teambhp.com. For those who depend on listening only, a sales person can sell even an Urban cruiser as a more spacious car than Brezza.