Nice to see the Easter holidays have kicked in...

[trade vet 697]

18 hours ago, Lazz said:

Back in the day when I worked in a dealership as a young lad starting out in this game they operated a Pendle type sales process they would loose he customers keys for a bit so the customer could not walk.

i was told by my then manager that all this the customer is always right is a load of bull, and if the customer is wrong tell them.

them we're the days

I had forgotten about Pendle.I recall it was a disaster,the best sales guys walked.I have no idea how it worked,you must have a few more gems to enlighten us.

[Lazz 16]

When i started i had not sold a thing, nothing did not know anything about cars either and just did/say as i were told. I just assumed this was how cars were sold, this is all pre internet etc so people would get the paper at the weekend and came down with that and we literally pounced on them and pendle was all about maximising profit, get them in an office qualify them to death, find out their weekly payment feed that info into the computer and that would show you what car to sell them to make the maximum profit. then you would show them that car and get them out in in. (they would come in for a 4 speed fiesta and you would be taking them out in a maestro) The manager would say they don't know what they want take them out in that and we would, back of test drive and get them in the closing rooms as they were called then, load them up with a coffee that was hotter then the centre of the sun and then you would go to town on them trying to deal and we sold every extra from mud flaps to paint protection to spotlights the list went on and on.

We would literally say to people " what do you mean you don't want it, is it me, is it the price, do you want the shirt of my back" and you would literally just grind them down.

When you left the managers office to present the 1st deal he always said don't let them walk and they did n't, how could they with no keys.

Did not matter if it was a lady on here own or the biggest bruiser in the world they all get treated the same, we used to regularly get people crying because of the pressure they were put under, if they did not deal there and then they never came back but we were told if you don't do it somebody else down the road would and i new no difference.

I am really surprised some of the customers put up with that but they did 20 percent flat finance was quite normal (the finance companys used to max out commisions at £1500)and there was no customer satisfaction nobody cared about that from the owner of the garage downwards it was always just about the money but we are talking the 80's here so it is quite a while ago.

Years later i worked at dealerships that were a little more relaxed with customers but i must admit i had the best laugh selling cars when i 1st started when it was only about the money,