rajorge3

Ok, you decided to take a sales job that has a huge turnover, crappy hours, dealing with bargain hunters trying to save $25 a month on a lease, have to deal with sales manager that are as slimy as they come…but YOU decided to become a used/new car salesperson so deal with the pros and cons. Having said this, please do yourself and us (buyers) a favor; learn each and every model you sell; know about all the features, memorize them, know how they work (nav, Bluetooth, park assist etc). You have plenty of downtime so you have no excuse to allow us: Dentist; Doctors, Financial advisors, accountants, plumbers, architects, etc etc to know more about the cars than you do. I know that your sales managers just want you as body count, but stand out by knowing every single detail of your cars (heck, your inventory is limited A8; A6; A4; 550i; 535; 335 etc) and some of those share many common things. You will be surprise how much this will set you apart from other sales idiots at your dealership. Even if you hate your job, do the best you can until you find something else. At the end of the day you want to make sure that you make a decent living until something better comes along. I hated my first back office job to death, but I became a “GOD’ and expert of knowledge in my office. I got promotions that other dinosaurs that refused to learn never got working there for centuries. I now work in Financial sales for over 15 years and I will not even dare to send a new guy out in the field until they know every single detail of what we sell our clients. I know that is a different industry, but the concept is the same. KNOW WHAT YOU SELL, KNOW WHAT YOU SELL, KNOW WHAT YOU SELL.

And if you indicate that you are the “internet sales specialist” guess what! if I requested a quote via the internet….then SEND ME THE FREAKING QUOTE IN THE INTERENET VIA EMAIL. If I want to do business via email, that means that I don’t want to see your face until we agree on the price and I go to the dealer. That’s what your “internet dept” is for. Email me a detailed quote indicating MSRP, Cap cost, detailed fees. Not just a “for the car that you want the monthly pmt will be $xxxx.xx”. Again, email me how you arrived at this quote. Remember that you are the “internet specialist”

I am venting, because being in the market for an Audi or a BMW, I recently have come across (I will not mention the dealerships as they must also have competent sales advisors-I just have not come across a good one) some of you that should have never chosen a sales job.

chairlift

Good post, my car buying experience from one dealer group in town makes me think they don't want to sell cars. The first time I went to their Acura branch, sales guy told me he couldn't get me the car in the color I wanted because the closest they could get was in Florida (I'm from Wisconsin), yada yada yada, I said ok thanks bye, went home and checked on AutoTrader, found the exact car I wanted at a dealer in Paletine, Illinois, bought it 3 days later.
When I went to the Audi dealer, the sales guy told me they couldn't finance through Audi Financial and I would have to get a loan from a local bank at a high interest rate, went to Milwaukee to another dealer, gave me a good rate and took me on an actual test drive, not a "let's go around the block and I won't tell you a thing about the car" drive, and I ordered it that day. When I emailed the dealer in town that I had bought in Milwaukee because they offered a better rate, he turns around and says "It's hard to believe they can beat our 1.9% through Audi Financial." That's when I knew I can't trust these guys.
I can't believe that these people just don't want to make a sale or at least attempt to. I knew more about the A4 than the Madison guy knew and I'm just fed up with car shopping in Madison.

tgdA4

I agree 100%. Purchasing my current audi a4 was bordering absurd. I went to test drive the A4 when it came out here in sept '08. The sales woman new zero about the car. She claims they had "not been trained yet" on the new A4. Instead I was telling her about all the features new to it. How did I know this information, since I had no formal "training". I read the it on audi's website! Which is what I would surely do if I was a salesperson. This sales person didn't even seem to have common sense though. On the test drive the fuel calculator said we had about 5 miles left on the tank, so i said the car is almost out of gas. She replied "well, we do include a free tank of gas if you purchase the car sir" She was dead serious too.

Then when I asked for some numbers on an S5 lease. She disappeared for 20 minutes only to return with "I'm being told by my manager that the S5 is a rare and sporty car. We do not get many of them" Huh? Do have a clue what you are selling?

Then more recently I asked about getting out of my lease for an S4. Sales person said "It will be very expensive. Why don't you just chip your 3.2" I told him "yeah I never thought of that, good idea"

If your job was to sell like 8 different products, how hard would it to be to read just a little bit about them. I mean what are you doing all day. I know more than most every audi sales person I've talked to and I don't do this for a living. Please try harder.

UmIsThisThingOn

I agree wholeheartedly - I contacted 5 or 6 DC area dealers by email and communication back varied from FORM emails to no replies. Then when I called them, I left VM's that were never returned, all levels of mis-information, lack of information, etc, etc...

I ended up going with the salesman in North Carolina that was actually helpful and patient throughout my purchase timeframe (started in May - ordered S4 in July - drove off in SLine A4 in Nov). Never once was I pressured nor was smoke blown up my posterior.

I'm like the character in 'Pretty Woman': "I've got money to spend in this store!" and no one will take my money - terrible.

A4Driver

I did a lot of research on my Audi before even approaching the dealership. I let my salesman know very early that I knew how much the car cost, and what others had bought one for, and that I expected a fair price.

After a very short discussion, he gave me a price. When I asked him what the finance rate would be (I already knew what AoA was offering), he said they would have to do a check on my credit and that the rate would depend on that. I already knew that my credit score was outstanding, so I wasn't worried.

Several days later when I went to sign the paperwork and finalize the deal, I again asked the salesman what the rate was. He said, "Oh, yes, let me check with the sales manager." He disappears for five minutes and then returns, proclaiming, "Good news! The finance rate is 3.9%." When I informed him that Audi was offering a 2.9% deal, he made a quick about-face, saying, "Er, let me check."

He returned shortly and said, "You are correct."

Not that the 1% is such a big deal, but I wonder how many customers overpay because they are not knowledgeable.

Also, there was very little about the car's features that I had to ask my salesman because, as I said before, I did my homework.
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rajorge3

Trust me, I am so thankfull for this forum as well as audizine for the vast amount of information that we all share and I always go prepare. But aside from the fustration of dealing with incompetent and ill informed sales associates, nothing irks me more than the internet dept. See, I am the type that I know the car I want, I know the features, I know the lease rates, promotions etc, all I need is a detail quote, show up, sign and drive away. That's how I leased my previous A4

markcincinnati

I know this will be a contraian view, but there is another way to look at this: the buyer "doesn't care how much you know until you show him/her how much you care."

I know this is a platitude, but. . .I honestly believe most folks don't care all that much about the car, especially during the buying process; then, during delivery, after they spend what seems likes hours on paperwork, most buyers just want to get behind the wheel and take off, features, functions, buttons, *****, be damned.

My dealer attempts, and I mean it, they really TRY to 'splain the car to the customers -- but, I have watched my dealership's long term sales guys be treated so poorly, so rudely when they try to explain things I am mortified and damn near "ashamed" to be a customer.

I counted the number of buttons, *****, dials, levers, gauges, etc, on my 2005 A6 -- 82! Now, I'm not exactly a dumbass, but geeze, it made me wonder how many folks probably didn't even know all the things that the car had on it, if they wouldn't even take the time for an orientation.

The BMW dealer offered classes to all new car buyers and here is how they sucked people into coming to them -- FREE FOOD, DRINK and a coupon good for 30% of anything from the BMW boutique THAT DAY ONLY.

But, to do one of these cars justice, it takes AT LEAST one hour, specially if you have voice recognition, navigation and things like ACC or ADS, etc.

I maintain that people (the customers) don't really respect the sales people and when a good one (re: product knowlege) comes along they [the rep] probably feel like the customer is peeing in their Post Toasties.

My dealer has, as far as I know, a no slime policy. The ownership, mangement, service, sales, etc are all good people. Some of them, well, actually MOST of them, actually seem to love what they do and love the products they sell.

On the other hand, it is true, in my case, that I probably do know equal to or greater than the sales staff insofar as product information is concerned. But, I have rarely found them to be as lame-o as your post suggests.

Read the book, BLOWN TO BITS, and maybe you'll come to same conclusion at the author's came to: Car Dealers Are Sitting Ducks.

Cut 'em some slack. If all you're looking for is the best price on the "fill in the blank" Audi, don't expect much enthusiasm from the rep -- hardly anyone that salesperson comes in contact with will ever give him much appreciation or recognition for his/her product knowlege.

This, on the other hand, is no excuse for NOT knowing all you can know about the products you sell -- but most people just want to know the price, so even if the rep is well versed, he essentially probably feels like a screaming voice in the wilderness.

I just want the sales reps to be pleasant and polite people -- I'll cut them a break for all most folks want is "how much is it and when can I get one in the color that I want?"

I'd probably go broke, but were it me, I would make sure I had plenty of DEMONSTRATION inventory and hope to attract those folks willing to ORDER EXACTLY what they wanted. In this atmosphere of instant gratification, though, I doubt that model would work very well.

Sales reps, these days, are often treated like order takers -- you get what you deserve is the way I look at it.

Drive it like YOU live.

perdido34

I had good experiences with salespeople at two local Audi dealers. Both returned calls quickly, spent plenty of time with me on test drives, answered knowledgeably every question I asked, and were businesslike to deal with. I bought from the one that was able to obtain the car I wanted, but I would gladly have bought from the other one if they had gotten it.

While I was looking at Audi's, I stopped an Acura dealership to look at the TL. It was UGLY, I thought to myself. When the salesperson walked by and asked what I thought of it,I said, to be kind, "It does look better in real life than in pictures." He said, "Most people think it's really ugly." That's where he ended the conversation. I don't think he wanted to sell a TL that day<g>.

I also looked at BMW 3-series. The salesperson was competent, but she seemed to have a case of road rage. On both of my test drives, she was foaming at the mouth because there happened to be some slow traffic on the 2-lane road she'd taken me to. The 3-series were wonderful cars in many respects, but I'd heard too many bad things about reliability problems in the AWD models, so I passed up BMW in favor of an A4.

markcincinnati

I think with all due respect, that your post proves my point in my post upstream: most people don't want to be bothered with product information.

"Product information! Product information! We don't need no stinkin' Product information!" kind of thing. . . .

I'm just the waiter. . .don't ask me what the chef did to make it taste so good!

tgdA4

That may be true, be in these cases we showed up knowing what we wanted, all we needed was them to act somewhat interested to assist us and take our money. In my case, I would think a guy asking about the S5, a more expensive car, would be a salesmans dream. Instead they discourage me and try to get me into a cheaper car. Not to mention having to stand there like an idiot for 20 minutes just getting someone to even approach you. I really felt like the roles were reversed, like I had to convince them to sell me the car. Lack of information I can deal with, but atleast act like a salesman!