OPC salesmen - why?
Discussion
I have been in the Motor Trade for 10 Years/it makes a change to hear some one tell how it is or how it can be. Qualification is the Key... Yes you all want to jump in to a 300/400 Bhp motor doing Mac 5 with your hair on fire/but if you have no intension of parting with the $ don't get to the check out with the goods and say you've left your wallet at home/ A proper person won't mind being qualified and may be re-appointing.... The guys in Sheffield are new/ I agree they should of called you back-but from what I understand these poor guys are run off there feet/it can be difficult to give everyone the highest level of service day in day out I try my very best/I don't want to be dragged over the hot coal's for being unprofessional. Try another dealer or give the guys at OPC Silverstone a call.......................
Dare I say when I was selling BMWs I found a high % the customers were grabbing know alls who would stab you in the back, say you said this and that and promised them this that and tuther...........then went to sell mercs and the customers were very different and mostly decent. Dont know if things are the same now as this was 10 years ago.
poorcardealer said:
1ST RULE OF SELLING IS NEVER PRE JUDGE THE CUSTOMER.
I agree. My problem would be my screening procedure.
'Do you want it?...................Can you afford it?.............No? Well f
k off then' 'You can afford it?.................Well get the missus to pick the colour give me a deposit and f
k off.' T
You guys should try dealing with some of my customers from Africa on trucks & plant etc. Timewasters extrodinaire.
My brother has fantastic patience with them, me I'm more of a Do you want it, that's the price now pay up and off.
But I'm better on our used Porsche sales...promise
Allan
My brother has fantastic patience with them, me I'm more of a Do you want it, that's the price now pay up and
off. But I'm better on our used Porsche sales...promise
Allan
speedy181mph said:
I have been in the Motor Trade for 10 Years/it makes a change to hear some one tell how it is or how it can be. Qualification is the Key... Yes you all want to jump in to a 300/400 Bhp motor doing Mac 5 with your hair on fire/but if you have no intension of parting with the $ don't get to the check out with the goods and say you've left your wallet at home/ A proper person won't mind being qualified and may be re-appointing.... The guys in Sheffield are new/ I agree they should of called you back-but from what I understand these poor guys are run off there feet/it can be difficult to give everyone the highest level of service day in day out I try my very best/I don't want to be dragged over the hot coal's for being unprofessional. Try another dealer or give the guys at OPC Silverstone a call.......................
Run off their feet my arse! When I went in there was nobody else in there...and still nobody could be bothered to talk to me. And you're bloody wrong...a proper person does mind re-appointing - especially when he can see a load of feckless cretins sitting around doing nothing. A proper person who has worked his balls off to earn enough money to buy such a car does not take kindly to being asked stupid questions by some wet behind the ears dumb-ass who couldn't scrape up the deposit on a moped. But even that is better than being ignored, which is what usually happened.
Sorry about that...years of frustration coming out...but I do feel better!
uktrucks said:
Porsche are counting on you to be the enthusiast, you to research the product and you to want to buy it, not them to need to sell it to you.
Oh and BTW it seems to be working, Porsche are selling loads & making bundles.
Precisely. I imagine new Porsches sell themselves. People might try out 3 or 4 different family saloons, but when you want a Porsche, you want a Porsche. There's simply nothing else similar to Porsche product.
The one and only time I ever went into an OPC was when I was in Nottingham for a friend's birthday. We were treated quite well considering we had turned up in a Skoda, sporting Lancashire accents. We were offered coffee and spoken to pleasantly and politely. I was well impressed.
>> Edited by Witchfinder on Friday 2nd July 00:23
After an initial hiccup, we had great service buying our GT3 from OPC Silverstone, dealt with John Morrison who was a real enthusiast and one time GT1 racer. Unfortunately he has moved on now ... hope the service levels continue to be maintained!
We went to a Toyota dealer a few months ago to enquire about a Landcruiser for towing ... bearing in mind this is their top of the range model and we said we wanted it for towing race cars and horse boxes, I was amazed how utterly indifferent the sales muppet was. Grudgingly told us he knew nothing about the cars and their Landcruiser expert would be back tomorrow so can I take sir's details. Needless to say, we never received a call back. When and if we get a Cayenne instead, I will go back and visit the dealer principal and show him our new toy.
We went to a Toyota dealer a few months ago to enquire about a Landcruiser for towing ... bearing in mind this is their top of the range model and we said we wanted it for towing race cars and horse boxes, I was amazed how utterly indifferent the sales muppet was. Grudgingly told us he knew nothing about the cars and their Landcruiser expert would be back tomorrow so can I take sir's details. Needless to say, we never received a call back. When and if we get a Cayenne instead, I will go back and visit the dealer principal and show him our new toy.
I just purchased a 911 c2 from a OPC in Reading and found them to be fantastic.
I showed up in my train station car (Metro 1.1) wearing jeans and crappy trainers and they were great. I was greeted right away, they went to find a sales person and while I was waiting made me a drink.
The sales person answered every question, followed up the sale and applied no preasure. When when the car was delivered (18mo old) I could not tell if from new, great prep job.
The worst dealer network I have seen is Merc, been in a few times and they have never raised and eye brow.
So, they are not all bad but would agree most are crap. I was shocked with how nice my purchase went.
I showed up in my train station car (Metro 1.1) wearing jeans and crappy trainers and they were great. I was greeted right away, they went to find a sales person and while I was waiting made me a drink.
The sales person answered every question, followed up the sale and applied no preasure. When when the car was delivered (18mo old) I could not tell if from new, great prep job.
The worst dealer network I have seen is Merc, been in a few times and they have never raised and eye brow.
So, they are not all bad but would agree most are crap. I was shocked with how nice my purchase went.
mojorider said:
I just purchased a 911 c2 from a OPC in Reading and found them to be fantastic.
wait till you start dealing with the services department. you'll soon have a different opinion.
they will blatantly and unashamadly lie to you whilst looking you straight in the eyes.
unbelievable.
JDH1 said:
Sorry about that...years of frustration coming out...but I do feel better!
This weekend stay away from the motor dealers and go to an Estate Agent.....See what level of service you get their. Last week my Partner and I went to buy a New House Cost circa 345k....they did not ask for our names/address etc they were to busy.. tough I should of called made an appointment and may be they would of looked after the both of us.There is no point getting stressed about it all......Have you bought any thing yet or was it just a little spare time window shopping... wasting your own time and the sales guy.
>> Edited by speedy181mph on Friday 2nd July 10:11
I don`t know, all this angst and frustration. Maybe the main dealers should use us as a sales model !!
For what it`s worth the main dealers, or indeed any large organisation trying to break down selling a product into easily digestible chunks for their employees tend to miss the point and treat the customer as something of an object rather than a person. The OPC are very much into their meetings, targets and paper pushing hence people rush around in their own little world not working as a team. "Customer A is Salesman C`s "prospect" and so nothing to do with me".
When two people get together, be it to buy and sell something or to share a pint in the pub there will always be times when the two individuals don`t get on, that`s life, different personalities. One person want`s to be smothered by a salesman, another wants to be left alone to wander.
One thing that must be hard is for a salesman (or woman) in a OPC to deal with a product that they will never be able to afford. It makes it quite hard to command "respect" (if that`s the right word), from the buyer who clearly is in a position to stump up the ackers. I do wonder if it`s for that reason that the guys sometimes appear a bit arrogant, it`s their defence mechanism.
As for judging customers it may be that sales targets and the like make the sales staff "goal hang" a bit. They want to cherry pick their customers. I learnt very early on not to pre-judge people. Hell I`ve only got to look in the mirror. I`m unlikely to appear in GQ`s 100 best dressed men feature this year but I can hold my own in the cheque writing department.
No one gets it right all the time. There are people who don`t understand us (911v.com) and our motives in not necessarily assuming the customer is always right but from a seller to a buyer the best piece of advice I can give is don`t see it as a war with you on one side of the trenches and the shiny suit on the other side.
In the case of a large organisation such as an OPC the suit really doesn`t give a toss if you walk or not, (once he`s got you to the table credit card poised though he`ll jump through hoops for you !). Try and be-friend him, be his best mate, listen to his stories, stagger at his greatness and driving prowess then see if he could possibly see it in his busy schedule to sort you out with a bargain or that supposedly unobtainable car. Works everytime !!
Keep smiling and if Porsche are reading this I am always available on a consultancy basis for a small consideration !!
Henry.
For what it`s worth the main dealers, or indeed any large organisation trying to break down selling a product into easily digestible chunks for their employees tend to miss the point and treat the customer as something of an object rather than a person. The OPC are very much into their meetings, targets and paper pushing hence people rush around in their own little world not working as a team. "Customer A is Salesman C`s "prospect" and so nothing to do with me".
When two people get together, be it to buy and sell something or to share a pint in the pub there will always be times when the two individuals don`t get on, that`s life, different personalities. One person want`s to be smothered by a salesman, another wants to be left alone to wander.
One thing that must be hard is for a salesman (or woman) in a OPC to deal with a product that they will never be able to afford. It makes it quite hard to command "respect" (if that`s the right word), from the buyer who clearly is in a position to stump up the ackers. I do wonder if it`s for that reason that the guys sometimes appear a bit arrogant, it`s their defence mechanism.
As for judging customers it may be that sales targets and the like make the sales staff "goal hang" a bit. They want to cherry pick their customers. I learnt very early on not to pre-judge people. Hell I`ve only got to look in the mirror. I`m unlikely to appear in GQ`s 100 best dressed men feature this year but I can hold my own in the cheque writing department.
No one gets it right all the time. There are people who don`t understand us (911v.com) and our motives in not necessarily assuming the customer is always right but from a seller to a buyer the best piece of advice I can give is don`t see it as a war with you on one side of the trenches and the shiny suit on the other side.
In the case of a large organisation such as an OPC the suit really doesn`t give a toss if you walk or not, (once he`s got you to the table credit card poised though he`ll jump through hoops for you !). Try and be-friend him, be his best mate, listen to his stories, stagger at his greatness and driving prowess then see if he could possibly see it in his busy schedule to sort you out with a bargain or that supposedly unobtainable car. Works everytime !!
Keep smiling and if Porsche are reading this I am always available on a consultancy basis for a small consideration !!
Henry.
For my penneth worth - I am constantly disappointed by OPC's but AUDI and SAAB (only 2 other marques I have experience of) have been excellent.
The issue with OPC is : Pay peanuts get monkeys, and with the world most profitable car company as the organ grinder you get exceptional monkeys !
With no love of the marque (they get sent on a training course to learn about the cars history but I bet it is brand focused) Fundamentally Porsche owners value quality, and have higher than average money to spend. You cant treat them averagely. Simple logic to me. Speak to the individual and you get some sense, speak to the organisation and you get attitude, rhetoric and positioning.
My local OPC is ANF in Chiswick – I actually think they measure success on the number of people they push away as customers. See separate thread on warrantee claim (broken Sat Nav CD unit on 2.5 year old 996TT not covered by warrantee !)
The issue with OPC is : Pay peanuts get monkeys, and with the world most profitable car company as the organ grinder you get exceptional monkeys !
With no love of the marque (they get sent on a training course to learn about the cars history but I bet it is brand focused) Fundamentally Porsche owners value quality, and have higher than average money to spend. You cant treat them averagely. Simple logic to me. Speak to the individual and you get some sense, speak to the organisation and you get attitude, rhetoric and positioning.
My local OPC is ANF in Chiswick – I actually think they measure success on the number of people they push away as customers. See separate thread on warrantee claim (broken Sat Nav CD unit on 2.5 year old 996TT not covered by warrantee !)
I would tend to agree with all the -ve posts regarding salesmen.
We are at the end of one of the biggest, credit fueled economic booms this country has ever seen and selling is easy, so the showrooms are littered with people who simpley are not qualified to sell.
When the hard times come they will be first out leaving the real sellers to do their job and to promote both brand and business.
The AFN(name now changed but can't remeber to what) in Chiswick is just about the worst case of this. Vile little creatures squirming and slobbering. They should be beaten within an inch of their pointless lives.
However, in total contrast, one Saturday I was bored and phoned AFN in Reading on the oof chance that I could have a drive in a 996T. They phoned me back inside of 10 minutes and said they had been able to squeeze me in I could get there within 2 hours.
When I arrived, the welcome was excellent and everything you would expect and was treated as if I had the cash in my pocket to buy one now.
The salesman was very professional and the whole experience was superb. Hats off to everyone in the showroom.
It was exactly this kind of service that convinced me to by a Griffith 10 yrs ago and sadly now TVR salesmen have mostly joined the ranks of Porsche and other performance car marks.
I suspect that I will end up with a 996T at some point in the next year or so and becasue of the reception I recieved in Reading it will almost certainly be from them.
There is hope. Forget London for service though. Worst hotels, worst car dealers. But best brokers.
We are at the end of one of the biggest, credit fueled economic booms this country has ever seen and selling is easy, so the showrooms are littered with people who simpley are not qualified to sell.
When the hard times come they will be first out leaving the real sellers to do their job and to promote both brand and business.
The AFN(name now changed but can't remeber to what) in Chiswick is just about the worst case of this. Vile little creatures squirming and slobbering. They should be beaten within an inch of their pointless lives.
However, in total contrast, one Saturday I was bored and phoned AFN in Reading on the oof chance that I could have a drive in a 996T. They phoned me back inside of 10 minutes and said they had been able to squeeze me in I could get there within 2 hours.
When I arrived, the welcome was excellent and everything you would expect and was treated as if I had the cash in my pocket to buy one now.
The salesman was very professional and the whole experience was superb. Hats off to everyone in the showroom.
It was exactly this kind of service that convinced me to by a Griffith 10 yrs ago and sadly now TVR salesmen have mostly joined the ranks of Porsche and other performance car marks.
I suspect that I will end up with a 996T at some point in the next year or so and becasue of the reception I recieved in Reading it will almost certainly be from them.
There is hope. Forget London for service though. Worst hotels, worst car dealers. But best brokers.
Went down to opc Sheffield last Saturday with my boxster s to get the brakes looked at.Me and the wife sat in the gt2 rob noticed a cople of scraches one on the sill and one on the hand brake .Its not in bad condition but its not how I wounld have looked after it - don't think its a bad price though at 80k.Sorry Bobby these guys are not new its a jct600 and I recognized 2 of them from jct600 Brooklands in Leeds.
>> Edited by someli on Friday 2nd July 21:07
>> Edited by someli on Friday 2nd July 21:07
speedy181mph said:
Sorry about that...years of frustration coming out...but I do feel better!
This weekend stay away from the motor dealers and go to an Estate Agent.....See what level of service you get their. Last week my Partner and I went to buy a New House Cost circa 345k....they did not ask for our names/address etc they were to busy.. tough I should of called made an appointment and may be they would of looked after the both of us.There is no point getting stressed about it all......Have you bought any thing yet or was it just a little spare time window shopping... wasting your own time and the sales guy.
That's precisely the sort of attitude I'm talking about...the automatic assumption that you must be a timewaster. And if you don't buy from me TODAY you are! Dealers should be looking at building long term relationships...not nailing someone to the floor the moment they walk in, or writing them off as a time waster if they don't manage to do it. I've bought 4 Porsches from the same bloke because he treats me with some respect i.e like a human being.
Why do people like this think that asking you about your trade-in, and if you're in a position to buy today BEFORE they've even shown you a car, is going to get a favourable reaction?
To answer your question, no I haven't bought yet...although I have bought and sold 3 cars this year already...and no I wasn't wasting the salesmans time (he made sure of that by not dragging his arse out of a chair). Just wasted mine.
Do tell us which dealership you work for. I'm sure you've created such a good impression on here, that there'll be a queue down there tomorrow to buy a car from you.
>> Edited by speedy181mph on Friday 2nd July 10:11
Im all for looking at/valueing a customers p/ex before spending hours with him/her and doing test drives etc............what if the customer has negative equity of £10K that hes unaware of, is he in a position to clear this, he may think his car is worth 40K when its worth 30K, I think if you dont treat the customer like hes a fool, be professional, befriend him and be interested the majority of proper customers dont mind some direct qualifying questions.
Usually the ones who do mind are either stress heads or they have a dark secret to hide. (these comments are aimed at nobody by the way)
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