How not to ask a dealer for a price

[Nik00117]

maybe he wanted the top of the line one.

Maybe he did, maybe he didn't. But here's what I learned.

In the past those types of people I've just answered this price question with a price and a couple of things happens after they got their price

1. They leave
2. You told them the cheapest one but they want a loaded one, are upset when they see the price upgrade
3. You told them the pricest one they want a cheap one, they are upset.

You have to have an idea of what you want in life when shopping and you have to be prepared to answer questions based upon what you want. If you refuse to answer said questions its hard for the sales person to your mind.

Example I am considering purchasing a video card and some more ram for my PC. I know the kind of ram I need, and I know what I want out of my video card. If I walked into a computer store I'd tell them the model of ram I want and ask for price. I would then tell them what kind of video card I want (I want to run BF3 at max settings) what can do this, and what are the options and what are the differences between options.

You see that's shopping.

Not "I need ram and a video card, how much?"

Top down selling give the most expensive price and everything else seems reasonable.

True, heard this and when knowledge is given this can work. However some people really have no idea what the price of a car is today. They haven't even gone to ford.com and looked at the pricing there (which is easily available) and if you sticker shock them they can easily walk

[mikebontoft]

I've even come across that selling parts (for the short time I did that. never again)

[Sal Paradise]

You are correct that the " customer" wasn't reasonable or logical but if I could offer another bit of a perspective. I like my local dealership - I mean I bought 2 brand new cars from them, so I must like them. But - they kinda put you through the mill getting a price. You have to sit down at the desk while they type War and Peace into the computer..and write it all up. I wanted some hard numbers on trading my 2012 Focus for an SE Fusion and I kept getting the whole "sit down and let us run the numbers" answer. Lets take a test drive? I don't want the test drive yet. I'm willing to bet it runs great. Then they have to introduce you to the boss before you leave. Maybe he can give youa few bucks off. It's maddening from the customer perspective, unless you just want to immediately pay the sticker price. Sometimes you want to be treated like a human being, I'm tired I'm cold, I want to go home and eat dinner - just talk to me normal and informal about the price so I can think.

So maybe your guy was just super tired and paranoid from getting this sort of treatment from other dealers and he was testing you. Jus sayin'

[ImaPoser]

Originally Posted by Sal Paradise

You are correct that the " customer" wasn't reasonable or logical but if I could offer another bit of a perspective. I like my local dealership - I mean I bought 2 brand new cars from them, so I must like them. But - they kinda put you through the mill getting a price. You have to sit down at the desk while they type War and Peace into the computer..and write it all up. I wanted some hard numbers on trading my 2012 Focus for an SE Fusion and I kept getting the whole "sit down and let us run the numbers" answer. Lets take a test drive? I don't want the test drive yet. I'm willing to bet it runs great. Then they have to introduce you to the boss before you leave. Maybe he can give youa few bucks off. It's maddening from the customer perspective, unless you just want to immediately pay the sticker price. Sometimes you want to be treated like a human being, I'm tired I'm cold, I want to go home and eat dinner - just talk to me normal and informal about the price so I can think.

So maybe your guy was just super tired and paranoid from getting this sort of treatment from other dealers and he was testing you. Jus sayin'

Yep. I could start a similar thread to this on how not to reply to an internet sales inquiry by my local dealers. If you have an internet sales specialist on your web page, why is it four out of five could not give me a simple price quote when I gave them the exact car and options including the MSRP from building it on Ford.com? They all wanted me to either come in to discuss it further, or provide them with my phone number so they could ask some questions. When I promptly replied with an email asking them to email me any questions they needed answered, I never heard back from them again.
What part of internet sales is impossible to figure out?

[Nik00117]

You are correct that the " customer" wasn't reasonable or logical but if I could offer another bit of a perspective. I like my local dealership - I mean I bought 2 brand new cars from them, so I must like them. But - they kinda put you through the mill getting a price. You have to sit down at the desk while they type War and Peace into the computer..and write it all up. I wanted some hard numbers on trading my 2012 Focus for an SE Fusion and I kept getting the whole "sit down and let us run the numbers" answer. Lets take a test drive? I don't want the test drive yet. I'm willing to bet it runs great. Then they have to introduce you to the boss before you leave. Maybe he can give youa few bucks off. It's maddening from the customer perspective, unless you just want to immediately pay the sticker price. Sometimes you want to be treated like a human being, I'm tired I'm cold, I want to go home and eat dinner - just talk to me normal and informal about the price so I can think.

So maybe your guy was just super tired and paranoid from getting this sort of treatment from other dealers and he was testing you. Jus sayin'

That's awesome, and what car do you want?

Yep. I could start a similar thread to this on how not to reply to an internet sales inquiry by my local dealers. If you have an internet sales specialist on your web page, why is it four out of five could not give me a simple price quote when I gave them the exact car and options including the MSRP from building it on Ford.com? They all wanted me to either come in to discuss it further, or provide them with my phone number so they could ask some questions. When I promptly replied with an email asking them to email me any questions they needed answered, I never heard back from them again.
What part of internet sales is impossible to figure out?

I deal with internet sales too, you know for the first year I did it I did it the way the customer wanted. That year I had about 50 internet leads come to my desk, I sent out the quotes and information as requested followed up and closed 6% of those deals. (that's 3)

Then I decided this, I'm going do it the way everyone else does it. That means I call you before I send the quote, I want to talk to you. Why do I do this? Cause as amazing as this sounds a lot of customers don't know what they want. The other day a guy asked for the numbers on a Jeep Wrangler, but he wanted a fully SUV that drove nice and wasn't expensive. That's not a Jeep Wrangler.

My close ratio on E-Leads is now 24%. So if I'd of done that same step in my first year I'd of closed 12 deals instead of 3.

I just want to point out the people who come here are prob different from the normal customer cause they love cars and respect them. However I've been selling cars my entire adult life. I know what works and what doesn't. And when I hear customers say "Ah I wish dealers would do this" I know EXACTLY why they don't do that. I also know that many have tired before. As crazy as it sounds we do listen to you guys.

[Sal Paradise]

Nik

I know and you are right. Even me - I ended up walking out with a 2012 Focus SEL Sport that had every single possible option. Didn't mean to..... but as far as price, I think sometimes the customer needs to get his deal that he thinks he wants..and then... then... when he is comfortable he knows the numbers - buy a more exensive car.

Now the guy you were talking about was way too blunt... I don't envy you, dealing with the public.

[02Zetechse]

Generally I just want a no frills base model and thats what I ask for

[Nik00117]

Generally I just want a no frills base model and thats what I ask for

Great, got those.

My last customer wanted NO FRILLS. He wanted the cheapest car we could possibly get him. He said size wasn't important options wasn't important etc. So I gave him the choice of a green, blue, or red Fiesta and he picked green.

[GhiaFan]

Originally Posted by Nik00117

Individual walked into an office and asked for a price on a fusion

Sales Man: Yes sir, we have Fusions what kind of options are you looking?
Customer: I just want a price
Sales Man: I understand, what kind of options do you want? Do you want something basic, or loaded or inbetween. Do you want Bluetooth? Sunroof? Leather? Or the basics?
Customer: I want the price
Sales Man: Well can we go over what we have in stock with you
Customer: No don't have much time
Sales Man: Great let me get your details I'll call you later and setup a time to sit down and go through all the Fusions in stock.
Customer: No I just want a price, why can't you give me a price
Sales Man: Because the range is a big one, and to simply give you a price won't do any good cause we have no idea what you want. Your just asking for a price like we only sell 1 fusion however as you can see we have a lot of fusions (pointing at inventory list) the price range of Fusions are from about $20,000 to $35,000.

To summaries the rest he got no information besides a business card cause he refused to answer basic qualifying questions. Chances are we will never see him again.

Their is a 99.99% chance that person will never come back, he also will never get the price. It's like asking a real estate agent "I want a house, how much money do I need?" and then refusing to answer any qualifying questions.

Part of sales is reading who is in front of you.
With the person you are describing, best advise I give you is hand him a sheet with all the pricing and send him on his merry way.
He told you he had no time and was in a hurry, so you know he is not one to sit down and waste your time with a good chin wag.

[Nik00117]

Part of sales is reading who is in front of you.
With the person you are describing, best advise I give you is hand him a sheet with all the pricing and send him on his merry way.
He told you he had no time and was in a hurry, so you know he is not one to sit down and waste your time with a good chin wag.

Another part of sales training is that not all customers are worth it and sometimes it can be more profitable to decline a deal.

What you suggest has such a low rate of return it's not worth it. It's best to get them back when they have more time and if they don't have more time move to the next.