the management consultants for entrepreneurial businesses

The right to good customer service

I just bought a new car and I’m delighted with it.  However I can’t say the same for the selection experience.  Now I do realise that car sales tends to be a world unto its own, however I was indeed shocked at some of the very old fashioned methods still employed today.

Some of the issues I experienced were:

• Being asked by 5 different sales men as I was walking around the car lot if I needed assistance.
• When the salesman didn’t have the car I was looking for on his books he referred me to his boss who procrastinated in front of a pc screen.  I sense this was in the hope that I’d eventually change my mind and elect to opt for a car that they could supply me with. 
• One dealer sent me texts every day for 3 days after my visit even though he hadn’t asked permission to do so.
• Poor communication was another issue.  In fact one man got irritated with me because he didn’t have access to the particular price list I needed and advised me that I should consider the benefits of a car rather than its price.

Of course I have some sympathy with car salesman as the market is suffering in the recession.  Perhaps desperation is resulting in these traditional practices.  But the reality is that I don’t want the hard sell – I want the relationship sell.   I want to do business with people I like, who I respect and who respect me.  Thankfully the salesman who I eventually bought the car from was a pleasure to deal with.

So if you or your staff are responsible for sales and dealing directly with customers, I urge you to consider carefully how to get the balance right, even if you have difficult targets to reach.  I suspect that those who manage to contain their need to sell and who are calm with clients actually sell more.  In fact, perhaps less is more, even in these times.

Anita Weyland