What We Can Learn From Stupid Car Sales People

This blog entry has been deleted and rewritten three times, not because I had a better way to make my point, but because the situation goes from dumb to dumber to dumber-er. Let me ‘splain...

His name was Rickie* and he met me at the door of the car dealership, quickly guiding me to a few models to try on (I say try on because at 6’6” I treat cars like clothes, trying them on before trying them out). Fast forward: Blah, blah, blah...car selection. Blah, blah, blah..negotiation. Blah, blah, blah..contract signed for a White VW Jetta Diesel.

Let the stupidity begin.

With the contract signed, all that was left to do was to register the vehicle and pass in my trade for the new car. However, with the contract signed, there was also no incentive for the dealership to do anything right. I was now legally bound to paying three years’ worth of lease payments. Thus, the bar was set low and the dealership set out to clear it. It would fail miserably.

What came next was a series of mistakes, lies (remember, these are CAR salesman I am talking about here), and a lot of blame pointed the customer’s way. That would be me.

From my end, I’ve gone from understanding to frustration to disbelief. I have left a loud voice mail message advising the sales rep to park the White VW Jetta Diesel in a place that is anatomically impossible, though he’d never again have to worry about hemorrhoids. I have asked the sales manager if this was the first car he’s ever sold. And I’ve spoken to the dealership owner himself and suggested (correctly, I might add), that improved communications was required to which he replied, “Yeah, we’re not very good at that.” Simply pick up the phone and call me to keep me informed. Don’t make it so that I call over and over again due to a lack of information, only to uncover the aforementioned lies. When that happens, Mr. Bigglesworth gets angry. And when Mr. Bigglesworth gets angry….

Okay, you say, so what’s the big deal? So, they lied about contacting my insurance agent and sure, they forgot to tell me that it takes TWO days to register a leased car with vanity plates (“ASPIRE”) and okay, so a sales rep who goes home instead of fulfilling the promise of returning a phone call can be a little aggravating, but once I got the car all was forgotten, right?

That’s what I thought, until the car was delivered to my house today. Remember my description of the car? It was supposed to be a White VW Jetta Diesel. Instead, a White-Gold Jetta Diesel pulled into my driveway (during a webinar I was doing, btw, despite my specifically asking for it not to arrive until 1:30pm).

I’ve asked 10 people so far what color the car is and not one of them has used the word “white” in their description: pearl, champagne, taupe, cloud...anything but the candy white color I was told would be showing up.

Why didn’t I see it before buying? you might ask. Well, I drove a similar vehicle but this one was transferred from another location and the rep told me it was white. Again, the word he used was, “white.” Silly me for not ask for the PMS color.

Okay, enough venting. Let’s talk about the lessons to learn from stupid car salesman (am I being redundant?):

1. Apologize when there is a problem! The first words out of your mouth need to be something like, “I am sorry for the inconvenience?” and then follow them up by saying, “What do you need in order to make this right?” It wasn’t until I got to the owner that those two phrases met up.

2. Investigate and find out what happened. Angry customers want to spew. Let them. Often times that act alone with take care of 90% of the problem and a solution can be engaged properly and immediately.

3. Communicate! When there is a screw-up, keep the customer informed and don’t ever, ever, EVER tell a client that you’ll call him right back and then not call him right back. Be impeccable with your word.

As an epilogue, I took delivery of the car (I’m sleeping on whether or not I like white-gold) and went out to do some errands. When I returned, there was a strange VW Passat in my driveway. My first thought was, “That is the exact right thing for the dealership owner to do: Jump in a car, drive the 30 minutes, and take care of the problem yourself!” Alas, it was one of my daughter’s girl friends over for a visit. Yet another opportunity missed. I guess stupidity flows from the top.

A happy customer tells his wife how happy he is. An angry customer tells EVERYONE and anyone who will listen. Mistakes happen. Things hit fans. But when you make mistakes and do not tell the client, they seem bigger than they really are.

You need to look at a problem as if it is an opportunity to demonstrate the kind of service we all claim to provide. Make it your goal to come out better BECAUSE of the problem than if the job had gone off without a hitch. I wish the dealership would hire me to tell them what they did wrong. Instead...

The first thing I did when I accepted the car was to take the dealer’s nameplate off of the back, snap it in half, and had it back to the delivery boy, who giggled as he left (I tipped him 10 bucks. It wasn’t HIS fault). I will likely keep the car. I think that is the best thing for me at this point. The best thing for the dealership is to listen to my complaints and make corrections.

Oh, and I’d also appreciate it if they tried the anatomically impossible option once, too.

* Not his real name. It would be inappropriate to share his real name. His real name is Reggie.