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Silly Shit in the car business! Post your favorite!

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#11
Mitchell Brenner said:
Exactly what this thread is! As I said we're not idiots! Agendas always show through. Now I can say that this "hate" probably comes from their being a great company with great ideas which other companies envy! (Although why Dealer.Com would be involved I don't know since they have their own strengths)
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#12
Mitchell Brenner said:
At least you see how this could have been taken! That shows the quality of the person you are. It certainly came off wrong if your intent was humor!

Now back to silly things in the car business my favorite was when one of my fellow salespeople 20 years ago had his father come in to buy a car and he greeted his father by saying "Hi Dad My name is ... Nice to meet you. How can I help you today!"
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Thanks Mitchell - it honestly was humor.

Want another good laugh? Read the comments in this post from http://www.dealerrefresh.com/grant-c...s-it-the-gpod/
 
#13
Picture it - 1997 and my first month in the car biz - My Sales Manager (Ford Dealer Development G.M.) sends me in with a full MSRP pencil - He tells me to present the numbers and then shut up. I do what he tells me and the customer says "O.K. but I need to go home and get my cash." Sounded good to me so I took the deal back to the G.M. and the customer left.
The G.M. had some choice words for me because I didn't touch the desk before I let the customer go but I kept defending myself with "But he went home to get his cash, he is coming back".
While we are having this discussion a car pulls up to the front door and my customer steps out with a brown paper bag and a gun on his hip (this was a older gentleman and I guess the gun was to protect his cash in the bag) He walks into the Business Office and dumps almost $30,000 in cash on the table and we had a full sticker deal (plus dealer cash) and I couldn't figure out why nobody believed me?(Can you say Green Pea?). I caught hell for several months about that one from "The Experienced Salespeople" including the salesperson that gave me the up because he thought they couldn't buy. True Story!
P.S. Warren Gamble - If you read this we need to reconnect and talk about those days at Pioneer Ford Mercury!
 
#14
Here's another one...a GM friend of mine was working at a Lexus dealership. He was new in the business and green. A customer pulled up in a 1980 something station wagon that was rusted out that the backend was filled up with empty cans like he was on the way to the recyling center to get his $4.50 for recycling. The guy got out of his car and of course no one wanted to up him. He finally went out and greeted him after the guy was there for 15 minutes. They walked in the showroom and he said I will take that one and that one off the floor. My friend just looked at him, sat at the desk and wrote up a deal on a LX400 and a SC. The guy wrote a check for both of them.

The customer ended up telling a story. He was a self-made millionaire. He had a beater that he just had in his pole barn when he would go out shopping for cars to see how he would be treated. Guess looks can be deceiving. The dealership was on a up rotation and the guy that was supposed to have him (reminding you that he didn't go out on the lot) wanted half the deals that were qritten up at sticker. Looks can be deceiving.
 
#15
Spotted Today....
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#16
Balloons. Yes, as you can see in the image above, they have the perma balloons. I can't for the life of me understand why dealerships insist on ballooning their lot to "create" excitement. Then, in the purest form of the path of least resistance, we put ONE lonely balloon on each of the vehicles! Hey, at least it is done!

Lets not forget the ambitious dealers that make a big long string of balloons, which I kind of understand, to show they have the most excitement.

Which begs the question; who decided in the 1970's that balloons were a staple of front line automotive merchandising? What is the ROI on a balloon? Do customers see the same balloons that they see at every dealership on the strip for the last 20 years and truly get excited?

Seems silly to me....
 
#17
Christopher Hawley said:
Balloons. Yes, as you can see in the image above, they have the perma balloons. I can't for the life of me understand why dealerships insist on ballooning their lot to "create" excitement. Then, in the purest form of the path of least resistance, we put ONE lonely balloon on each of the vehicles! Hey, at least it is done!

Lets not forget the ambitious dealers that make a big long string of balloons, which I kind of understand, to show they have the most excitement.

Which begs the question; who decided in the 1970's that balloons were a staple of front line automotive merchandising? What is the ROI on a balloon? Do customers see the same balloons that they see at every dealership on the strip for the last 20 years and truly get excited?

Seems silly to me....
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I was sitting in a bar, having dinner in some Hilton, Marriott, Sheraton, whatever, while I was on the road years ago. Some guy was sitting next to me doing the same. We struck up a conversation and soon realized we both sold to car dealers. So the natural question was what do you sell; He sold BALLOON SERVICE. He had crews of folks that would put the balloons up for dealers. I mean how hard is it to get the sales guys off the helium for a few minutes to blow up some balloons?

And there are so few real drive-bys today. I can't imagine the balloons (or even a gorilla) bring in the customers.
 
#18
Ed Brooks said:
I was sitting in a bar, having dinner in some Hilton, Marriott, Sheraton, whatever, while I was on the road years ago. Some guy was sitting next to me doing the same. We struck up a conversation and soon realized we both sold to car dealers. So the natural question was what do you sell; He sold BALLOON SERVICE. He had crews of folks that would put the balloons up for dealers. I mean how hard is it to get the sales guys off the helium for a few minutes to blow up some balloons?

And there are so few real drive-bys today. I can't imagine the balloons (or even a gorilla) bring in the customers.
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I worked at a store for a short stint that paid a balloon guy to come in.....crazy! Although balloons or gorillas may not bring it like they used to, what about this guy??? Just look at him go! Makes me want to buy cars just watching! :rofl:

 
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