I recently decided to go through the experience, rigors or agony (call it what you want) of purchasing a new vehicle. While purchasing a new vehicle can be exciting, it is not exactly an experience that I look forward to.
Surprisingly, the experience was much better than I was expecting. So what made it bearable? I think much of that can be attributed to the sales person that I dealt with.
Trust me, there aren't many people that I mind talking to, but that car salesperson who comes running out of the showroom the second you drive on their lot makes that list.
So how did he win me over?
- He was quick to respond. I originally contacted this salesperson via email. I hadn't really ever taken that approach before, but I figured if he got on my nerves, I could hide behind email better than if he had my phone number. To my surprise, he responded quickly to my request while not trying to put me in the model he needed to get rid of, but instead, listening to what I wanted and quickly replying with that information. Maybe this could be promising I thought. We were on the right track.
- He planned ahead. I was surprised when he asked in his email if I wanted to set up an appointment, but as read on, he said he wanted to make sure that when I came in, he would be available so I didn't have to wait. On the day of the appointment, when my wife and I arrived at the dealer, we were greeted by two people who called us by name. This is before we ever got to him. He had made sure that we would be greeted by name when we arrived. After exchanging introductions, he asked if I was ready to test drive the car that we had been emailing about. I said "sure" and we headed out on the lot. We didn't have to head far because he had moved the car just outside the showroom. As we approached the car, I noticed it was running. He quickly said, I knew it would be warm, so I took the time to pull it up here and have it running so it would have a chance to cool it down before you got in. Wow. This guy was good.
- He delivered what he promised. Our discussions on email had covered many things including price, the amounts of the rebates we would receive and some additional add-ons he had promised. So after the test drive, we sat down to go over everything. He already had all the paper work with the offer completed and ready for me. As I looked over the paperwork, everything was there just as he had explained in his email. Nothing had changed. I wasn't accused of having misunderstood nor had I been told something that now had changed. He had said it and he delivered it.
Now, I'm not going to take this show on the road and think that I am going to teach these three points and make super salespeople. Why? Because, ultimately they are pretty basic, but why then are you as surprised as I was to have this person deal with me the way he did?
So, needless to say, I drove off the lot with a new vehicle, but I also drove off the lot knowing the first place I will head when I need another car.