In the car business, potential customers are referred to as 'ups.' Usually this refers to one of two things; either you must get your rear end 'up' and go talk to them when you see them, or it's your turn and you're 'up.'
Some less capable salesmen think it refers to the near erection they get when they realize they may actually get a chance to sell a car, but that's not important at the moment. What matters is that in my journey through the car business I've discovered that there are really only three types of people in the world. You see, a car lot is much like a miniature representation of the world in that people are there looking at things they want to buy, and are forced to interact with other people to get them.
The first type is the most prolific. The smug asshole. To be fair, they come in two variants but are in fact the same assholic creature. One version refuses to acknowledge even the most polite greeting with anything more than a nod. This model will ignore you no matter what you say or how nice you are. They will ignore questions, comments, and probably close-proximity flatulence in their quest to actually humiliate you through lack of recognition almost as if they are either retarded or have no voicebox. They will however, spend an inordinate amount of time reading window stickers and looking at the most minute detail of every car on your lot all the while acting as if you (the lowly salesman) are an actual 6-foot-tall speaking hemmorhoid.
The second variation of this model will do much the same except they will show some initiative and get aggressive enough to be rude to you and tell you to go away after you say something intensely confrontational, like hello.
The second type of customer is the world-class compulsive liar. They will, without fail, promise to:
Inevitably, these are all lies. Any budding car salesman out there would be better off knowing this. If they leave the lot, you will never see them again. Ever.
Lastly, you have the rarest type of customer. The honest to goodness nice person.This type of customer, while rare, is a necessity given to us in the business directly by God as the only thing that keeps us in a good enough frame of mind to continue to be salesmen. One or two a month and you have just enough faith in humanity to show up for work for another week.
These people will tell you exactly what they want, listen attentively and even give you factual information. They usually even give you a down payment figure that matches (egads!) the actual downpayment they are able to come up with.
I need more of them.
Technorati Tags: cars, car sales, customers, business
Some less capable salesmen think it refers to the near erection they get when they realize they may actually get a chance to sell a car, but that's not important at the moment. What matters is that in my journey through the car business I've discovered that there are really only three types of people in the world. You see, a car lot is much like a miniature representation of the world in that people are there looking at things they want to buy, and are forced to interact with other people to get them.
The first type is the most prolific. The smug asshole. To be fair, they come in two variants but are in fact the same assholic creature. One version refuses to acknowledge even the most polite greeting with anything more than a nod. This model will ignore you no matter what you say or how nice you are. They will ignore questions, comments, and probably close-proximity flatulence in their quest to actually humiliate you through lack of recognition almost as if they are either retarded or have no voicebox. They will however, spend an inordinate amount of time reading window stickers and looking at the most minute detail of every car on your lot all the while acting as if you (the lowly salesman) are an actual 6-foot-tall speaking hemmorhoid.
The second variation of this model will do much the same except they will show some initiative and get aggressive enough to be rude to you and tell you to go away after you say something intensely confrontational, like hello.
The second type of customer is the world-class compulsive liar. They will, without fail, promise to:
- Come back to buy tomorrow
- Go home and talk it over with their wife/husband
- Call you back
- Email you back
- Give you an actual downpayment
- Have a credit score high enough to not actually be laughed at by the finance department
Inevitably, these are all lies. Any budding car salesman out there would be better off knowing this. If they leave the lot, you will never see them again. Ever.
Lastly, you have the rarest type of customer. The honest to goodness nice person.This type of customer, while rare, is a necessity given to us in the business directly by God as the only thing that keeps us in a good enough frame of mind to continue to be salesmen. One or two a month and you have just enough faith in humanity to show up for work for another week.
These people will tell you exactly what they want, listen attentively and even give you factual information. They usually even give you a down payment figure that matches (egads!) the actual downpayment they are able to come up with.
I need more of them.
Technorati Tags: cars, car sales, customers, business
