HuJass

BM,
You're right. GM (nor any other car maker) doesn't know how to sell cars.
What they need to do is lower their prices to a reasonable amount (more to the actual transaction prices), kill off the incentives, and go to no haggle pricing. What's on the window is what you pay.

I'm sorry, but you're just not going to find ANY sympathy for car salesmen or car dealers. In many surveys, buying a car is in the top 5 of most aggrivating things to do. If I remember correctly, people would rather have dentistry work than deal with a car salesman.

Haggling should be outlawed. Where else does a consumer haggle? House purchase to a degree. Maybe boats, watercraft, motorcycles, sleds. Things like that.

Could you imagine going into a grocery store and haggling over a can of corn? That's insane.

People just want a good deal without feeling that they just took it up the *** and without knowing that somebody else just got a better deal than they did. What's so hard to understand about that?

It's just that the typical car salesman and dealer are greedy. You yourself are complaining about just that. That you can't make enough money. That you'll have to be "innovative". Why must you people rape the public? Do you get your kicks off of it? First you give the customer nothing for their trade, then you barely come off sticker price, and then, to add insult to injury, you then sell their traded vehicle for up to 30% more than what you gave them!! It truly is a disgusting profession if you ask me. I don't know how many of them sleep at night.

My apologies to the few good salesmen.

Chrome383Z

I agree with Redzed on this one.

NewbieWar

i'd say anything over $3000 is haggle-able... but who really wants to haggle?

at my work we sell varrious items (pet/feed store), but I'll use one example of a pet rabit, $6. Some would venture that is already has a reasonable value. when a customer asks if he can have it for $5, any one of my peers will arogently insist the new price is $7, we learned this from the boss. at the end the customer is usually happy to pay $6 although some feel if its not a fair price they leave. At my work the prices we have set are a compromise, sure my boss would like to sell everything for 6 and 7 figure prices... but one must be realistic.

GM must also do the same, if they are the biggest automaker, they should also be able to make the most ecconomical cars due to sheer volume.
GM should be able to make tremendous cars as well. Incentives are only because of a competative market, but how often do you see ring stores saying Employee Discount, or discounting 3k on the average ring?

what about computer stores? sure Dell and Gateway go at it but they do by giving the best value, often times they sneek in cheap crappy parts (i.e. Motherboard) and boast about the good parts (Ram or Processor speed) or they'll toss in a free printer if u buy today! but comon, if it was such a great printer why is it for free?

If you wanted to give rebates, customer satisifaction rebates, perhaps a rebate check from GM for $X ONLY GOOD ON NEXT PURCHASE. Maybe to give to your friend..(word of mouth advertisment) or they could save it and use it on their next vehicle as a loyal customer incetive (no experation a car puchase is good any year)

But without Incentives how does GM woo in customers from those who will give incentives? product? perception needs to be thrust first before anyone will ever trust GM products. look what JD power did for 2004 Hyundai Sonota, GM got how many awards this year? what have they advertised about it?

Buickman

Imagine the competitive edge if GM salespeople actually fine tuned their craft to the point where true professionalism reigned. How strong would GM be with an army of knowledgeable, empathetic retail consultants? The potential for victory in the marketplace is obvious and within reach. Improving the dealer experience is by far the greatest opportunity for growth.

NewbieWar

I agree there can be quite the improvement at the dealership front, also the perception of (atleast GM) car salesmen should be redefined, as well as the product.

perhaps the quality is there but people dont belive it

dav305z

BLAH!!! This conversation is going no where. I tried giving BM avice and then arguing with him - neither works. He's a car salesman. He's been trained his entire career to just keep talking no matter what. He responds to specific, well though out arguments with general, meaningless statements just to try and keep the conversation going. (He'll most likely respond to this by asking which argument I've made that he has not responded to, and the answer is ALL of them). So just telling everyone, repsond if you want to, but it's a futile waste of time even by internet standards.

Buickman

Meaningless? There have been numerous specific points made. My claims have been backed up by detailed examples. The theories discussed have real world experience behind them which prove their merit. Pointless attacks are what truly appear meaningless.

Buickman

dav305z,
Just reread entire thread. Guess I didn't realize how much you have contributed. I do believe I addressed most conerns along the way. Looking back however, I see the point you make that I would probably be effective traveling around the country interacting directly with dealers. You make an excellent argument. The difficulty from my end is not so much my job as General Manager of Suski, but moreso being the father of seven daughters. Visiting dealerships around the country would take away precious time with my girls and nothing in the world is worth that. Also, my Real Estate business would suffer were I not here to oversee it.
You also brought up the question of how to portray quality in order to convince shoppers to consider GM. You have a valid issue there. The Plan addresses perception in the marketplace, but the quality story needs to be told specifically. Once in the store, comparisons are fairly easy using the web for details. The real fix needed is how to get the prospect into the showroom to begin with. For starters we should incorporate the quality message into ALL advertisements. Rather than full page distress ads featuring lowball prices and record discounts, GM should focus on features and benefits. This should include quality and safety.
One disagreement I have with you is the necessity of "shaking up" GM management. This IS the time. Not only is it past time for Wagoner to go, it's also in GM's best interest to rattle the board. These "club members" are directly responsible to the shareholders. Stockholders have lost tremendously over the past few years and are facing a most uncertain future. As presiding director, G Fisher needs to take action similar to the coup of '92. Wagoner and his crew need to be "Stemplized".
Anyway, thanks for the constructive criticism and your thoughtful insights. Having your opinions included has made this thread all the better.
Buickman