Mulaly Talks About His Stint As A Ford Car Salesman

I sincerely hope that he learned just how ignorant and useless some car salesmen can be -- well maybe not, he may only have been exposed to the cream of the crop. I visit dealers often enough to observe that too many car dealers still hire people who likely can't find work anywhere else and who are just the right type of pathological liars whose only motivation is to earn commissions from ripping off customers. I highly recommend that Mullaly put on a disguise and visit dealerships (including competitors' dealerships) at random pretending to be a potential customer. By asking the right questions he will quickly discover the lack of product knowldge, BS-artistry and bad sales and marketing practices that still pervades this industry. I long for the day when cars are sold with full disclosure, at near-wholesale price, over the Internet, directly by the factory with customers designating a dealer to earn a small commission in the process. The car buying process should be a simple one with the customer controlling the "order taker" instead of the hassle that this process normally is. Car manufacturers have not yet learned that it is best to make it easy for customers to do busines with them.

And let me guess...you would be willing to order a car over the internet without even test driving it? Right...I believe that.

We all agree the process needs improvement. Why not start with going to dealerships where the salespeople treat you with respect. Let the dishonest ones go out of businsss.

EnnNorak I totally understand where you are coming from, in todays society you can go to Home Depot and ask a sales person where are the screwdrivers and get a blank look like, what are screwdrivers?
In the car business you still go to a dealership (Chrysler is really famous for this) see sales consultants out side milling around some with a smoke in their mouth kicking at the ground with pants to baggy on and a loose tie with badly comb hair. This is suppose to be the person who helps you with the second biggest purchase in your life?
Most of these MFG and dealers deserve what they get, they present clown like sales staff and a managment of hard headed i know more then you employees and they wonder why they can't meet their numbers every month or hide from GMAC when they show up?

I hope you feel better getting that off your chest.

Oh, and by the way, I hope you get to see the day when an $8.00/hr clerk trys to answer your questions about your next Mercedes Benz,BMW, or Audi purchase.

Good Luck

As a x car dealer you must (like any other sales job) train your consultants to know the product and the inventory. Before i was a dealer i was a salesmen, i walked the lot one hour before my shift everyday to learn what was in stock and what was clean and ready to show. When i found cars dirty i would summon the lot guy to get this car ready for the day.
I knew our new inventory and all the used MFG trades on the lot. Nothing helps a sale more then to be quick with the answers and direct the client to the vehicle they came to see. I sold a lot of cars, when i became the one to hire my consultants i told the GM i would be there in trainning, nobody hired just get thrown on the sales floor they must learn the trade the right way, it is hard enough to have more people on the floor then traffic then tell the sales satff we expect at least 10 sales a month from each of you.
Selling is very tough the only way you suceed is the following: to be knowledgable, what you don't know you don't make up, you find the true answer for the client.
Dress for sucess but don't overdue the jewerly, never talk down to a person, suggest but don't dictate, never bad mouth another line of car explain why your product is better, always address every member of the family or freinds who came to the dealership even if they aren't of age, yes it sounds like pressure but in a suttle way you must create urgency in closing the deal, never reject a offer written or verbal that is the desk job, if their is going to be a bad guy make it the desk not you. Always pull the car in full view of the client if you can and before you actually take a deal to the desk ask the client to come outside with you to make sure you are comfortable with the car you are dealing on. I sold ton's of cars with this method and trainning and remember like a pro ball player, 3 out of 10 a 300 avg and maybe a hall of fame, 2 out of 10 200 avg and you are doing something else in life, their is a fine line in sales you must overcome (lay downs are rare indeed anymore) failure happens everyday in the busines since you will greet a lot of people and sell them nothing, but when the one person who wants to let you think they are just browsing and you sell them a car no better feeling, you did your job.