“I’ll show you wiggle room.”
Jalopnik invited readers to send in their worst car dealership experiences. Quite an entertaining read.
It will definitely make you think of “the Sales Badger.”
Buried in the middle of Jalopnik’s list is a story shared by an employee of a dealership. Here’s the introduction:
I’m lucky enough to actually sell cars at a dealership that is incredibly upfront and ethical. We dont require deposits to hold cars, nor order them, if someone gets buyers remorse or has a problem pop up, even weeks after purchase, we buy them back. We dont market adjust anything (except the one Ram TRX we were allocated, and I believe it was like 5k over sticker, and was sold before it was built.) All our salespeople will happily go out and take photos of the undercarriage, send a carfax test drive and send video, and work numbers out entirely before a customer ever leaves their house. But, being a small store in the middle of nowhere with 5 sales guys though, we don’t make massive amounts of money. But it’s as close to a 9-5 job as it gets.
Dealership folks, you may disagree with this store’s policies. But yes, his ethical dealership increased price over suggested retail.
Empathy fatigue
Internet guru Steve Stauning gives a lengthy and logical defense of markups to those who cry “price gouging.”
It’s almost a plot twist. We’re used to being asked to have empathy for the little guy, Ralph Nader’s oppressed consumer. Is there room to have empathy for the business?
How do you see it?
As for me: I think I have empathy fatigue.
The more pundits I hear, the more social media posts I read, the more I realize everybody would like me to see the world from their oppressed point of view.
It’s good to get other perspectives.
But if you present an oppressor-vs.-oppressed perspective that enables you to stay a victim, that’s not good for anybody.
I’ve met customers (and employees) like this. They share a story of perceived abuse, then throw up their hands to their own actions–whether it’s cussing out an employee, broadcasting half-truths on social media, holding a survey hostage or the like. You can almost hear them say, “What choice did I have?”
The same goes for dealerships. One of my mentors told me, “Never collude with your clients.”
I could spend my days talking about how hard the car business is and how nobody trusts us and how “buyers are liars” and a million other accepted truths in the industry. But that doesn’t justify rudeness, lack of transparency, ignoring customer communication and so on.
(That’s why Stauning makes such a big deal about upfront pricing.)
So I don’t want to enable victimhood on either side. I don’t want to give in to a plea for empathy that is an excuse for bad behavior or for refusing to take ownership of your own problems.
What is under your control?
The good news: There is some empathy for the retail perspective now. Customers saw a lot of employees mistreated through the pandemic shutdowns. It’s a gift.
I have been imagining how a customer-employee dialogue might benefit from the employee thanking the customer for bearing with a delayed order …
using civil language …
being open to alternatives …
being gracious about the affects of staffing shortages. …
Bringing up those items doesn’t justify bad behavior. But it invites empathy, allowing the customer to see the challenges the employee is wrestling with in order to help the customer.
It wouldn’t work, however, without a clear process that the employee confidently explains and guides the customer through. It wouldn’t work without regular updates to the customer on that process.
It’s been a year shy of two decades since my start in the car business. I can count on one hand the number of friends who have requested I help them connect with an ethical dealership.
I think only a few feel like I can help them. They don’t perceive the process as transparent.
So: How can you show, instead of tell, that you are honest? Thanking customers and using badger commercials are great, but does your experience match it?