Sales people are dumb

Salespeople are pretty much the same worldwide. They frequently don't know very much about the products they sell but they sometimes convince themselves that they do. Of course if they are too obnoxious, as you describe, their customers will usually walk away. What the good ones are experts at though, is getting into you wallet.

 

Thanks for providing the link. The Highlander Hybrid has a similar gauge which is called a power meter, calibrated up to 200 kW. At full throttle, the meter needle will be pointing up at the 200 kW level. The meter also has a small section below 0, where the needle will travel down to under regen conditions.

The meter is located at the dashboard spot which normally would be used for a tachometer, in a regular Highlander.

 

Probably an unfair title to your thread.

"Sales" be it automotive or otherwise can be a challenging profession and I believe the profession as a whole has it's share of intelligent people.

That being said, I too marvel sometimes at the lack of information about the very product they are trying to sell that many automotive sales people seem to have, and be allowed to have. I read so many stories of automotive salesman ignorance.

When I actually decided to buy my Prius I had literally spent years in Prius Chat. So for my salesman, it wasn't about selling me ON Prius, it was literally, simply selling me A Prius. I knew what the machine could do, I had test drove, I was very well informed about the realities of Prius. Having spent so much time at Prius Chat, I did not necessarily expect that my sales person would know as much about Prius as I did.

Not that I cared, or believed or expected, but my salesman professed to own a Prius. He also professed to of been working as a salesman for years. He did seem pretty comfortable and knowledgeable showing the vehicle and presenting it...although for me as a buyer it was nearly unnecessary. But here is what surprised me. I'm buying in Oregon, a CARB state, that allows for the benefit of the extra 2 years and 50,000 miles to the hybrid battery warranty.

Now to me? If you own one, and especially if you are selling them in a dealership in Oregon that's a very potentially BIG selling point to be aware of...

Much like the benefits of less brake wear with regenerative braking. It's a potential selling point "benefit". However, my supposedly Prius owning salesman, at a dealership IN Oregon, told me the warranty on the Hybrid Battery was 8 years and 100,000 miles. When I told HIM that I thought Oregon was a CARB state and therefore as long as I purchased, owned and registered the vehicle in Oregon the warranty was 10 years or 150,000 miles, while smart enough NOT to argue with me, he simply got quiet on the issue. I just let it be, and reconfirmed by calling Toyota after purchase.

No, despite the numerous stories, and even first hand experience with automotive sales people I have dealt with over the years, I don't think they are all stupid.

But for whatever reason...high turnover? Entry level qualifications to get the job? I don't really know, it seems many sales people don't take the time to even really be rudimentarily informed about the product they are selling. The seeming fact that so many don't seem to even want to be, surprises me routinely.

 

My Camry Hybrid has that gauge as well. I love it.

Its too bad about that salesman, he apparently has never owned a hybrid.

 

Some customers are dumber.

 

When I was shopping for my first Prius few weeks ago. The sales guy asked if I knew much about the Prius. I said no, even thought I have been considering the Prius for over a year and did tons of research and reading. He pointed to the inverter under the hood and said it was the battery. I love how most car sales people know nothing about cars whether they are hybrids or not. They probably couldn't change their own: oil, tire, or battery.

 

i think part of the problem is that many car sales folks this is not a lifelong career, but just a stopgap measure between jobs. The sales manager who have been in the sales job long enough to move up the ladder, now just manage the sales floor and don't actually worry about selling cars.

couple that with many different models and trim levels and multiple changes ever year or two, its probably pretty hard to stay up to date on on every single model that they sell and the high turnover rate o the employees...you end up with a dumb staff who's sole desire is to find a car seat for every a$$ that walks through the door.

once I decided on the prius (granted I only had a week to make the decision) it was just a matter of picking the one i wanted and then beating the salesman up on the price to get it where I wanted it..

 

i prefer the linear prius meter to the analog in our hycam, but anything is better than nothing. i also use it to stay in ev when needed.

 

Sales people I have known strongly believe that they can sell anything. The product is not important, their ability is; and that is how they sold themselves into the job.

 

It's a well known sales technique for sales people to lead the potential buyer to believe that he or she is smarter and be led to believe that they are in control and making the decisions.

When they can't answer a technical question, they are DUMB. The dumber sales person will be stupider to answer the question WRONG and doesn't admit that he or she doesn't know and will find out.

If they were technicians or specialist, they wouldn't be sale persons.

They would be making more, elsewhere.

 

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Well at least in my most recent case, I don't feel I was the victim of any covertly applied sales technique where the salesman was "playing dumb" in an effort to make me feel smarter.

And since I'm the one eventually writing the check and signing the contract....I am in control and making the decisions.

That being said, in general even with salesmen I haven't liked, I wouldn't call them "dumb". At worst uninformed in regards to some details about the product they are selling.

I think it might be a technological and cultural learning curve. 15-20 years ago, A car salesman could fake a lot of knowledge about a vehicle and be pretty sure the customer probably didn't know any more or less than the salesman himself.

With the internet and the gross amount of information available about any vehicle one might want to purchase, Salesmen can no longer make that assumption. A lot of Prius customers ARE going to walk onto a Toyota lot knowing how the regenerative brakes work, how HSD operates, and about the Hybrid Battery Warranty.

I don't really care, because today when I purchase a vehicle I think it's MY responsibility to inform myself. If I could buy a vehicle without a salesman or even a dealership I would. I don't really care if my salesman is giving physics lectures in his spare time, or curling up in a fetal ball after petting the rabbits.

However, if I was charged with trying to sell vehicles for a living? Even as a temporary job, I'd take the time to make myself informed at least at the rudimentary level with the product I am selling.

 

It seems many car salesmen don't know their product well, but feel that they need to look like they do.

On the GMC Acadia and Saturn Outlook boards (I traded an Outlook on our Prius), there were many tales of folks being sold an SUV that wouldn't tow what they needed it to and couldn't be modified to do so. These SUVs are rated for towing 5,200 lbs if equipped from the factory with the tow package. There is no dealer installed package and GM won't certify them to tow more than 2,000 without it. Yet many have been told by their salesman that they need only add the hitch and they're good to go for 5,200 lbs. They discover the truth after buying their $40K+ truck.

 

Due diligence is your friend...

 

Yep, but it certainly isn't unreasonable to think that you can trust the dealer personnel to know their vehicles. I bought my Outlook specifically for towing and was glad I had researched it before I bought so I knew what to look for.