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Alex Snyder

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May 1, 2006
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Presense if your leverage.001.png

It still happens today. Internet managers, BDC agents, and salespeople still send "your presence is your leverage" emails & texts to customers. Someone just showed me one.

A customer goes onto the dealer's website and clicks the "Get Price" call to action button to receive a slew of emails asking when they can come test drive, if they prefer to communicate over text message, or that their manager is super excited to work with them. And then the customer, in frustration, replies "I just want a price!" To be responded with "your presence is your leverage. We give the best deals to people who are in the showroom."

I shit you not.

Let's give the employee of the dealership the benefit of the doubt that he does not wish to message something so 1973. What happens to drive a perfectly good employee to send that garbage?

How many times can you ask a sales manager for a price before he starts saying "just get them in?" And how many times can you hear "just get them in" before you're tired of asking the boss for a price? You need to get back to these leads quickly. You have too many to answer already. And five more just came in. Screw it! Here's an easy answer.
 
Happened to me recently... ended-up telling them to just "give me a good reason to come in tonight and I will -- I have to pick-up my son right around the corner anyway." They didn't. Said they wanted to make sure I liked the truck before we spoke numbers.

The next afternoon found me stroking a check at a dealer down the street. Still never heard back from that other Sales Guy. I must've been a Bad Lead ;)
 
Happened to me recently... ended-up telling them to just "give me a good reason to come in tonight and I will -- I have to pick-up my son right around the corner anyway." They didn't. Said they wanted to make sure I liked the truck before we spoke numbers.

The next afternoon found me stroking a check at a dealer down the street. Still never heard back from that other Sales Guy. I must've been a Bad Lead ;)
 
I've been doing a lot of mystery shopping lately...It's a sad state of affairs. The first response I've been getting is when can you come in. How about answer my question first? Half the time I never even get an answer. If it's infuriating for me, imagine how it feels to be someone who is actually shopping for a vehicle. If someone walked on the lot and asked a question, how would you respond? This isn't rocket science people! Shoppers want to get basic answers like price, etc BEFORE they come on the lot. Answer questions and engage in a dialogue before you ask them when can they come in. Rant over.
 
I've been doing a lot of mystery shopping lately...It's a sad state of affairs. The first response I've been getting is when can you come in. How about answer my question first? Half the time I never even get an answer. If it's infuriating for me, imagine how it feels to be someone who is actually shopping for a vehicle. If someone walked on the lot and asked a question, how would you respond? This isn't rocket science people! Shoppers want to get basic answers like price, etc BEFORE they come on the lot. Answer questions and engage in a dialogue before you ask them when can they come in. Rant over.
 

✨ AI Highlights

A dealer professional shares a real example of a salesperson responding to an online price request with 'your presence is your leverage,' sparking debate about whether withholding prices to force showroom visits is still valid strategy. While one voice argues appointment-setting should come before quoting, the prevailing consensus is that this outdated tactic destroys trust before the relationship even starts. The key conclusion is that in today's market, transparency and earned trust are the true leverage — and dealers who refuse to give prices online are simply handing customers to competitors who will.

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