[14000rpm]

Preface

To sell is human and humans sell all the time.
Consciously or sub consciously.
Admittedly or unadmittedly.



Selling, as I've learnt from books and year of experience, is about building relationships.
Relationships that can be yours to keep beyond the transaction that brought you to the table.

My 1st job, contrary to what I'd imagined, was as a car salesman. Cut to 21 yrs later, I'm still a salesman albeit in the IT Industry.

Different people have different ways of building relationships but mine has always been by narrating stories about key excerpts of life. It has always helped me break communication barriers when building new relationships. Quite early on I'd realized that nobody relates an individual for their sales pitch. It is and always will be the stories they narrate to each other.



As I recollect my most told stories, I realized that they are all from my time selling Cars. This thread, therefore, is a collection of some of these stories.

Notes:

• If you like reading, stick around. Got some interesting bit and bobs to share.
• IF you are expecting a long list of Dark Secrets of the car dealerships and what goes on inside, this is not the thread. These are stories. Stories from my life.
• There are no photos and is definitely not TLDR friendly.

[14000rpm]

My 1st job ever, back in 2002, was at a popular Honda dealership in Bangalore. I was still in training along with a few others and we were all in the 2nd floor over looking the showroom floor in what could be called a 'Bull pen' but really it was just a few tables with phones to make cold calls.

One fine day, a very simple and humble looking person, a farmer actually, walked into the showroom and enquired about a golden beige Accord, which was displayed on the showroom floor, with a Sr. Sales manager (SSM) who was on the floor. The SSM looked at him, quickly made some judgment that he'd be a waste of time and just said "go there and pick up brochure and price list".
Farmer - "ok saar but I can't read. Can you please help?"
The SSM called out to one of my fellow trainees to come down and help him.
He was given the details and off he went. No questions asked, no discussions about trim, spec. Nothing. At that point, even I was sure he wouldn't come back.

So wrong we all were.

Shockingly, this Farmer came back a few days later with 2 duffel bags with the exact amount for a top spec Honda Accord in Golden Beige. He dropped the bags at the cash counter and said " can I get the keys to the car please"?

Now this was completely unexpected. The SSM, who suddenly showed up claiming his "customer" snapped back to reality to realize the MD of the dealership had promised this particular showroom car to his friend who was still putting together the money with bank loan et al. Even he couldn't resist the immediate liquidation of inventory and had it re-assigned to its new owner, the farmer.

The car drove away leaving us all picking up our jaws from the floor.

This story was being discussed in disbelief for the next few weeks and eventually, out of curiosity, my friend and I decided to take his address from the dispatch team that takes care of registrations and pay him a visit.

Turns out, he already had 2 other imports in his driveway parked behind the Accord alongside several buffalo's. Apparently he got rich selling his land to developers who were cashing in on the ITPL boom in Bangalore.

21 yrs later I still find it amusing.

[14000rpm]

Some bought Honda's and some bought VTECs. This was round about the time drag racing was becoming popular in Bangalore and the outer ring road, which used to be quite empty those days, often became an unofficial drag strip. The fraternity mostly had Zens with esteem engines, Esteems, some M800's and some other Jugaads.

One such drag race enthusiast decided that enough is enough and he needed a VTEC. Rich guy. Didn't like the result of that days drag race and immediately drove over to the dealership. I happened to be there in the showroom that day. This guy and his brother- the VTEC brothers, who looked like the Salamanca cousins, simply asked 1 question- how quickly can you deliver a VTEC? Just like that.

There were 100's of City 1.3's on order and in transit but 1.5 VTECs were not made in high volumes initially. Eventually, it turned out that these guys were friends with the MD of the dealership and they managed to locate one in some other city that could be loaded on a truck and delivered by Friday of the week.

Come Friday the car, a special edition black 1.5 VTEC with gold badging all over, reached the dealership and precisely 1 hr. later, got picked up.

Being an automotive engineer, I had to ask about the Mods being planned and with that conversation, I made good friends of my new customers.

Met them at many Drag events after that and through them, met Ranjith Sunder Murthy (RSM) who had been out-dragging everybody with his 700bhp Silver Supra. had some great banter with him and rest of the drag racing fraternity and learnt a lot thanks to the VTEC brothers.

Good times, Good Conversations.

Everybody wanted to be friends with RSM and it's obvious he wouldn't remember me ever but the VTEC brothers did recollect me and became customers later in life as well.

[14000rpm]

I was still in the Honda dealership when I had a US Return NRI prospect for the Honda City. While probing, I realized he and his wife had been driving Honda Civics in the US and the City, therefore, was somewhat of a memory of good times of their American life. This was not even a deal that needed selling. They came, they saw, they paid and bought. I merely had to facilitate the transaction and deliver the car. Period. How smooth is that. I didn't even have to go through the usual "how much discount are you going to give" cycle.

Come a few weeks later, car was up for delivery and the man broke his hands doing whatever it is he was doing that I don't recollect. I had to drop off his new car to his house. He had just then purchased a villa in a gated community and was pepped up about how he and a bunch of his friends were living in the same community in the US and how he had convinced some of them, who were also returning, to buy adjoining Villa's. Subconsciously he was rebuilding his life from US in Bangalore. Cars, Neighborhood, friends et al.

Unbeknownst to him, he had been a salesman all along. He just didn't admit it.

And what did I do? I merely cajoled him to refer me to all his returning friends and recommend the Honda City. Given his positive experience, he was more than happy to do so and he continued to be a salesman in denial.

Refer he did but I didn't stay in the Honda dealership for long to convert them. Passed them on to other colleagues.

[14000rpm]

The Show off's

I didn't stay in the Honda Dealership for too long. At 3k INR/Month in '02, I was definitely underpaid.
Found myself at a Toyota dealer soon enough that gave me a 100% increase from the Honda dealership. That 3k delta mattered.

After a few days of starting off at my new job it dawned on me that Hondas sold by themselves but the Toyotas, specifically the Qualis, needed to be sold. The way the Qualis looked, it needed a lot of selling. In fact Toyota officially trained me and bunch of others about selling the Qualis on Functions coz they clearly knew that they lost the race of the Form. I mean look at it.



So thats when the "How to sell an Ugly car Masterclass" started and I got introduced to the concept of selling to the ostentatious

Let me explain.

The most noticeable trait amongst buyers is the desire to flaunt wealth. This is more so in Fast growing economies and therefore in Asian countries. This is the reason what shines, sells. More often than not, cars are the preferred tools since it is quite literally, a Big Thing.

As it happened, I had the database of the previous 5 yrs of Honda owners in Bangalore which became my starting point for the concept of Cold Calling. Yeah..that.




Something I had never imagined I'd do.

Started locating highly successful businessmen in my territory to start with and made my pitch based on the fact that these businessmen had a constant desire to buy the latest and greatest and awareness of the latest and greatest was all that was needed.

Especially interested were those who had owned a car for 2 yrs or longer. All I had to do was eventually ask - ''Aren't your family and friends bored of seeing you drive the same car for more than 2 yrs? It's time they see you move forward''. Sounds like a Bait now that I look back but hey, It got me meetings. Meetings converted 'Suspects to Prospects.

It took a lot of cold calling to build a pipeline but I started to get a hang of it.

The Ostensity card always worked and it still does. Across Industries.

My biggest successes from this campaign were quite a few Granite resellers around Banerghatta road.

[14000rpm]

Since the Qualis had to be "Sold", we needed leads..




If leads didn't come on phone, the Qualis had to be taken for demo's in all sorts of places since showroom walk-in Leads didn't suffice. Often times I'd park in front of Large Grocery stores with Brochures and Visiting cards stuck under the wiper. This form of campaign was merely to increase awareness. Any lead from such campaigns was never expected and if any, would be cold and worthless leads.

This one time, however, was different.

As had become the protocol, I had parked up in front of a big grocery store in RT Nagar and just hung around. In the entire day, there was only one person that came by. A very humble down-to-earth individual he was. He owned a very famous bakery in that area. He had been curious about the Qualis and said he likes the way it looks. Yes, some did like it's look. The rare breed. Anyhoo, he sat around the mid level model that I had taken and started to like it. He, however, needed the family's approval too. Later that evening, after I pulled out from the event, I went straight to his house which was not so far away from his bakery.

He & his wife drove it around and I could see them getting excited but in the back of their mind, they wanted the Top Trim.

They came over to the showroom a few days later and saw the top trim model with Captain seats. Wife clearly loved the Top Trim whereas the husband loved the mid spec just so he could use it to haul stuff to his bakery. Wife won and they ordered the Top Trim Qualis. With this started the process of loans with his bank and few weeks for delivery.
In the meantime, the Husband called for an interesting chat -

him- can you please convince her that we should go for the Mid-trim?
me- why? what happened? is there an issue with the loan?
Him- No No. The loan is fine. she loves the car so much that she plans to take it to the farm everyday. she loves farming and the farm is 2 hours away. I need the car too to carry stuff to the bakery and I've been struggling with my current car.
me - which car do you have?
him - It's an Opel Corsa.
me - do you want to get rid of it perhaps?
him - I have been thinking about it but I'm afraid I'll get a rock bottom quote.
me - I can ask our used car manager.
him - Thanks. that'll be great but that will still not solve the problem.
me - get yourself a used Qualis for your hauling purposes if you really like it. We had some come by recently too.
him - That is interesting. Have your used car guys come and see the car and we'll talk after that.


Sure enough the used car team went and evaluated and as expected, came back with the discouraging quote. Opel's never really got good appreciation.
However, they said, if he chooses to buy another car from our company, we can give him a higher price on his Corsa. We can work some magic.

Pitched the idea and presented the 'exchange car' value of his Corsa and he immediately jumped at it. However, in the time spent thinking, He had decided to get another New Qualis and not a used car. Didn't waste too much time and quickly ordered it.

The Top trim car was arriving the next day and the Mid-trim was in stock already. Come next day, the family came over to the showroom in their Opel Corsa and drove away 2 Qualis's at the same time.

WOW- I thought to myself while retracing how a useless display event turned into a 2 car sale.

This is one deal in which everybody won!

I've told this warming story several times over.

[14000rpm]

Leads are a very big deal. Saves the time in Prospecting. Field sales team wants to avoid making cold calls at any cost.

Enquiries that come on the Landline are always looked out for. If a customer has called, there is some amount of confidence in the interest level. The reception usually does a quick qualification and shares comments.

One fine day, the Landline gets an enquiry. Quick qualification suggests it is a hot prospect and needs to buy rather quickly.

The prospect was somewhere near Tasker Town and, coincidentally, I was around the area too. Quickly went to the address which was a large apartment complex. The first thing that caught my attention was the parking lot which had about 6-8 White Contessa's with MH plates and a few Burly men walking some of whom were watching me. Didn't give it too much of thought and thought it was somebody's fantasy and moved on.

One of those Burly men came and spoke to me and took me to the Prospective buyers house which was on the top floor. As soon as I was let in, I was in total awe of how good the house was. I'd never seen Penthouses before that and more so, with such tasteful, for that time, interiors. It even had lawn in the balcony on the top floor which too was a never-seen-before for me. The living room, which I walked into, had a lot of Burly men sitting around. The presence of so many Burly men started to get me worried but then, all I was there was to sell a car. I was soon taken upstairs to another sitting area where the Prospect came. Seeing him, his attire, his body language, those burly men and the MH Plate cars down, I started to get Mumbai underworld vibes.

Thought I would talk my way out of this situation and started discussing what he really wanted to buy and how. Contrary to the built-up perception, he spoke good English and spoke kindly, with me at least. Subsequently, he told me he wanted to finance his purchase and asked me to talk to somebody he had already spoken to for a Car Loan who had apparently said that all is ok and he can get a Car Loan. All that was pending is to pick a car. In my mind, I thought this is a closed case and another order in the bag. Had to speak to the finance company rep and here's how that went -

me - Need to discuss about your customer's Car and the loan you have got approved.
him (Car Loan rep) in a Hushed tone - where are you sitting? with him on the 2nd floor?
me - yes. I am with the customer.
him - Make an excuse. Say there is a network issue and go to a place where nobody is listening to you and listen to me carefully.


I made an excuse as told and walked down towards the Balcony.

me - Go on.
him - where are you now?
me- Near the Balcony.
him - is there anybody around you?
me - well, there is a woman standing there and nobody else.
him - Don't know how you got into this but taking this sales call was my biggest mistake and now yours.
me - I don't understand.
him - I will explain everything. Tell him that you need to take some documents and escape from there and call me when you are outside. Don't make him suspicious.


At this point, I didn't know what I got myself into. For some reason, I seemed to trust this fellow sales rep and managed to leave the premise and called him.



him- Seems like you did not get into trouble. I got into trouble because I spoke to that woman. Don't know who she is nor what she means to the Customer but those Burly men beat me up just because I spoke to her. In the meantime, somebody rang the door bell. These guys opened a secret door behind a showcase cabinet that led me to what seemed like the adjoining house. They then took me back up after some time and made me agree to forge some documents to ensure Car loan approval. This customer seems like somebody from the Mumbai underworld and is forcefully living in that house and is forcing that house owner, on threat, to sign Car loan documents. The house owners finances are not in order and this customer is making me forge documents to make the application approvable. Do what you can and escape from this case.


I literally had chills down my spine as he explained the house and described what and who he saw out there. Spoke to my boss who asked me to avoid any calls from this customer which I did. There was no crime to report to the cops and I didn't. The Car Loan rep and disconnected his phone and I never spoke to him after the 1st days call. Not sure what happened to him.

After some days, I had somebody go by to the apartment and look around. Turns out there were none of those Contessa's nor were the Burly men. The security was also new and didn't know anything. It suddenly seemed like nothing had happened but yet there were 2 ( possibly more) Traumatized individuals. The Car Loan Rep more than me. I went on with life.

who was this man?
was he somebody from the Underworld?
was he hiding from a crime? Would I be called for questioning?
was he simply there to extort some hapless guy?

who knows.

All I know is it was a Close Encounter.

[14000rpm]

At a time when Qualis was comfortably selling well against the Sumo, entered Mahindra Scorpio - when it came out, I'll admit, I liked what I saw.
People had just then warmed up to look at the 'Beauty beneath the skin' of the Qualis and there was a new beauty in town. The Scorpio was definitely more handsome looking.
Curiosity got the better of me and I went to the Mahindra Showroom just to see what the Qualis was up against. Truth be told, some amount of Patriotism kicked in and was really impressed by the outcome at first look. However, the second looks matter more. Befriended my counter part and I started to see chinks in the Scorpio's sales Armor. Some sweet talking later, I managed to get a Scorpio for a Test drive. Frankly the early Scorpio's, in my opinion, did not ride very well. Made some more observations and I had made my notes. Notes that would eventually come to use.

A few days prior to the Scorpio launch, I got a lead to a customer who was looking to buy a Qualis. He seemed quite convinced but then went silent. Upon follow-up, it turns out he got swayed by the Scorpio's look and he kept going gaga about how it looks better than the Qualis.

Customer - Boss, the Qualis looks like crap. Have you seen the Scorpio? you should. Looks awesome.
Me - Noted. How long will you stare at the car?
Customer (turning Livid) - what do you mean?
me - I mean you will drive it right? have you driven the Scorpio?
Customer - not yet. but I will go next week.
Me ( after listening to the fanboy speak) - Have you seen the car in-person?
me (spotting the chance) - very good. talk to my friend (who I had befriended) and set up a time for a test drive. They don't come to your house. You have to go.
me - I will come to your house in the Qualis. You can drive it to the Mahindra Showroom.
Customer - Can you come to my house on Sunday?
me (knowing that the dealership was closed on Sunday) - for sure. but is Mahindra open on Sunday? They are not like Toyota you see.
Customer - ok. Lets meet on Saturday and we'll go.
me - Brilliant. this is the best way to do a back to back comparison.

Go we did. Perfect time to pull out my notes. He heard me out on all the bits I asked him to observe which were, unsurprisingly, the flaws. He came back from the test drive and ended up more confused than convinced.



Eventually he bought neither cars but hey, I didn't lose to any competition.

[14000rpm]

This whole US-Return NRI love affair did not restrict itself to Honda. The desi Toyota fan clubs of US were looking to buy Toyota's when they returned. Most got turned off by the looks of the Qualis but some that stayed, loved it. One such individual was a VP in a then up and coming IT Services company. He was in the US for about 20 yrs and then chose to return. When he did, after he settled into his company provided house, he quickly dialled the Toyota Dealer and this case landed with me.

Very down to Earth individual who took my advice on the model and colour choices and so on. He was patiently for a weeks waiting for a vehicle that he choose very dearly. He had taken the version with captain seats which he chose to take his parents on a pilgrimage drive and so on. Given that he had planned this car around taking his parents around in luxury, he was emotionally connected to the car.

Anyhoo, the car did arrive as planned and he took delivery of the car in a rather event-free process. So, where is the drama?

Well, as fate would have it, 1 month into his ownership, the car got Stolen. Despite all kinds of Security system he had installed at the dealership, it did get cracked into and the car was gone. He had only driven it about a 1000 or so kms and it was taken away from him.

Obviously he filed a complaint but he personally kept coming to the dealership checking if the car's Chassis number showed up in any dealership Pan-India. He went to the known scrap dealers in and around Bangalore. For some weird complicated reason, I knew the head of Shivajinagar Gujri Market in Bangalore. I personally took my customer to Gujri Market and had him meet the head who usually get's notified of any new car that comes to get butchered and sold for parts. He personally assured the VP that no Qualis had shown up.

our man was distraught but kept his hope high.

After 3 months had gone by since it got stolen, the car's Chassis number did show up in the Toyota network. It was in Mangalore. turns out, it was re-registered and repainted as well making it go under the radar anywhere it went. However, it was fully in tact and not butchered up and sold in parts. While that was a relief, what wasn't was what had happened. It was ill-treated, battered and bruised and had clocked 20,000kms in just 3 months.

It was put on a truck and sent to Bangalore. the VP came, saw and left devastated.




While this was certainly closure, he didn't want anything to do with the car anymore. He let the police and insurance company do their bit and asked us to sell it for whatever it was worth via the used car lot. That was the last I saw of him. I left the dealership soon after and I've not heard about him or what other car he bought thereafter.

[14000rpm]

There are customers who really are at the top of what they are negotiating, ordering, taking delivery etc., and then there are customers who stay mysteriously far away. I had one such customer from Ulsoor area who was very specific about the exact model, Color etc. However, he was never to be seen. For whatever reason, it was always somebody else coordinating everything from Negotiations to frequent follow-ups to ordering etc. Never got the pulse of the buyer and wasn't sure if the deal was happening or not till the money came in. Day of delivery came by rather quickly and I had to schedule a home delivery to Ulsoor. No big deal. It was usually some extra bucks I welcomed.

I'd never been to his house before through the sale process and I didn't know what to expect and therefore, when I saw a Pristine W220 S Class on the driveway, my jaws dropped. I was an ardent Mercedes Fan for all my childhood and stayed a loyal fan for a very long time. The S Class, therefore, got all my attention. Little did I notice that the ever-elusive buyer was standing right there smoking up - He was a soft spoken, down to earth, humble person who could never be related to be a S Class driving Businessman.

He saw my eagerness and passion and we soon forgot that there was a brand new Qualis I had to deliver and went on asking him 10,000 questions about the S which he gladly answered. Simply loved this conversation. I could've gone on and on but I had to get out of his hair.

After the S Class, there isn't much to explain about a Qualis except for Power Windows here, Central locking there and that was it. Just as I was about to leave, he asked me a question I'd never thought I'd hear - ''Do you want to ride in my S Class? I am anyway going to the petrol bunk with it and the Qualis''. Brain did the fastest calculations it could and I was soon in the backseat of the S Class. A place a 23 yr old me could never imagined being in. The buyer choose to drive the Qualis with his kid to St Marks road. He always filled up only at this petrol bunk in Bangalore. That ride, from Ulsoor to St Marks road, was the most sublime ever.

The drive was soon over and the Buyer soon disappeared never to be seen ever again leaving me with an experience of a lifetime.

[14000rpm]

Buyer / Seller - These are 2 kinds of people that don't necessarily have any other relationship besides the transaction that got them together. Most Sellers usually stay in touch with their buyers in the hope of an upsell or a referral. Absolutely the right thing to do but this is, as one could call it, relationship for material gains.

Most of the buyers I have interacted with have been like 'friends for ever' during the Negotiation process and delivery and then, cold. This is the most common pattern.

This one customer, an Ophthalmologist, was different. Another customer of mine from Honda had referred this Dr to me when he wanted to buy a Corolla. During the course of the sales process, I happened to have some vision issues. I have been Myopic all my life and wore contact lenses and I developed some issues. This Dr, it turns out, was the best in that field and somebody in the Vision care industry recommended I consult him.

Total Serendipity. I met him in his Clinic and we both laughed about how each of us were referred to and we got on to be mutual customers. I delivered his car back in 2002 and there ended my side of the professional relationship. I met him for consultations for a few more yrs till I left the country.

About 8 yrs after leaving India, during which time I hadn't interacted with him, I needed a second opinion on a report I had received from a Dr in Finland. Looked up for his clinic in Bangalore and called him. I thought he'd have forgotten my existence but he shocked me when he recalled ever single detail of our previous discussion including about my then girlfriend-now-wife. My mind was Blown. It is truly warming when the other person knows you beyond just a name. Turns out, he was practicing the Art of Relationship Management much much more effectively than me - one whose job it was to do Effective relationship management.


However, he remains to be my go-to for Vision care consultation for life. I still talk to him 21 yrs after I first met him and we remain in touch. I even met his children in Germany when they were here on a school trip.

[14000rpm]

I am an Automotive Engineer by my degree. Automotive engineering was my calling card in life. While I dreamt of moving to US, UK or Germany to continue mastering it, destiny had other plans and I reluctantly accepted my career path in Car Sales. However, something in me was always tugging me towards finding my way back to the field of Engineering. Found one such opportunity for an interview with a company that was providing Engineering Design Services to GM.

In the meantime, I was handling the sale of a Corolla to a popular Ministers son who runs educational institutions in Karnataka. There was no drama in the process and nothing out of the ordinary in this transaction. We soon scheduled a delivery date for a pick up from Showroom which is always the preferred method. Reduces Liability.

The day of delivery coincided with my interview date. I had planned it in a way that I'd deliver the car in the morning and go to my interview post lunch. Everything was going per plan until that morning - customer called me and said he couldn't come to the showroom for the delivery and asked for it to be delivered to his house in Indiranagar. Usually this is ok but not so much on a day when I had an interview for a job I wanted. While I was hesitating to say it, but I did anyway..told him that I could but only after an appointment that I had and that it could mean I'd take his car to my appointment. I really wanted him to say no since the interview was more important for me but surprisingly he said ok.


Jolly well then.

Drove over to the interview location which wasn't in the typical IT Campuses of today. It was a small building in Chamrajpet. Drove up, parked the Corolla in front of the building and I soon had many curious eyes some of whom were smoking. Curious since the Corolla, in the pearlescent white color, looked striking and not many had been around by then.

This level of attention gave me some kind of pseudo optimism that overshadowed the underlying anxiety. Signed in and waiting for my interviewers to come pick me up. Turns out my interviewers were amongst the curious folk downstairs that had seen me drive in the Corolla. One of them had a rental Corolla in US when he visited and was gaga about it. Initially they thought I owned the car and wondered why a rich bloke was there for an interview. The rest of the interview was pretty much about the Corolla and cars in general with only 15 mins of job related discussion. This was good enough and I got confirmed pretty much immediately.

Drove over to the customers house, handed him his car and thanked him for letting me take it for my appointment. I had been transparent with him and fortunately he was understanding. I am fairly certain that driving there in his car is what got me my job in the IT services industry I am in now.

This was my last delivery and a few days later, I left my job as a Car Salesman.

His car was a lucky charm.
A lucky Charm that got me out of a job that I didn't like.
A Job I did to keep me motivated.
A Job I did to avoid being a Burden on Parents.
A Job I did to become more responsible.

However, it is also a Job that taught me a lot of lessons. The best lessons in selling that I imbibe till date.

[Aditya]

Thread moved out from the Assembly Line. Thanks for sharing!

[Pyrotek]

Easily among the best threads I have read on Team BHP. What a rich variety of life experiences you've had, 14000rpm. From comedy, horror, tragedy and everything in between - your stories as a car salesman covered a wide spectrum of emotions! I sincerely hope that these stories find their way into a movie script in the future. It would be a surefire hit.

[SamDiablo]

Thank you very much 14000 rpm for posting!! This is one of those thread which make you feel like you are reading a classic novel. I'm sure that 10 years down the line when I'm going to read it again it will give me same smile and happiness that it gave today.

@Mods - just curious to know do we have a section here on Teambhp which gives us a collection of all innovative or once in a year kind of posts? Thanks