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Up ahead, the traffic signal had turned yellow. "Close enough to go through," my wife thought as she checked to make sure the Hyundai ahead of her agreed with her assessment. Assured by a lack of brake lights, she glanced to her left as she passed a daycare popular with the neighborhood Moms. "I remember feeling really good right before I hit that stupid Hyundai," my wife told me later. Well, sure, who doesn't feel good when they're on the Taco Bell diet? Luckily, the airbags and seat belts in our Toyota Sienna worked perfectly and save for a scratch above my wife's eye where her sunglasses smashed into her face, both she and our five-year old son were fine. The same could not be said for the Sienna or lunch from Taco Bell - both of which were a total loss. On that day, a couple of weeks ago I became a very good new car prospect. I thought the ensuing experience of shopping for and buying a car would be instructive. Since I wasn't sure in the first couple of days after the accident if the Sienna would be repaired, my first step was to determine what type of car we would buy if we were forced to buy a car. This turned out to be a pretty straightforward process as my wife was convinced that another mini-van was right for our family. The only other option besides Toyota in her mind was Honda. Having just recently driven her sister's Honda Odyssey my wife was familiar with it and quickly came to the conclusion that she preferred the way the Toyota drove. So, in about a half hour of thinking about it and discussing it we had decided that our next car was going to be a Toyota Sienna -either the original one repaired or a new one. Our smashed car was a 2005 version and over the years I had forgotten which options were available with which trim levels. I went to www.kbb.com to read up on the newest Sienna mini-vans and to price out the options. From there I went to www.autotrader.com to check local inventory. At these sites, I was served up advertisements for Toyota dealerships. On one occasion, I clicked the advertisement and then completed the on line form advising the dealership regarding the make and model of my interest. Within a few minutes, my phone was ringing and on the other line was Dave representing Toyota dealership #1. I told Dave that I was interested in purchasing a 2009 Toyota Sienna XLE Limited with less than 20,000 miles. Dave was very friendly and we got along famously. Dave told me that because the 2011's were expected on the lots beginning in late February the dealership had been pushing 2010's out the door and not ordering additional 2010's. As a consequence, there weren't that many 2010's left and even fewer 2009's. He checked his inventory for my exact specifications and said he didn't have any. But, not to worry because his dealership was affiliated with more than one hundred other dealerships nationwide and he had access to their inventory and perhaps he could find what I was looking for at one of those dealerships. He promised to get back with me. Meanwhile, the insurance company confirmed the body shop's assessment that the van was a total loss and they began the process of determining the value of the car. At this point, I went from being a very good prospect to a "now buyer". While I was waiting to hear back from Dave at Toyota Dealership #1, I called Toyota Dealership #2 and was transferred to Michelle. I told her exactly what I wanted to buy and she told me that they didn't have any 2009's that fit my description. I asked her to do a search and she told me something very interesting. Unlike new cars, dealerships own their used car inventory and don't swap out that inventory with other dealerships. So, if they didn't have the car I was looking for and one didn't come along as a trade then they didn't have the resources to find one and acquire it for me absent a guarantee that I would buy it. Of course, that would mean that I would have to buy a car sight unseen which I wasn't willing to do. Michelle apologized for not being able to help me. I called Toyota Dealership #3 and repeated my request. This time I added the fact that I knew a 2009 might be hard to find so I was reluctantly willing to consider a 2010. My salesperson, Ted, told me they had a few 2010's left on the lot and was there a particular color I wanted. "No, but there are colors I don't want," I said and I listed them for him. "Plus, I want to let you know that the only reason I want a Limited is because it is the only trim level that comes with memory seats." To my delight, Ted asked me which other options were important or unimportant to me. We discussed leather seats (important), back-up cameras (not important), navigation (not important), DVD Entertainment (important) and a few other amenities. When we were done Ted had a very good idea of what I was interested in buying. The next day I called Toyota Dealership #4. By now I wasn't even bothering with my request for a 2009 Sienna and just started the conversation with Katie with my 2010 specifications. Katie told me about the cars they had on the lot that fit my description and asked me when I might like to come by to take a look. "Soon. Very soon," I said. I was surprised when Katie didn't ask me why I was in such a hurry or pin me down with an appointment. That same day, Ted from TD #3 called me back to say that he had found what I needed in Idaho but that it wasn't an option for his dealership to send someone out to Idaho to bring it back to Atlanta. He offered to give me the phone number of the dealership in Idaho in case I wanted to work out shipment directly with them. I passed. Ted then offered to work with me on a new car. Since he already had the specs of the car I wanted I told him to check what kind of deal he could make me and get back with me. I called TD #1 to see how Dave was doing. He said that he found a 2009 at auction that the dealership could buy for me but I would need to put $500 down as a non-refundable deposit and I would have to buy the car sight unseen. He sent me some pictures and I saw a big scratch in the side of the car and called him back to pass on it. He promised to keep looking and I promised to call him back if I decided to go with a new car instead of a used car. The next day, having given up on a used car altogether, I called Dave back to tell him that we should be talking about 2010 models but learned from the receptionist that he wasn't working that day. I left a message. That same day my wife and I decided to go to Toyota Dealership #5 as we had checked their inventory on line and they had a few 2010 models. Upon walking in we went straight to the receptionist's desk, using a showroom Sequoia to block an approaching salesperson, and I asked to speak to the sales manager. Benny came out to see us and I let him know that we had been driving a Sienna XLE and we wanted to upgrade to an XLE Limited and that, while I didn't mind dealing with a seller, we didn't really need one at this point. Benny decided to help us himself. He pointed out the differences in the Limited versus the XLE and explained some of the changes Toyota had made to the Sienna since 2005. I asked how much a person might expect to pay for a 2010 Sienna XLE Limited and Benny said this: "I'll make you an invoice deal." "How much would that be?" I wondered. Benny said that he would go and figure that out and would have our numbers in just a minute. We sat down and five minutes later Benny brought out a piece of paper that showed exactly how the car was equipped and how much he would sell it for. We asked if we could think about it over night and Benny said, "Of course!" The next day I asked my wife to call Katie at TD #4 and tell her exactly what we wanted to buy and ask for a price. Katie gave us a price $400 lower than we had received from Benny for exactly the same car. On that same day, my wife dropped by TD #5 and asked Benny what other colors he had available besides the one we had seen the previous day. He showed her the cars and, without being asked, offered to drop his price by $400. Later that day, we went back to TD #5 and bought the Sienna XLE Limited from Kyle - the seller that Benny assigned to us after he knew he had made a deal. We learned while we were there that another couple had inquired about the Sienna that we wanted and Kyle ended up putting the keys in his pocket so that the other seller couldn't even open the doors for them. That couple ended up buying a gold XLE Limited on the same night as us. Okay, so here are my questions and thoughts: 1) Why didn't the sellers ask me what had caused me to start shopping for a new car? If they had they would have learned that our other car was no longer drivable and our situation was fairly urgent. Wouldn't this have moved us further down their sales funnel and caused them to act as if we were not just your ordinary, run-of-the-mill tire kickers? 2) Why didn't the sellers ask me how quickly I was going to make a decision and how soon did I plan on buying and under what circumstances could they get me to buy sooner? 3) Why did Benny offer me an "invoice deal" when he only had three 2010's on the lot and at least one other very hot prospect? Why did he lower his price further without being asked to do so? Why didn't he put some conditions on his lowered price - like you'll need to get this done within 24 hours to get the better deal? 4) I only heard back from one salesperson after making the purchase. Ted from TD #3 called me ten days later to tell me that he had some 2011 LE's on the lot but they didn't have leather or memory seats. Why did he call to tell me that he had product that didn't meet any of my needs? Why didn't any of the other sellers follow up with me? Okay, we could bang on these sellers for not doing everything possible to understand my needs, offer solutions and get a deal done. But, I am more interested in this observation: The automotive sellers acted the way they did because 1) they have been taught by their customers that they shouldn't get too excited about a prospect because there are waaaay more tire kickers than buyers and 2) they have been taught by the other sellers at the dealership how to sell cars. Do not underestimate the importance of these two factors when trying to understand why seller's behave in non-productive ways. Despite the vast amounts of training being offered to sellers in every industry and despite the vast resources available to motivated sellers who might like to learn on their own, the two most influential groups for sellers are their customers and their peers. Those two groups are the real sales trainers - like it or not.
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