As a 4 year Hyundai salesman and a new member to this forum, I was wondering what people thought of us compared to other salespeople from other makes. I have been told many times that we show an enthusiasm and general concern that Toyota, Honda and GM sales professionals cannot match. Thoughts?

I believe it's more to do with each dealership. I've visited three Hyundai Dealerships adn all three have been a bit differant.

Northstar: seems to have a lot more older sale men, so the tuner guys don't really get the type of salemanship they need. Don't seem to be interested in selling the smaller cars, but I pass this off to the older salesmen ideals. Great Parts personnel for tuners though, very active and very knowlegable

Westside: Just took full ownership of the dealership from the joint Hyundai/Subaru dealership it was before. So going through growning pains, But very helpfull and they remember a valued customer. Part/Service, not sure since this is a all new crew.

Southside: Wasn't overly impressed, felt like I walked into a BMW dealership with dirty cloth, no one would come talkto me until I sat in one of the cars and opened the hood. Once they did I told them I was checking out what they had to offer compared to Westside and Northstar, he gave a few words than said to come get him if I had any questions. I did, Where's the front door?

I like to research the cars I'm interested in before I go shopping. I have yet to find a car salesman (of any make) that knew as much as I did when I walked in.

I agree with Komptek and NovaResource, it has more to do with the dealership than the actual salespeople. Actually the sales people I have dealt with have been very poor. Here in MS, they were not aware of certain options and told me incorrect info. They also tried to sale me more expensive models even after I had stated that I only wanted the Accent SE. The dealership/salespeople I dealt with in Daphne, Alabama were outstanding. They just couldn't get me the car I wanted and would not try to find it, hoping to sale me what they had on their lot.

Ray

The only time I've seen a salesman enthusiastic for any make is when they know they're about to get my money. :banana:

I'm also a big researcher - I went to the Hyundai dealers knowing quite a bit about the brand as a whole, not just the one model I was considering. Some salesmen were impressed with my knowledge and enthusiasm about Hyundais, others I could tell were really annoyed by it and just wanted me to go away, which I glady did. :P

The kid who sold me mine was a nice guy, he didn't know a whole lot about 'em since he was pretty new... but was friendly and helpful nonetheless.

This post has been edited by hoosieraccent: Feb 3 2008, 09:10 PM

That has to be the biggest and most important thing now, Most people coming into a dealership can be classified into 2 types.

1. Have done the research and know pretty much what they want. This is where you need to shop by service staff and not salemanship, if you got a great services place the saleman don't matter too much, since you already know what you want. As long as you can still get a good price. By already knowing what I want the saleman can get down to the dealind and get me into the accounting department so he can get to another customer. Saving him time and making him money, so give the customer a little deal, he already knows what he likes and if he gets it will tell others about you. People that take the time to learn about the cars they want are passionate about thier rides and will remember who helped them to most, but also will remember who didn't.

2. No knowledge of Hyundai's. Either stopped by to compare to another brand or have been told to check them out by a friend, so knowledge of the car is a must by saleman. More so when it comes to comparing them to other manufactures. If a saleman can tell me what the Hyundai has over another manufacture that means a lot since it could help me save time by not having to check them out. best saleman I ever saw was this young guy who actually went on his days off and got the brochues from other manufactures to allow you to compare right there in his office. He told me that even though another manufacture might have had a better car the customer bought from him because they didn't have to waste anymore time, he provided them with everything they needed to make a choice.

My dealership know's me by name now and with all my parts I get a 15% discount and with new cars I get Dealership price +$500, +shipping and duties. They usually through in a bunch of freebie stuff as well since my tradein are usually sellable right away since I make the deal over the phone and basically don't even deal with the salemen anymore. but I do make all my deals with a single saleman since he does do all the work of getting the options installed before I get there.

What I saw was poor training, young kids acting like apparott saying what they were told to say and I left not being able to listen to it anymore. Typically unethical like 99% of other car dealers. They lie as "another customer" comes in and now here's the closer to work on you. Luckily I negotiate with professionals for a living and they had neither my attention or time when they played games. After that is was all by phone and they had my offer, don't want my offer don't call. Of course they called and got hung up on before finally the 1st word was we'll take it. That day I drove it home. Its not just Hyundai, its just an unethical business for unethical people. AAnd they all know it.

I gotta admit, you sparked my interest on this post... Currently being a Hyundai salesman.. this is what I've come to find, typically drawn both from where I work, and Where I bought my car.

This is MY opinion... it is not true everywhere, but from what I've seen hyundai dealerships generally try to "rip your head off".

What this means is this...

I bought my car with a STICKER price of 13,700 and finished out paying 16,200 after a down payment of 1500 and no trade in or negative equity.

Last weekend, I sold an accent gs (more of a base model than mine, no power locks windows mirrors etc) for 16,900 with 1000 dollars down and a payed off trade in.

By my dealerships standards, that makes me a hero... though I'll tell you it really doesn't feel that good to me... I just presented a sheet of paper (btw NEVER say yes to the first pencil as in the first offer) and he said yes. done deal.

Bottom line is this... these cars are less expensive than other models... while still the same quality, and any dealership that doesn't post their BOTTOM LINE price right on the window, Will do their best to justify their quality, as if it were an acura or a nissan.. etc...

But hey, thats how we put food on the table... Screw you AS HARD AS we can financially for the next six years...

I tell you all this.. cuz A) I dont plan on seeing you in my dealership, and if I do, I'll do my best for you, just like i did for my Dad this last weekend...
B ) So you dont become part of the 68% of americans who are 90 days away from a bankruptcy without even knowing it.
C) and because no matter how much you love your hyundai, you do NOT want to have 150,000 miles on it and still owe $10,000. I see people like this every day, and all they want is out of it.. and guess what? unless they can eat a 650 dollar a month payment, they will be in that thing until the wheels fall off.

Which is why Gap Insurance REALLY is a good idea.

We will tear your head off if you let us... and unless your in my dealership, (lol) dont let us.

BTW.. I am relatively new at this store, and have received NO training and still am very excited, and knowledgable about the product... I tell almost every customer about my experiences with my accent... and they just eat it up. Its all about confidence... not knowlege... if you can convince someone that you know what your talking about, then for all intingent purposes.... You Do!

This post has been edited by SaphusGS: Mar 27 2008, 08:24 PM

I appreciate your honesty in this post. :liebe011:

Just dont use the line I overheard one salesman using at a dealership I worked at a few years ago...."The engine cover extends the life of the engine" needless to say he didn't get the sale

LOL, that's a good one. I've also heard "because if the engine gets dirty, you won't see it!"

A salesperson who isn't pushy yet available to answer questions and honest enough to admit when he or she doesn't have all the answers — that's a good salesperson.

I have a good friend who went new car shopping for the first time. He decided he wanted to talk the figures over with a more experienced car buyer and that person happened to be his mom. When the salesperson heard that, he remarked that he must not be man enough to buy a car on his own. That didn't make him want to buy, it made him want to knock his block off. Needless to say, he was seriously considering the offer, but after that comment he left and never looked back.

This post has been edited by NewsView: Apr 6 2008, 12:04 AM

As long as I'm treated well, I only really care about the bottom line price.

I'm a customer service oriented person . If you have good c/s I'll probably buy from you. I work in the business (parts) and if you dont meet your customers needs theyll just go down the block. Seeing as most places are thesame price anyways you have to beat them somewhere and customer service and satisfaction is it.

My experience with a salesperson was simple when I bought my 07 sonata. I went straight for the internet price, and that was the price I wanted to pay. I wanted to finance it somehow to have some cash on me and not pay the full amount at once. Well, I knew the salesperson and his manager were going to play around with interest rate. I started out by saying 72 months, and they gave me 8.7 percent, then I said, "what about 60months?" They gave me 7.5%. I thought the interest rate was high but I signed the deal. I paid it off after 5 months.
I just don't enjoy buying cars, whether new or used. You try to get the best price possible, but the dealers try to give you the worst price possible to make more profit, and salespeople and their managers know it for sure. Once they find a customer who knows nothing about cars, the customer becomes an easy target.

I think it becomes a plus for a salesperson to give the lowest discount possible without going back and forth between the manager and the customers. I would not say that Hyundai dealerships generally rip your head off. Every dealer will try to rip you off if you do not know exactly what you are buying and the price you are willing to pay for it.

Wait...Your Car had a MSRP Sticker of $13.7, you put down $1500, and

you "finished out", whatever that means at $16,200. And this is for an

Accent with Crank Windows & Locks that you have to pull on yourself?

What was your Employee Discount :)

I was once a car salesman. Today, as a "civilian", I find that salesmen vary tremendously, more so by dealership than by make.

I remember one guy who didn't know anything about the product, didn't ask anything about our needs as a family, and answered every single question with "Sure, anything you want". We went to a different dealer and bought our car from a guy who was the polar opposite... friendly, knowledgeable, and sincere. He made a modest profit. Could we have gone back to the first dealer and squeezed a couple hundred more bucks out of the deal? Of course. But we were making a $30,000 decision, not a $200 decision, and we made the right one.

The fact that you are in this forum as a salesman, asking these questions, suggests that you represent your profession very well. Keep it up :thumbsup: