I read this quite a while ago and I'm sure you'll hear some "I don't do that" from the resident sales people on the board but from my experience as a slaesperson its pretty accurate. The thing that I really took away from the article was that after being immersed in the job the writer realized that when we complain abou the the buying process we are often shooting the messanger:
"The system was corrupt from the top down...."
"Having been a salesman myself, I began to view the managers and dealership owners as the real culprits. While salesmen play people games with the customer, the guys in the tower work the numbers with computers, their eyes fixed on the bottom line. They can see at a glance what kind of profit they are taking from the customer and they do it any way. Furthermore, they bully the sales staff, encouraging them to manipulate, control and intimidate customers while they take the lion's share of the profit.
"
In the case of car sales people maybe its appraopriate to "hate the game not the playa"
But if you are gonna play the game you have to be prepared to play by the same rules as the dealer. Its not an easy life for car sales people. the article even gives some sympathy for a long hour low/no pay occupation with managment who values you about as much as a cadny bar wrapper..just throw you away and get anohter.
So feel bad for the sales person. treat him whith respect. But don't for one minute think his job has anything to do with getting YOU the best price. His job s to help the dealer sell you a car at as high a price as they possibly can and to not let you go anywhere else so they could lose the sale. Its remarkable how little mention is made by managment of learning the features or customer service.
I think its a pretty fair article.
