The fact is, if you have dealt with the public for awhile you know this: folks who say "I'll be back" WON'T. 80-90% of the time. It's a LIE they say just to assuage you and end the call. After all they don't want the confrontation or negativity but leave it on a positive note. They know they won't be back and so should you - on the average. In sales - the public lies a LOT. This is why experienced sales folk provide an incentive to buy it now - they know this is their only chance to sell it, on the average. Sometimes they want to mull it over, or they are comparison shopping, or need to discuss it with the wife. So rarely they may call back, if your talk was overall positive or you won out on the comparison. But on the average - no. I don't hard sell and close hard though I know how to, and used to be a sales manager / trainer / speaker, have sold to the public most of my life. I don't NEED to raise the closing averages. I just take it as part of the game. I know my work and rep. speaks for itself and consider the questions, discussion and time "wasted" as part of the game. You're not going to close everybody. Or even a high percentage. It's part of the package of sales.
They put money down - unrefundable, generally - then they are serious, the sale is closed, and it's time to get to work / get ready to deliver it. No money, well it's just a nice conversation but not a sale. The first one to put money on it, is the buyer. If you want to say you'll hold it for maybe a day if they have a valid reason not to close the deal then - well that's a judgement for you, knowing it may cost you the sale to one who is ready to put money on it, especially if it's the only one.
In a related vein, I had a contractor ask me, "what's your budget" when I asked for an estimate to do some work on the house. I told him, we aren't working from there. Your job is to tell me what you need to do the job as I outlined, and you may get the job if you're competitive and impress me. Then he whined about wasting his time coming up with the estimate. I said I'm not giving you a carte blanche for the job. Told him "you've been watching too many reality TV shows." I said what do you need. He gave me a stupidly inflated range, WAY ABOVE reasonable. I said I was born, but it wasn't yesterday. Not my first day at the rodeo. I was once a home improvement consultant. Yeah he did waste his time by not giving me a genuine estimate. He's the brother of a friend - the only reason he actually got the opportunity to bid. After he showed how he conducts business - saying having to bid is a waste of his time; expecting to close everybody - I didn't want him working for me.
I sold Pontiac back in 1988-90. It was a crappy business back then. People would walk in with Consumer Reports magazine under their arm and demand the price the magazine said the dealer pays for the car. All of a sudden there was some rule that the dealer was supposed to be a local warehouse for the factory. My boss used to tell customers to go buy the car from the magazine. It was insanity back then. I can't imagine what it's like to sell a car today. The internet tells you what the invoice prices are, true car tells you what other customers paid, out of state dealers shipping everywhere, and the customer is very well educated.
Having been in the business, I tried and liked going through Truecar. I put the exact car I wanted in, and offers came to me. I took the best offer from a dealer about 20 miles away to the local Dodge guy and he wouldn't match it, so I drove the 20 miles and that dealer didn't have the car, but ordered me the exact car I wanted and agreed to the Truecar Green Line Price. It was over $4,000 off of MSRP PLUS another $3,000 in factory incentives. Took 8 weeks from ordering till delivery, and Trucar sent me a $500 coupon while I was waiting and the dealer applied it to the deal. I was incredibley happy with the whole experience.
But...... the second time I used Trucar to buy my wifes CRV, it didn't go so easy. Found the car at the local dealer, had everything she wanted. The dealer contacted me with the price which was great. When we sat down to do the deal, the salesman added prep fees, paperwork fees, etc. I told him NOPE, not paying any of that. Reminded him that they agreed to the Truecar green line price, which is where he started from and added all the fees. Got up to leave twice before they agreed. Then after they agreed, they hit us hard and fast with the aftersale. Said NO to it all. When we left, we were exhausted and went to the diner for coffee and to relax.
We'll see what happens this time. I'm presently looking for a new car and when I figure out which make/model/trim I'm gonna try Truecar again. Still trying to get that first high back!
