ClubCJ - The CJ Lancer Club

Driving home today, I noticed that Alto Ford Artamon is now Alto Mitsubishi Artamon.

Made me think about how the world changes. Mr Altomonte had the 2 prime Ford dealerships on Sydney's North shore. Alto group broadened into nearly every mark, from Jaguar/Landrover ( well it was Ford's premium brands in the day),Kia (Volvo?), Mitsubishi etc to BMW ( which then became Audi), then picked up the Holden dealership from Hunter Holden in St Leonards, soon to be at new facilitirs at Chatswood ( opposite australia's leading Toyota dealership). They even had a short lived Opel dealership. Having lost Holden, Hunter group sell up the land at St Leonards, moving Mitsubishi to their Ryde Holden site. Dont know if it is a Chicken or egg thing, but now Alto don't sell Fords. Now they seem to have picked up on the vacuum left by Northshore Mitsubishi moving.

Now the salesmen are professional, expert in their new marks, the mechanics are fully trained by the factory. Yer right! One day servicing Fords, next Holden or Mitsubishi.

F loyalty. The manufacturers, the dealers get all screwed up when the buying public are sceptical. Why would we be sceptical?

When you wander into the plush dealerships, and the air conditioned mega showrooms , remember who is paying for all that space. No wonder they are always tyring to hump you at service... How about a coffee in return for exensive oil and consumables, minimum 10 minute labour charges for a 2 minute job, new wipers, new tyres, air conditioner detox, wheel alignment, extra flush of this, extra conditioner for that, and a cleaner for head, a treatment for injectors. Oh, would you like fries with that?

Rant over.

I hear ya. But the fact of the matter is, money trumps everything.

A salesperson needs to know nothing about the product they're selling. They just need the basic ability to read off marketing literature. Their job isn't product knowledge, it isn't customer service - it's simply to facilitate a sale. To succeed, facilitate many sales.

There's no loyalty, and conversely there's no pride in one's work... How many people hold personal values that are in line with the companies that they work for? How many believe in their company's mission statements? Most people merely see their jobs as a means to an end. Nobody truly cares about the big picture anymore. In this economy, who's going to turn down a job because the company deals with child slave labour, or does not recycle, or buys from non-fairtrade coffee beans suppliers, or sponsors an annual seal clubbing event and/or roasting baby pandas every summer?!

In this day in age where for eg. Microsoft is looking for their new CEO, they're headhunting other company's CEOs, not promoting from within.

What really suck, on a similar rant, is the property purchasing process. There's a buyer, there's a seller, and then there's so many money sucking parasites that attach themselves to the process, being middlemen adding no value whatsover to the transaction but profiting significantly from it. Real estate agent. Conveyancers/solicitors - one for each side. Property inspectors, valuators, and everyone offering services with restrictions to their liability if they got it wrong.

I'm sorry, what was the point of your post?

I think in a broader sense they are selling cars and the brand is irrelevant.

It's business, while buying a certain product might carry a sentimental value attached to a brand, selling is simply a numbers game.

BZC-45S wrote:A salesperson needs to know nothing about the product theyre selling.

I agree about 80% with this, in that, you need to know your product moderately well enough to help your customer find the right product and look impressive, but a good salesman will succeed no matter where they are put. If they change brands it wouldn't affect them. Buyers more or less know what they want these days, they get the info on the internet, the salesman is just there to close a deal.

Except for when a new model comes out, car salespeople get no training. What they say is either what they've read in the manual, or just winging it as they go (not necessarily lying).


Interesting topic that of loyalty, when Mitsubishi sends you all the customer surveys I found it funny them concentrating so much on what your previous make of car was, and what all the reasons for not buying that brand again were, etc. I felt like saying 'guys, relax, it has nothing to do with brand - I'll buy whatever car that best fits my requirements at the time'.