May 31 2007
I’d buy a new car if it wasn’t so hard
Two weeks ago I determined that I want a new, smaller truck. I need a truck because of my hobbies, but I want a smaller truck because of gas prices.
I went to the dealership and in about 15 minutes I had my truck picked out. I gave the sales rep my bottom line price - $325 per month. He told me that if we do business, he could meet that price.
I called him about an hour later and said I was ready.
The price came back to $367.
Yup… he wanted a lot more. And he didn’t even see it as a problem that I was already quoted almost $50 less.
Idiot.
I then called two other dealerships. This time I didn’t tell them where I wanted to be but that if they could give me their best price for the truck and it fit my budget, I would buy before the end of the week.
They never called me back.
It is awful hard to show value in your product if the customer experience that you are fostering is that of complication and deceit.
I guess I’ll wait a year and try again.
Sale lost.
Corey Smith is the Vice President of Innovation at Fisher’s Document Systems where he maintains a blog on business and technology.
I know exactly what you mean … the problem is too many people think close is just good enough … to them $367 sound close enough to $325 … I had a landscaper bid me a job at more than 20k than I told him my budget was … he said they could finance me — I said; get out of my house …
[…] Last year, I wrote a post titled, I’d Buy a New Car If It Wasn’t So Hard. […]