A word to the wise salesman

[Tmodelt]

Don't ever tell someone that is trying to purchase your product, "You can't afford it".

I had a gentleman call me yesterday about a particular Model A engine aftermarket part (listed in the MTFCA parts classifieds) that I was inquiring about. Through the discussion this what he told me and I quote "You can't afford it".

To my recollection, he and I had never met. Only a phone conversation. So he doesn't know my financial status. He would have to be giving stuff away before I would do business with gentleman.

[Gordon C]

Right !!! Years ago my Father and Grandfather had a Chrysler/Plymouth Dealership. There was a yearly car show
in Phily that they would attend. They watched an elderly couple.dressed sort of shabbily. My father said the man
even had holes in his sweater. The pair stopped at the Chrysler display. The salesman paid no attention to them. After
a time of being ignored they moved to the Packard section. The gentleman there spoke with them for a time and
they purchased not one but two new Packards. I'm sure the Chrysler Salesman thought they couldn't afford it too.
This was probably in the thirties sometime. My Father and Grandfather had a Hudson/Essex dealership until around
1929 and then went to Chrysler/Plymouth until after WWII.

[Graybeard77]

When I was 18 I went to the IHC dealer in Springfield, mo. I wanted a new truck for my milk route. The salesman laughed at me because he didn’t I could buy it. He gave a real cheap price on it thinking I couldn’t afford it. I pulled out the cash and paid him . He tried to get out of the deal but there were witnesses , so he took it. I also,learned a good lesson in life. Always go prepared to do what you say. Clyde

[Henry K. Lee]

Good post Kim!

I have seen more people with crappy clothes, etc. get judged in the wrong light too or even over the phone. Never judge a book by the cover!

One ole boy at an auction trumped everyone as he looked dirt poor in raggy Bibb Overalls, pulled wads of cash out buying what he wanted.

He would just wink at me as I was laughing so hard by all the want-a-be’s!

Hank

[ModelT46]

There many stories like that around. Be careful on how you judge people. In the past at my store a wealthy and well dresses man always tried to get me down on even small items. On the other hand I have a customer you dresses plain, as many people do, and he never asks the price of various replacement parts for Aladdin Lamps, some of which are getting a bit pricey. He just states what he needs, At swap meets I some times wondered about a person who is looking a top dollar item. They just pull out the Bennjimens and pay for it. The locall story from the 1960s was where a rough dressed man was looking at a new Caddy. He was brushed off by the salesman. He selected on and pulled out cash. He was a local pro wrassler. (SP?).

[Autie]

My Grandfather grew up during the depression. As long as I can remember, he wore worn out clothes and the classic piece of rope for a belt. He would even joke about looking like a Ho-Bo. Me and him had a HUGE blow out because I once washed his pants and he screamed at me saying I was going to make them "thread bare". He lived in Detroit and one day he walked up to Drummy Oldsmobile on 8 Mile just West of Gratiot, with a brief case. Everyone ignored him and looked the other way except one salesman. Yup, the salesman sold a brand new Buick LeSabre to my Grandpa that day. The story didn't end there....the salesman asked my grandfather what method of payment would he be making and my grandpa open up the briefcase full of cash. Much to the astonishment of the salesman, he went to his boss and told him about the cash payment and proceeded to come over to tell my grandpa they could not accept a full payment in cash. As my grandpa got up and began walking to the door, they re-thought their policy and sold him the best top of the line Buick they had. On a side note, When My grandpa passed away, when I was cleaning out his house, both him and my grandma had all brand new clothes/suits, shoes still in boxes, underwear/T shirts in packages, etc, horded away.

[Layden Butler]

I used to sell parts to a guy from San Francisco who would show up in a VW beetle that looked like it was not going to make it home. He and his wife were dressed to match the car, maybe they had worked on it to get to my place. When he paid for a part he would pull out a stack of checkbooks over a dozen tall. Each check book was for one of his Horseless Carriage cars, that is how he accounted for expenses on each of them. If I sold him 3 parts, one each for 3 of the cars, I would get 3 checks. NONE of them EVER bounced.

[StanHowe]

First lesson you learn in the auction business. The guy in greasy overalls and a Trump cap is more likely to be able to pay for it than a lot of better dressed people in the crowd. We sold a water well drilling rig to a guy one time that looked like he would have to apply for a cardboard sign and his own street corner any day. He pulled out $38,000 in hundreds and told his son to get in it and get on the road so they could get it set up that night ready to drill tomorrow.

We also get a lot of people who come to Montana and buy/build some fancy house here or a vacation lodge that think because people here don't drive BMW's and dress in designer clothes that we are all poor and will work for them for nothing and be glad for the crumbs they throw.
Tain't so. My brother in law -- who is now gone -- put on a suit once in his life, for his daughter's wedding. He wore Big Mac blue jeans from J C Penny because he could get them over his belly. Every year for Christmas for probably 50 years he got a pair of John Deere Suspenders and a new John Deere Cap. Dickies gray work shirts. He would take you out on a tour of his oil wells and his wheat fields and his cattle feeding operation and the place where they put up hay and etc. Then he would take you in the Quonset and show you his John Deere collection and in the other Quonset and show you his car collection. I never could find out just how many oil wells they had but it was about a dozen. My sister drove her 67 Caprice for years after they got oil money and said "I liked it before and I like it now." They were doing fine farming before the oil wells came along.

After the child seat law was passed they went to Williston and bought several new GMC pickups -- one for her and one for each of the kids.

[FreighTer Jim]

Don't ever tell someone that is trying to purchase your product, "You can't afford it".

I had a gentleman call me yesterday about a particular Model A engine aftermarket part (listed in the MTFCA parts classifieds) that I was inquiring about. Through the discussion this what he told me and I quote "You can't afford it".

To my recollection, he and I had never met. Only a phone conversation. So he doesn't know my financial status. He would have to be giving stuff away before I would do business with gentleman.

Every day I get calls - texts - emails from folks who are unrealistic when it comes to pricing.

I am not obligated to waste time educating someone - who when everything is said and done - I will never do business with.

Some Folks Think With Their Wallet ...

They will never change ...

Not being privy to the conversation - there is no way of knowing what actually transpired.

No one likes to be thought of as “ Cheap “ - least of all those who are Cheap.


FJ

[Burger in Spokane]

Couple different thoughts on this ...

I never approach a stranger, looking to buy or do something, without having the means, right then,
to follow through. People change their minds, go sideways, whatever, when you don't move swiftly.
Be there, ready to do business, and people whose time is valuable, feel you respect them and their
time by doing so.

Had a 23-year-old electrician working beside me for a while. He was there for one reason; to make
the money to buy some off-the-charts special go-fast Corvette. He was not the typical punk kid wanting
a fast and flashy car. He was all about the science and I could tell he would own this car for the rest
of his life. He had busted his hump to push through his apprenticeship and at 21, he was a card-carrying
journeyman sparky. It took him two years to nest egg the money, as the car cost way north of 100K. As he
got close to pulling the trigger on a deal, I told him I wanted a full report on how the deal went down. It
was exactly as others have told above .... he walked in with a suitcase full of cash and said he wanted to
special order this car. No one gave him the time of day. Several asked if his parents would be co-signing.
He said he opened the suitcase, closed it, and went on to the next dealer. He got his car ordered on the
12th try.

Buying big ticket items for one's kids ....

I had a few friends growing up whose parents bought them cars. In the main, they trashed them. Many
got raced and wrecked and Mommy bought them another. I was appalled. My old man let me (made me)
drive the farm truck, as a matter of farm work, but I got to take it to school or on dates, if I wanted to.
I didn't, and I busted my hump to get a car with character. While my friends were destroying the world's
supply of exotic 60's muscle cars, I thought a 57-58 big body DeSoto convertible was the cat's pajamas.
And a near-impossible car to find. And when I did, nothing ever felt as good as it did taking the keys of
that car I worked so hard to buy ! I protected it with my life. When the step-daughter told me that I did
not have to buy her a NEW BMW, and that a late model (with her blessing on color and options) would be
OK, I told her that she would not understand this until she was at least 35, or had kids of her own, but I
would be remiss as a parent to deprive her of that sense of self-accomplishment, by not making her work
for something so meaningful as a car. Boy, was she mad ! She had lots of friends that got brand new expensive
cars, just for breathing.

My parents never gave me the "sense of accomplishment" talk. They just made it clear, years before I
could drive, that any sort of thing like that was for adults, and if I wanted to do adult things, I was expected
to get there by adult means. Get a job ! It was the best lesson they ever taught me.

[FreighTer Jim]

Yesterday I got a text from someone asking for a quote for moving an older vehicle from Pennsylvania to Washington - they had contacted me before awhile back - they said they had been waiting for Passport and “ were losing faith “.

I replied by text & told them I was not interested.

What followed was a series of text messages telling me “ how wrong I was “.

When someone I don’t know contacts me and the first thing they want is a number ....

I ask them what it is they want hauled - from what zip code to what zip code - when they want it done - what their realistic budget is.

The majority of the time - the timeframe and/or the transport budget are unrealistic - I tell them I cannot accommodate their expectations - I move on.

In this case - what I told this person had come to pass ....

Their vehicle had not been picked up and somehow this was my problem ?

Pay Peanuts - Get Monkeys ....


FJ

[StanHowe]

I went and looked at a collector tractor auction about 2 months ago. They were not happy with what I quoted them. So I wrote the executor a letter telling her I was not a low bidder auction company after 37 years and 426 auctions. I suggested they could find somebody cheap. They did. I will go to the auction. I've already had several people tell me I am better off not trying to work with the guy. I knew that when I left the day I was there to look.

This is either written in stone or should be. If the guy is a JERK the day you are there to look at his auction, he will get worse, not better to deal with. You are better off without it. (I tell that to the new guys when I go speak at auction school. It is a fact of the business)

[FreighTer Jim]

This is either written in stone or should be. If the guy is a JERK the day you are there to look at his auction, he will get worse, not better to deal with. You are better off without it. (I tell that to the new guys when I go speak at auction school. It is a fact of the business)

As I get older - I find the times I disappoint myself are when I don’t listen to The Little Voice or ignore The Red Flag,

You don’t have to be The Solution to someone else’s problem - you don’t have to do business with folks if you are not comfortable doing so.

FJ

[StanHowe]

Sign in my brother's shop in California. Rules for this business. 1. The customer is NOT always right. 2. We have not lost a customer, we have eliminated a problem for this business. 3. Any questions? Re-read numbers one and two.

I've been lucky. I only have a couple unhappy people in the auction business and God himself couldn't have done an auction for them they would have been happy with. I have about two thousand carburetor customers, have three or four I won't do business with again but overall it has been a pretty friendly business. Very few complaints.

Never played any music any place I couldn't go back. That is not to say there are not places I wouldn't go back, I've been "already booked for that date" when a couple of them called to get me to come play there again. I think after the second or third time they called they figured it out.

It's just the nature of dealing with people.

[Ruxstel24]

I was always taught, treat everyone the same (at least the first time) “Don’t judge a book by it’s cover” !!
My business has grown by “word of mouth” and I do a lot of neighborhood customers.
If you do a good job and treat someone right, they may tell another neighbor or two or a friend.
Treat them like a jackass or overcharge them and surely they’ll tell the whole damn county !!