The Meet and Greet

The meet and greet. For you consumers out there the meet and greet is what happens when you are first spoken to upon arrival at your local car dealer. Each dealer is likely to handle this crucial part of the sales process in their own way but the underlying reasoning behind each style is universal.

If the meet and greet is done even mildly well you would never realize how much time and effort has been poured into what amounts to a handshake and exchanging of names. Your salesperson has probably endured more training focused on these first few minutes of interaction with you, the customer, than most people receive in five years for their entire job. I have personally spent multiple hours in both one on one and group training sessions concentrating on nothing but my handshake and eye contact. This type of training is generally a good thing and does help the average person like myself make a better impression on you, the customer.

The keyword above would be generally. I've worked for several stores where the focus on the meet and greet is so strong the rest of the process is forgotten or neglected. You've probably experienced the negative side of this yourself. You stop by your local dealer and a salesperson approaches. He or she has a big smile and their arm is already partially extended before they even get within ten feet of you. Being the savvy automobile consumer you are, you nod and turn your back and almost immediately hear something like "Hi, welcome to such and such motors, my name is _____ and what's your name?"

At this time the salesperson has probably managed to at least get in front of you so you have to acknowledge him or her. If you opt to not give your name during your response your poor salesperson will be forced to ask for it again. You see, he or she has been trained so well that the option of moving forward in the conversation without getting your name right away won't occur to them. Most of you will give your name when asked a second time. If you want to have some fun politely decline from giving your name again. Nine out of ten times your would-be salesperson will excuse themselves and make a bee-line for the manager's office who will then send out a different salesperson to see if they have better luck. This scenario plays out all too often at dealers across the country and all of this fuss occurs before anyone has even bothered to find out what it is you're looking for.

It occurs as a direct result of the extra baggage most meet and greet training comes with. We are taught that only one in four of you will purchase a vehicle from us on average. (Watch for another post about this one!) As a result of this sobering statistic we are taught that your name and contact information are vital information, without which we will likely fail to accomplish anything. You see, if only one in four of you are going to buy from me, I need to get the names of you three non-buyers so I may call you each day to make sure you haven't changed your mind. Perhaps most importantly we are taught that if we speak with a customer and do not get said contact information and inform the manager as to what that information is we will likely be let go from our positions.

You read that correctly. Salespeople at most modern dealers are even now threatened with their jobs on a regular basis. This isn't a complaint on my part, after all I choose to occupy a performance based position and if I can't perform I shouldn't keep my position. It is however a major stress point for most newer salespeople which is why they stumble all over themselves when you Mr. or Ms. Customer decide to not provide them with your information. So the next time your browsing at your local dealers' lots keep this in mind as your salesperson approaches. Relax and smile, after all you now know that approaching salesperson is not thinking at all about selling you a car. They just want your name and phone number.

Thanks for reading and see you next time!