Confessions of an RV Salesman

When shopping for my current truck the salesman handed me a piece of paper that was titled Kelly Blue Book Appraisal. It listed only some of the options I had, and then one line item jumped out:

V8 Engine - $5800.00

I asked him why this didn't come up when I used the KBB site. He said I don't know, lets ask the numbers guy. Numbers guy comes out and says oh - that comes from a dealer only version of KBB. I looked at the salesman and said do people actually fall for this? See ya later - walked out the door.

Hammerboy wrote:
I've often thought about being an RV salesman for real, because I like rv's and talking to people about rv's. The problem I would be to honest and therefore either have small paychecks or fired.;)

Dan

I see you're a fellow Michigander, so I disagree. Hubby and I own a small used-car lot, and have been rather successful by being honest, giving our customers printouts of the vehicle details/CarFax, etc and we give an out-the-door price. Zero pressure. We fully expect the potential customer to leave, go home and check around, maybe check with their spouse or family member.... and hopefully they will be back. I think most people respond favorably to a knowledgeable, no-pressure approach (especially here in the Midwest).

beemerphile1 wrote:
Seems legit, I've bought many cars, trucks, and RVs over the past fifty years and have seen all of those tricks.

That sales person may be manipulating customers but I didn't notice any lies to the customer. All successful sales people learn how to manipulate customers.

Agreed. One of the best books anyone could buy is "The Art of Selling" by Tom Hopkins. Knowing all the tricks, recognizing the manipulation, can save you a bunch of money through the years, because this is not something that only RV dealers use....LOL!

Rule #1 is: walk away, even if you have to be rude to do that. If you feel pressured, just walk away. If things are feeling "fuzzy", just walk away. A good salesperson knows that a big purchase needs careful thought, and if they did a good job, you WILL be back.

None of this is news and very common to all sales people that have skill.

Kansas Climber wrote:
These articles are just "click bait" to promote the people/businesses running ads on their site. I know many RV salespeople, many are my friends and I would trust them more than someone who publishes an anonymously written slam piece. You can replace RV Salesperson with anything, Car Salesperson, Pharmacist, Doctor, roofer, mechanic, anything. You make up your own mind who you want to deal with and if you feel good about it you win. Nice try Mac or whatever your name really is.

You should have stated, "You can replace an RV salesperson with anyone" - period!

Example: Pomona (CA) RV show - it's a biggie!
Walking past a display of RVs, I asked a salesman if I could have a brochure. He stated he didn't know where to find one.

Having seen the stcak of them in a compt of the RV we were standing next to, I pointed that out. (He thanked me for the help).
Nice guy, so foolishly, I asked a question about the RV. No clue. He said it was his first day on the job!!

Same show. A friend was in the market for a high-end MH. He made an *appointment* for a test drive. The RV business *owner* (had his card) asked him to wait a few minutes. While killing time he was in the back of one of the MoHos and overheard two salesmen up front.

One asked the other who is "the guy in back"? Ans: "Just some lookie loo". He left - purchased a used Foretravel from a pp.

Often a buyer -even with minimal knowledge- will be better informed than the salespeople.

The occupations you named *ALL* require some "background" - either experience, education - or both.

(IMO) RV salespersons have only two requirements: Alive and be able to speak..:R

~

Reminds me of an old website where a writer went undercover as a car salesman. I cannot find the original website, but I did find where someone captured it in PDF format. A fun read.

-Eric

There are exceptions. My local small town dealer is one. They will have, at most, a couple of dozen various RVs on the lot at any given time.

We were on a RV lot a county or 2 over and struck up a conversation with a nice couple who were also shopping. We shared experiences and then she said "whatever you do, don't buy until you visit the small town dealer in XXXXX. They will treat you right."

Contrast that with the local Camping World who tried to cook numbers and then tried to physical intimidate us when we laughed at that feeble attempt. I tell the story at every opportunity where I camp.

Word gets around a lot of the time.

^^ Eggzactly!
And since the general aura around RV and auto dealer ships is that they're all crooks, from a business perspective, I believe that there is no honor in being honest because the guy down the street is going to sell ice to that eskimo if he doesn't. And, aside from possibly small town local dealerships, repeat clientele is likely not a priority either.

I mean, we walked into a car dealer last year, easiest sale ever for them, literally. Be only the 2nd brand new car out of dozens we've ever bought. Had a loaded checkbook, paying the advertised price for the car they had, period. No convincing needed, no financing "help" needed, no "education" about the features or comparable models or our needs or any of that bull chit.
I said, we want that car, now, cash, pull it out of the lineup, let me take a test drive, write it up, Merry Xmas to both of us, I expect my wife to be driving it to the mall in 1 hour.
FCK!, Still got passed around to a couple salesmen, still got an upsell? attempt at a used one similar to it, still got the financing speil, still had to threaten the guy writing it up with bodily harm if he didn't shut the f up about extended warranties, service plans, paint protection, interior protection, and a host of other things.

AND, they asked about trading in our car. Same model, 12 years old, I said, not interested, you'll offer me about 5 grand for it. Nope, let us check it out, it's in high demand, etc. After being hasseled like 3 times I gave them the keys. Fck again, took 45 min to get the d@mn keys back after they said they'd give me about 5 grand (sold it for 10 btw).

It's just how it is. If you find a person or dealer that isn't like that, they're the rare exception to the rule. FWIW, they don't make their money off the smart or informed, they make it off the uninformed and impulse buyers.

My girlfriend's brother bought a TT that weighed 9800lbs and they had a 5 cylinder chevy colorado. I still wonder how they managed to pull it home 100 miles and not kill the truck or anyone else, Decided theyn needed a bigger truck went to local truck dealer and told salesman what they had and what they were pulling and was talked into buying a halfton dodge. And finally they asked me for advice as the new truck wasnt helping much. New truck still wasn't enough hooked up with mine (2004 F250 V10) and my truck didn't know it was back there, They decided to move down to Texas from Illinois and they ended up trading the newly bought TT for a lite weight TT. And took a bath trading the TT. I couldn't afford to buy thiers. some salesman will talk anyone into buying just to make a sale.

beemerphile1 wrote:

WTP-GC wrote:
Click bait website
Total waste of time to even look at that site.

It is a monetized site but so is this one. I would not call it click bait as you read the entire article on one page. Click bait sites make you keep clicking to different pages because they get paid by the number of pages visited.

Difference is that every ad on this page goes back to some affiliate of Marcus Lemonis. The linked website has so many ads that you struggle to differentiate between the "original" content and the click-bait ads.

But if we're being specific:
Clickbait definition - (on the Internet) content whose main purpose is to attract attention and encourage visitors to click on a link to a particular web page.

That website has been posted on here many times, but the content is barely useful to anyone. There are no "original" ideas on that website, and the articles are very poorly written.

I, for one, don't believe any actual RV salesman wrote that article. My grandfather used to be the only used car salesman in town. He also ran the only wrecker service, mechanic shop, tractor repair business, etc. (small town back then). I could have written a better synopsis than this so-called RV salesman just based upon the stories I heard from my grandfather.

So calls himself "Mac" in order to not use his real name. LOL! What's his real name...John, David, Scott, whatever...?? He didn't give his location or company name...so if he were to use his real first name that would somehow disclose his identity??