Future Boaters, salesmens attitudes!?

Its all down to footwear.

"One day, that Princess salesman will turn away what he thinks is a 'scruffy oik' who's got his £2.5m City bonus burning a hole in his back pocket."

There is scruffy oik and well heeled minted scruffy oik and its not hard to tell the difference.

Shoes tell you bucket loads especially,have look at the bottoms !
BMW carpet smooth polished leather or Jobcentre Plus concrete steps scuffed ?

Anybody who comes into my place with shiney black shoes has my undivided attention cos its either
A.the rozzers.
B.Customs n Excise
C VAT.
D.somebody else about to ruin my day.
 
i know this is a kind of spam, but on my truck forum the customer care for everything in life does seem to fail very badly.

To the posts above this re customer service i am with you all the way. I am not sure what is going on in this country, but i am sure it is getting worse. I order a lot of stuff online, the supplyer used to have it sent within a couple of days, now i am calling them 2 weeks later to see where it is.

I have read here and on other forums that no matter what price car you have the customer care is the same...****e.

Is it just us being the type happy to queue and accept ****e service and walk away quietly? Well i have made a change...evr been in a shop, long queue and one or two stacking shelves while the queue goes out of the door? I have started politely asking them to get on a till as many are waiting, shelves can be stacked when the queue has gone.

The bad thing is that they need to be told to man a till, are they that thick and ignorant that they dont see what is going on :scratch: I pulled a pint of milk of the delivery trolly the other morning on my way to work, the simpleton said i have to put it back as she has not counted them :lol: I said carry on counting then and minus 1 :roll:
 
I may have told this before but...

Many years ago when in a BMW showroom in my "yoof" I had a young lad in, nothing to look at and way below the age to have a driving licence.

All the other salesmen ignored him and carried on chatting, loafing etc....

I had a brief chat and he asked if he could sit in the back of the 750iLWB we had in the showroom - this was in the early 90's and that car was over 80k then!

I opened it, let him sit, and he casually pushed a couple of the buttons - it wasn't my car, and if something had broken it would have been fixed under warranty anyhow...

He took a card, left and I thought no more of it...

The next day, a sheik arrived at the dealership with two large minders and a briefcase, asked for me, walked over to my desk and placed the case on it. "My son, he wishes that car" and pointed at the 750i.....

I have never forgotten this, or got over it!!

How many "unminted" oiks now will be minted in 10 years time ???

I have always remembered how Sunseeker will let you on almost any of their boats at the shows even if you haven't made an appointment and are happy to queue. Fairline used to just glare at you, and short of bringing a Bank Statement with you I don't see how you'd get to view a boat.

The thing is, people remember this - I can remember as a child being shouted at in a VW showroom by the salesman just for sitting in a car - I have never ever bought a VW - subconscious association? Walk into a Mercedes showroom and in general they are happy to let you wander round sitting in things as long as you are doing no harm they're fine. SWMBO went to drive a VW Fox and a VW Beetle 5 years ago to see which she liked - she could afford either easily, yet the salesman wouldn't let her test drive them both saying "they are very different cars and prices, you can't possibly like both of them" - but as they were both available in yellow - actually she could (women eh?? lol) she simply saw both as a smallish attractive car in a colour she liked - the salesman had projected HIS view on her and assumed he was right!

I am a successful salesman - and one tip is this, until you speak to someone you just never ever know.....

The mind is a funny thing. A bad salesperson can put you off a product for life even if the product is good.
 
Its Sunday and bored...so...

How many "unminted" oiks now will be minted in 10 years time ???

There are est approx 400,000 millionaires in UK at last count.(must be true cos internet ses so).
There are approx 60M peeps in UK.so about one in 120 of population is a millionaire.Assuming that the majority have that wealth tied up in property with little free cash and of those left only a few percent are interested in boats and that few have made the decision to attire themselves from the local Pound shop as a protest against consumerism,our boat salesman will need to be very patient indeed for our minted oik to appear.Especially if our minted oik has had a traumatic experience at some point in his life.
A more efficient use of his time may be to concentate of those who appear to be able to afford the boat in question. :)
 
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At the 2008 Southampton Boat Show with my wife, son, daughter-in-law and grandchildren (then 9 and 6 years old) we were walking out of the show passing the Sunseeker stand and my daughter-in law asked my son if he could get a Sunseeker catalogue as she liked the look of them.

My son walked up to the reception desk and asked for the catalogue and was given one without any trouble, and was then asked if we would like to look over the boats.

As there were large queues at all the boats he declined, but she quickly offered to get a saleman to show us over the boats without having to wait.

Angus Johnston, the salesman for Mallorca quickly appeared and showed us over the Manhattan range.

He was not aware that we were at the show to choose a boat (Princess great reception but Fairline very very poor) and as I was sure I would not like Sunseekers had not bothered to go on the stand.

Result was that after the show Angus took an order for £1,200,000.00 for a new Manhattan 60 which we fell in love with and now he is the only person I want to deal with and Sunseeker have a committed client.

We will be trading up to a new 70-90 foot Sunseeker within the next 2-3 years and whilst I would keep an open mind on Princess would never approach Fairline again after their undeserved haughty attitude.


As an aside, I must point out that all of the family just dress normally (M&S in my case) and certainly do not dress to impress and if you was to see me on the boat in Mallorca might wonder if I was the resident grease monkey.

My watch is only a Omega too.
 
DougH said:
I was sure I would not like Sunseekers had not bothered to go on the stand.
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I don't get your point. Your above first impression on S/skr proved wrong, as I understand.
What better proof that you could make the same mistake in the future, if you'd rule out anyone else by the same token? :confused:
 
I think his point is the same as mine.

Never assume that because someone doesn't dress in Armarni and wear a Rolex they can't afford things.

If I won the Lottery (blimmin unlikely but would be nice) I wouldn't wear expensive clothes as I don't really care about fashion.

I wouldn't wear a Rolex as I scratch watches badly so just wear a cheap casio

I might have nice comfy shoes (whether they'd look expensive is another matter)

But my two first ports of call might well be a swanky car dealership and a nice boat showroom


Saying that, I suppose I might take a photocopy of the winning cheque with me just to show I could afford it!
 
Some time ago , I booked to see some fairly swish cars at a local car dealer.I turned in my Tonka Truck wearing my normal attire.The salesman (I think man is relevant) pretty much dismissed me.
I purchased a car from another branch of the same group and got the manager to send a photo of the handing over bit to the offending chap.
However , at SIBS , I was talking to the Sealine salesguy about non-purchasing visitors and his attitude was that most visitors to a boat show aspire to own a boat so a little time and courtesy could bear fruit eventually.
Rob
 
I had to read the first post on this thread twice to make sure I'd read it right. The one company who offer a true open house at boat shows is Princess. From day one of us visiting boat shows we have had free reign of everything in the range never really thinking we'd buy a new boat. Possibly an older one outside of the dealer network. When we eventually signed on the dotted line it was easy because we knew the range off by heart.

I had a rather bizarre experience with Sunseeker this year when a sales person who I'd been talking to for ten minutes just put me in a queue of day trippers to look around the boats we'd been talking about. I stood around for a couple of minutes before walking off the stand. I'm not pretending I would have written out a cheque there and then, although we were bloody close to swapping the P42 for a P50!! But the boat will grow at some stage in the future. Just for the record a nice new pair of hugo boss' and a black faced stainless Daytona just to make it nice and easy.

As for sitting in the helm seat and pushing buttons - well that's a little different. most of the boats feature signs asking you not to sit on seats, we looked at some manufacturers who physically roped off helm seats (harder to re-trim after the show than a removable cover). If you want to know how to raise and lower the TV just ask to make sure you don't break anything, (I don't think it's do-able from the helm seat is it?).

These are often someone's pride and joy, even if they are stock boats many features aren't designed to be used 100 times a day for 2 weeks. There may be locks in place which need to be removed first or systems which can't be used at the same time as another features. What was it your mum used to say? Look with your eyes :)

I'm a big fan of the boys and girls at Princess and since buying from them have got to know them very well. I'm in sales myself and know the rules so we can have very open and frank discussions. If there is one international boat builder out there who goes to shows with doors wide open it's Princess. They haven't had to modify their operating methods in the same way Fairline have of late, they've always been open and approachable.

All the boat builders have a difficult job at shows like Southampton. The vast majority of people are just there for a day out. If you want to be taken seriously then introduce yourself to a member of the sales team, explain your circumstances. They won't be bothered if you're not ready to push the button just yet but be honest don't try and claim to be something you're not. You'll be seen straight through and you won't be taken seriously.

Henry :)
 
We've bought 3 new boats over the last 12 years. Our present 40 footer and now 5 years old and we get treated very well by salesmen that know us, wonder why! We fancied a look at a 50ft Sunseeker at Excel in January and were turned away because there were already 4 people on board. I muttered something about it being no use to us if at 50ft it only has room for 4. We are not looking for one just now, but Sunseeker are off my list. We've also noticed that attitudes changes considerably when salesmen find out what your present boat is. Some salesmen are astute and realise that whilst you may not be thinking of buying this year, and that you may not buy the model you wish to look at. You may well be in a position to buy a model or two down.
 
oldgit said:
Apparantly he'd been told off for sitting at the helm and 'playing' with the TV up/down button. Heres the thing, he said no matter what, don't buy a Princess the salesman was really rude.



So he spent his £350K elsewhere then... Fairline perhaps or Sunseekeer ...surely he was not just one of hundreds of "lookers and touchers" only out for a days jolly.

However rubbish a salesman,virtually all will be able to tell a buyer from a looker and this tired old tosh about it could be Bill Gates with a bad haircut hiding under those scruffy jeans, anti-foul splattered jumper and pound shop watch is just an old wives tale put about by people like me in order to have a poke about on something shiney I could never afford in a million years.
Never ever been told not to do anything on a boat ever.Do you think its the knock off ROLEX that does it ? :)
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You know, if I ever get to the point where I can walk onto into a place like that and pay outright for something in the region of £350k, I'm going to go as scruffily as I can without being completely offensive.

Just for the sheer hell of it. I'd just love to watch the faces as expectations and stereotypes come crashing to deck, shattering into a dozen pieces, exploding their faith in their judgement :P.

It'd be funny.
 
bonny said:
We've bought 3 new boats over the last 12 years. Our present 40 footer and now 5 years old and we get treated very well by salesmen that know us, wonder why! We fancied a look at a 50ft Sunseeker at Excel in January and were turned away because there were already 4 people on board. I muttered something about it being no use to us if at 50ft it only has room for 4. We are not looking for one just now, but Sunseeker are off my list.
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I find that puzzling. Presumably you will keep your next boat for at least a year or two, and given how particular we all are about exactly what we want from a boat, why would you refuse to consider one that might be perfect simply because you were not allowed onto a boat when you meandered up? I assume you hadnt made prior contact with S/Seeker?
Or maybe reverse the situation. You are there on board, tying up the last details and questions before making a final decision,after perhaps a few months of consideration, and then get interupted by some tourists wandering about the boat. In the latter situation, I'd very much prefer the dealer to keep people off for fifteen minutes.
The tourists can always come back shortly;the boat isnt going anywhere.
 
I don't think it's a case of "we were ready to sign up but they turned us away" with these boat shows and I've had plenty of meaningful discussions on board boats with the guys from Princess with people wandering around. When I buy something measured in metres possibly then I'll want the boat closed off whilst I'm on board discussing the finer details !

I think it's more a case of boat shows being the ideal place for a wander round just to see what's on the radar and what's off it. Often you're doing your dreaming and planning a number of years in advance but something will eventually come of things.

What a good sales person needs to do is differentiate the boaters from the day trippers. I don't think it's that hard once you engage in conversation. Where do you keep your current boat? Do you get to use her much? What do you particularly like or dislike about her? What sort of thing of you looking for in the next boat? Once you've done that you can make sure they get onto the boat as quickly and as easily as possible without having to wait behind a line of people just out for the day.

What made me chuckle with the Sunseeker chap who put us to the back of the queue after 10 minutes of chatting wasn't that he failed to spot watches, clothes, aftershave, the wife's designer knickers or the nipper's Jimmy Choos. It was the fact that he knew we'd got a boat, I'd been logical and selective about what I wanted to have a look at and I hadn't spun him any wild yarns.

Does it mean I would never buy of Sunseeker if they were the last manufacturer alive? Of course it doesn't but it does mean they aren't on the radar because I didn't have a wander round one. I could have queued up but we're happy with Princess so it wasn't worth standing there aimlessly. And yes, maybe there was a little bit of dented pride in there as well but I'm sure I'll get over it :)

Henry
 
Sexism isn't dead either!

A friend of my wife's husband sells a well known brand of motor boat, he knows us and that I build boats and that my wife is a yachty. She went up to say hi at Southampton and whilst being pleasant (it was very quiet with lots of salesmen standing around doing nothing) he was quite short with her and was very dismissive saying something like of you're not going to buy a boat I had better go! We had been shown around lots of other boats even after telling the sales staff that she owned a 1989 Sigma!

Said wife ran into another friend five minutes later who said he was just sorting out picking up his £450,000 yacht after LIBS and his friend was looking to upgrade his motor cruiser - My wife immediately offered to introduce him to a salesman from the same brand and escorted him over - she asked for said salesman at the desk and he was reluctant to come over and talk but eventually managed to spare the time (from cleaning his fingernails) whereupon she introduced him to the nice guy who wanted to order a 44 footer.
 
gjgm said:
I find that puzzling.
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Me too gigm. Each to their own but I'm amazed folks cut off their noses to spite their faces (or whatever the expression is). Manufacturers can't control dealers 100%, and dealers make mistakes. I don't see anything wrong with dealers "qualifying" leads and deciding which to consider as serious and which tyre kickers. I certainly do same in my business. You make mistakes doing this, but devoting attention to a tyre kicker can cost you a sale to someone wanting to sign/pay that day, and that too is a mistake. So get real.

Years ago I had a smaller Fairline in France and made appointment to see local dealer to buy a new Sq58. He didn't show up and there was no demo boat as he had promised there would be. I just went to another dealer. Ultimately I wanted the product, and was happy to negotiate around dealer obstacles. That dealer never got any business from me, but the builder did becuase I wouldn't be so irrational as to blame the builder and punish myself by vowing never to buy their products in some kind of pompous display of power. Two weeks ago my missus went into local Audi shop to buy an A5 that she fancied. She wasn't sure which model/engine and was treated badly by salesmen so left. Day before yesterday we both went back in, named the salesman, asked for a different one, and ordered the car for £40k or so. She could have vowed never to buy an Audi, but it would be irrational to mix up the product with some salesman. She'd have been the loser cos she actually liked the car. If you don't like the dealer, just find another that you do like, and don't throw out the baby (the product you want) with the bathwater. Life is short enough as it is. All imho
 
jhr said:
Had you just told him what you did for a living? :)

Just want to add my name to those who've had a good experience buying via Ancaster. Their sales guy was assiduous and helpful and it was only a twenty-five grand deal.

I say only, but that's a shedload of money to me........
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I think it depends which Ancaster ... I had terrible experience of the ones in Gosport ...
 
henryf said:
What a good sales person needs to do is differentiate the boaters from the day trippers. I don't think it's that hard once you engage in conversation. Where do you keep your current boat? Do you get to use her much? What do you particularly like or dislike about her? What sort of thing of you looking for in the next boat? Once you've done that you can make sure they get onto the boat as quickly and as easily as possible without having to wait behind a line of people just out for the day.

Henry
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I think your spot on Henry, I too found Sunseeker off putting and in the last 12years never had the inclination to look at their boats. It is not that I don't like S/S but how the staff behave, the salesman tend act as though they own the boats and give you that look of disinterest or is it snobbery all of which I just hate. Well that was my experience in the 90s and that was my experience last week when I thought I'd give them another go.

I walk around looking at boats that I may buy in a few years and take note how I am treated, like you say you remember salesman who are well poor salesman. I particularly remember Bavaria a few years ago, we stepped onto a boat that I thought ticked my boxes but all went pear shape when swmbo hit her head going into the cabin. As we got off the boat and I could see the salesman telling other staff who started laughing, so didn't bother to look at the next model. You just remember things like that.

It is no wonder some of them go out of business, but sad that people lose their jobs because the front line staff (salesman) are well poor salesman. Some salesman seem to treat the boat show as some kind of holiday or out on a jolly.

However on most occansions I find sales people friendly and helpful, particularly the Corvette and Beneteau this time. Although I can't afford the Corvette 340 or the Beneteau ST34 Trawler at the moment, it did get me looking at the Beneteau range of boats and started me thinking maybe they have what I'm looking for e.g. Antares range.

I tend look at the new boats of today ready for the day I buy one used, and if possible get the brochure which makes a nice reference library.
 
Its the Models that put me off...

Did anyone else see the Noemie Lenoir double on the Princess stand???

model_280_114454a.jpg


I was keen to see some of the new Princesses.... but seeing her there I was so nonplussed that I had to walk away. Clearly I was not worthy.:(
 
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