Somebody should tell Fairline that the world has changed

  • Thread starter Thread starter Deleted User YDKXO
  • Start date Start date
"It's really shocking if you think about how much business these guys are costing their bosses/companies"

Doubt it very much,they know their market and their customers very well,stick your average well heeled actually got real money buyer in a cabin of average joes out for a day looking at stuff they have not a hope in hell of buying and 99% of the time he will stick out like a sore thumb.
Before anybody mentions that they are super rich but dress like a chav have a quick look at the old watch....Rolex or Timex ?

What about Patek, Audemars, Jaeger? Anyway... my point was that the sales people at the boat shows didn't really seem too interest in selling. Super rich or not.
 
I have a 2005 chranchi Zaffiro for sale. It's mine but due to skippering contracts for the next couple of years I will not have chance to use her I put the boat on the market about a week ago. Its good and clean with the new D4s evc 260Hp. Sorry not trying to push my boat but reading through the thread I couldn't resist. My web site www.oceandrivesales.com link at the bottom.
 
I have a 2005 chranchi Zaffiro for sale. It's mine but due to skippering contracts for the next couple of years I will not have chance to use her I put the boat on the market about a week ago. Its good and clean with the new D4s evc 260Hp. Sorry not trying to push my boat but reading through the thread I couldn't resist. My web site www.oceandrivesales.com link at the bottom.

Driving an old thread even further off course, but gives me an opportunity to put up a photo from earlier in the year....

3455387829_cd0b272b04.jpg


3456207714_7eb162a894.jpg


(hope that helps Gary ;))
 
When I worked for a prestige motor car company in sales I'll never forget an incident.

A moderately scruffy kid (12-13) arrived and was browsing the cars.

All the other salesmen ignored him completely, as they had far more "important" things to do so after a couple of minutes (thinking it was a total waste of time myself) I wandered over and introduced myself.

After about 20 minutes chat he asked to sit in the back, I opened the car door and let him have a poke around.

3 hours later, a Saudi looking gentleman arrived in a very large car, asked for me at reception, walked over to my desk and handed me a briefcase....

"My son, he want this car, my driver will collect tomorrow" was all he said and walked out leaving me with a briefcase containing £125,000 in cash....!

Nowadays you'd have to account for all that cash, but duly the next day the kid arrived with the family Bodyguard and they picked up the car which we'd taxed etc, transpires this "kid" had his own car to be taken to school in - and this really was small change for the Dad.

I earned the most commission on that one deal I ever earned on any deal in my entire life - a car like that at full price is pretty much unheard of in the Motor Trade.

Taught me the most valuable lesson ever - don't matter what someone looks like - they may be a real customer, and you never know how much money ANYONE has just by looking at them!
 
When I worked for a prestige motor car company in sales I'll never forget an incident.

A moderately scruffy kid (12-13) arrived and was browsing the cars.

All the other salesmen ignored him completely, as they had far more "important" things to do so after a couple of minutes (thinking it was a total waste of time myself) I wandered over and introduced myself.

After about 20 minutes chat he asked to sit in the back, I opened the car door and let him have a poke around.

3 hours later, a Saudi looking gentleman arrived in a very large car, asked for me at reception, walked over to my desk and handed me a briefcase....

"My son, he want this car, my driver will collect tomorrow" was all he said and walked out leaving me with a briefcase containing £125,000 in cash....!

Nowadays you'd have to account for all that cash, but duly the next day the kid arrived with the family Bodyguard and they picked up the car which we'd taxed etc, transpires this "kid" had his own car to be taken to school in - and this really was small change for the Dad.

I earned the most commission on that one deal I ever earned on any deal in my entire life - a car like that at full price is pretty much unheard of in the Motor Trade.

Taught me the most valuable lesson ever - don't matter what someone looks like - they may be a real customer, and you never know how much money ANYONE has just by looking at them!

Wise words. Anyone in sales needs to print this and stick it on their desk. I had a P/T retail job in a luxury goods shop when I was 18 and the first thing they taught is to treat everyone like a potential customer (or secret shopper!).
 
Wise words. Anyone in sales needs to print this and stick it on their desk. I had a P/T retail job in a luxury goods shop when I was 18 and the first thing they taught is to treat everyone like a potential customer (or secret shopper!).

Pre credit crunch I suspect many sales folks (rightly) took the view that it didn't matter that someone who looked like they had enough wealth to support their desired lifestyle actually didn't :rolleyes: - as they were still capable of signing a HP form / loading a credit card / extracting house equity........and indeed simply looking the part probably meant they were more likely to carry on buying the look.

Post credit crunch might be a bit trickier if having to seperate the fur coat and no knickers brigade from those with the cash to splash.
 
When I worked for a prestige motor car company in sales I'll never forget an incident.

A moderately scruffy kid (12-13) arrived and was browsing the cars.

I earned the most commission on that one deal I ever earned on any deal in my entire life - a car like that at full price is pretty much unheard of in the Motor Trade.

Taught me the most valuable lesson ever - don't matter what someone looks like - they may be a real customer, and you never know how much money ANYONE has just by looking at them!

Many years ago I worked selling Jewellery for a living at Beaverbrooks the Jewellers. On the last day of the summer sale we were £8.5k short of our bonus target and we were based in Blackpool in the early 1990's so it just was all over. At 4.30pm the branch manager gave up as we still needed £3.5k to make budget sales. An old lady walked in and I went over. I sold her a £3.85k ring....which she wanted and could afford. We got the bonus payment but the Mgr took all the credit. Taught me two (3) things. 1) always treat each customer equal and 2) management will screw you over at every opportunity (3) although good at sales I was not cut throught enough!!!!!!

Glad you made that sale....

Paul
 
Customer Service...

Ok boat forum and car stories...well here's mine which is the inverse of ontheplpane's and makes the same point:

Moved to UK in 2000 and needed to buy two cars. One Saturday my wife and I were out looking and walked into a Mercedes dealership in Guildford at around 4:45pm. Nobody came near us and so I finally went over to one of the sales guys and asked if he could help us as we needed two cars. He looked at his watch and then gave me a look which can only be described as one you would give someone who had just asked him how much money he had in the bank. He then said, "We close at 5 so can't help you today, you can come back on Monday!". I had to actually ask for brochures which he reluctantly provided after huffing off to find them.

I have told this story to probably hundreds of people and I am sure it has cost them some sales beyond the one they lost from us. We ended up with one Merc which we purchased from a dealer in Ascot and even though we now live literally 10 minutes from the local dealer, we bring it to Ascot for service. More revenue out the window!
 
I tried to buy a used SeaRay from the Fairline dealer in Torquay a few years ago. I looked at it on two separate occasions but didn’t ask for a sea trial. When I phoned to make an offer on it the salesman refused to take my calls. After a week of trying I gave up and bought a SeaRay 260 in Brighton. I saw him recently in Plymouth and he recognised me. He said “I bet you never did buy a boat did you” so convinced was he that I was a time waster. “Yes" replies me, “that one there” pointing at my boat.
 
There's nothing like a bit of Fred Rift on a Friday afternoon, so let me help.

Gary, just in case you don't remember Rick, here's a picture to remind you what he looks like:

rickp.jpg


Cheers
Jimmy

Oh - I missed that yesterday - more Fred Rift

And, Gary, just in case you don't remember Jimmy the Builder , here's a picture to remind you what HE looks like:


trip103Medium.jpg


Mike
 
Last edited:
Top