WHICH Brand Has The BEST Salespeople? Or Is This NOT Brand Specific?

It really depends on the owner of the dealership or dealer group. Smaller dealers (only a few stores) tend to treat their customers better where the dealer principal is well known in the community they serve and interact with members of the community outside the dealership. Sales and service staff tend to be fixtures as well.

Larger multi franchise dealer groups usually have sales systems that they apply to in all franchises to all customers implemented by a revolving door management teams and staff. Dealer principal is detached from the day to day operations.

Then there are the legacy dealerships where the first generation builds it, the second maintains it, the third destroys it.

I've owned 9 Aston Martins for the past 32 Years, a car that you would think would have the most knowledgeable sales people about that specific product. And that sometimes happens when the dealer happens to only sell that brand and not many others under the same roof, which is very few Aston only dealers. My first 'new' Aston Martin was purchased through Lake Forest in Chicago who had dedicated sales staff that knew the line and customer - back in 2006, and the service department was always great, even though it was 400 miles from my home in Minneapolis. Aston's dealer network has expanded quite a bit to those offering a variety of other brands and I find the sales staff in general have no clue as to the customer base, unique aspects of the brand to make a sale, and in my recent experience purchasing a 'left over new' 2017 V12S Vantage - rude, insulting, sarcastic, and unresponsive. While searching specifically for a non-black 2017 V12S (I do not like any of the current product offerings), the dealers I dealt with were in general lacking interest, and even when I offered my local Aston Dealer salesman (he no longer works there) to broker the deal from the California dealer who had the car, he did not return a half dozen E-Mails and Phone calls so I handled the sales myself and with the help of an ex-Aston salesman, and even then it was nightmarish to the extreme. I closed the deal with a $65K deposit and signed the loan documents, and when I received the car it had no paperwork, a few weeks later I got the paperwork to get the plates, but it was not the correct paperwork. It turned out they did not pay the taxes, and asked me to pay again out of pocket - and they would FedEx a check - that did not come so quickly, and that check bounced! After about 6 weeks after signing the loan of running around the incompetent staff (all of the staff, not just the sales), I thought all was done. Then I got a call from the shipper saying I owed them $2,250, that the salesman said they paid their half and I never paid mine - guess what? Yep, I paid mine and the salesman was wrong.

The main problem is that this experience soured me from a 32 year experience in the brand and I no longer have any passion about the brand, and feel that Aston Martin Corporate has not done enough to compensate me, although I eventually got a proper apology from one of the dealers employees, but nothing from the owner of the dealership, and a pittance of compensation.

About the same time, my wife leased a base Hyundai Tucson - we were treated with respect, continue to be treated with respect, by knowledgeable sales staff.

Sorry to hear about your experience!

Glad to hear the Hyundai dealer treated you right.

To ask which brand has the best salespeople is idiotic.

Granted the more expensive the brand the more imperative there is not to screw up or you'll be fired from the gravy train, but it all comes down to training and stability of the management team and how doggedly they train their staff to perform well.

Reality: a Kia Rio buyer deserves the same respect and care as someone buying an S Class Mercedes with the Maybach trim level. That's often not the case, but an upset customer is a squawk box and you don't want that.

Its sales person specific. Definitely not brand or even dealership specific.

I'll disagree with it not being dealership specific. There are numerous dealerships that are know to have high standards and the sales force has to rise to the expectation.

The reverse is also true.

What is going to really interesting in the future is the effect of Tesla and it has nothing to do with their cars. Tesla has pierced various state laws that prohibit direct sales by a manufacturer to the general public. (Although numerous Ferrari dealerships have been owned by very close associates of the factory for years).

It wouldn’t be hard to envision upscale small volume manufacturers such as Aston, Lamborghini etc. replacing its poor dealers with factory owned stores. Also Given the requirement of even more grandiose stand alone facilities like Porsche is requiring that is driving many long time smaller dealers to sell. Could easily see Porsche factory stores.

Direct sales = price fixing = bad for customers.
Tesla also takes human being out of the equation.
Tesla is precisely how NOT to do business.

Actually it would not be price fixing if a manufacturer sets a price at which the choose to sell their product (see Apple) however if a group of competing retailer dealers get together and set a price at which they would sell a product that is price fixing.

I’m not saying which I support one system over the other, just something to be aware of that most people have missed.

No - it is PRICE Fixing. Tesla sets the sales price for ALL its vehicles the same everywhere - if that is not price fixing - nothing is - and in fact they even set the price they will offer for your trade in (If they will take it) as well. You cannot go from one "dealer" to another and negotiate a price. ANd that is a competitive DISADVANTAGE -when there is LOTS of competition - which will happen in the near future. WHen you add in the almost complete lack of local dealerships/service facilities =- and there is ANOTHER problem

Tesla has not revealed its service code structure to the public. It is possible to be in an accident - and AFTER you get the car fixed by your legal choice of local Auto Body shop - that the car will need to be towed to a Tesla service center to have the computer re-set. At that time - and they have done this - they can inspect the repair and REFUSE to rest the computer if the repair does not meet their standards (THey don't authorize Many used parts for instance) so you now have an expensive paper weight waiting for legal proceedings against them. (The law REQUIRES you to be able to choose your repair facility in an accident). Even if that is not the case - what if your car is 200 miles away from the closest Tesla repair facility -remembering that YOU have to pay for the tow in an accident.

It is not price fixing for a manufacturer to set a price for a product it produces and sells itself. Every manufacturer of every product in the world does this.

The perfect example is apple, they sell their product directly to public through Apple stores and through other retailers. There is very little price difference between Apple stores and other retailers perfectly legal.

However Apple recently lost a price fixing case concerning Apps they didn’t produce sold through the App Store.

It is the dealer and manager. As evidence, the service department is usually as good as the sales department. I had a great experience at Acura as the sales manager always made a point to say hello if he saw me in the service area even though I was not going to buy a car that day. They also had the same professional people in service for years. This all comes from the top.
MB, not so much.

It's all down to ownership and the business model they employ. One BMW dealer may be service oriented and another just in a volume game with young salesman hovering in turn to ponce on the next person through the door. Our recent purchase saw that first hand. In the end I went with MB to a sales guy that I've bought from before. He alone went above and beyond and spent hours explaining the MBUX to my father (76 years old) at delivery.

Saying that, my Porsche dealer experience has been top notch. With LOTS of after sales follow up. Probably my best buying experience to date.

THe level of People is DEALER and Manager specific. I have found that most of the best dealerships are long term owned by one family or group. You will be able to tell - all you need is to ask how long people have worked there - bad dealerships tend to CHURN employees. A really good Sales Manager often has salesmen who follow him around - as does a Service Manager.

When my brother owned his dealership - He was his own SERVICE MANAGER and consistently won National Service awards. His dealership was the place the Manufacturer sent problem cars if no one else could find the problem - and a number of mechanics in the dealership were with him for decades - and therefore were around for LOTS of manufacturer Service sessions. He had the same sales manager for all but a week of being in charge.

Years back - my local Mercedes Dealer was like that too - but now bought out by a chain - where the best mechanics are sent to the biggest facility now.

Our dealer group happened by accident. Three friends who owned several car dealerships each decided to merge their holdings because two were well past retirement age and were still 100% involved and wanted to enjoy time off. When they merged interests, the youngest of the 3 (who incidentally is now pushing 80) quickly assembled a cadre of people he could trust to create a management structure that would sustain the holdings. I was still in college. #3 cut me a deal that he would pay for my education if I would work for the company (and go to school) and then stay for 5 years. I did. My time is up this year. I'm staying. Some of the dealerships were ditched because they are more headache than they were worth (VW and Jaguar to name two) and some were purchased because they were terrible--but in good markets--that we could flip. We purposefully do NOT use the corporate name as the name of our dealers. We prefer innocuous names like "Brand of City". One dealer still maintains a legacy name of a family that was a great dealer, but the family wanted out. The trick isn't finding a dealer to acquire or eve to flip it, but to sustain it once it's all new and better and the honeymoon has worn off. We've flipped dealers only to have people who were there before us that we kept want to buy the dealer from us and we've sold. I enjoy what I do.

OMG I need my own TV show. I love John Taffer and Bar Rescue. I could do Car Rescue. I can see my star on the Hollywood walk of fame next to Donald Trump!

I don't think it's brand specific - I feel like it's more Dealer-group specific. A company founded on high integrity, service-oriented employees will typically have the best group of sales people. Many luxury dealers will only hire sales people with college degrees, and those typically will have high levels of product knowledge. It's very hit or miss to be honest, so your best bet is to always ask around or use dealer rater to find sales people you can develop a long last relationship with.

Tesla by far--although they are not really salespeople paid on commission.

To assume that salespeople are always paid on commission is inaccurate.