Originally Posted by kmxxbadboy

With the low level of product knowledge current Mitsubishi salespeople have, it's no wonder people go through a dealership's front doors with a level of aprehension right off the bat. In 2006, the new Mitsubishi Motors North America CEO, Hiroshi Harunari, instituted a training regimen for salespeople to go through that not only included the entire model year's product knowledge, but also individual vehicle certifications for each model. This was a bold step by the parent company. What they did was create a certification program that salespeople had to follow in order to get paid on a vehicle. If a salesperson did not complete their product knowledge exam, they were only given a 50% commission from Mitsubishi. With that in mind it forced salespeople throughout the Mitsubishi dealership network to complete this exam if they wanted their money. But what good is an open book exam? It's not like these salespeople know their product any better. I've got a floor full of 'Certified Mitsubishi Product Specialists' who still won't be able to tell you what MIVEC is, and if they can tell you what the acronym stands for, I doubt they can explain what it is in either technical or lay terminology. I've even heard stories from customers that in another Mitsubishi dealership she was shopping at, the Outlander had front 'chromosomes' to help absorb impact from a front end collision. Amazing. But on the flip-side, you have to understand where these salespeople come from. Most of them have barely made it out of high school or just been re-introduced to society from the penal system (I kid you not). There are salespeople on my floor that have been selling cars for over 20 years and are still floor salespeople. Nothing wrong with that. Everyone has the right to pick and choose the way they wish to earn a living. Salespeople aren't that bad. They're there to do a job and that's pretty much to convince the clients who walk in the door that this is the place they want to pick up their vehicle. For many people, especially on the Evo, it's a simple matter of dollars and cents. We in the automotive world have been faced with the mass appeal of the internet for quite some time now. Sites like Kelly Blue Book, Edmunds and other sites the disclose MSRP/Invoice pricing have forced the industry to change the way it does things. Now, more than ever, the customer is empowered with the knowledge of how much they expect to spend on a car. We can either sit and complain about it or actually use that to our advantage. I chose to do the latter from a long time ago. We also can't underestimate the power that a site like EvoM has on the community either. Dealerships like South Coast Mitsubishi and others have found a home here on EvoM, advertising pricing that smaller dealerships simply cannot meet. It may sound unfair, but that is business. I know many smaller dealerships here in my district that can rant all day long about South Coast Mitsubishi's pricing, but do nothing about it. My dealership moves more Evos on a month-to-month basis than any other dealership in our region, hands down. I don't use trickery or special offers to get people through the door to then hit them with all sorts of nonsense. We're in the business of moving cars, not running parking lots with cars building dust on them daily. Do we get jokers? Of course we do! What dealership doesn't? It's the job of the salesperson to pre-qualify a customer before sitting down to talk numbers. Is this person a serious prospect? Is this person just shopping around? Is this person looking to buy today? Who is the primary driver of this car going to be? Yadda yadda... A salesperson, to me, is a product specialist who knows exactly what a customer wants before they walk through the door, who uses enough of a balance of candor, rapport and humor to put an often nerve-wracking experience into one of pleasureable memory. I often advise those salespeople who have an above 3rd grade reading level to flip through the pages of Sun Tzu's Art of War. They could learn a lot. I've gone through a lot with my sales staff to teach them the finer points of our cars starting with product knowledge. I berate the hell out of them if I hear them give a wrong statement regarding a car and I will do it with a customer there right in front of them for two reasons. One, it will let the customer know that I won't tolerate a salesperson giving them bad information and two, it will embarrass the salesperson enough so that he'll remember what he/she was just taught and burn it into their memory banks. Sure, they may think I'm a royal pain in the bum for doing that, but at the end of the day it gets results. Our future clientele gets a better informed salesperson and it helps the salesperson move more units a month. Win-win, no?

I know a lot of you are still very skeptical of the people who meet and greet you when you walk in the door and I can totally understand the vantage point you are coming from. At the end of the day, it is your hard earned money that you are spending and you have every right to choose where it is you spend it. To all those who own Evos, I commend you for selecting Mitsubishi as your car of choice. For those of you seeking to get into an Evo, I wish you the best of luck in your search and hope your shopping experience is both informative and fulfilling!

Originally Posted by filter

totally not ture. i still see why in this day and age cars and houses are the only thing we negotiate for. should be like a roll of toilet paper in a store you go in. you buy it and be done. no negotiating.

salesmans to me are the devils spawns.

Originally Posted by UpstateEVOVIII

Being that I work for a high-end car dealership (Porsche/Audi/VW) I think it's funny that everyone says, "shop, shop, shop". That's not the best way to go about it because all you do by "shopping" is make the salesperson you are dealing with (who doesn't get paid to hang out with you, we work on commission you know ) angry because you, more likely than not, will not buy the car from him no matter how good of service he provides you. MOST people will drive all around and the last place they go, they'll buy the car just because they're tired of going all around and the last place already knows what you want and what they have to do because you've been around the block and back. INSTEAD of doing this, how about trying the honest approach with your salesman. Let them know you're ready to buy a car, and intend on purchasing from them so long as they're willing to realize that you won't settle for anything less than paying invoice for the vehicle knowing that you're familiar with the market. If you have to show them a reference point, don't be afraid to show them links online to dealers that advertise. They will remind you that you are buying the car locally and won't have to worry about shipping and such, and will also tell you it's a long drive to x, y, or z for service if you ever have a problem. SERVICE is something EVO drivers should value. I say you're much better off building a relationship with your local Mitsu dealer, even if it costs you a few hundred dollars more. You will save hours of your time and I promise you your service experiences (again, in most cases) will be much more pleasurable when you take your vehicle to the dealership you purchased it from.

End of rant

Originally Posted by NJ Drive

Hi Michael,

I visited your dealership just this past Saturday with the intention of trading in my 2006 STI and purchasing a white EVO 9 RS. The salesman I dealt with was very courteous but I left shortly afterwards, for fear that I was not going to be taken seriously especially with the monthly payment estimates that were shown to me. I should have known I didn't have a fighting chance after you stopped responding to my emails and returning my phone calls.

It's obvious you have the car that I want(you now have a total of eight WW EVO IX RSs in your inventory) but I feel that a reasonable deal cannot be reached without me either paying too much for the car or not getting enough for what my trade-in is truly worth.

It saddens me to have to shop elsewhere for a car that is already 15 miles away from where I live, but will do so if that's what it takes.

David Corsaro