Car Selling Secrets

There's bad customer service, and then there's Walser customer service.  It's even worse.  I kid, of course.  Does any other dealer trust their employees enough to give them a microphone and an audience?  Seriously, do they?  We make shows, not listen to them.

www.walser.com

Tom and Doug are joined in studio by Rob and Bryce the intern. Rob currently does sales training and talks about what it was like starving to death in the winter while doing motor sports sales. Doug puts Tom to sleep with an in depth analysis of the effect of federally relaxed cafe standards and the large manufacturers that are circumventing that by dealing directly with the California CARB (clean air resource board). Scintillating to say the least.

A regular caller phones in to inquire about a sales job and Rob tries to talk Bryce the intern into a sales career. 

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If you're just one or two people, Uber is a good way to get around without needing your own car.  If you have 87 kids, ride sharing can't help you.  Doug might be able to get you a bus or an APC at auction, because Walser cares.  And also because selling an APC would be cool.

A rare episode without a guest. Doug tells a personal story about how a brush with colon cancer lead to a stint as an Uber driver. We discuss the flaws in Uber including losing a billion dollars a quarter and why it’s important to know your rider rating and how to protect that. Somehow the conversation turns to the record holder for giving birth to the most kids (69), who owns Rolls Royce (BMW) and summer air inflation tire tips.

www.walser.com

If you have any questions, email Doug at [email protected]

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Doug's entire family has been in the car business at some point, apparently.  It's a strong argument for nature vs. nurture.  On the other hand, legend has it that Brent went into the business after hearing too many puns on the term "new fangled" and went insane.

Tom and Doug are joined in the studio by Brent Fangel, General Manager at Walser Nissan in Burnsville. Brent talks about his pre-car life as a Cordon Blu chef and working at Edina Country Club where, many moons ago, he served Tom omlettes and pastries proving, again, what a small town Minneapolis is. We talk about self-driving cars and sleeping in a Tesla on the freeway and how Doug lost his chance at the Suzzane Sommers American Graffitti 57 T-bird due to high blood pressure.

www.walser.com

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We've got electric cars.  Soon we'll have self-driving cars that are actually reliable.  The flying car and the time traveling car are both probably pretty far off, but with sufficient quantities of wine you'll feel like you're 21 again.  Disclaimer: don't do that too often.

Tom and Doug are joined by Paul Walser. It starts out tame while we discuss the history of one price and NADA's vision of the future of the car business. Suddenly, we are reliving cash for clunkers, Paul's love of Amy Kloubuchar ,(who actually calls Paul during the show and he flips her down) and pranking Erick Nordstrom with edible underwear. This is followed by a discussion of Denny Hecker's golf swing and Tom inadvertently donating $500,000 dollars to charity. Our fact checkers verify that all of these stories are true.

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Remember the days of negotiating down from the sticker price?  There's a reason Walser doesn't do that.  There's also a reason we don't repaint the entire car when it gets a small dent any more.  Both reasons happen to involve money and time.

Tom and Doug are joined by Randy Kvale, General Manager of Walser Experienced Autos. Doug and Randy started selling cars together in the vastly different world of the 80's. We share war stories about how the industry standard was taking advantage of people drinking too much, smashing up demos and much more. Tips on how to keep your eye on the ball when working with a negotiating dealer and why the Walser Way was invented. Fortunately for Doug and Randy, the statute of limitations has expired.

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Polar Mazda sells Mazdas.  Can you pluralize Mazda?  Whatever, not important.  The important question is: what makes the Mazdas polar?  Is it because Minnesota is cold?  Is it because it's in White Bear Lake, and polar bears are white?  Perhaps we should have asked during the show.

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People over the age of a million remember certain things.  Like the last time the Twins won the world series, or when electric cars were Jetsons-only.  One of those things have changed.  Perhaps one day the other will too.

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Everyone's getting older.  You'd think that's an obvious statement, but apparently not to the average marketing director.  All the money's tied up in the elderly and nobody seems to care.  Nobody except Buick.

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They don't have a car vending machine - which is okay because it's largely a marketing gimmick - but what they do have is Kevin, who sells like three times as much as an average car salesman.  They also, unlike everybody in the 80s, have scruples.

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