BMW rolling out new US dealership standards for 2015

[LDSM]

I think the problem is the entire process of buying a car.

Hiring "Apple geniuses" to answer people's questions is completely missing the problem.

People are tired of the car buying experience. No one wants to spend hours in a car dealership while a salesperson plays mind games with you going back and forth with numbers. I read a study that buying a car is something people HATE, all of the negotiation and feeling like its a "battle" between you and the dealer.

The whole salesperson aspect needs to change. Grilling customers trying to trick them into a deal is a bad way to do business. Now that information is readily available and you can technically buy a car from any dealer in the country, good customer service is key.

A dealership shouldn't be a place you dread having to visit, be it for buying a car or for regular service.

[Phaeron]

Lets hope they start holding dealerships responsible for their lack luster customer service. The two BMW dealerships in my area are absolutely horrible. Incompetent sales staff at both while one has the rudest service department I have ever seen. My lasy experience was so bad I found myself wishing I could have just end the lease pay the 300 dollar fee and leave.

[Kristalov]

I know they are there to help but with so many models of BMW's and various features these poor guys come across as less than knowledgeable. Lets face it when I order a car or plan on buying one I typically download the pdf manual online weeks before in anticipation. Thanks internet.

[loesch]

Originally Posted by Phaeron

Lets hope they start holding dealerships responsible for their lack luster customer service. The two BMW dealerships in my area are absolutely horrible. Incompetent sales staff at both while one has the rudest service department I have ever seen. My lasy experience was so bad I found myself wishing I could have just end the lease pay the 300 dollar fee and leave.

Fact is they don't get paid enough to be as good as our expectations demand. I think these dealerships need less sales staff but higher wages. My local dealer has staff that don't even know how to use the radio in my car (actual fact) but there are 4 or 5 of them just wandering around with nothing to do each time I'm in there. I'm sure they aren't getting paid much to walk around.

[ZilberGrau ZHP]

Beyond the "Genius" thing- can BMW just make it to where their dealers dont suck?
Not wanting to paint with a broad brush but the Independant woman owned dealership in San Antonio sucks and the Penske "Corporate" one in Austin same way- at least thats
been my experience over these past 10 years of BMW ownership.

[ORIGIN M.]

Genius? I think not.

I don't deal with people who do not know their product. I am not allowing some salesperson to get a dime that did not add any value to my purchase. I'll just deal with the sales manager instead. The car business is so stuck in time.

Customer Satisfaction is Worthless

Customer Loyalty is Priceless !!

[mosborn78108]

Originally Posted by swagon

So in Germany, they've got the BMW Niederlassung dealerships in bigger cities, which are owned by BMW AG, and the other dealerships that are basically franchises, am I right?

My understanding is now all BMW dealerships are affiliated with BMW AG. BMW has pulled authorization from 3rd party new sales as of July 2014

[JustChris]

Originally Posted by Fraggy

Geniuses need better training. Mine knew very little and used a cheat sheet and fiddled around with stuff. It was truly a waste of an hour.

I'm inclined to agree . Genius idea has been around for a while in the UK. Although helpful I found in quite a few areas I had better knowledge (disappointing).

Maybe there should just be a Terminal with super fast internet and a default user logged into.....Bimmerpost! Simples

[Alfisti]

I am new to BMW or any sort of prestige vehicle. I am of extremely humble origins and never really wanted to glam about in luxury cars or deal with what i suspected was going to be an "expectation that one has money to burn".

Drove beat up Alfas, Neon, Accent and bought a Saab wagon for family duty (which it is exceedingly good at). Mrs finally had enough of the Accent and said she needed a badge because she looks like a schmuck when out with other lawyers. So X1 it is.

So took it in for a service, it was on my dime. I fucking LOATHED the experience. They do EVERYTHING within their power to avoid mention the actual price of the work, it was like puling teeth. There's an intentional air of if you have to ask, you cannot afford it. I cannot stand shite like that. Then the person handling me tries he damndest to upsell me to a 3 series wagon, just service the damned car and get me on the road.

[Alfisti]

Originally Posted by Phaeron

Lets hope they start holding dealerships responsible for their lack luster customer service. The two BMW dealerships in my area are absolutely horrible. Incompetent sales staff at both while one has the rudest service department I have ever seen. My lasy experience was so bad I found myself wishing I could have just end the lease pay the 300 dollar fee and leave.

$300??? WTF? It's $1300 here.

[taibanl]

+1

[StealYourFace]

Originally Posted by modkrazy

This idea must have been the brainchild of an idiot savant. How about training your regular sales staff to know what the hell they are selling, or your service people not to be useless assholes?

As a sales manager at a domestic store, I can tell you that is my goal for my store, but often not the reality. I train my people to have knowledge and be able to close business, but they definitely are not 'car people' like us on a forum. The biggest thing I do that helps is ensure my people don't say things they don't know to be a fact, and get the proper info when a customer questions them rather than say something stupid and instantly lose credibility.

[taibanl]

Originally Posted by ShocknAwe

Be nice if they would roll out new standards mandating that their service departments treat you like the asset you are and try to win your business rather than expecting it and treating you like scum.

+1

[F32Fleet]

How about scrap the entire franchise system itself. Protectionism at its best.

[nike001]

Originally Posted by wdeerfield

When it comes to operating the idrive on my car, i shouldnt have to watch the genius fumble through the idrive screens to find how to pair a phone.. So something like that was not even a test of his knowledge.. Being an enthusiast i did know how to use the functions on the idrive when i went to buy my f10 after buying my e90 from the same place. I let them go through their whole delivery pickup routine and played dumb to just listen. Heck, i paid for it, might as well go through it, maybe i forgot about something etc..

as for the whole salesperson is disconnected, my CA follows up with hand written cards etc.. and even calls me from time to time asking about how I'm enjoying my cars etc.. I'd say that's much better than the genius.

Unless the genius upsell anything, they are considered a nonproductive employee at a dealership, i can only imagine franchise owners hating having them on the payroll

Bold: Our time is as valuable as yours. Why have a Genius go through the whole ordeal if you already know it all? Especially if you're just waiting for them to make a mistake.

The idea is that they aren't a nonproductive employee - they're there to build relationships. A customer with a pleasant buying experience is likely to come back again, no?

Originally Posted by Devin.RS

I think the problem is the entire process of buying a car.

1)Hiring "Apple geniuses" to answer people's questions is completely missing the problem.

2)People are tired of the car buying experience. No one wants to spend hours in a car dealership while a salesperson plays mind games with you going back and forth with numbers. I read a study that buying a car is something people HATE, all of the negotiation and feeling like its a "battle" between you and the dealer.

3)The whole salesperson aspect needs to change. Grilling customers trying to trick them into a deal is a bad way to do business. Now that information is readily available and you can technically buy a car from any dealer in the country, good customer service is key.

A dealership shouldn't be a place you dread having to visit, be it for buying a car or for regular service.

It's weird that the answer to your 2 is the same as 1. BMW's getting rid of the car buying experience ordeal. That's why this entire thread was made - new US dealership standards. They're getting rid of actually offices where price standoffs occur in favor of round tables where there is no offense & defense.

3) The whole salesperson aspect needs to change? You mean like hiring people that don't create stressful atmosphere's where people are pressured into buying cars? Oh, like a Genius? You're like red-sauerkraut, complaining about the old structure and yet bashing BMW for trying to create a better & more pleasant way of buying cars. It's a learning stage everyone's going to have to go through. Nothing's ever perfect the first time around.

Originally Posted by loesch

Fact is they don't get paid enough to be as good as our expectations demand. I think these dealerships need less sales staff but higher wages. My local dealer has staff that don't even know how to use the radio in my car (actual fact) but there are 4 or 5 of them just wandering around with nothing to do each time I'm in there. I'm sure they aren't getting paid much to walk around.

It seems that BMW's idea is to lessen the amount of actual salespeople and increase the amount of Genius's, just so there are more technologically advanced enough to help you with items in your car - or a car you're looking at buying.

Originally Posted by red-sauerkraut

Genius? I think not.

I don't deal with people who do not know their product. I am not allowing some salesperson to get a dime that did not add any value to my purchase. I'll just deal with the sales manager instead. The car business is so stuck in time.

Customer Satisfaction is Worthless

Customer Loyalty is Priceless !!

Bolded. That's why BMW is hiring Genius's - theyre trying to change the experience to a more enthusiastic one. BMW knows that there are salesmen that forget about them and don't know the cars - that's where the Genius comes in.

Your post is contradictive. You're saying that that the car business is so stuck in time while complaining about the thing they're doing to change it. Come on now...

[mose121]

Now now guys. I know most of us have had the same kind of experience at Apple stores or dealing with the cable company, etc. Bmw has essentially created the need for these "geniuses" because they insist on building 27 million different models, all with unique options and features of their own. It's impossible for one sales person to keep up on every models tech, promos, finance programs and interest rates, etc for each individual model. This is the exact problem I've been taking about for years when they decided to double the about of models in production over a short time frame. How many of our dealers have doubled in size or their number of employee's over the last 5-8 years. None of them have, and now Bmw has placed a huge burden on their dealer network to support all these additional units in operation. There's no way 90% of dealers could ever keep pace with that kind of growth. Most dealers don't even have enough physical space to park cars right now so they are buying/renting properties just for parking inventory and service cars. They are all going to have to move to another property or undergo huge renovations and expansions in their current location. Many dealers just can't afford that and Bmw just expects them to be able to drop a few million at a moment's notice. It's really Bmw that's to blame here as their corporate growth strategy didn't account for their franchises logistical and financial challenges that came with it.

[Tag]

Originally Posted by Downeaster1

Dealership technician and former genius here; 90% of the people don't know or care what an F80 or N54 are. People typically just want to know how to do X, Y & Z. Same goes for Apple. Not everyone cares what the hell a logicboard is. They just want to browse the Internet.

Calling an I6 a V6 or DCT as SMG are things they shouldn't confuse. My favorite moment was when I schooled the genius on the functionality of the iDrive system, and his words were "you know better than me".

[mose121]

Originally Posted by swagon

So in Germany, they've got the BMW Niederlassung dealerships in bigger cities, which are owned by BMW AG, and the other dealerships that are basically franchises, am I right?

There is only one factory owned store in the U.S., BMW of Manhattan. At least a year ago that was case.

[Ezio]

Originally Posted by mose121

Now now guys. I know most of us have had the same kind of experience at Apple stores or dealing with the cable company, etc. Bmw has essentially created the need for these "geniuses" because they insist on building 27 million different models, all with unique options and features of their own. It's impossible for one sales person to keep up on every models tech, promos, finance programs and interest rates, etc for each individual model. This is the exact problem I've been taking about for years when they decided to double the about of models in production over a short time frame. How many of our dealers have doubled in size or their number of employee's over the last 5-8 years. None of them have, and now Bmw has placed a huge burden on their dealer network to support all these additional units in operation. There's no way 90% of dealers could ever keep pace with that kind of growth. Most dealers don't even have enough physical space to park cars right now so they are buying/renting properties just for parking inventory and service cars. They are all going to have to move to another property or undergo huge renovations and expansions in their current location. Many dealers just can't afford that and Bmw just expects them to be able to drop a few million at a moment's notice. It's really Bmw that's to blame here as their corporate growth strategy didn't account for their franchises logistical and financial challenges that came with it.

a job like that is doable, as long as the pay is where it should be.

a salesman has to know his product, period.

[mose121]

Originally Posted by Devin.RS

I think the problem is the entire process of buying a car.

Hiring "Apple geniuses" to answer people's questions is completely missing the problem.

People are tired of the car buying experience. No one wants to spend hours in a car dealership while a salesperson plays mind games with you going back and forth with numbers. I read a study that buying a car is something people HATE, all of the negotiation and feeling like its a "battle" between you and the dealer.

The whole salesperson aspect needs to change. Grilling customers trying to trick them into a deal is a bad way to do business. Now that information is readily available and you can technically buy a car from any dealer in the country, good customer service is key.

A dealership shouldn't be a place you dread having to visit, be it for buying a car or for regular service.

You're absolutely right, the car buying process should be easy like buying any other product. You should pay the price listed on the price tag, no more no less. However we the consumer screwed ourselves by playing dealers off each other to get the best price and demanding invoice prices be public knowledge because we didn't want to pay sticker price. No other product is sold this way and neither should cars. You pay what it costs, how easy is that?

[mose121]

Originally Posted by Ezio

a job like that is doable, as long as the pay is where it should be.

a salesman has to know his product, period.

There's not enough time in the day for someone to do what you're asking. The job salary has nothing do do with how much you can physically do. Most dealer employees already work 50-60 hour weeks as it is just to try and keep up. Should we all work 80 hour weeks now? Haahaha, GTFOOH! By the way most of us don't get paid hourly, so we're already putting in a lot of hours with not much compensation for the extra time and effort.

[Phaeron]

Originally Posted by loesch

Fact is they don't get paid enough to be as good as our expectations demand. I think these dealerships need less sales staff but higher wages. My local dealer has staff that don't even know how to use the radio in my car (actual fact) but there are 4 or 5 of them just wandering around with nothing to do each time I'm in there. I'm sure they aren't getting paid much to walk around.

no, they do not pay the staff anywhere near enough. At the BMW dealership near me you never see the same sales man more than three times. They get an almost new staff every 3 months. Dealerships are a legalized Ponzi scheme where the sales man and even these new poor "geniuses" get payed at most 10 bucks an hour. I know the BMW sales people in Richmond gets paid about 24-36k a year.... You expect your salesman to be passionate and love a car when they do not make enough to buy them new...?

I hate dealerships its a den of thieves where they rob their customers and employees.