It's time for a new car! My wife and I arrived at the dealership on a Saturday afternoon with the specific intent of looking at a Ford Expedition. We needed an SUV that qualified for the IRS deduction for business use and that vehicle happened to be one on the list.

As we exited our car, one of the members of the "holy huddle" separated from the group and approached us by saying, "Oh no, we've barely got out of the car and here comes the sales guy!"

The greeting was pleaseant enough and Mark was very friendly. In fact, he even mentioned that with all the other dealers around, you just can't treat people bad anymore. But after an exchange of names, our saleperson asked, "How can I help you?" And here's what transpired after that question:

- He took us straight to the lowest priced Expedition on the lot without asking us anything about equipment or colors.

- He immediately told us about the special financing and cash back on that model.

- He didn't offer us a test drive; I had to ask for one.

- At the end of our visit, he had me fill out a contest form that included my name, phone, mailing address and e-mail address.

That exchange took place two weeks ago and I haven't received a follow up call, a card or any correspondence from the dealership whatsoever. What I have received is about 10 annoying recorded messages from a cruise ship company asking me to call in and claim my free cruise award. So what's my point?

As nice as the salesperson was, he didn't do the fundamentally important things required to sell me a car. He didn't determine my needs, didn't offer me a demonstration, and he never followed up to see if I was still in the market, which I am. We promote customer focused processes but make no mistake, we also promote doing things in a way that actually gets results!

So don't neglect the sale for the sake of being nice. You can do both!

Call us about how to make customers happy AND make more money than you ever thought possible.