NV sales vs NV knowledge

[radin2son]

In July, 2015, Nissan sold 1526 NVs (1500, 2500 and 3500. No breakdown on cargo vs passenger); this is slightly less than last month. Year to date is 9000+, which is about 1000 more than this time last year. Divide this month's sales by the number of dealers, and not that many are sold per dealership even if a dealer is able to sell every unit they can get their hands on. So why is it after 3+ years that sales and knowledge don't match up? Was it the sales associate, commercial manager or the accountant who said you need a commercial loan for a NVP? Was it the tech or service manager who said the sonar problem is related to idling? There are other examples but fortunately not that many.

 

I know we as customers are motivated by price and budget. More power to you if you stick to your budget. But with NVs, it appears crucial to go beyond the sales accociate and meet the commercial manager and have him introduce you to the service manager. Maybe the test of a good dealership should be that the sales associate takes the initiative and makes these introductions. Be prepared and bring a list of questions along with your "buyer's cheat sheet."

 

I should add that our buying NV experience was not the norm. We picked up our converted NV SMB at the factory in Fresno, CA, went on a trip and returned via the dealership in Dublin, CA, to complete some more paperwork and pick up the nav card. The commercial sales manager gave us the vehicle orientation. We also tend to meet techs, sales and service managers who want to check out our SMB. So far service has been excellent wherever we end up every 5000 miles or so.

Edited August 6, 2015 by radin2son

[ASD Dad]

I have no clue why the Commercial Mangers are clueless.  You have two vehicles to memorize - the NV large series (1500, 2500, 3500) and the small guys (NV200).  That is it!  Low to high roof doesnt make much difference and there are only 3 trim levels.  I think it is laziness honestly.  I sold cars for several years in the early 90's.  Worked my way to management.  Granted I was a car geek before getting the job and that is what helped me land the job but I WANTED to know everything about every car we sold.  There were the occasional things that were missed but 95% of what the vehicle did or had equipped I knew about.  That may also be why I was top sales person every month/year and I worked to management after only 2 years on the floor.  

 

Still, there is no excuse for a Commercial specialist to not know the vehicle when the line is as limited as it is.  

 

Same thing with an NV tech.  If he is their master NV tech and he told me the sonar beeps were from the vehicle idling I would have a huge issue with that!  Now service managers and advisers, their only job is to upsell you into extras - cabin filters, wiper blades, alignments, etc.  Very few of them know a camshaft from a wheel bearing.  Now the manager should know where to get correct answers but most of the time they just spew nonsense.  Things I have heard said while waiting at a dealership on service have made my head spin.

 

The biggest issue with buying a dealership with the Commercial line is that there are not many dealers around.  I tend to buy by service.  I could care less about the sales experience, I'll deal with them one time.  We keep vehicles a while so I will deal with the service dept many times.  We couldnt do that with the NVP because we have ONE dealer locally.  Even they are an hour away.  Next closest is two hours away.  I wasnt about to drive 4 hours round trip every time I needed to go to a dealer.  If we really wanted the NVP we had to learn to live with the dealer we have.  Thankfully the new service manager is great.  The two techs seem to know what they are doing.  The sales and finance team they have are not the best but I got the deal I wanted so it worked out.

[BuyinganNVP]

I take it the commercial loan thing had to do with my experience today ;)

It was from the financial manager who was trying to get the loans, and my guess is that since he is only dealing with commercial vehicles, his banks that he gets loans from see them all as commercial vehicles. In addition, many NVPs ARE bought for commercial use -- shuttles, for example. So I don't know how many a year these dealers actually sell of personal use vehicles.

(Now I have to make sure my insurance sees this as a personal vehicle; my friend is paying commercial prices for hers!)

 

Knowing the technology and options, though, that should be something easily picked up as they don't vary all that much between the 4 models they sell. I do agree that unless the worker is new, there should be some understanding of what is going on and standard complaints. Or maybe they should just read this forum; it's not that overwhelming!

[radin2son]

BuyinanNVP, you are right in that you were the source.

 

Only one Nissan dealership in WA, who posted and attatched a photo, has set up a stand alone commercial "dealership" or sales/service building. There may be others, but this has to be costly and needs a robust market, as they say. So, in all probability, sales and finance do both non and commercial at the majority of dealers. Same is true for the service adviser and manager. A good service manager, however, can save the day.

 

The commercial sales manager and NV dedicated tech are most likely the only ones we can rely on, but contact generally is limited. I met the local commercial sales manager only once, when he wanted to talk about SMBs. I learned he was approached by SMB to sell them, but he declined. I have a better relationship with the service manager and a service adviser who handles most if not all NV service appointments. This helps.

[Chris_CommercialManager]

I have no clue why the Commercial Mangers are clueless.  You have two vehicles to memorize - the NV large series (1500, 2500, 3500) and the small guys (NV200).  That is it!  Low to high roof doesnt make much difference and there are only 3 trim levels.  I think it is laziness honestly.  I sold cars for several years in the early 90's.  Worked my way to management.  Granted I was a car geek before getting the job and that is what helped me land the job but I WANTED to know everything about every car we sold.  There were the occasional things that were missed but 95% of what the vehicle did or had equipped I knew about.  That may also be why I was top sales person every month/year and I worked to management after only 2 years on the floor.  

 

 

 

That's not fair, but I don't take it personally.  

 

I have 4 different manufacturers of equipment I can choose to upfit in those "two vehicles" for our tradesman.  I need to know full product lines, prices and options.  As an example I need to know if an A Frame ladder will fit on an Adrian drop down, I need to know that if it's over 6ft I need an upgrade kit.  If someone asks a question I need to know the answer, I can't just stop in conversation and start making calls.

 

I need to evaluate builders for mobility or custom conversion.  I need to evualuate the vendors I choose to use and investigate their build quality before spending my customers hard earned cash.  Just recently I went to a facility and saw a car battery powering on board accessories when the auxiliary battery should have been a deep cycle.  I've been in charge of so many builds I can't even tell you.  A client has special needs and is doling out a hundred k just for upfit and they are relying on me to oversee the build for them and help with vendor selection I better know darn well what the heck I'm doing.  In many cases their safety is in my hands, especially with the mobility stuff.  I need to check licenses, insurance, all sorts of things other than just mechanical aptitude. 

 

I need to know service prices and intervals, if I'm giving a presentation to a fleet manager of a large company I have to talk mechanicals and in essence be a mechanic.  I don't always sell to the guy at the top, many times it's the fleet mechanic that has a final a say after inspection.

 

I have to stay up to date on all tax information related to the sales of these vehicles to help my customers maximize their deductions come tax season (like whether or not section 179 gets signed back into effect).  I have to know how to execute operating leases because car finance guys never know how to.  Program rules and rates change every single month, it's a lot of info to stay on top of.

 

I have to be an event planner.  That includes all the marketing, I am responsible for producing all of my marketing myself.  My budget is small and I can't afford to hire someone.  I need to design brochures, pamplets, newsletters, etc for use here in the dealership, to take to potential clients, and for the aforementioned shows I need to organize.

 

The list is long, that is just the tip of iceberg......being a competent commercial manager is a lot more than learning the options on two product lines.

[ASD Dad]

Chris - the commercial manager at Nissan of Greer I can 100% promise knows none of that...  He barely new the options of my NVP SL let alone any of that info.  I asked about roof racks and ladders.  Blank stare.  I asked about running boards.  Blank stare.  He told me he would get back to me and he did but it was all just Google search stuff I found.  If he couldnt answer those questions I highly doubt he could do any of what you are doing.

 

A lot of what you are doing should or could be handled by others in the dealership.  I am guessing they dont have the budget and/or man power to do that so you are taking on way more than I think most would.  When I was a manager I handled sales, marketing and some finance stuff.  I also knew who to goto if they wanted aftermarket parts or something done like tint.

 

BTW, the guy at Greer had been there over a year... so like I said - Laziness!  

[Chris_CommercialManager]

Chris - the commercial manager at Nissan of Greer I can 100% promise knows none of that...  He barely new the options of my NVP SL let alone any of that info.  I asked about roof racks and ladders.  Blank stare.  I asked about running boards.  Blank stare.  He told me he would get back to me and he did but it was all just Google search stuff I found.  If he couldnt answer those questions I highly doubt he could do any of what you are doing.

 

A lot of what you are doing should or could be handled by others in the dealership.  I am guessing they dont have the budget and/or man power to do that so you are taking on way more than I think most would.  When I was a manager I handled sales, marketing and some finance stuff.  I also knew who to goto if they wanted aftermarket parts or something done like tint.

 

BTW, the guy at Greer had been there over a year... so like I said - Laziness!  

 

That is sad.  I should have said in reference to being a successful commercial manager.

 

 99% of the time it's a car guy that's moved over and just doesn't have the aptitude.  It's called growing pains, Mercedes is going through the same thing, though slightly further along in the understanding a commercial manager needs to have a different skillset than a "car" guy.  Most know how to sell "cars" to the public and not develop a top tier commercial dept.  Commercial departments are so new to the brand and at the dealerships, those in the hire fire positions don't truly know what to look for because many don't know what a successful dept would look like.  Couple that with the fact that many guys in power at dealerships are "old school" car guys, and well you get where I'm going.  Doesn't make it right, it's not an excuse for what your describing, it just is what it is.  But things are changing.  Remember, domestics have a 100 year head start.

 

I agree with you as well that I'd like some manpower to help me but I can't get manpower until I make the money to justify it.  I can't make the money to justify it until I do all of what I posted.  Even if I did have other people to do that however without the first hand knowledge of how to execute all those tasks I could not effectively manage those people to see to it there was proper execution of my vision.

 

On a side note, I love my job.  Very challenging, very rewarding.  It's stressful but I have great hours and most of the time have A TON of fun!

[radin2son]

Most of the participants on this forum appear to be NVP owners or non-business users of cargo vans. The word commercial is in play because we and business users own the same basic truck sold by Nissan Commercial by a limited number of dealers that sell all types of Nissan vehicles. Here in lies problem #1.

 

Sales should know everything about the product, quality aftermarket products and to sell the best product to meet the customer's needs. It also makes sense to follow up on sales, owner satisfaction etc. As ASD Dad earlier indicated, the purchase process is a blink when compared to the length of ownership. It is not likely that the commercial sales manager has much, if any, influence over the service manager. Here in lies problem #2.

 

Nissan Consumer Affairs is needlessly divided up between non-commercial and commercial when it comes to NVPs and non-business users of cargo vans. We really have more in common with Titans and SUVs. Here in lies problem #3.

[radin2son]

So far this trip, we have seen somewhere around 25 cargo vans, mostly HT, including 2 of the "Above and Beyond" 500,000 mile delivery vans featured by Nissan Commercial. No wonder, both were in northern AZ; they are based on Phoenix. Saw 3 maybe 4 NVPs, one in MT was 4x4.

 

Lots of Transits, mostly passenger. Saw one pulling a 20'+ RV. Another was 4x4. We have seen several Transit and ProMaster cutaway vans. Can see why NVs need this and the extended Van.

[ASD Dad]

I see waaaaay more new Transits vs any NV, cargo or passenger. Wife has noticed the same, especially on our trips. Last trip while in the Pigeon Forge area for a few days we saw 2 cargos, one was a shuttle and the other a Krispy Kreme van. Zero passengers. At least 10-12 Transits, with probably 8 or those passengers. On the road up and back it was the same. Saw one black NVP out of 8 hours of driving. Lost track of those ugly new Transits. Did see more Cargo NV's but still not enough to be meaningful.

[Chris Dempsey]

I rarely see NV’s around metro Detroit/SE Michigan. That may be because a lot of folks still try to buy “American” around here. Interestingly, I worked on a job where another tradesman had a HR 2012 Cargo. It was unusual, and maybe unprecedented around here, to see two NV’s side by side. Very few NVP’s, a few low top cargos and a few HT’s, including the local Suburu dealer’s parts truck.

The sales guys I dealt with last November were TOTALLY clueless -- knew almost nothing about the NV. Hopefully, that has changed.

[vanguy]

Most of the participants on this forum appear to be NVP owners or non-business users of cargo vans. The word commercial is in play because we and business users own the same basic truck sold by Nissan Commercial by a limited number of dealers that sell all types of Nissan vehicles. Here in lies problem #1.

 

Sales should know everything about the product, quality aftermarket products and to sell the best product to meet the customer's needs. It also makes sense to follow up on sales, owner satisfaction etc. As ASD Dad earlier indicated, the purchase process is a blink when compared to the length of ownership. It is not likely that the commercial sales manager has much, if any, influence over the service manager. Here in lies problem #2.

 

Nissan Consumer Affairs is needlessly divided up between non-commercial and commercial when it comes to NVPs and non-business users of cargo vans. We really have more in common with Titans and SUVs. Here in lies problem #3.

 

I totally agree with your reasoning and have said before that this forum should at least be split into two forums. NVP's are not commercial vehicles. They actually belong on the consumer forum with all the other passenger vehicles.