Was buying, or trying to buy a Jeep a few years ago pre Trumpdemic. Sales guy was sticking with a rediculous price, my OTD number was fair, not even a steal. We got hungry so while he was in the high pressure sales cube with us I ordered a pizza. Told him he has 35 minutes to present a realistic number or we are going out to diner. He and the imaginary manager didn't, so we left.
Wife tells me he was hollering "don't leave we have a deal" as we left but I could not hear him. Pizza was peperoni, xtra garlic and xtra jalpenos. and was yummy. No time for losing battles and idiots.

 

Dragging out the process so that you're tired and willing to give in to their terms is a well-known sales tactic. Such is the game. Though I will say that I don't agree with this:

That's a malicious waste of peoples' time and that couple should have been asked to not return.

If I enter an establishment with no intent to purchase, I communicate that very clearly. I do enjoy browsing from time to time. If I'm entering with the intent on making a purchase, I communicate accordingly. I've had dealers that refuse to budge on trivial things and so they lost the sale as a result, but I've also been told "wait!" as I've laid my hand on the door, about to exit. That latter one is the best feeling.

 

Thinking back to my time selling electronics in the 90's things were so different than today, with the internet everyone now has knowledge and is an expert but in the mid to late 90's you had a few folks that would perhaps subscribe to Consumer Reports or Stereo Review but most people shopping AV had no clue and needed sales people or sales advisors.

Back then a person could take up a sales persons time and actually learn something as most of us AV sales folks looked at electronics as a hobby and we loved the stuff, most of us owned total high end AV systems at home and had to take that job to pay for our hobby so many of us had lots of knowledge and didn't mind sharing but with the hope it may end in a closed sale.

I did learn the art of "listening" To be able to earn a living as a sales pro. I had to simply ask the right questions and then shut up and listen ( now lost art ) and then offer a solution and give the customer no reason he / she needed to buy any place else as we were the first to guarantee the lowest price for 30 days and offer a 30 day no questions return.

After years of being a good sales pro myself I then have this Harley sales person experience this past week.
I was dealing with a supposably long time Senior position sales person, He bragged he was always the top #1 salesman in the company.

Truly blew my mind as he did NOT LISTEN to anything I said. I'm taking he asked little to no questions and what I told him I wanted went in one ear and right out the other if he even stopped bragging about himself and he being #1 long enough to listen to me trying to tell him exactly what I wanted and exactly what he could have done to have a sale that day.

He never even asked my budget, never asked me what I had been looking at but I told him I had been looking new, and I WANTED NEW! He walked me right past the new bikes and showed me only used and for some reason was trying to limit my budget to used under $12K? I'm a CVO possible customer if anyone is and he could not even see that.

I told him I would consider ANY color but red or blue and he kept pushing a used blue and red bike!
What a joke... If I have noticed one constant from all the sales folks at this dealer, few listen and all brag, I had one salesperson bring out his phone and show me pictures of his bike that had zero to do with what I was looking at and me buying a bike. I don't mind talking shop and looking at a bike but a pic on his cell phone, i'm like you did't drive it to work so I can see it in person?

Its clear some ( not all ) Harley dealers hire the bottom of the barrel.
I did have the thought last week after $12K used bikes were pushed in my direction that with the huge amount of inventory this dealer is sitting on, some manager must have a huge "spiff" or bonus on those used red and blue " very old " bikes to get them out of the way for all the new bikes Harley is sending the dealers that the dealers don't want and have no room for...

Interesting time to be looking for a new bike!

 

I was browsing their site the other day and felt like they had really good prices on the used Harleys in inventory. It's gone now but they had a 2013 CVO road glide with around 40k miles for $7999. I have no idea of the condition but even with the miles that seems quite low for any CVO model.

 

Wasting who's time, most of the time when I walk into the dealer I use the sales staff are sitting around with their thumbs up their asses.

 

With one hand, the other hand is holding a cell phone that must be much more interesting than a possible customer that just walked in the door! as many will not even look up from his phone...