Ford salesmen kept on pitching afer the deal was sealed

Two well-dressed female Ford customers and their bustle back
1933 Victoria. Notice the passenger side window in the back is open.

On July 14, 1933, Ford dealers and salesmen received a one-page flyer from the Rouge Plant in Dearborn, Mich., containing selling hints. The flyer included a story about a salesman and a number of points for salesman to keep in mind when making a sale.

When a customer came to a dealership to pick up the car he or she ordered, the salesman walked with him to the car and immediately noticed that the rubber on the running board was cut a little. He called attention to it and offered to get it replaced right away. The new owner did not want to wait and said he would be back in a few days to have the work done. As he was leaving, the salesman complimented him on his choice and said, “You couldn’t be driving a finer car no matter what you paid for it.”

A few days later the salesman called at the man’s home to again urge him to have the running board changed. The car owner remarked that he had not received his Service Certificate. The salesman promised to look into it and an hour later returned with the certificate.

The company complimented this man as “a salesman who kept right on selling the man to whom he sold the car. First, he made the customer feel that anything wrong would be immediately fixed by calling his attention to something the customer himself hadn’t noticed. Next, he complimented the man’s judgment by telling him he had a fine car, and then, when the customer did make a complaint, it was immediately adjusted.”

Following the story, the flyer contained a list of hints for “selling” the Ford V-8 after the sale:
* Never allow a prospect, whether he is about to buy or has purchased a new Ford V-8, to make any disparaging remark about it without challenging him. No more quality is built into any car than in the Ford V-8.
* When anyone says anything against the V-8, you must have an answer to show him he is wrong. Show him in a nice convincing way, and he’ll respect you for it.
* Never admit Ford design, materials or workmanship are in any way inferior. First of all, they’re not, and you should know the car well enough to prove it. The new Ford V-8 car has everything any modern car needs. All you have to do is to know your car and you’ll realize it.
* It’s your business, as a salesman, to see that the new car you deliver to a customer is in first-class condition — clean inside and out, no spots.
* Make it a point to hand the keys to the customer, if possible, before he gets into the car.
It will give you a chance to compliment him on his judgment in buying a Ford V-8 — tell him again what a really wonderful car it is — all the pleasure he’s going to get out of it.
* Remember, he has put several hundred dollars into — probably after a thoughtful family discussion — a rather momentous decision in the life of himself, his wife and his children. It means as much to him as it does to the man who invests $5,000 in a car — maybe more.
* Let him know he’s getting more than his money’s worth, because he IS. 

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