下面是关于销售汽车的一些常识。如果你能读得懂的话，对销售汽车可能有帮助。我是靠给人讲这些挣吃饭钱的，恕不翻译。

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Car sales have been off, down nearly 15%, and some automakers are losing money so fast, they're begging for a federal bailout.

No matter how tough times are for the auto industry, however, a person buying a car expects the shopping experience to be nothing short of superb, from the moment they make contact with a dealership. Needless to say, the car-buying experience goes better for some than it does for others.

A poor customer experience over the phone, e-mail or at the dealership not only leads to a loss in potential sales, but also has a detrimental impact on repeat business. A market research company released a results of its 2008 Sales Satisfaction Index (SSI) study, an analysis of the new-vehicle purchasing experience. Ensuring a pleasant shopping experience is absolutely critical in surviving today's challenging auto market.

Behind the Numbers

To find the car brands that deliver to consumers the best shopping experience, a research man asked questions of 35,805 new-vehicle buyers who purchased or leased their vehicles in May 2008. The buyers were polled in August and September in five customer-satisfaction areas: dealership facility (including questions on convenience of location and appearance); salesperson performance (knowledge and friendliness); paperwork/finance process; delivery process (cleanliness of the car and explanation of its features); and vehicle price.

The highest possible score in the survey is 1,000 points. The dealers that earned the highest marks were those selling luxury cars. Of particular intrigue is the fact that the brand that hasn't necessarily had the best reputation--in past years--for dependability is the one that provides the best shopping experience to customers: Jaguar, which scored the highest in the study, with a score of 907.

Just one point behind is the brand that's out of favor with cash-strapped, green-aware consumers--Hummer,and its giant SUVs that deliver on luxury, but not at all on gas mileage.

Rising in the Rankings

The standout brands are the ones that aren't necessarily high on this year's list, but have made noticeable improvements, today offering a much better car-buying experience than in previous years.

Audi is the prime example, Audi dealerships earned a score of 877, up 16 points over 2007 and landing eighth among the top 10 luxury brands. Audi made major improvements in all five measures of the study, but showed the biggest gains in the areas of salesperson performance, dealership facility and vehicle price.

Audi's concept of the dealership environment has changed. As Audi redesigns existing stores or opens new ones, it is doing so with attention to the architecture, windows, desks and displays, so that the entire environment reflects the quality of the brand. It is a look reminiscent of the 1950s, but with a modern twist.

Luxury-brand dealerships such as Audi score higher, in general, because they tend to pamper their potential buyers. At Audi dealerships, customers can sit in the "quattro café," where they can relax with a European-style coffee while they watch a flat-screen LCD video on Audi products and history.

Smarter Buyers

One of the reasons dealers have to work so hard to make customers happy is that shoppers walk into the showroom already equipped with information. It's not unusual for car buyers to have conducted research on the Internet about not just one car, but about all of the competing models. This sets a level of expectation before the consumer even steps on the dealer lot. Not only do dealerships' Web sites need to be up-to-date and easy to use, the staff members must be conversant with the information provided. In fact, 20% of new-vehicle buyers choose not to visit a particular dealer based on phone or e-mail interactions.

If the shopping experience from that point forward is positive, the payoff to the dealer is critical, especially in a time when car sales are down so sharply. Customers who are happy with their purchase experience make an average of five positive recommendations regarding their new vehicle, the study notes. In contrast, disappointed buyers tell at least two people to avoid the same vehicle.

For some brands, like Audi, it takes a couple of years to win over consumers, but some get a solid start right out of the gate.

Buyers have had to wait six to 12 months to receive a vehicle. By this measure, consumers are responding loud and clear that the car--not to mention the experience of buying it--is worth the wait.

Dealerships ought to be as concerned about the buyers who leave without making a purchase as they are with their satisfied customers. Forty percent of unsatisfied customers cite poor treatment as the primary reason they didn't purchase a particular brand of car.

These customers also tell an average of six people to avoid shopping at that particular dealership. And that type of advertisement can hurt business in economic good times--never mind how much it hurts in bad ones.