The Silent Partner Marketing
Swearing At The Dealership – Does It F Up Deals?
I keep f’ing up as a dad. But apparently I’m not alone.
I was meeting with a dealer last week and he had a good laugh when I showed him a video of our 20-month-old saying “damnit” when she dropped her water bottle – then immediately saying “sorry daddy” followed by “oopsie”.
Having a toddler puts your potty mouth into perspective and makes you realize you need to stop swearing.
But as I was leaving the dealership, I overheard a sales guy on the showroom floor drop a mighty f-bomb with a customer. The two had a good laugh together when the customer responded, “damn right. F--- Obama!”
Replace that customer with a little old lady and it might not have gone over so well. But I’d guess he probably never would have dropped the swear. Or would he have?
Check out this study by Careerbuilder about swearing. It found employers may be inclined to think less of an employee who swears at work – and said that 81% believe the use of curse words brings the employee’s professionalism into question. 71% said they are concerned with the lack of control, 68 percent said it shows a lack of maturity and 54% said it make the employee appear less intelligent.
Well that’s just a crock of…chili.
My search for cussing justification continued.
I found a great book called Holy Sh*t: A Brief History of Swearing, written by Melissa Mohr and published by Oxford University Press.
I like this woman. Let me highlight some of her points.
- Swearing has been around since the Roman times.
- The average person’s daily language consists of about .7% of swear words each day (mine is probably closer to 70% to be fair). That number sounds small until you realize that we use first-person plural pronouns like “we and our” at about the same rate.
- Kids often learn at least one swear before they learn the alphabet.
- Our bodies have a physiological response to swears. It can make our palms sweat. But it can also alleviate pain. A study found that if you put your hand in a bucket of cold water, people can keep it there longer if they use the big s word instead of saying “shoot”. Go figure.
- Studies have found that it can help people bond and create a mutual feeling of solidarity.
Perhaps the problem isn’t in swearing. Perhaps it’s in not swearing effectively. Because shouldn’t there be an art to it?
In the words of Mark Twain, “under certain circumstances, profanity provides a relief denied even to prayer.”
What can I say? He was one smart son of a…gun.
I suppose there are a couple of different schools of thought when it comes to dealerships.
The first is in knowing your customers. If it’s a one-on-one setting and others aren’t within earshot, you may choose to take the lead from your customer.
But if someone is swearing at you on Facebook because you f’d up their car in your service department, I wouldn’t exactly suggest responding in a similar fashion.
What do you think? Should employees get a bar of soap in the mouth for dropping some foul language…or does it actually make the work environment a better place?
POSTED BY
Kyle Reyes is President and CEO of The Silent Partner Marketing. He's also an acclaimed Keynote Speaker on entrepreneurship, leadership, marketing and social media. You can find him on Facebook, LinkedIn and Snapchat (@dasilentpartner).
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7 Comments
Ruslan G
F--- Obama lol...to some extent that is true. My self as a millennial believe that vulgar language is inappropriate in any business transacation or social circumstance environment. Unless ofcourse you are a good friend or someone I am speaking with at the bar. Its a hit or miss at work I would be very careful of whom I use it with. Ofcourse however over time it has become socially acceptable with people born after the 1960's. Anyone prior was rasied different and are not so much accepting.
Jonathan Dawson
Founder - Sellchology Sales Training
I was shoppping for a new Lexus, when the salesperson casually said, "that man who just walked by is the only manager around here worth a F*@#." Now keep in mind, I don't swear, at all, and the salesperson had just met me 15 minutes ago, and had no idea that "I'm in the business".
He just felt it was apporopriate to share that with me??
Timothy Martell
Wikimotive
Ask Gary Vaynerchuck how the fuck swearing has held back is $100 million ad agency!
Its all about context and rapport. Now I don't cuss like a truck driver or even as much as maybe Gary Vee does. But words are words and if you mean something is really fucking bullshit, call it what it is! We're getting soft man. And don't get it twisted. There's the right time and wrong time and I am very respectful of people. But words matter. And finding a huge fucking problem that demands people jump on shit and take it seriously means conveying it in that fashion, well sorry. "Golly gee, I wish you guys would get around to taking a look at this possible securitly data breach..." DOESN'T FUCKING CUT IT!
</rant>
Timothy Martell
Wikimotive
Ask Gary Vaynerchuck how the fuck swearing has held back is $100 million ad agency!
Its all about context and rapport. Now I don't cuss like a truck driver or even as much as maybe Gary Vee does. But words are words and if you mean something is really fucking bullshit, call it what it is! We're getting soft man. And don't get it twisted. There's the right time and wrong time and I am very respectful of people. But words matter. And finding a huge fucking problem that demands people jump on shit and take it seriously means conveying it in that fashion, because "well sorry... Golly gee, I wish you guys would get around to taking a look at this possible securitly data breach..." DOESN'T FUCKING CUT IT!
</rant>
Rod Landers
Raycom Media
I guess I am still "old school" on this. Rarely, if ever, is swearing appropriate in the workplace. It's easy to resort to vulgarity, especially when you have established the habit of only "meaning it" when a swear is involved. To your point on Dealerships... it is never appropriate on the floor. It's ridiculous to assert that it would be considering the fact that their are customers within earshot who may be vehemently opposed. Why would you risk losing valuable business (and referrals) just because you can't communicate effectively.
Joe Henry
ACT Auto Staffing & ACTautostaffing.com
If you offend even ONE customer with cursing that would keep them from saying “yes” to the sale, why would you even take ANY chance? Besides, even if they are not offended, cursing is not going to endear you to the customer. It is a matter of dollars and cents/sense since you are there to make money and build your financial portfolio.
BTW, if the customer wants to curse, it still is not wise to return it. If there ever comes a dispute, they already have a hall-pass to get belligerent.