July 9, 2007
The Samurai Sell: Lexus Dealers Bow To Move Swank Cars
The Samurai Sell: Lexus Dealers Bow To Move Swank Cars - WSJ.comTOKYO -- Kengo Kubo, a sales consultant who sells Lexus cars in Tokyo, has a special way of opening a car door. He points with all five fingers to the handle, right hand followed by left. Then, he gracefully opens the door with both hands, in the same way Japanese samurais in the 14th century would have opened a sliding screen door.
"The most important thing is to make the motion look beautiful," says Mr. Kubo, standing in a gleaming Lexus show room with live orchids growing out of trickling waterfalls.
[Kengo Kubo]The screen-door technique is part of an unusual tactic under way in Japan's luxury-car wars. No. 1 car maker Toyota, behind in the luxury market, wants to fight back by plunging deep into the world of ancient Japanese hospitality traditions.
At Lexus showrooms, sales consultants lean five to 10 degrees forward and assume a warrior's "waiting position" when a customer is looking at a car. When serving customers coffee or tea, employees must kneel on the floor with both feet together and both knees on the ground. The coffee cup must never make a noise when it is placed on the table.
serious stuff!
Hiroshi Mase, 58, says he was initially impressed by the service he received during a recent visit to a dealership in Yokohama. The technology-company executive loved being served tea and cake as if he were a celebrity.But he says it became overbearing when he went to pick up his new Lexus GS hybrid, and a sales associate gave him a bouquet and held a formal ceremony to hand over the key. A photo of Mr. Mase with his new car and the showroom's staff was framed and presented to him.
"It was just too much," says Mr. Mase.
Classic
Posted by TY at July 9, 2007 9:35 PM
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