十来岁的时候，我曾经在一家餐馆打工。我很快就学到了一课：一定要平等地对待餐桌上的每个客人，因为你永远不知道最后买单的是谁，而且也正是他（她）决定了你能拿到多少小费。这是最基本的商业生存技巧，但在这个国家的汽车销售员队伍里，却很少有人意识到这一点。如果你不信的话，不妨在怀孕七个月后，挺着肚子，拉着老公，带着两个孩子走到汽车经销商的展厅，看看销售人员首先会跟谁套近乎。

    随着我第三个孩子的预产期临近，我和老公决定换一台大一点的车。这辆车主要是给我开。经过一番研究，我把试驾的围缩小到克莱斯勒城乡（Chrysler Town & Country）、本田奥德赛 （Honda Odyssey）和丰田赛纳（Toyota Sienna）这三款MPV上。不过逛了一家克莱斯勒、一家本田和三家丰田的经销店后，我发现要要把这40,000美元的车款花出去可比想象的困难多了。

    我们去了一家附近的丰田经销店。我走到前台，请他们找人带我看一下赛纳MPV。一为销售员径直走过来，向恰好站在我身后的一个男人做自我介绍。那人赶忙澄清他不是我丈夫，然后那个销售员便转向我，问我的老公在哪里——直到这时他也没向我介绍他自己，也没有问我的名字。后来这个销售代表虽然也回答着我的问题，但眼睛始终没离开我老公，不停地跟他说话，直到后来我老公告诉他跟我谈。后来这家伙把我带到他的办公桌，记下我的信息，问了我家里的电话号码，然后跟了一句：“显然你没有工作单位的电话。”

    说不定有人认为我有这样的遭遇只是因为我特别倒霉而已，让我再跟你说说另一个女人，施乐（Xerox）前副总裁兼CEO安妮•麦卡伊的故事。三年前，麦卡伊决定好好犒劳一下自己，于是她决定去买一台保时捷（Porsche）。试驾了一台保时捷911敞篷车后，她对销售员说决定要了。那销售员意味深长地停顿了一下，回答道：“难道你不用先和谁商量商量吗？”麦卡伊答道：“如果10秒钟之内你不开始办手续的话，我就开30分钟的车到下一家保时捷经销店去，从他们手里买车。”

    那个保时捷销售员办好了手续，但对麦卡伊的羞辱并没有就此结束。付款的时候，管财务的领导问她，是不是应该和谁一起在合同上签字。这话让这位财富500强企业的女负责人十分震惊。“这好象一下子把我扔回了20多岁的时候。当时我去申请贷款，虽然我有工作，而且在财务上绝对是安全的，但是我还是得找人跟我一起在申请书上签字，因为70年代就是那个样子。”麦卡伊说。“这在70年代是歧视，而现在这就是纯粹的愚蠢。”

    不需要很高超的商业头脑，谁都能看出这种业务习惯是有问题的。据市场调研机构CNW Research指出，去年有44%的汽车主要卖给了女性，而且女性影响了将近80%的汽车销售。这对汽车公司来说并不是秘密，任何管理人员听到手下发生了这种事都会脸色发白。但不知为什么，这一教训就是没有灌输到销售队伍里去。

    问题是，这种现象在汽车行业太普遍了。我在买MPV时碰到的每个销售员都会自动地唯我老公马首是瞻。毕竟好货不怕卖，只要东西好，再蠢的销售员都能把东西卖出去。最后我还是在上文中描述的那家经销店里买了一台丰田赛纳，主要是因为我的孩子马上就要出生了，而且我也没有精力再去别的地方逛了。

    但这并不是说，经销店这样做就不会付出机会成本。有了这样的经验之后，我短期内再也不想踏入汽车经销店了。对于虚心听取意见的汽车公司高管们，我有一句良言相劝：如果想在竞争中取胜，那么就把餐厅服务员的道理教给销售队伍。一定要平等地对待每个顾客，因为你永远不知道买单的是谁。这就是我的建议。

    译者：朴成奎

    When I waited tables as a teenager, I learned one lesson very quickly: Treat every person in a dinner party equally, because you never know who's picking up the bill -- and therefore determining your tip. It's the most basic of business survival tips, but one that few car salesmen in this country seem to have learned. And if you doubt me on this point, try walking into a car dealership seven months pregnant with your husband and two kids, and see who the salesman approaches first.

    As the birth of our third child approached, my husband and I decided we needed a bigger car. It was to be my primary car, and after doing my research, all I wanted to do before plunking down my money was test-drive the Town & Country, the Odyssey, and the Sienna minivans. But getting someone to take $40,000 from you can be tougher than you might think, as I learned at one Chrysler, one Honda, and three Toyota (TM) dealerships.

    The scenarios all went something like what happened at a nearby Toyota dealership, where I walked to the front desk and asked to have someone show me the Sienna. A salesman came right out and introduced himself to the man who happened to be standing behind me. After the bystander made clear that he wasn't my husband, the salesman asked me where my husband was -- still without introducing himself or asking my name. The sales rep then went on to respond to questions I asked about the Sienna by looking at my husband and talking to him, until my husband told him to talk to me. When the guy took me to his desk to take down my information, he asked me for my home phone number and followed up with: "Obviously you don't have a work phone."

    Lest you think that I am just particularly unlucky, let me share the story of another woman, Anne Mulcahy, the former chairman and CEO of Xerox (XRX). Three years ago Mulcahy decided it was time to treat herself and went shopping for a Porsche. After test-driving one beauty -- a 911 Cabriolet -- she announced to the salesman that she'd take the car. After a pregnant pause, he responded, "Don't you have to talk to someone about that first?" Her reply: "If you don't start working on the paperwork in the next 10 seconds, I'll drive 30 minutes to the next Porsche dealer and buy the car there."

    The Porsche salesman got right on the paperwork, but the insults didn't end there. The finance officer followed up by asking Mulcahy if she needed someone to co-sign on her lease. For the head of a Fortune 500 company, the experience came as a jolt. "It threw me back to my twenties when I'd go for a loan. I was working and was totally financially secure, but I'd have to get co-signatures on my loans just because it was the 1970s," says Mulcahy. "Then it was discrimination. Now it's just stupidity."

    It doesn't take an MBA to recognize the bad business practices on display. Women were the primary buyers of more than 44% of all vehicles last year, and they influenced almost 80% of all auto sales, according to CNW Research. That's no secret to the auto companies, and any executive would blanch to hear stories like these. But somehow the lesson hasn't trickled down to the sales force.

    The issue may be that the problem is so pervasive in the auto industry. Every salesman I dealt with on my minivan adventure automatically deferred to my husband. And in the end, even a stupid salesman can make a sale when he's selling an essential good. I ended up buying the Sienna from the dealership I described above, mostly because the baby was coming soon and I was tired of shopping around.

    That's not to say there isn't an opportunity cost. After an experience like this, I am in no rush to step back into a showroom anytime soon. Which brings me to my memo to any auto company exec willing to listen: If you want a leg up on your competition, teach your sales force the lesson of waiting tables. Treat every customer with the same respect, because you never know who's going to pay the bill. And that's my tip.