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CarSpace Real Stories From Life at a DealershipThese are real stories from a 26 year career. I try to share the moments that make up life. Sep 26, 2009 - A NEW CAMAROBeing in the car business for 26 years I have been on a lot of test-drives, mostly uneventful. Once in a while a driver can get away from you.
The new Camaro Z-28 was an impressive car. It had the designation H.O., for high output. The unmistakable V-8 rumble brought a note of performance. It could be matched with a five-speed manual transmission. T-tops seemed to make the car complete. A great road car, built for the enjoyment of the driver. Vern came into the dealership and was immediately drawn to the new Camaro. He asked questions about the cars performance. I told him about the fuel injection, the Goodyear Eagle tires, five-speed transmission and rack & pinion steering. We talked acceleration and top speed. Vern seemed very interested in the limits of the Camaro. The only thing that seemed out of the ordinary was that Vern was 83 years young.
I grabbed a dealer plate and made a copy of his driver’s license, ready to go. You gotta love the sound of the V-8 when it comes to life, nice and throaty. Vern seems very comfortable behind the wheel. He heads straight for the freeway. So far everything is good. As Vern pulls onto the freeway, he has his foot heavy on the accelerator.
From 50 mph to 100 mph takes only a couple of seconds when you are on the gas hard. “VERN!!!” I said loud and direct, but receiving no response. Vern kept his foot buried on the accelerator. We shot passed 120 mph…a lot of things crossed my mind…from this is a dangerous speed to this guy is 83 years old.
I actually yelled at Vern “SLOWDOWN!!!”. Vern looked at me with his foot still on the gas and stated emphatically, “Look I got a sporty younger girlfriend and I need a sporty car”! I didn’t think Vern was very happy with me as we ended the test drive. He said that he would be back tomorrow and would let me know. “Great… another passenger on the be-back bus”, I muttered to myself.
The next day to my surprise 83-year-old Vern came in with his 75-year-old sporty younger girlfriend. He told her all of the performance specs and how great it drove. She listened and nodded. He wrote a check for the new manual transmission Camaro Z-28 with t-tops and signs all of the paperwork. They are both all smiles.
He burnt rubber pulling away from the dealership and got scratch going into second and third gear. Sporty indeed.
EP
Sep 25, 2009 - THE BEER BAR TEST DRIVE“You missed the heyday of the car salesman kid”. That’s what I was told by a well-worn veteran, who was still wearing a white belt that matched his shoes. When I started selling, we still had a couple of salespeople that been selling in the 1970’s. With what I saw in them, I don’t think I missed it. For the first few months in the car business I worked on the same floor with some old-style holdovers like Linda Kaye. She was a consistent performer. Consistently selling six cars a month.
Linda’s entire sales process involved a beer bar. Talk about one trick pony. It was back in the days when men shopped for a new car alone. Maybe that’s why they don’t shop alone much anymore. We sure never saw any salespeople taking couples to a bar for a few drinks.
Alcohol consumption is strictly voluntary these days. Some people still drink before shopping for a new car. They probably drink before everything they do. Working with people as much as I do, you see a lot of people who spend a large portion of their life somewhat inebriated.
In the film Glengarry, Glen Ross, Al Pacino’s character is working a customer over while sitting in a bar. He gets the guy plastered. Then takes his check and signs him up. That is the same plan Linda had without the finesse. That movie also had the greatest sales meeting of all time, given by Alec Baldwin.
Linda watched the floor for her ideal customer: A single guy, not looking for a station wagon. She quickly went on a demonstration drive. Her test drive route went down Division Street. She knew a dive bar, just far enough off the road, as to not be seen. If the male customer didn’t buy the first round Linda would start a tab. I am not one to speculate about whether Linda was in this for the male companionship, the free alcohol or actually was trying to make a sale. All I know is that she only occasionally sold more than one car in a week.
Linda would commonly call the sales manager and tell the fish story about the one that got away. The three most common calls for help were: she needed to borrow money to pay the tab, she and the customer were too drunk to drive back to the lot or she wasn’t even coming back to work that day at all. She was finally let go for a combination of missed days and low performance.
I sure don’t miss people like Linda. They are the ones who helped create some of the negative stereotypes we still have to deal with. They are also part of the reason for the success that we are having at Sierra Motors. We have removed the old tactics and replaced them with customer friendly procedures and complete disclosure. What you see is what you get. And you get to see it up front.
The biggest buzz word and benchmark for success of a dealership is C.S.I. or customer satisfaction index. It is a score on how satisfied your customers are with the dealership, the personnel and the procedures. For the entire year, we at Sierra Motors are number one in the entire region. Our three-month score is a perfect 100. That means that 100% of the surveys returned are marked completely satisfied. We are not a perfect dealership, but we are committed to our customers.
It has been quite a journey from the old days to where we are now. One of the things that I learned along the way is simply that tough times don’t last, but tough people do. I was wise enough to read the back of the book and know how it all ends up. I also see the current economic situation as an opportunity to capitalize on the inability of others in business to adapt. As always I am your friend in the car business. Call or come by anytime. Experience complete customer satisfaction. Sorry, no beer on the test drive.
EP
Sep 22, 2009 - Chicken KidReflecting from my office across the dealership at Sierra Motors in Jamestown I ofton wonder what little things in my life took place to lead me to become a GM. I’m sure with a smile in my heart this is one of them. We all have experienced disappointment at some point(s) in our lives. Friends, relatives, parents or children, not to mention jobs, athletic endeavors and relationships, all have their pitfalls. But do you remember your first disappointment?
As I grew up my Dad set a great example by having an excellent work ethic. He was never unemployed and always provided for our family. In retrospect, I always knew that my Father was very fortunate to work for a good man. Things were different back in the 60’s. Guys that worked together seemed to do family things together.
My dad’s Boss was Jim. It seemed to me as a kid that Jim was family. My Dad went and spent everyday with him at work and our families did things together on evenings and weekends. I even called him “Uncle Jim”. It never crossed my mind as a child that it was any other way.
I walked out of Jim’s front door, to go into his garage, where he and my Father were working on some project together. I heard Jim say to my Dad “I sure like it when Eric calls me Uncle Jim”. My five year old mind and body froze. I couldn’t even think of all of the ramifications of that statement.
On the way home, I asked my Dad, “Why did Jim say that he like me calling him Uncle Jim… isn’t he”? In my mind I addressed all of my Uncles and Aunts in the same manner. Weather it was Uncle Bill or Aunt Pat, it was their relationship followed by their first name. Then the bomb dropped. My Father told me, “He’s not really your uncle you just call him that.”
I couldn’t believe it. I had been duped. I knew that I would never call him Uncle Jim ever again. I was so disappointed!
I must have gotten over it soon though, as I happily spent time with Jim over the years. We did things like fishing together. When I was having trouble learning to water-ski he yelled out from the boat, “Ride it like a skate board” and I did. My back foot was sideways for the first summer of skiing. For some odd reason, he called me “Chicken Kid” and I called him “Chicken Man”. He still influences me to this day.
But, I really thought he was my Uncle. And at the end of the day it’s not blood it’s the heart. I love you uncle Jim…I mean chicken man…
EP
Sep 18, 2009 - FINISH THE INTERVIEWI have been involved in dealership management for over twenty years. Interviews and hiring are one of the things that I do best. But hiring is not a science. I always try to hire for character first. I have been fooled more than once. The shortest interview I ever did was with my friend Mitch. We were in many of the same classrooms from kindergarten thru high school. We played sports together. We grew up in the same neighborhood, a few streets apart. Mitch walked into the dealership and told me that he wanted to try selling cars. Without hesitation I said yes. He was Salesman of the Year his first year in the business. I guess that I was right on that one. We needed two lot porters to wash cars. It was a full time job that paid minimum wage. I interviewed fifty applicants in one day. The two guys that I hired, Mark and Hakeem were excellent employees. They both went on to good career jobs. Hiring a good Team manager is a bit harder. The position is commonly called a closer. The best part of the job is when they get to go in after their salespeople and close deals. That only takes up 10% of their day. Most of the hours they are at work are spent doing a form of adult daycare. Handling the salespeople. They are always up to something. After reading thru some applications, I called a couple of promising guys in for an interview. Adrian stood out on his application and from the moment he walked into the showroom.
My first impression was that this guy was way too slick. Adrian was a Black man about six feet tall. He looked quite muscular. He wore a designer suit that had been tailored to fit. The shoes looked like they were expensive Italian leather. The watch was a Movado with the diamond at 12 o’clock. He wore is hair in a mid length pony tail. His socks, his tie and his smile were impeccable. Great eye contact and a firm handshake started the interview. Before I could get very far into asking questions, Adrian was trying to take over the interview. He started telling me how great he was. He was giving me examples of how he had overpowered customers and closed them. He explained how his Martial Arts training translated into being a kick ass leader. I basically stopped interviewing to see how long he might go on gushing about himself.
Everybody knows not to interrupt when I am interviewing. Into the office walks Jerry. He addresses Adrian, “Hey brother is that your Z out front?” I wonder where this is going. Adrian answers, “Yes.” “Sweet ride” and Jerry continues, “Is it the white one?” Adrian starts spewing performance numbers like horsepower and top speed. Jerry interrupts Adrian by saying, “There’s a tow truck taking it away.” Adrian bolts from my office. I guess the interview has been interrupted. Jerry and I watch from the showroom window as the sharp dressed interviewee confronts the Repo Man. The Z car is already on the hook. Adrian starts yelling at the truck operator to put his car back down. The driver shows some paperwork to Adrian. We don’t think he is going to get his car back. The Repo man tries to walk past Adrian to get to the drivers door. Adrian blocks his path and pushes him back. This particular repo man is very experienced. He has his mace out in an instant. The repo man literally paints Adrian’s face with mace. Adrian steps back in obvious pain.
What we saw next looked like a scene from a Hollywood movie. In his expensive suit, blinded with Mace, wearing Italian Loafers, Adrian executes a flying kick that Jet Li would be more than proud of. It sends the repo man to the ground. Adrian moves in for the kill and suddenly realizes that he is in trouble. Suddenly Adrian turns and runs down the street. His little ponytail and those leather shoes were cutting out. The tow truck driver got up off of the ground and dusted himself off. He pulled out his cell phone and called in to report an assault. With the shiny fast Z car in tow, he left. I quipped to Jerry, “I wonder if he is going to come back so we can finish the interview?” EP
Sep 8, 2009 - CORVETTE ZR-1In 1990, Chevrolet came out with the most amazing Corvette, the ZR-1. Early in the era of ever increasing horsepower, this four valve per cylinder, 350 cubic inch beauty, was rated at just under 400-horse power. It also had a top speed close to 200 mph. This was one of the few times that GM was able to captivate the entire performance car crowd. This is one car that did not disappoint.
This super car had a MSRP of $50,000. The excitement surrounding the Vet caused the actual price to go up. Most dealerships were getting $20,000 to $50,000 over window for the high demand Corvette. Our Boss Gil told us that he was going to sell the only one that we were going to get to a friend of his. I was disappointed. I had already sold my Uncle Corky three Corvettes in the last six years and he was asking about this one.
I asked Gil if I could sell it to my Uncle instead. Then I asked again and again and again. In a moment of charity he said, “If you can get $10,000 over MSRP, then you can sell it”. I called my Uncle Corky and gave him the good news. When I told him that he could have it and how much it was going to cost, I knew that his annoyance of paying a premium for a car was overcome when he asked, “when can I have it?”
I hurriedly went in and told the Boss that he would take it and Gil’s reply was “don’t expect to get paid on this”. I wasn’t sure what that meant, but I was to excited that I was going to sell my Uncle the only ZR-1. While I was waiting four months for the ZR-1 to arrive, my boss Gill, left to run another dealership that they owned.
During the build process, we were able to make a change. The color white was unavailable. At the last minute we were able to get his built in white. The only factory white ZR-1 built that year was delivered to my Uncle Corky on July of 1990.
My Uncle Corky, had to take it for a test drive. I grabbed a dealer plate and got in the passenger seat of the white Corvette. The sound of that motor was mechanical perfection. With sixteen exhaust valves, the sound is like nothing else. We drove directly to the freeway. After just a few quick miles, my Uncle opened it up a little. We amazingly shot past 150 mph in seconds. We only had the six-speed transmission in fourth gear.
We pulled into the dealership parking lot and my Uncle was smiling. Within minutes, three California Highway Patrol units drove slowly by the lot looking at us. So we went inside to ink up the deal. A man was waiting there for my Uncle. He somehow knew that my Uncle had the only white ZR-1 and offered him $10,000 more than whatever he was paying for the car. That just solidified the deal.
After finishing all of the paperwork, I went thru the delivery process that we had been thru many times before. The sound of that car as it pulled away was sweet.
The next day, the General sales manager called me in and gave me my voucher for the sale. This is the document that tells you how much commission was earned. It was for $500. I decided then and there to take a stand and roll the dice. “No way”, was my response. After a few words between us the GSM went back into the owners office. It took quite a while before he came back out. This time he handed me a voucher for $1,000. I knew that I had to be all in on this one. I’ll just say that I expressed my dissatisfaction with the offer and recommended that he check my pay plan. A good hour went by and I was called into the owner’s office. I had only been in there once before and it wasn’t a good place to frequent. I respected the owner, but knew that I was holding the winning hand. He spent over twenty minutes explaining why I was going to be paid only $1,000. When he finished, I simply repeated that I had a pay plan and would like them to continue to honor it. That ended that days meeting.
I actually had no idea how much was possible to make on that car. In those days the salesman received 30% of the profit above invoice. I was betting that it was a lot.
First thing in the morning, I am called back into the owner’s office. He has a yellow legal pad in front of him. He goes over pages of things and reasons of why that is all that I should be paid. After almost an hour my response was the same; “are you going to honor my pay plan? The General Sales Manager quickly escorted me out of the office. I didn’t think that I could be fired for disputing pay. I had to wait it out. It seemed like a long time before I was handed a final voucher, with the explanation that there was no way that I was ever going to be paid on the $10,000 premium. It was for $2,700.
I stood there and did the math in my head; I was paid 30% so the profit was $9,000. Including the premium it was $19,000. I had traveled from $500 to $2,700. I knew that I would be flushing my career in that store away if I went any further.
I accepted the voucher and said thank you. That sale holds the record for the highest profit and the highest commission ever paid in over 40 years of business. There was one more thing; when the guy offered my Uncle a cool $10,000 more for the car, he knew it was a great deal. My Uncle Corky tipped me a crisp $100 bill before he drove away.
If you go to see my Uncle, you will find that Corvette still in his driveway.
I am thankful, that was the only pay discrepancy I had in the entire 15 years I worked there. I used the $100 bill to take the entire family to Hometown Buffet. Hey, when you have a family that’s how you celebrate.
EP
Sep 4, 2009 - THREE WRECKS, ONE NIGHTMy life in the car business started in 1983, when I stopped in to see if my buddy Mikey D. was going out that night. When I walked into the dealership to see him, the first thing he said was, “hey we’re hiring.” My initial response was that I didn’t want to be a car salesman. When Mike asked me why not, I didn’t have an answer, I just didn’t think that I wanted to sell cars.
What little I new of the car business was mostly from partying with Mike. A perfect example had been only a month before. I stopped in Maxdon’s for a drink. I didn’t see anybody that I knew. After my second drink I asked to pay my bill so I could leave. I questioned the bill amount and the bar maid said that the gentleman over there said your were paying his. She pointed to Mike.
Mike invited me along to look for a friend. It was late and we were driving fast. Mike took a turn too fast and we slid, hard into the curb. The car tipped up on two wheels for a second and came back down. Both right side wheels looked bent. We drove to the dealership where Mike worked and left the one we were driving. Mike had keys to another car and away we went. Mike saw somebody that he thought we should catch up with. Way too late, Mike decided that he should have turned and went for it any way. We missed the turn and hit the far side curb with the left front tire. It was now bent under a little.
We went back to the dealership. We got into another car Mike had keys to. Mike told me how fast this one was. Mike took off from the light like a drag racer. He missed a shift and locked the manual transmission in second gear. We have damaged three cars in one night. Mike told me that this had to be the last one, as he didn’t have keys to any others.
I later asked Mike what he did with the damaged cars. He told me that he took each one to a different service advisor, on a different day, with a different story of what a customer had done in the car. No one ever questioned him.
With that as an idea of what car sales are like, I listened to Mike.
Mike gave me a quick sales pitch, “You’ll make a lot of money and you get to dress nice.” He also explained the difference between a job that you shower after work, like a ditch digger and a job that you shower before work, like a businessman. That somehow made sense to me. So I filled out an application. Mike coached me on what to put down. Salary expected. Mike said, “Put down a big number.” So I did. I was working at American National Bank at the time. A big number to me was to double my income. I wrote $25,000 in the salary box.
Next came the interview. I interview with an old-time car guy named Joe Broom. Joe was going to be training a group of new people. Mike told me that I was going to be asked one important question, why do you want to be a car salesman? Mike told to answer it with, “Because I want a career were I can make a lot of money.”
I sat through a boring interview. Joe Broom finally looked me in the eye, leaned forward in his chair and asked me why I wanted to be a car salesman. I looked him straight in the eye and answered matter-of-factly, “Because I want a career where I can make a lot of money.” I would have never said that without being told. Joe responded with a very enthusiastic, “perfect answer.” I got hired.
I went to work at the Bank the next day and gave notice. Trudy Marvin was the person at the bank who told me that I’d be back. When she said that, I thought about people working at the bank. Most of the women working there were just given enough hours so they would not get benefits. I had run into Bill, the Bank assistant branch manager at K-mart last week. He was working there. I asked him what was going on. He explained that he had his third kid on the way and couldn’t afford another on what the bank paid. I knew that I wasn’t coming back.
One of the biggest changes was how I dressed. It was now slacks, collared shirt and leather shoes. I also had to wear a tie every day. I didn’t even know how to tie one. Lucky for me I had a roommate named Joel Burnette. (When your roommate goes by Joel, Joel, the big butt hole, it is hard to say lucky). Joel showed me over and over how to wear a tie. He showed me how to do the knot and how to make the length just right. To this day I think of Joel as I put on my tie. I still do it exactly as he showed me. It is also the way I have taught my son to do his tie.
Mike only worked with me for a couple of months. Mike got himself fired, but he did it with style. He knew that he had messed up bad. When the managers were all together in one office, they called him in. He told them that he had to use the restroom and would be right in. Instead Mike went across the street to another dealership and got hired on the spot. They gave Mike a Cadillac for a demo.
When the managers got tired of waiting in the office to fire Mike, they came outside. Mike was just finishing loading his office into his new demo. The General Sales Manager asked Mike what he was doing. Mike told him that he was just going to come in and tell them that he took another job and was quitting. They were so let down that they did not get to fire Mike.
I went looking for a party and I found a career. That’s the best answer I have when people ask me how I got started selling. The old ways of the car salesman are about gone. That is a good thing. I still talk to Mike once in a while. I recently found Joel on Facebook. I have missed his friendship. We laughed about the tie thing.
It doesn’t really matter how I got into this. What matters is, this is my chosen profession. This is how I have provided for my family. It matters how we treat our customers. We treat them well. I am, after all, your friend in the car business.
EP
Sep 2, 2009 - PILLOW BACK SEATS
Aug 31, 2009 - SARGE“Who is the old guy that hangs out around here?” I asked. “That’s Sarge, He’s the eyes and ears of the owner, watch it”, was the common reply. I was new in the car business, but, a guy who watches and tells didn’t seem right to me. I didn’t know anything about the guy except that he was old, short and I didn’t trust him. So I made a point of making my position known to him.
I was in a small used car office when Sarge walked in. I don’t even remember what I said to him other than something to piss him off. Apparently this time it did. No sooner did the words leave my lips than Sarge jumped over the desk and put me up against the wall. He grabbed my necktie and spun it around as to restrict my airway. This old, short, retired Sergeant was in the middle of calling me a “smart ass” when I calmly asked him to let me go. I learned that strength is better displayed through endurance then fighting back.
Over the next 20 years I learned a lot more from Sarge. He was a non-commissioned pilot in WWII. He flew supplies to Patton. He dropped Para-troopers into battle. Sarge landed in North Africa and was captured by Rommel. He was a Prisoner of War. Marching through the snow going into Germany he escaped. His description of hiding in French sewers has forever affected any possible positive thoughts of the French and the smell of their food. Sarge talked about getting smuggled across the English Channel in a fishing boat. He said that he spent three weeks drinking before reporting back to duty.
When describing the flack burst that left him peppered with shrapnel, shredded the cockpit of his Bomber and killed his co-pilot, He said “After a couple of minutes you realize that what you feel, running warm down your leg, must not be piss”. Bleeding, he landed that plane.
Sarges told me with tears in his eyes, that he would much rather tell me of the women that he knew and the alcohol he drank, instead of the friends that he lost.
It was a privilege to have learned respect from my friend. I still can’t believe that he jumped over that desk. But I know I’m better for it. Thanks you old goat, for allowing me to learn self worth in a common moment, in a small used car office.
EP
Aug 27, 2009 - INDEPENDENT LIVING Sierra Motors “One Low Price, Plain and Simple…ALWAYS !” ”CALL TODAY @800.571.0275
Aug 25, 2009 - A LEAGUE OF HER OWNMBWA is what it’s called. “Management By Walking Around”. Too many managers are glue managers; wherever they sit they are glued there all day. So I head out to the showroom floor, where the “action” is. Get involved, stay visible and listen to what actually is being said by my sales department. It was just another busy day in the sales department, or so it seemed.
I have hired more than a few friends over the years to work for me. One of them was Ambus. If you don’t know “The Bus” you have been shortchanged in life. He is a former football player who has rather generous proportions and an outgoing personality to match. After football I think he studied some form of Martial Arts. I look out the showroom window and see Ambus going out to greet a couple. Good. Funny, she looks somewhat familiar. I know a lot of people so I don’t worry about it.
I watch Bus greet the customers, engage them in conversation to find their needs and wants, then takes them over to a new 4WD Tahoe. Moving along just fine. Ambus excuses himself from the couple to come inside to get the keys to a specific vehicle. Ambus retrieves the keys and heads back out to the customer.
Another salesman stops Ambus as he gets to the door and asks, “Do you know who that is?” Ambus of course has missed one of the most basic elements in sales, get the customer’s name, he answers, “No”. He is told, “It’s that movie star Geena Davis”, everything began to unravel. Ambus stops for a minute and is looking at his customer. He is no longer thinking about making the sale.
Out the door headed Ambus to meet Geena Davis. He walks straight up to her and says “are you Geena Davis”? Ms. Davis answers “yes”. He follows it up with a more brilliant question; “the actress”? She replies, “NO, THE OTHER ONE A$$HOLE”. Ambus hesitates for a moment but is undeterred. He proceeds to tell Geena Davis that he is a Black Belt and is available if she needs a bodyguard. From where I’m standing this doesn’t look like it’s going well. She is making hand gestures that go along with her stating loudly to get the “heck” away from her. It’s now time for management intervention.
I walk out to the customers and introduce myself. Ms. Davis says get that guy away from me, so I did. I asked Ambus to go wait inside for me. He reluctantly complies. The sale is now mine to make. She was there with her current boyfriend at the time. Keith was his name and he was an aspiring screenwriter / actor, who were working as a personal trainer. The 4WD was for him and his hunting dog. I focused on the job at hand and we easily made the sale. I told Geena that my ten year old son was a big fan of hers. She looked at me questioningly so I told her. You know that scene in; “A League of Their Own”, where you catch the ball bare handed? “Yes” she replies. “My son thinks that you are so cool because you did that” I said as a proud parent.. Geena replied, “you know that was just part of the movie right”?I thought to myself, “I know that, but, my ten year old son plays little league and he was impressed.
We finished up the paperwork. We did the new car delivery. They drove off into the sunset in their new Tahoe. I knew that I needed to do a little career counseling with Ambus. Not the first time, nor would it be the last time. But all in all, not so bad, we made the sale.
The surprise arrived a couple of days later. Keith made a special trip back to the dealership to see me. He had a gift from Geena for my son. If you saw the movie there is a great scene where Geena does the splits on home base while making a difficult catch. In the movie a photographer flashes a picture and it appears on the cover of Life magazine. Geena sent Keith to deliver the Life magazine for my son. She signed it, “To Ryan, Dottie Rockford Peaches”. This puts her in a league of her own. Ambus, on the other hand… EP
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