I had a Blog once

Jan 12, 2008 - How did I get here?

I hope you enjoy my 3 part mini series on how I arrived where I am today. 

So without further adoo here is part 1

The Early Years

We were talking the other day here at work about what sick twist of fate roped us into the WWW (Wild Wonderful World) of car sales and it got me to reflecting on the day I went home and told my wife, "I am going to sell cars" to which she replied quite sheepishly "Oh ok honey"

I am 42 years old and had 5 jobs in my life. 

 Worked at a golf course from the age of 12 to 18, (1977-1983) had a great time playing golf, out side all the time, and as I got into my more mischievous teen age years drank allot of beer and chased the girls.  I even occasionally caught one.

In the middle of my Senior year in High School (1983) I came home one night and proclaimed while sitting at the dinner table, "Hey Mom and Dad, I joined the Army today, I just need you to sign this piece of paper".  My mom cried and said no, there is now way my baby (I am the youngest of 4 kids) is going to go fight in a war.  My Dad said, "Give me the paper and a pen" and Viola I was a soon to be US Army Paratrooper.

I stayed in the Army from 1983-1992.  As time went on and a certain POTUS slashed the budget to crap for the Military I found it time to move on, little did I know if I would have stayed in for a little while longer I could have deployed with the finest fighting force ever assembled.

I trained as a Paratrooper/ Infantrymen for 8 1/2 years and advanced through the ranks to the grade of E-6 but never got the opportunity to apply my training in a real world situation.  I never fired a bullet in anger.  Now to some of you it may seem morbid for me to think like that, but when you train as hard as I did for that time and never get a chance to see if you were the leader you thought you were is a bit disheartening.

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Aug 16, 2007 - Who in the hell is this guy anyhow???

I know allot of you are probably laying home in bed a night tossing and turning trying to figure out just who in the hell is this Joel guy.

I was born a poor Dirt Farmer during the depression...................................Just kidding.

My name is in fact Joel, the 0622 is my B-day, so go ahead and mark it on your calendars.  Cash is fine. LOL

I currently work as a Finance Manager at Two Rivers Ford in Nashville TN.  That’s Nashville for those who don't live in the area and Nashvulle for those that do.

I have only meant 3 Country Stars since I lived here and all of them were during sales transactions.  Terri Clark bought a truck from us years ago when she first hit town, Boots Randolph used to buy Crown Vics from us and Joe Diffie jacked me one time on the purchase of a used truck.  Oh I almost forgot, Goober from the Andy Griffith show used to come in all the time.  He is a funny, funny man.

I started out here as a sales person green as Kermit and have been fortunate enough to make a career out of it.  I have worked in sales, as a Used Car MGR, worked the desk, been a Training MGR, and am now currently working in F&I, so that means I am either well cross trained here or I suck at everything and they keep moving me around.  I will let you know.

My favorite job I have ever had here was the Training Manager position, it was fun hiring new people who did not know squat about sales and training them.  A few make it but the vast majority does not.  People ask me what it takes to be successful in the car biz and I tell them two things, thick skin and $10K in your savings account the day you start.  I have seen allot of people with great potential have to call it quits because they do not have the money to stick it out until they go on commission.

If you have any aspirations of getting in the biz and ever want to ask questions feel free to contact me at the email in my profile.  The only dumb question is the one you don't ask.  (It’s an old adage but so true). 

Also if you own a Ford Product and are considering putting an Extended Service Contract on it please let me know.  I will quote you a price that will knock your socks off. 

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Aug 14, 2007 - The 5 steps to finding the perfect Car Salesman

I recently posted this in jest in one of the smart shopper forums and got a good response so I thought I would put it here on my newly formed blog.

So without further delay here are the 5 critical things to look for when choosing your next sales person.  I promise you that if you follow these steps you will get a deal that you will never forget.

1. He greets you before your car stops moving, in doing this he shows that he is eager to help you. In the process he gives an elbow to the face of of one of his fellow sales people and trips another. This is just another sign of his eagerness to help and wants to ensure that you are not exposed to one of his less qualified co-workers.
 
2. His dress: White paten leather shoes, wide white belt, dress slacks, a white shirt, and a tie with cars on it and a hint of the ravviolli sauce from lunch 3 days ago. But most important check out the amount of gold he has on. If he only has a wedding ring and nothing else, run, run away quick, he is obviously a failure at his chosen profession. Now if he has 4 rings, a gold bracelet, and enough gold necklaces to qualify as Mr. T starter kit then you have found your man.
 
3. Conversation: Make sure he speaks only to you and does not even honor your wifes presence with a hello. But when he does eventually speak to her make sure he calls her, honey and darlin and only ask for her opinion when it comes to color. Every one knows buying a car is mans business and a women should not have to worry her pretty little head about it. Especially when you start talking about the money.
 
4. Make 110% sure that within 5 minutes of you looking at the first car these words come out of his mouth, "If I could get you a great deal would you buy this car today" This needs to happen before the test drive, actually it is best if it happens before he ever gets a key to open the door. This shows he is eager to get you done quickly, we all know your time is valuable.
 
5. After the sale: the way you will really know that you have found a winner and have been helped by the best they got is after the sale. When you get home you notice the floor mats are missing and you only got one key so you give him a call. After 3 days he does not return your calls. This shows that he is a great salesperson because he is helping so many customers in the manner he helped you that he does not even have time to call you.
 
But here is the icing on the cake that proves you got the best in the biz. You go to the dealership to get your key and floor mats and when you pull up your professional salesperson greets you and says, "Welcome to Sell and Forget Motors can I help you"? That proves he is so intent on taking care of a new customer he can't even remember you.
 
These are just a few of the things that show you how to get the best.
 

Oops the 80's just called me, they want there stereo type back.

 

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Jul 30, 2007 - Blog II

There is really a whole lot more to this blog story then just the $185.  I went through a painful process once the blog was discovered.  Being in the car biz I don't have allot of free time.  So as soon as the problem was discovered I got a crack team on it right away.

After a respectable amount of discussion wich made us all very thirsty in the process we decided that the best approach would be for the girls to sing to the blog.

Well guess what, that didn't work.

So the next day while working on my daughters hair

It came to me in a vision, fix the pipes Joel, Fix the pipes, and to the victor goes the spoils

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