I Used to Be a Top Salesperson

I was assigned to the sales department at the company I joined as a new graduate, and I worked in sales for five and a half years until I resigned. When I was a student, I thought, “Sales must be tough. I don’t want to do it because the quotas seem harsh.” But during the interview to decide my assignment, my then boss said,

You’re no good at clerical work. You make too many mistakes, and you’re even bad at stapling documents. I think sales is your only option.

So reluctantly, I ended up in salesw.

Thanks to that, I was able to be the top performer for three years, and after leaving and starting my own business, I was asked by a publisher to write a sales know-how book based on my previous experience.

That said, recently, as I’m looking to buy my second car in life, I’ve been visiting both domestic and imported car dealerships. Today, I want to write about the “discomfort I felt with dealership salespeople” during those visits.

Discomfort with Dealership Salespeople’s Responses

The other day, I visited a domestic car dealership. I called ahead to confirm if they had a manual transmission test drive car for the model I wanted, then went there with my family of five, including the kids.

After being seated, the salesperson asked, “Will the husband be test driving today?” When my husband replied, “No, we came to look for a car for my wife, so she’ll be driving it,” the salesperson was very surprised and said, “What! Your wife is driving a manual car… I see!” (laughs).

Then,

Salesperson: “Is the husband the one who will be purchasing?”
Husband: “No, my wife insists, ‘I’ll buy my own car!’ so it looks like she’ll be buying it herself.”
Salesperson: “What! Really? Does your wife work?”
Husband: “She’s a car blogger…”
Salesperson: “What! That’s amazing! I’ve never met a customer with that kind of job before!”

We had that kind of conversation, listened to various explanations, and then left the dealership.

But on the way home, I felt an indescribable frustration. So I said to my husband,

You know, from that conversation, they must have sensed we’re a family interested in cars, but why didn’t they ask things like, “Are you a car enthusiast?” or “What kind of cars have you driven before?” They completely ignored all that. Yet they talked a lot about discounts… I couldn’t tell if they really wanted to sell or not. If I were in sales, I’d ask the customer more questions.

My husband replied,

Yeah, from my experience, the higher-end car dealers tend to ask more about your “car life” or “lifestyle.” On the other hand, dealers of lower-priced cars mainly ask about “how you’ll use the car and who will drive it.” Of course, it varies by salesperson and store, but that seems to be the trend. Our Porsche dealer’s rep, Mr. H, seems uninterested in selling at first glance, but he really likes cars, knows quite a bit, and can have a proper car conversation. Also, I’m not a fan of pushy or over-the-top service, so I think Mr. H’s laid-back style suits me. Though sometimes he does get a bit pushy (laughs).

I see… But indeed, the more a dealer handles imported or enthusiast cars, the more that kind of approach seems to be the case.

Be the Salesperson Customers Want to Buy From

In my visits to domestic and imported car dealers and conversations with salespeople, I often felt, “Does this person even want to sell cars?”

Of course, not everyone is like that, and maybe it was just the people who served my husband and me, but…

Sales is basically about “selling your company’s products or services.” That doesn’t mean you should start explaining the product immediately after the customer arrives, but often I didn’t sense the spirit of “I want to convey how wonderful our cars are” or “I want to know more about the customer.”

For example,

– They don’t ask many questions of the customer
– They ignore information and don’t dig deeper
– They don’t explain the future benefits of buying the car
– There are many awkward silences
– They don’t actively try to build rapport with the customer

In the recent example, we came as a family of five in a Cayenne (I wonder if they even knew the Cayenne), and the wife was looking for a manual car, which should indicate we’re more car enthusiasts than the average family, but they didn’t explore that at all.

Also, when I said during the test drive, “My husband also likes manual cars, so I think he’ll like this one,” the reply was just, “Yes, all customers who like manual cars have been pleased!” or when I mentioned I’m a car blogger, “I’ve never met a customer like that before! That’s amazing!” and that was the end of it…

If I were the salesperson, I’d be full of questions like:

– “You’re buying a manual car even though you have a sporty SUV for the family— you must really love cars.”
– “What does your husband usually drive? A sports car?”
– “What kind of cars have you driven before?”
– “What points are important to you when buying a car?”
– “You write a car blog? What kind of cars do you write about? I’d love to read it!”

I’d have so many questions I want to ask.

I wonder if current car dealerships have rules like “don’t get too close to customers.” Or maybe the sales quotas are so strict that they focus more on “just talk price and sell” rather than building relationships.

But I believe sales is about building trust with customers first, having lively conversations, getting to know them well, and going through the process so they think, “I want to buy from this person.”

Talking about this, my husband said,

Maybe many dealership salespeople just aren’t interested in cars. Usually, I know more about the car than they do. Maybe I research too much myself… lol But there are many times I think, “Seriously? You don’t even know that? You need to study more.” If it were me, I’d know everything about the cars I sell— not just the manual, but every detail— so I can answer any question perfectly. I’d even ask my boss to let me drive the test cars outside work hours to experience them myself. Of course, some stores or policies might not allow that, but I wish they’d be more hungry to learn about cars. Also, lower-priced dealers or those competing on volume tend to have many people who rush to sell. They probably have huge quotas, but that makes it impossible to build relationships. Sure, if the car is good, people will buy regardless of relationships, but if attractive cars disappear or discounts dry up, sales will tank without relationships. So, I think they’re stuck in a vicious cycle of struggling to sell every time. I believe those who invest in building relationships— which may seem like a detour— ultimately win. I’ve seen this with top salespeople in various industries around me.

I see…

Also, cars (and not just cars) are the result of the hard work of many people involved in design, development, and engineering, and salespeople carry their passion to ultimately sell to customers. So personally, I want them to sell with more passion and confidence.

I myself had no interest in cars before, but after my husband bought a Porsche, I discovered its charm and my world changed. I’ve been to many places by car, learned the joy of driving, made more family memories, and met many new people through cars, and now I think, “Life with cars is wonderful.”

Because of that experience, maybe I feel even more disappointed every time I interact with dealership salespeople.

On the way home, I passionately said, “If it were me, I’d do it this way! It would sell so much better! Maybe I should go sell cars myself!” so my husband said,

If you have so much to say, write a blog about it w

And that’s how this article came about (laughs).

I may sound a bit arrogant writing this, but I want to keep moving forward with passion and confidence in my own work, not just telling others what to do.