I Used to Be a Top Salesperson

I joined the sales department straight out of university and worked in sales for the entire five and a half years I was with the company. As a student, I thought, “Sales sounds tough. The quotas must be brutal—I don’t want to do that.” But during a meeting to decide where I’d be assigned, my future manager told me:

There’s no way you could handle an office job. You make too many mistakes, and you’re hopeless even at stapling documents. You should assume sales is your only option.

So, reluctantly, I went into salesw

As it turned out, I topped the rankings for three years. After leaving the company to start my own business, I was also approached by a publisher and wrote a book on sales techniques based on what I’d learned in my previous job.

These days, I’m visiting both domestic and import dealerships as I look to buy my second car. Today, I want to share some thoughts about the disconnect I’ve noticed in dealership sales.

Why Some Dealership Sales Experiences Feel Off

The other day, we visited a domestic-brand dealership. I’d called ahead to check whether they had a manual-transmission version of the car we were interested in available for a test drive, then brought our three children along with my husband, making five of us in all.

After we were shown to our seats, the salesperson asked, “Will your husband be taking the test drive today?” My husband replied, “No, we’re looking for a car for my wife, so she’ll be driving.” The salesperson seemed genuinely surprised: “Oh! You’re looking for a manual? I see!” (laughs)

The conversation continued:

Salesperson: “Will your husband be buying the car?”
Husband: “No, my wife insists on buying her own car herself, so I guess she’ll be the one buying it.”
Salesperson: “Oh, really? Does your wife work?”
Husband: “She’s a car blogger…”
Salesperson: “Oh, is she? I’ve never met a customer with a job like that before!”

After chatting and listening to the salesperson’s explanations, we left the dealership.

But on the drive home, I couldn’t shake a nagging feeling. I said to my husband:

You’d think they could tell from the way we were talking that we’re a family who’s into cars. So why didn’t they ask things like, “Are you both car enthusiasts?” or “What have you driven over the years?” They let every opening pass them by. But they had plenty to say about discounts. I couldn’t tell whether they actually wanted to sell us a car. If I were in sales, I’d ask customers a lot more questions.

My husband replied:

Yeah. In my experience, the more premium the dealership, the more likely they are to ask about your car life and lifestyle. At more affordable dealerships, the questions seem to focus on how you’ll use the car and who’ll be driving it.
Of course, it varies by salesperson and dealership, so you can’t make a blanket statement. But that’s the general trend I’ve noticed.
Our Porsche salesperson, H, can seem like he isn’t especially eager to sell. But he seems to genuinely love cars, knows a fair bit about them, and can have a proper conversation about cars. I’m also not a fan of over-the-top service or salespeople who come on too strong, so H’s easygoing approach suits me. Though he does get pretty persuasive now and then! (laughs)

That makes sense. I do wonder if this tendency is more common at dealerships selling imports or cars with a strong enthusiast following.

Be the Salesperson Customers Want to Buy From

During our visits to domestic and import dealerships, I’ve often found myself thinking, “Does this person even want to sell cars?”

Of course, not every salesperson is like that, and perhaps we simply happened to encounter a few who weren’t especially engaging.

Put simply, the job of a salesperson is to sell their company’s products or services. That doesn’t mean launching straight into a product pitch the moment a customer walks through the door. But I’ve often felt a lack of genuine enthusiasm—whether for showing customers what makes the cars special or for getting to know the people interested in them.

For example, a salesperson might:

・Ask the customer very few questions
・Let interesting details go by without asking follow-up questions
・Fail to explain how buying the car could enhance the customer’s life
・Leave too much silence in the conversation
・Make little effort to build rapport

Take our recent visit. We arrived as a family of five in a Cayenne (I wondered if the salesperson even knew what a Cayenne was), and the wife was looking for a manual-transmission car. I thought that would make it clear we were more into cars than the average family, but the salesperson didn’t explore that at all.

During the test drive, I mentioned, “My husband likes manual cars too, so I think he’ll like this one.” The salesperson simply replied, “That’s good to hear. All our customers who like manuals have loved this car!” And when I said I was a car blogger, the response was, “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 wondering:

“They already have a sporty SUV for the family, and now they’re looking for a manual—are they serious car enthusiasts?”
“What does her husband usually drive? A sports car, maybe?”
“What cars have they owned so far?”
“What matters most to them when buying a car?”
“She writes a car blog? What does she write about? I’d love to read it!”

I’d have a hundred questions.

I wonder if dealerships today have a rule against getting too close to customers. Or perhaps sales quotas are so demanding that salespeople focus on “talking price and closing the deal” instead of building a relationship.

But I believe building trust with customers comes before making the sale. It matters to have a good conversation, get to know each other, and create an environment where customers feel comfortable sharing more about themselves—until they think, “I want to buy from this person.”

While we were talking about it, my husband said:

Maybe a lot of dealership salespeople just aren’t that interested in cars. I often find that I know more about the car than they do. Though I might just be the one who’s done too much research… (laughs)
Still, there are plenty of times I think, “Wait, you don’t know that? You really need to do your homework.”
If it were me, I’d study every car I was selling inside and out—not just the owner’s manual—so I could answer any customer question confidently. I’d also ask my manager if I could take a test-drive car out after hours and get a feel for it myself.
I realize that might not be possible at every dealership, depending on its policies and setup. But I do wish more salespeople were eager to learn everything they could about the cars.
And I do think salespeople at lower-priced dealerships, or dealerships for brands competing on sales volume, are more likely to rush to close a deal. They must be under tremendous pressure to meet their quotas. But when you’re rushing, it’s hard to build a relationship.
Sure, if the car is good enough, people will buy it regardless of the relationship. But if the brand stops offering compelling cars, or discounts are no longer on the table, I think it’ll get much harder to sell without that customer connection.
That’s why I think they end up in a vicious cycle where they have to work harder for every sale.
Building relationships may seem like a roundabout approach, but I think the people who invest in them are the ones who ultimately come out ahead. That’s what I’ve learned from watching outstanding salespeople across all kinds of industries connected to my work.

That makes sense.

Cars—and not just cars—are the result of the hard work of countless people involved in their design, engineering, and development. The salesperson is the person who ultimately brings that effort to the customer. That’s why I can’t help wishing they would sell with more passion and confidence.

I wasn’t interested in cars at all until my husband bought a Porsche. That was when I discovered their appeal, and my whole world changed. We started visiting all kinds of places by car, I discovered the joy of driving, and we made more memories as a family. We also met many new people through cars. I came to feel that life with cars is a wonderful thing.

Perhaps that’s why I feel disappointed whenever I meet a dealership salesperson who doesn’t seem engaged.

On the drive home, I was passionately saying, “If it were me, I’d do it this way! They’d sell so many more cars! Maybe I should go sell cars for them!” My husband said:

If you’ve got that much to say, write it up on the blog! w

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

I may have sounded a little self-important, but I don’t want to just tell other people what to do. I hope I can keep moving forward with passion and confidence in my own work, too.